Past & Present
The grandest pumping station in Christendom
Published 10 October 2008
As early as 1818 the Carlisle Patriot received a letter suggesting a water company for Carlisle.
Man with the magic soda water fountain
Published 3 October 2008
The main streets in Carlisle usually kept the same name over the centuries but the narrow lanes crossing the city often changed as principal property owners came and went.
Time team digs into the Ragged School site
Published 26 September 2008
In a letter to The Cumberland News in February 1964, Margaret Scott wrote: “I think it was a great pity that the old Ragged School, a worthy memorial to the Head family, should have been so ruthlessly destroyed... this school was a pioneer in creating education for the poor and should have been preserved.”
The families who called Bunkers Hill home
Published 19 September 2008
The first major engagement in the American War of Independence was fought on the Charlestown peninsula on June 17, 1775.
Digging up the grave secrets of Lord Howard’s remains
Published 12 September 2008
Writing on the subject of church bells in 1889, the Rev Henry Whitehead, of Brampton, raised an interesting problem which at first appeared to have nothing to do with his subject.
Simply the best station in the kingdom
Published 5 September 2008
On more than one occasion the Carlisle Journal praised the smooth running of the Citadel Station in the city.
Trinity School, long before SATs and proms
Published 29 August 2008
When Holy Trinity Church was built in Caldewgate in 1830 and the Canal Branch Railway opened in 1837, a small triangle of land was left on Caldcotes adjoining the churchyard.
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.
