Cumbrian Characters – an introduction
Cumbrian Characters looks at social history in Cumbria, told through the stories of its people.
You’ll find articles on life expectancy, customs, historical events, even the weather.
And as they are all told from a human interest point of view, you may even find your Cumbrian ancestors on here. Or at least get an idea of what life was like for them.
How to find things
The posts are listed in date order. Should you be interested in a particular place, person, or topic, do check the index pages to see if they are listed. Each indexed item has a clickable link to the relevant article.
It’s all about the people
Google Cumberland and it seems what most people search for is Cumberland sausage (being helpful, this butcher looks like it could be worth a try :-). )
Google Westmorland and the top hit is weekly newspaper the Westmorland Gazette. And other than Cumbria University, and Cumbria County Council, what most people searching Cumbria look for is the Lake District.
But while the sausage is iconic, and the Lake District has been a tourist magnet for centuries, there is a lot more to Cumbria than that! It ranges from the lush green fields of the Eden Valley, to the salt marshes of the Solway Firth; from charming medieval market towns like Appleby to Pennine moors scarred by lead mining.
What makes any place unique, regardless of scenery, is its people: those living there today and those who worked the land and built the towns and ports of the past and made it what it is today.
Cumbrian Characters aims to give a flavour of some of those people, the lives they led, and the conditions they lived in.
If you are interested in family history or social history, you should find stories to interest you, even if the ‘Cumbrian characters’ named have no place on your family tree.
Port Carlisle
If you are interested in Port Carlisle (or the people behind the Carlisle Canal/Port Carlisle Railway), do buy my lovely book, Port Carlisle – a history built on hope. You can read more about it in this post.