Category: social history
Carlisle Museum gifts – gee, thanks for those!
A look around Carlisle Museum in 1844 may have astounded and amazed visitors – possibly not entirely in a good way! I’ve not dug into who the donors were: maybe someone will recognise a name a... Read More
Temperance – and drains – in Carlisle
November 1849 saw a lengthy inquiry into the state of sanitation in Carlisle. From a social history point of view, it gives all sorts of insights into a number of aspects relating to living conditions... Read More
Victorian jokes – contain your excitement
Victorian jokes, to borrow a phrase, are no laughing matter. Ok, I’ll re-word that. Victorian jokes are no laughing matter to 21st century ears. There are many obvious things that have changed dow... Read More
What is/was a thirlepolle?
Thirlepolle, thirlepoole, thirle-polle, however you spell it, it even has Google baffled. What kind of creature were they? And how did our ancestors eat them? In short, a thirlepolle could have been e... Read More
Gretna marriages – and a man with eight wives
Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. Only sometimes, there is more than one horse! Henry VIII is most famous for having six wives – but while adultery didn’... Read More
All mod cons, on a 1777 stagecoach
If you wanted to visit distant relatives for Easter in the 1700s, you might well go by stagecoach. Some of the experiences of doing so have a resonance today! Carlisle to London, in just three days In... Read More
Need-fire – a Celtic tradition that lasted till the 1840s
The need-fire – a Celtic response to cattle disease – might not mean much to people today. But, it’s only 160 years or so since desperate farmers finally abandoned it. And it seems to have been ... Read More
Window tax – a tax upon light and air
The Window Tax was introduced in 1696 and repealed in 1851 and was used as a means of assessing which households were liable to pay church and poor rates. It was soon mocked as a tax upon light and ai... Read More