Recent Posts
Solway dangers
Solway dangers. The Solway firth – or frith, on old maps – is a beautiful waterway, with stunning views from both sides and a great place to watch wading birds foraging for food. Or to forage for ... Read More
Richard Oyes dodgy overseer
Richard Oyes, the dodgy overseer Richard Oyes, of Whitehaven, is the elephant in the room of an interesting court case, in 1796. For while he was the reason five magistrates strayed from the path of v... Read More
Shaddongate riot
The Shaddongate riot and how it led to Carlisle’s police force. In the last post Cumbrian Characters looked at how Carlisle came to have a full-time, professional police force two years before the L... Read More
Carlisle Police – a mixed honour
Carlisle Police has the honour of being the first ‘proper’ police force in Engoand and Wales. The reason why is something to be less proud of! Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel (pictured) is synonym... Read More
Bishop Thomas Smith & his sister
Bishop Thomas Smith was a key figure in the history of Carlisle Cathedral. What isn’t widely known is that he had a sister. Thomas Smith led quite a life for ‘an Appleby lad’ – teaching at Oxf... Read More
Jenner ‘the spy’
Jenner ‘the spy’. In times of international tension or war, fear sometimes leads to panic and suspicion. Anyone with a ‘foreign name’ can face hostility, even if they have lived in the communi... Read More
Rain in Cumbria
Rain in Cumbria: a rainy day read, with a wry poem at the end. ‘For the rain it raineth every day…’ Feste’s song at the end of Twelfth Night could have been written for 2023-24 – at least fo... Read More
Carlisle Journal & Thomas Gibson Cant
The Carlisle Journal, Carlisle’ first newspaper, was founded in 1798. A liberal weekly, it advocated civil and religious liberty and free political comment (source). And in 1873, some of its comment... Read More