Recent Posts
Middens – and their biggest (?) fan
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 – a delayed killer
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
Nathaniel Dean Lowthian – tasteful adverts!
Nathaniel Dean Lowthian may or may not have been responsible for the following advert, but I doubt a firm of Temple Sowerby tailors employed an advertising agency. The advert was in the Penrith... Read More
Victorian values – punishment
‘Victorian values’ are something that get trotted out in British politics every decade or so, as something to aspire (back) to. This post touches on the ‘value’ they placed on ... Read More
Penrith brothers in arms: the Pilkingtons
Henry and Jane Ann Pilkington, of Penrith, lost three sons to war. This is their story. Penrith Congregational Church unveiled a memorial table on September 26, 1920, ‘in grateful memory of the men ... Read More
Brunswick Square school Penrith
My post on the young men of Brunswick Square, Penrith, who went off to fight in the First World War brought an inquiry from a reader. “I’m looking for information about a ladies school run at 6 B... Read More
Thomas Martindale: saved by a sheep
Thomas Martindale was a few days short of his tenth birthday when he got lost on the Cumbrian fells in 1907. The search for a drowned pony was to lead to his name appearing in newspapers the length of... Read More
Brunswick Square Penrith – and the First World War
Brunswick Square, Penrith, isn’t famous, or remarkable. On the Penrith Town Trail, it is described as: Brunswick Square, a Victorian housing development commenced about 1850 and built around an ... Read More