A colleague of mine, John Adams, was the author of the below book, the second edition of which was published 27 years ago.

In 1722 Thomas Blacklock left £20 to St Cuthbert’s parish,“the interest to be distributed every year, at the discretion of the overseers of the poor.”

Pultney Corrie was born in Carlisle in 1856. At first he was a tobacconist but by 1893 he was advertised as a cycle agent in Rickergate…

The Post Office archives record that the first box in mainland Britain was erected in Botchergate, Carlisle, in 1853. This is commemorated today with a replica Penfold box, located outside the Old Town Hall in Carlisle city centre. So why Carlisle?

The railway carriage below, built by Tweedale and Barton for the Stockton and Darlington line in 1846, is preserved in the National Collection.

The basin of the Carlisle Canal, off Port Road, was supplied by water from a reservoir at Ratlingate, before reaching the first lock near Monkhill.