Cute animals are a staple of social media and other online platforms, so here are some animal stories from 19th Century Cumberland. Ok, ‘cute animals’ is the nearest Cumbrian Characters gets whe...Read More
‘Election riots in Penrith’ has nothing to do with the European Parliament Elections of a few days ago! But as the UK today digests the results of the EU poll, it’s a timely occasion...Read More
Prisoners of war have long been a staple of movies and TV dramas, from those based on true stories like The Great Escape, to the enjoyable nonsense of Escape to Victory. The focus is almost always o...Read More
Today is the 119th anniversary of a dark day in Cumbrian history, for on May 11, 1910, at Wellington Pit, in Whitehaven, some 136 men and boys were to lose their lives in, or as a consequence, of an e...Read More
‘Those in peril’ is, of course, a line from the famous hymn ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’. Actually, the first hymn I ever learned, as pre-schooler: no idea how/why I learne...Read More
‘Unfortunate deaths’ may sound a curious heading. After all, there are very few fortunate ones – unless it means avoiding ‘a fate worse than…’ The choice of title reflects that the people ...Read More
Tom Telford is another of the men recorded on the 1920 Penrith Congregational Church memorial plaque. It’s ‘just’ one plaque among countless tributes to the dead of the First World W...Read More
Occupations in the early 1800s. Forget tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor… this isn’t a post about job titles, but rather about the numbers of people employed in different occupations. With an explan...Read More
Middens, for anyone unfamiliar with the word, are heaps (large piles) of domestic waste material – mini rubbish tips that could include human excrement and animal waste, as well as kitchen waste and...Read More
Mustard gas is possibly misleading in this piece about the deaths of two Cumbrian First World War soldiers. Chlorine gas and phosgene were also used as chemical weapons. Which somehow have always seem...Read More