‘Carlisle 1810’ may sound a random date, but thanks to Jollie’s Cumberland Guide and Directory, we have a good (if partial!) idea of what the city was like then. The guide, published in two part...Read More
The Jacobite rising of 1745 greatly affected Cumberland and Westmorland. This is Carlisle’s story. In my post on the celebrations at the opening of the Carlisle Canal, in 1823, I mentioned that one...Read More
Carlisle Central School, in the early years of the 19th century, was set up to counter ‘the pernicious effects’ of the Industrial Revolution. A worthy (if perhaps self-interested) venture, it also...Read More
Thomas Hetherington gave at least 13 years of his life to the police service at a time when police forces in the UK were in their infancy. During that time he was attacked, praised, rewarded, risked h...Read More
Electrotherapy and complimentary mourning aren’t terms that go naturally together. Unless the former goes horribly wrong. But they were both on the front page of the Carlisle Journal 150 years a...Read More
They paved paradise and put up… well, not a parking lot, in this post about the origins of a place name, and the story of a cook who jumped through a window. Paradise on Earth It is one of those...Read More
In a previous post, I looked at the 18th century craze for gin. And how a Cumbrian Character – George Smith, of Kendal – published a ‘how to’ guide for setting up a small commercial still. Sm...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
Annetwell Street, Carlisle, isn’t much of a street today. Running alongside the Radio Cumbria building, it seems sidelined by the busy A595 Castle Way that slices through the city in front of the ca...Read More
Tea isn’t just a beverage in Britain, it’s a social institution, part of the very fabric of life. Tea time (and afternoon tea) may now seem quaint. But we still use it as a panacea for all ill...Read More