Past & Present

The enigmatic surveyor of Wigton

Soccage graphic It is an anomaly that there is no obituary for George Smith, or Dictionary of National Biography entry, only “a pretty copy of verses on his death”, praising him as “a universal scholar”.

Last updated 27 August 2010
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Tough love for war casualties

A visitor to Carlisle recently enquired about Fusehill War Hospital; where was it and why was her grandfather, who had been wounded, sent to that hospital when he was in the Manchester Regiment?

Last updated 20 August 2010
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‘I want my work on show at Carlisle's Tullie House’

When Ian MacDonald wrote about ‘John Scott and Son of Carlisle, stained glass manufacturers’ in 1972, he stated: “A member of the third generation John Scott, born in 1849, became an artist... but his career is outside the scope of these remarks.”

Last updated 13 August 2010
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Carlisle educators learnt as they went along

In December 1838 the Carlisle Patriot reported the death in New York of Joseph Lancaster, “founder of the Lancastrian System”.

Last updated 6 August 2010
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Carlisle-born talent spotted by Ruskin

To illustrate a Country Life article in June 2010, on Tintagel Castle and the Arthurian legend, Richard Lea chose an 1862 painting, The Death Of Arthur, by John Mulcaster Carrick.

Last updated 30 July 2010
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Little marks map maker’s passing

A number of maps of Cumbrian towns were printed by John Wood, and in Maps Of Cumberland, John Higham states these “are meticulously surveyed and neatly drawn”.

Last updated 23 July 2010
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Setting down a marker for the Romans

Often Miles MacInnes would take the train from Carlisle to Haltwhistle for a walk along the Roman Wall.

Last updated 16 July 2010
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Rise of Longtown mirrored by inn

One of the more important buildings in Longtown is the Graham Arms, but little has been written on its history to explain why such an impressive three-storey structure was built there.

Last updated 9 July 2010
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Grahams’ home was their castle

Writing of the early history of Edmond Castle in The Cumberland News in 1939, WT McIntire stated: “It does not seem to be certain when the Grahams first settled there, though the name occurs twice in the Border Muster of 1580-81 at Hayton.”

Last updated 2 July 2010
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Bay a productive site for centuries

Evidence for the existence of Armathwaite Bay comes in the form of two engravings by William Bellers, published in January 1774 and dedicated to William Milbourne of Armathwaite Castle.

Last updated 25 June 2010
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It’s more than just a game

We’re in the mist of football fever again with the kick-off of the 2010 World Cup.

Last updated 18 June 2010
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Rich wild pickings

Writing about a projected Flora of Cumberland in 1888, W Hodgson stated: “Last summer it came to my knowledge that a youthful son of Mr Todd of Mereside, Bromfield, the well-known agriculturalist, had made a collection of local plants, for which – beautifully dried and carefully mounted – he had received the principal award at the Agricultural College, Aspatria.”

Last updated 18 June 2010
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Safety paramount for royal rail route

When Victoria visited Scotland in August 1888 the Carlisle Journal reported: “The Queen can have seen little in the Glasgow of today to remind her of the town which she last visited 39 years ago, accompanied by the Prince Consort and her children.”Meanwhile, the Queen’s train travelled through the night to arrive at Carlisle at 5.10am on the Wednesday.

Last updated 11 June 2010
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A holiday away from life’s hardships

The Carlisle Journal reported in June 1888: “Tommy Wheatman, aged 11, a little fellow living in the Caldewgate district, was one of a batch of a dozen lads who decamped from Greenrow, wither they had been sent for a week’s holiday by the Carlisle Poor Children’s Holiday Fund.”

Last updated 4 June 2010
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Idea that’s still waiting for take off...

It was reported at a City Council meeting in September 1949 that No 5 site, Kingstown, “formerly a hospital block was redundant to Air Ministry requirements and that the Ministry of Health had enquired if the Local Authority desired to use the premises for housing purposes”.

Last updated 28 May 2010
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Signs of the times – but not for long

Historic plaques in Carlisle have never been numerous and it is only in the last 50 years that this lack has been addressed.

Last updated 21 May 2010
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Creating citizens of the world by the Eden

A two-part article by Jeremy Godwin, in the transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, gave an excellent account of the early history of Rickerby House and estate in Carlisle.

Last updated 14 May 2010
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Legacy to the railways

In March, at an auction of railwayana held at Derby, the nameplate from the steam locomotive Miles MacInnes sold for £9,200. This was a George V class engine, built at Crewe Works for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in October 1910.

Last updated 7 May 2010
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A bridge too far for Carlisle folk

The scheme to build two new bridges over the River Eden north of Carlisle and leave a single channel was commented in 1812 to the designs of Robert Smirke.

Last updated 30 April 2010
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Site of antiquity fascinated for centuries

When Eric Birley wrote in 1947 about the Roman fort at Old Penrith, north of Plumpton on the A6, he thought it was 35 years since the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian Society made its first official visit.

Last updated 23 April 2010
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