Author: Harriet
J&J Graham of Penrith and the water closet furore
Water closet – by any other name Water closet; toilet; privy; lavatory; loo; bog, ty bach in Welsh (‘little house’), khazi, netty… Brits have a LOT of words for what other English-speaking nat... Read More
Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning
Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning aren’t terms that go naturally together. Unless the former goes horribly wrong. But they were both on the front page of the Carlisle Journal 150 years a... Read More
Invitation to a funeral: a Cumbrian custom
Cumbrian custom, or Solway custom? The following Cumbrian custom may not be unique to Bowness-on-Solway – or indeed be a uniquely Cumbrian custom. But in 1974, one elderly Bowness-on-Solway resident... Read More
Frozen fish, a Cumbrian discovery
Frozen fish, a staple of any domestic freezer, was a 20th century discovery by Clarence Birdseye. Or was it? Well, no. But this isn’t a blog about native Canadians, or how the Romans invented underf... Read More
Births post-1837, and ‘constraints on marriage’
1837 starts with 1836 All family historians know that prior to 1837, the only way to find records of births is in parish registers, or bishop’s transcripts thereof. IE, church records. The state onl... Read More
Beds through the ages, comfort and joy
Beds through the ages: most important piece of furniture? Spoiled for choice when considering a new mattress? Puzzled by the claims for memory foam, pocket springs, toppers, zoning, cores… When you ... Read More
New decade, familiar issues
Out with old, in with more of the same? On the eve of a new decade, here’s a post inspired by the Penrith Observer of December 30, 1919. Which looked at the realities of life in the aftermath of the... Read More
Winter solstice & fashion tips 1893
Winter solstice and curious questions ‘Winter solstice 2019 in Northern Hemisphere was at 04:19 on Sunday, 22 December’. So Google informs us. Bringing up with it such puzzling questions as: ‘... Read More