Compiled by Wanda Story. any comments, corrections or additions are welcome !!
The city of Carlisle is nine miles south of the border with Scotland. Carlisle is 295 miles from London, 95 miles from Glasgow, 98 miles from Edinburgh, 115 miles from York and Manchester, 58 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne, 107 miles from Stranraer, 25 miles from Cockermouth and 9 miles from Brampton. It stands on a low hill of sandstone with the Eden River to the north, the Petteril River to the East and the Caldew River to the west. It has had a bloody history and Carlisle Castle is a great medieval fortress that has watched over the City of Carlisle for over nine centuries and also bore the brunt of the frequent Scots attacks on the city. The castle has been in military hands without a break for 800 years but is now also home to the museum of the Kings Own Border Regiment and the Border Regiment. The largest castle in Cumbria, it is also one of the best preserved and is under the stewardship of English Heritage.
- Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans a little to the north, and the near by settlement became the Roman administrative centre for the north-west making Carlisle one of the oldest cities in England.
181 AD - The Picts sacked the town that was in the control of the Roman Empire.
367- The Picts again sacked the town that was in the control of the Roman Empire.
685 - There was a church on this site dedicated to St Cuthbert.
870 - St. Cuthbert’s church was rebuilt.
875 - The town was sacked by Danish Vikings.
1092 - The Normans seized the town from the Scottish.
1093 - King William II (William Rufus) was responsible for erecting Carlisle Castle, initially an earth and wood construction, which was quick to put up and cheap to build.
1095 - St. Cuthbert’s Church was rebuilt a third time.
1100s - King Henry I allowed the founding of a religious establishment, later making the town a diocese. Carlisle Castle was rebuilt.
1123 - A small priory chruch was constructed out of the north Cumbria's distinctive red sandstone.
1133 - The priory church constructed in 1123 became a cathedral. The most serious indignity it suffered was during the 1644-5 siege, when two-thirds of the nave was torn down to provide stone for repairing the city wall and castle. Serious restoration did not begin until 1853, but a surprising amount survives - including the east window and part of the original Norman nave.
1135 - Carlisle Castle fell into Scottish hands.
1157 - Henry II recovered Cumberland and Carlisle Castle was rebuilt in stone. The gate into the City at the southern end was known as Botcher Gate or English Gate.
1173 - The castle was attacked but successfully defended.
1197 - The city withstood a siege by the Scottish King William.
1200 - By this time the border region between England and Scotland had become a place where lawlessness prevailed. The families who lived there such as the Armstrong's, Rutledge's, Graham's, Kerr's, Storey's and others, were constantly engaged in feuds which included robbery, plunder and even murder. These acts brought retaliation which would start the feuding cycle all over again.
1216 - The Scottish King Alexander II took over Carlisle Castle.
1257 The city withstood a seige by William Wallace during the Scottish War of Independence.
- The Borders, or the Debateable Lands as they were known, were virtually ungoverned and ungovernable from the late 13th century to the middle of the 16th century. The great families with their complex blood feuds fought and robbed the English, the Scots and each other. The city's walls and the great gates that slammed shut every night served a very real purpose.
-The Tythe Barn, (currently the St. Cuthbert’s Church Hall) was built sometime between 1485 and 1507.
1407 - Carlisle's only surviving medieval house was built and was the headquarters in the middle ages of Carlisle’s eight Trade Guilds. The Guildhall Museum is currently housed in the upstairs.
-The original southern entrance to the City, Bothergate, was replaced by a fortress designed by Stephan von Haschenperg, which had a central square tower flanked by round towers designed to take artillery. A new gate was made to one side. This was built as part of the national defense scheme deemed necessary as a result of European anger at Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.
1538 - The beginning of church parish registers. Records before this time are termed Medieval records.
1542 - Repairs were finally made to Carlisle Castle under Henry VIII, including provision for cannon. Even so, the castle fell again into disrepair, the costs of upkeep being comparatively high.
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner in the castle, and in the same year some repairs were carried out.
-Border life was dangerous not only because of feuding neighbors, but because of living conditions that we would consider third world or worse. Their livelihood was subsistence agriculture, usually with inadequate supplies of food to last through the winter. Livestock was kept in the house with the family. Because of the probability that their house would be burned down by a neighbor, there was little incentive to build a permanent dwelling. Most houses were built out of sod.
-"The distinguishing features of the border families were... an economy of words, which did not always betoken a poverty of ideas, a dislike to wear his heart upon his sleeve, or make a display of the deeper and more tender feelings of his nature; a quiet deportment which may have great firmness and determination behind it; a dour exterior which may cover a really genial disposition and kindly heart; much caution, wariness and reserve, but a decision, energy of character, and tenacity of purpose...a capacity for hard work, a reserve of strength, self-reliance and courage. One who would not allow himself to be traduced by others..." (The Scotch-Irish, A Social History pg 78)
1595 - "In 1595, Robert Kerr was at Wooller with eight riders, killing three men; not long after he was over the line (border) looking for Storeys to murder...killing Will Storey."..."This murder was quickly avenged by the Storeys, two of whom rode into Scotland and killed Robert Kerr's shepherd. The Story-Kerr feud had originally arisen over the theft of one sheep." (The Steel Bonnets, pg 124)
1644 - The English Civil War took its toll on both the castle and the city. An eight month siege from October1644 by the Roundheads, ended after all food had run out. The castle was then occupied by a Scottish garrison. Cromwell also closed the Cathedral when two-thirds of the nave was torn down to provide stone for repairing the city wall and castle. St. Cuthbert's was the only church in Carlisle. There are many interesting burials in the churchyard, including convicts from the City's gaol.
1648 - The Royalist forces regained the castle.
1653 - George Fox, one of the founders of the Society of Friends, who came to be known as the Quakers, visited Carlisle and preached "the truth" in the Carlisle Cathedral and was imprisoned for 7 weeks .
- Tullie House, originally a 17th century private house was built. It has been enlarged and adapted to become one of the finest provincial museums in the country.
1662 - Hearth taxes were collected beginning at this time until about 1689. Lists of householders were drawn up and taxes were assessed based on the number of hearths in the home.
1683 - George II became the King of England.
1738 - George the III became King of England.
1745 - The Jacobite army of "Bonnie Prince Charlie's" campaign for the English throne swept into England, passing through Carlisle taking the castle on its way south and Prince Charlie proclaimed his father king at the market cross. The Duke of Cumberland re-took it a few weeks later in December from a Scots garrison of 400 left as a rearguard by the fleeing Prince Charles. The Duke had those of the Princes’ garrison who had survived the battle or surrendered put to death by hanging and disembowelment on nearby Capon Hill. Many of the burials are in St. Cuthbert’s churchyard. The battle for the castle caused a great deal of damage to the already dilapidated building. It was the last battle over the castle and it was left in this condition until the next century.
1750s - Up to this time medicines were not well developed. Once infection set in, nothing was possible to save the patient.
1760 - The beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England. It started in the the textile industries and gradually spread to other industries.
1778 - St. Cuthbert’s Church was re-built for the 4th time in the Georgian style, off the Market Place, and is the principal parish church in Carlisle. All that remains of the older buildings is a 14th Century stained glass window. One extremely unusual feature is the pulpit, moveable on rails, and very tall so that the Vicar could preach to the galleries. There are some stained glass windows telling the life of St Cuthbert on one side of the Church.
1794 - A Board of Agriculture Report written in 1794 gives some insights into the nature of farming in Cumberland around this time 'There are probably few counties where property in land is divided into such small parcels as in Cumberland and those small properties so universally occupied by the owners, by far the greatest part of which are held under the lords of the manors, by that species of vassalage, called customary tenure, subject to the payment of fines and heriots on alienation, the death of the lord...or the tenant, and the payment of certain annual rents, and the performance of various services called Boondays, such as getting and leading the lord's peats, plowing and harrowing his land, reaping his corn, haymaking, carrying letters etc., whenever summoned by the lord. We cannot pretend to be accurate, but believe that two thirds of the county are held by this kind of tenure in tenements from £5 to £50 a year, but the generality are from £15 to £30. Cultivation of the land by Cumberland's inhabitants came under the critical eyes of numerous experts and commentators who tended to agree that backwardness and poor land management contributed to poor crops yields. Though the weather was less kinder to farmers in the north of England, than the south.1795 - Men's wages in Cumberland on average were £10 a year, and women's wages £4.
1800s - Much work was done in the 1800s to bring the castle up to the standards demanded by a modern Victorian army.
1801 - Carlisle, as part of England had its first national census, however details of individuals were not collected.
1802 - The Cumbria Record Office in Carlisle holds copies of the Carlisle Journal beginning at this time.
1810 - Two new immense and immpressive oval towers that dominate the southern were designed by Thomas Telford and built at the southern entrance to the City, Bothergate. The two bastions known as The Citadel housed, until recently, the civil courts in the East Tower, and the criminal courts in the West Tower. The West Tower is now currently to the public.
- Because of its strategic position, Carlisle became a great 19th century railway city, with
1815 - The bridge, with five long arches over the River Eden at Carlisle, was built to a design by Sir Robert Smirke.
1837 - Civil Registration began in England on July 1st. People were asked to register births, marriages and deaths with the governement office. There were no penalties for not registering until 1875.
1841 - Carlisle had its first individual census, and would continue to census its citizens every ten years. Six thousand people, some 572 families, were said to be working in the cotton mills at low wages the average weekly earnings of a handloom weaver being 3s/-.
1845 - A statue in font of the Citadel towers was erected of the Earl of Lonsdale, through whose efforts the towers were rebuilt. Another petition from Cumberland handloom weavers, the mayor of Carlisle and cotton firms were sent to Sir Robert Peel protesting about trade restrictions and the corn laws.
1846 - The Lancaster-Carlisle Railway and Maryport-Carlisle Railways opened.
1847 - Carlisle Citadel Railway Station, with its imposing facade, was designed by Sir William Tite. He used a Tudor Gothic style to harmonize with the crenellated towers of the Citadel. Carlisle station had seven operating companies travelling over eight routes, and was one of Britain's foremost railway junctions. Only London had more railway companies entering its city. All the companies had separate goods yards, and most had their own engine sheds. Carlisle is the northern end of the famous 72 mile Settle-Carlisle Railway. Steam trains may often still been seen at Carlisle station on special charter trips.
1848 - The Caledonian-Glasgow and South-Western Railways opened.
1850s - Vaccinations were discoverd and administered.
1853 - The Burial Act of 1853 allowed local authorities to open public cemeteries. Carlisle public burial records began in 1855. Serious restoration began on the Carlisle Cathedral repairing damage done in the th 1644 seige but a surprising amount survives - including the east window and part of the original Norman nave.
1857 - The Examiner newspaper started printing in Carlisle on Fridays and cost a penny.
1860 - The population of Carlisle was about 29,000. Carlisle was noted for the manufacture of ginghams, hats, whips and fish-hooks, but its most noticeable industry was the cotton spinning and weaving. The Carlisle Journal printed twice a week and could be purchased for a penny on Tuesday and three-pence on Friday. The most popular form of advertising was still by the public bell-man, calling out announcements on the street corner. The people of Carlisle, mostly native to the city, were densely housed within the heart of the city. On Saturdays the farmers came to town to sell their produce. The streets were paved with rough cobbles, only one street in town was asphalted. The street lighting was miserably insufficient, the gas lamps, few and far between giving forth only a dismal twinkle. Lamp lighters would travel the streets with short ladders over their shoulders but not on the nights of the full moon. There were no ornamental squares, nor trees in the streets or along the river side. The police wore clawhammer blue coats and "chimney pot" glazed leather hats. There were 4 churches in Carlisle, St. Mary’s, St. Cuthbert’s, Christ Church and Holy Trinity. There was one police chief , three sergeants and twenty-five constables. A constables starting pay was 15 shillings a week. There was no Fire Brigade, the police would attend fires assisted by the soldiers from the garrison. It was described as a time of "bare utilitarianism" by author James Walter Brown. The working class had long hours of labour, poor and scanty fare, coarse and often insufficient clothing and unsanitary dwellings. Fevers and preventable diseases were more rife. Amusements and games were few, only cricket seemed to have any popularity. (taken from Round Carlisle Cross by James Walter Brown, pg 55-63)
1861 - The Express newspaper was started by John Irving Lonsdale .
1870 - The Carlisle Journal bought the Express and the Examiner and created a new issue called the Carlisle Express and Examiner.
1876 - William Dickinson remarked that: The Cumberland crops consisted chiefly then in barley, oats and hay; Some rye was sown, some beans and peas, But these in a small degree; And both on small and middling farms There was no wheat to seen.
1898 - The marriage act of 1898 allowed the appointment of authorized persons to register marriages in Roman Catholic and Protestant nonconformist places of worship. All churches licensed for marriages now keep duplicate marriage registers.
1932 - The width of the bridge over the river Eden was doubled.
1982 - A window remembering Latvia, designed by John Rees of Carlisle College of Art is added to St. Cuthbert’s Church.
1950 - The population of Carlisle was about 65,000.
1999 - The population of Carlisle was about 72,000.
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Last Updated
13 September, 2002