Past & Present
Prehistoric bling from an age of gold
Published 26 August 2008
Many of us are familiar with Prehistory being referred to as the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, but a Gold Age?
Found: One prehistoric axe, not much used
Published 22 August 2008
The customs and beliefs of our most ancient ancestors present some of the most impossible challenges for archaeologists.
The Lockerbie disaster of 1883
Published 22 August 2008
Two hours after it left Carlisle, an empty goods train was moving slowly north from Lockerbie Station at 11.25pm on May 14. 1883.
The daily grind, 1244 to 1936
Published 15 August 2008
An early mention of Upperby Mill was in 1244-1245AD when the men of that village paid the sheriff of Cumberland 30 shillings for a licence to have a mill there, probably not the first.
Coming up roses, onions...
Published 15 August 2008
Prize-winning roses, dahlias and other specimen flowers don’t just happen by accident. These blooms have been carefully selected and nurtured to be the very best.
Prehistoric bling from an age of gold
Published 8 August 2008
Many of us are familiar with Prehistory being referred to as the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, but a Gold Age?
Convenient place for a call of nature
Published 8 August 2008
A piece of waste ground at the bottom of Botchergate proves to have an interesting history. The projecting triangle of land formed by the junction of Botchergate, London Road and St Nicholas Street had little use except as the burial place of John Fearon who in 1791 had committed suicide in the County Gaol while awaiting execution for murder.
The city’s first, charity-funded flood defences
Published 1 August 2008
When John Lonsdale, a former iron merchant and tallow chandler, died in May 1847, aged 86, at Caldew Terrace (now part of Shaddongate), the Carlisle Journal gave a brief obituary.
Priceless legacy of a genetics genius
Published 25 July 2008
Cumbria is famous for the diversity of its scenery and wildlife. Many of its special plants and animals are only here because of the unspoiled nature of much of the county.
Open season on those precious city walls
Published 25 July 2008
Writing about the medieval city walls of Carlisle, RS Ferguson said in 1882, these “have all disappeared except the western curtain wall.”
Priceless legacy of a genetics genius
Published 25 July 2008
Cumbria is famous for the diversity of its scenery and wildlife. Many of its special plants and animals are only here because of the relatively undeveloped nature of many parts of the county.
Four-times mayor fought fever in faraway wars
Published 18 July 2008
One of the youngest of the Captain JB Gilpin’s 16 children, Joseph Appleby Dacre Gilpin, took his Christian names from his uncle, of Kirklinton Hall, who had married his father’s sister.
Great iron bear dispatched to the frozen north
Published 11 July 2008
To most of us Ursa Major (The Great Bear) conjures up the famous star constellation the Plough, which points to the Pole Star.
Out comes the sun, up goes the death toll
Published 11 July 2008
A song was published by Messrs Brewer and Co in 1866 entitled Beautiful Eden.The words were by Charles Vynne of Carlisle and the music by Warwick Wetheral – but not everyone had praise for the river.
Murder most foul
Published 4 July 2008
The year 1885 witnessed one of the most infamous robberies in Cumbria’s history. A notorious ladder gang met and plotted to burgle Netherby Hall, the Cumberland Seat of Sir Frederick Graham.
Self-made land expert who ‘died’ twice
Published 4 July 2008
A ccording to the Analytical Review in 1797, the Cumberland-born land surveyor, John Housman “wrote with meritorious exactness and he has not unfrequently, with great judgement, offered hints for improvement in cultivation of the different neighbourhoods he visited”.
Pioneering vicar’s leap of faith
Published 27 June 2008
When Mrs Dorothy Jane Relph died, aged 92, in December 1976, the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald stated that her early occupation was as a maid at Crosby Ravensworth vicarage from 1908.
See and hear museum’s musical attraction
Published 27 June 2008
Tullie House’s Andrea Amati violin will be the subject of a major redisplay project later this year.
Plaster magnate who built his house on straw
Published 20 June 2008
Having made his fortune through mining gypsum and manufacturing plaster of Paris, John Thomlinson decided to build a new family mansion.
Birdoswald’s Romans were actually Romanian
Published 13 June 2008
Inscriptions on building stones and altars dedicated to the gods provide key evidence about how the Roman army organised itself.
