Recent Posts
Armistice Day centenary
A post for Remembrance Sunday, with a reminder of a just a very few First World War Cumbrian casualties. The ever-poignant commemorations of Remembrance are upon us in the UK. As a child, it was seei... Read More
Bankruptcy: a boon for family historians
Bankruptcy in the family may mean you weren’t born into luxury, but it does mean there’s a wealth of information to look for, tracing your ancestors. In the late 1780s, a man named George Fawell, ... Read More
Haaf net fishing at Port Carlisle
No book on the overall story of Port Carlisle would be complete without a mention of haaf net fishing. As I write this, it is possible for visitors to have a go, courtesy of the Highland Laddie Inn at... Read More
Scarlet fever in the 1800s
Scarlet fever in the 1800s was a common disease among children – and a deadly one. And sadly, cleanliness and ventilation were either a luxury for poorer households, or maybe not appreciated as impo... Read More
Facts about coats of arms – and some fun
Coats of arms are colourful, meaningful, mini-puzzles, and great fun. People use them to illustrate online family trees. And there are loads of websites and physical tourist shops where you can buy co... Read More
The Port Carlisle Dandy – a symbolic curiosity
The Port Carlisle Dandy was a curious invention – even in its day, it was regarded as an oddity. It also symbolises how high hopes of transforming Port Carlisle (by the canal, by the railway) were d... Read More
Cumbrian lodging houses – dens of disease
If you imagine Cumbrian lodging houses in the 1800s were in any way better than those in the big industrial cities elsewhere in England, you’d be wrong. Conditions for those forced to live in th... Read More
James Ainslie – and Georgian medicine
Georgian medicine wasn’t so much ‘kill or cure’ as ‘kill or do very little’. With nothing resembling quality control, or advertising standards, you could peddle any old c... Read More