Botcherby has been part of Carlisle for just over 100 years. It’s not an area I know, really. It seems it gets its name from a Flemish man called Bochard (the Norman version of his name) who was...Read More
Annetwell Street, Carlisle, isn’t much of a street today. Running alongside the Radio Cumbria building, it seems sidelined by the busy A595 Castle Way that slices through the city in front of the ca...Read More
Among the items on the agenda for visiting magistrates in Carlisle in October 1848 was the prison treadmill. The treadmill was down the list of topics to be discussed, but it is a reminder of this cur...Read More
May 6 1890 saw the death of a venerable lady (as she was termed) from a famous Cumbrian family: Elizabeth Pocklington Senhouse. Mrs Senhouse of Netherhall, Maryport, was 86, and what had started as a ...Read More
William Pinder was a man no one would want to add to their family tree. But his life story tells us a surprising amount about crime and punishment in the mid-19th century. In Westmorland, a crime of a...Read More
‘Affray at Kingstown Carlisle’ probably isn’t going to be top of anyone’s search terms online. But if you’ve chanced on this post, you’ll discover it had a turbulen...Read More
Cause of death is a key feature of death certificates, not only for family (and the state) at the time, but also for social and family historians. Knowing an ancestor died of TB helps us to ‘know’...Read More
Cumbrian surnames may not, for the most part, be exclusive to old Cumberland or Westmorland. But, there many surnames that are strongly associated with the twin counties. Are there Birds on your famil...Read More
If the militia in the late 1700s were akin to Dad’s Army, the commander of the Westmorland Militia was… well, he was Wicked Jimmy. Most families have a black sheep somewhere down the centuries, bu...Read More
Invasion (or the threat of it) is no laughing matter at the time, but when the threat is long passed, it can have its humorous side. Generations of people in Britain have laughed out loud at the antic...Read More