Recent Posts
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
Palm Sunday & carlings
Palm Sunday may be a ‘big day’ in the Christian calendar, but ‘only’ in church. As a child, I remember walking home from Sunday school clutching a palm cross – handed out after we were remin... Read More
Isabella Dalton – an unusual life
My post on Wilson Towers includes the information that for 14 weeks in 1904, he employed a housekeeper called Isabella Dalton – who then went back to live in Wigton Workhouse. Her story is unusual, ... Read More
Thomas Gibson Cant : a fishy tale
Thomas Gibson Cant, a Penrith solicitor with strong convictions about Justice, stood up for ‘the ordinary man’ against Penrith police. Part one of his story can be read in this post, but it ... Read More