To Consort / The Asda Magasine, PO Box 144, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 1AX (1997)

CARD NUMBER 6330 1174 4000 5127

MRS V BELL

13 WATER GARTH

BARROW-IN-FURNESS

CUMBRIA LA14 3YL

From a deltiologist's point of view, I find this postcard rather sad. It is the newest postcard I have in my Carlisle collection and, to me, it epitomises the 'death of the postcard'. The idea of sending a greeting has given way to a faceless competition entry. This was a common use for postcards as we approached the end of the 20th century and the medium has gone from boom to almost bust.... but they aren't dead yet and I'm pleased to report that sites like Postcrossing and DIY postcard apps such as Touchnote are keeping the tradition going.

Most of my postcards come from auction sites or fairs, and they do tend to be early 1900s. I would be really really interested in receiving any cards from Carlisle which cover the 1970s to the present day. Their value is usually nothing, but to me they're an important omission from my collection as they fill in the gaps and bring me up-to-date. If you're ever having a clear out don't throw those postcards away, get in touch and send them my way!

The postcard itself was posted in 1997, but this picture goes back a bit further than that. Over on the right you can see the Scotch Street shops before The Lanes shopping centre was built, which dates this to pre-1986, but the flares are the biggest giveaway. The statue is that of James Steel, who was a newspaper editor, later councillor and Mayor of Carlisle in 1845 and

1846. The statue, by sculptor William Frederick Woodington is a Listed Building and was moved from this location to the top of Bank Street in 1989, sadly not without injury - his right hand was severed in transit. 

Published by Photo Precision Limited, St Ives

Colourmaster International series (LK2204)

Postmarked: South Lakes, 1- January 1997

To Mrs Wilson, Imperial Buildings, 32 Seagate, Dundee (1904)

Mrs Wilson, Yours to hand what are yours [?] for small [?][?] for wife & self. I stayed with you when I was in Dundee with [?]. Hoping you are keeping alright.

I am yours etc. Fred Skinner

This is a superb postcard from the early 20th century showing the Carlisle Fair, which I was minded to post as the resurrected fair is now taking place (renamed the Carlisle Pageant). The city was first granted a Royal Charter to hold a Great Fair in the summer of 1158, when market stallholders set up shop to sell fruit and vegetables, meat, leather, wool and cloth. In 1352 Edward III then granted the city the right to host the fair annually and the tradition has held ever since. 

Over the years the fair, or pageant has included, in addition to the market, a procession or re-enactment of historical events, and during the 1970s and 1980s I remember the fantastic procession of floats that made their way from Bitts Park into the town centre. In recent years the fair was scaled down, although an international food fair took its place, with traders selling their wares in the town centre, as they have done for centuries. This year the pageant was reinvigorated with a week long series of events, including a puppet parade and talks and exhibitions in venues across the city.

This postcard shows the Carlisle Fair around 1904 - it may not be the Great Fair itself - and it's a lively scene. This picture was taken on The Sands, and the Turf Tavern can be seen in the background. The detail is tremendous, and whilst there has been a little Edwardian 'photoshopping' going on, you can still make out faces and attractions. I especially like the chap in the bowler hat posing for the photo on the extreme left.

Published by Lochinvar (N & C Series)

Postmarked: Aberdeen 21st September 1904

To Miss R. J. Musgrove, c/o Mrs Thornburn, The Louin, Marlborough Gds, Stanwix, Carlisle...

Dear Ruth I now send you PC as asked for don't you wish you were here I think you might come out by two train on sunday twenty nineth seeing that it will be the last sunday all is very quiet here I got home safely on sunday night about eleven thirty five pm had company all the way to warwick bridge. have you been locked out any more see what is under the stamp

My favourite quiz question is... what's the largest city in England by area? The answer: Carlisle. I've hosted a few pub quizzes in my time and that one gets them every time (unless I'm in Carlisle, in which case everyone knows).

I share this tidbit with you because this card shows a chocolate box view of one of the city's outlying villages, Wetheral, which is in Carlisle. I have only a few cards from rural Carlisle, but it's an area I want to explore more. I've chosen this postcard for April Fool's Day as it has a coded message, too.

The card is a painting by a local artist, Thomas Bushby. The 'chocolate box' analogy is very apt as Bushby came to Carlisle in 1884 to work as a designer for Hudson Scott & Sons (aka the Metal Box) and his work adorned Victorian biscuit tins a-plenty. Carlisle's superb Tullie House museum also holds a great collection of his art work. This painting of Holly Cottage is signed and dated 1907, the year in which it was posted.

Wetheral today is still a picture postcard village, with village green, pub, shop, tea room etc. There are some great walks to be had in the surrounding Wetheral woods, and the railway station, perched precariously high above the River Eden, with the adjacent Corby Bridge is well worth a visit for the superb views.

This postcard has been written in a simple code, with backwards handwriting, and a mirror is required to read it comfortably. Writing in codes such as this was fairly common at the time, but they rarely included anything particularly juicy in the gossip stakes! Here the message is a fairly normal one of greeting, but I can't help but marvel at the neatness of the handwriting. There's some skill involved here!

What I'd like to know is..... what's underneath the stamp?!

Publisher: Chas. Thurnam & Sons, English Street, Carlisle

No. 1 in the CUMBERLAND COTTAGES series

Printed by Hudson Scott & Sons, Ltd., Carlisle

Postmarked: 8th September 1907

To A. Mackenzie, Esq. The Lindens, Market Drayton, Shropshire (1934)...

Eskvale, Longtown 29/5/34

The weather has been cold until to-day; it is now certainly warmer. You will know this bridge very well - 'the Gateway to Scotland'. You would have a busy time last week.

Cheerio!

Very kind regards to you all

I've been prompted to post this particular postcard today after reading that the Eden Bridge Gardens have been vandalised and daubed with graffiti and somewhat contradictory symbols of Nazism and anarchy. It's highly unlikely that those who were bored enough to do this have any idea of the meaning of their scribbling, let alone the history of the gardens.

The card above is the earliest I have in my collection which shows the gardens. The photo was clearly taken just after completion as there is very little to see in the way of foliage or decoration. It was sent in May 1934, five months after the gardens were officially opened by the Mayor of Carlisle, E.B. Gray, on 21st December 1933. 

Eden Bridge Terrace

In 1932 a scheme to widen the existing bridge over the Eden, known by all (and this sender) as "The Gateway to Scotland" was finally, after over 10 years, completed.  Where the gardens stand today there was a row of terraced houses, Eden Bridge Terrace, which were demolished to make way for the new, wider bridge and in their place the council decided upon a grand entrance to Rickerby Park, designed by Edward Prentice Mawson and executed by Percy Dalton. The workforce was made up of local unemployed men and much of the materials were recycled from the old bridge and the houses which once stood on the same spot. There's a fantastic description of the site from the original report which you can read here. I have spent many a contemplative hour or two here but I didn't know that one of the buildings was once a rest room for those unfortunate to be caught out in the rain, or that the other was a 'retiring room for ladies only'. I've always thought this was one of the city's best kept secrets, this place of solitude so close to thousands of passers-by each day and yet so far away from the rush.

One of the mysteries of these gardens is the name itself - originally they were called simply the 'Eden Bridge Gardens'. Over time they came to be known to locals as the Italian Gardens, due to their Italianate style, a regular feature of Mawson's designs. Less obvious is how, by the time I was playing there in the 1970s and 1980s, they had become known as the Chinese Gardens - there is nothing Chinese about them! 

It's ironic that these gardens should be daubed with Swastikas now, opened, as they were, in 1933, the year of the Reichstag fire and the year that Hitler began his rise to power.  It's telling that the unemployed men who laid the paving stones and erected the pergolas chose to use their time to create this space for others to enjoy, whilst those in a similar position today appear to have chosen to destroy it. A sign of the times?

Postcard info

Publisher: Valentine's

Postmark: 30th May 1934

To R.J.B. Webster Esq., 117 Fellowes Road, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 (1938)...

This is where Queen Mary was caught by crafty Elizabeth after she had been staying with the Curwens (Mrs Goldie's people) at Workington, according to the guidebooks - very thrilling to me, as the Goldie's still have the Queen's little work basket she left behind.

Hope all goes well with you, Love [?]

Carlisle Castle has stood proud in the city for over 900 years and has seen its share of visitors - welcome and not-so-welcome. This is an interesting real photo postcard from the 1930s which has a view from inside the castle walls (most postcards of this subject are taken from the more obvious south facing side). 

The card recalls one of the city's most famous visitors, Mary Queen of Scots, who was imprisoned at the castle on the orders of Elizabeth I. Mary had returned to Scotland (from France) in 1561 and during the next seven years she fought to hold her position as Queen of the Scots. After her marriage to Lord Darnley and his subsequent murder, in 1567, she was hurriedly (and doubtless unwillingly) married to Lord Bothwell, the man accused of her husband's murder. Their Protestant union went unrecognised by Catholic nobility and even the Protestants were dismayed at her quick work so soon after her husband's death. They were eventually hunted down by a coven of peers - Bothwell was sent into exile whilst Mary found herself imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle.

On May 2nd 1568 Mary escaped from Loch Leven and raised an army to defend herself against the opposing forces of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray. She was defeated and she fled south to England, crossing the Solway Firth in a fishing boat. Her final night of freedom was spent at Workington Hall, an honoured guest of the Curwen family. It was from there that she wrote to Elizabeth, hopeful that the English queen would support her in her attempt to regain the Scottish throne. But, after Darnley's murder (which some had attributed to Mary) Elizabeth was cautious. She ordered Mary to be taken to Carlisle Castle and held whilst she launched an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Darnley's death and Mary's subsequent conduct.

Mary spent only a few months imprisoned at Carlisle Castle. The ruins of the building where she stayed (known as Mary's Tower) can still be seen, and the section of the city wall on the east side of the castle is still known as Lady's Walk as this is where she is said to have spent her days, idling. In July 1568 Mary was moved to Bolton Castle to distance her from the Scottish border - she would spend the next 18 years in captivity, moved from castle to castle, before her execution at Fotheringay in 1586.

Mary's connection to the area still lives on today. Her communion cup, known as 'The Luck of Workington' (above), was gifted to the Curwen family in 1568 and was returned to the town in 2012. It is held in the collection of the Helena Thompson Museum adjacent to the hall where Mary spent her last night of freedom. 

The reference to the 'Goldie' family relates to the family who married into the Curwens in the early 19th century and who still live in the area today. But what of the Queen's work basket? According to this correspondent this historical artefact was still in the Goldie family in 1938... but I can't find out where it is now?

Postcard info:

Publisher: unknown

Postmark: 10th February 1938