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

Don't tell anybody you got this...

I've been collecting Carlisle postcards for a few years now and I don't have any specific criteria for choosing what to buy and what not to buy - except the obvious: cards have to be used, and posted from Carlisle.

Whilst the photos provide interest, there's always going to be a finite number of views to see. It's the messages that intrigue me more, the written word of someone who passed through or lived in the city holds stories, secrets, inanities. One can only imagine how the recipient felt to receive a note from a loved one, a family member, a friend.

Some messages are banal, most are entertaining whilst a few others are just plain mysterious. Today's card is the latter....

I picked this one up from Ebay; posted in September 1902, it's one of the earliest cards I have in my collection, and the only one with this view.

This is English Street at the turn of the 20th century. Very nice photo of a tram in the centre (advertising "James" Cycles - read more about the company on this wonderful blogpost at OldBike) and you can see J. Gibson's shop on the right. Is that a police constable standing right in the centre of the picture, too? Or just a fellow with hat on?

The message is an intrigue. It's more interesting for what it doesn't say than what it does.... simply:

"Don't tell anybody you got this".

That's it. There's no name, signature, or initials of any sort. The recipient is  Miss McGowan, Royal Restaurant... where? I can't make out the lettering for the final destination either but the Royal must've been fairly well-known for the card to have got there.*

So, who is he? A clandestine lover, a young suitor, a man on the run? We'll never know. This 110 year old mystery remains as enigmatic now as when the postcard was first sent.

*Thanks to the commentators, and some sleuthing Twitter users, it's been suggested that the lettering on the address side is "Dfs" and this likely stands for Dumfries. This seems very likely, being so close to Carlisle. A quick Google search indicates that there was a Royal Dumfries Restaurant there (in 1924 at least). So, now to find Miss McGowan....

To Mr & Mrs Parris, Station House, Catford Bridge, London, SE6 (1935)

19/7/35

Rain cut short my activities to-day. I covered about 16 miles of the site of the wall (there is no wall visible or scarcely any) when rain came on about 3.30p.m. I spent a long time over tea hoping that it would clear up, but returned to Carlisle [....] at 6.0pm. Reg.

Reg seems to be having a rather disappointing time whilst touring Hadrian's Wall (in the rain) and finds himself back in Carlisle for the evening. He has chosen one of the rarer postcard views of the city, the 'new' bridge over the River Eden. It's hard to find postcards with this view these days as most concentrate on Carlisle's tourist hotspots in town, but at one time the Memorial Bridge was a sight, well used by those paying their respects at the cenotaph.

The suspension bridge joins Rickerby Park on the north side with Stoneyholme golf course on the south. It was built after the First World War when the park was dedicated as a memorial to the fallen. It provides pedestrian access from St Aidan's Road to the park and the war memorial and it was officially opened on 25th May 1922. The Memorial Bridge now forms part of the Walton-Carlisle Hadrian's Wall Walk and Reg may very well have taken this route back into town.

My own memories of the 'spenny' bridge are from 1980s summer holidays when we used to spend time along the river between this and Eden Bridge; jumping off the centre of the spenny bridge into the river was a real test of nerve. I certainly wouldn't do it now!

Postcard info:

Publisher: Unknown

Postmark: 19th July 1935

To Mr & Mrs Battle, 380 Blandford Road, Efford, Plymouth, Devon (1965)...

Dear Mrs Battle and family,

Having a nice time here, but wet weather now. Hope you had a nice time in Ireland.

Cheerio, Mr & Mrs Williams

PS HOW'S JULIE?

Any city will, naturally, change with the times, new buildings will emerge in place of old and so-called 'modernisation' will take place. Carlisle has had it's fair share of this with many of it's older buildings and streets 'updated' or demolished but, despite some doom-laden accounts of the city's descent into 21st century homogenisation, the city still teems with history. Probably the most recognisable change that has taken place over the last century was the building of The Lanes Shopping Centre in 1984 (and the later expansion) but a close second are the massive changes made to the town centre around the same time.

The pedestrianisation of Carlisle city centre is possibly the largest and most dramatic change to the landscape of the city in my lifetime. Although I'm a nostalgic at heart I'm old enough to remember dodging the buses on English Street and the city centre shops being choked up with exhaust fumes. In this card, from 1965, you can see just how busy it could get, with the historic Guildhall and Town Hall looking out onto a glorified bus station! Bring back the Routemasters...but don't let them into the town centre again!

Also in the picture you can see the entrances to the Victorian subterranean toilets, something which is sadly missing, not just in Carlisle but across the country: public lavatories. I'm led to believe these toilets are still in existence but now bricked in - wouldn't it be great if they could be opened up again? There is some criticism that Carlisle has descended into a 'clone town' and the pedestrianistion seems to be the start of a slippery slope to many, but I believe that high rents and lack of local shops is responsible, not the paving. The town centre is now much more open and much more likely to be a place for shoppers and diners to stay rather than just a junction of three or four busy thoroughfares and is so much nicer for it.

One more thing... who is that schoolboy and where is he running to? Or is he being chased by that copper?

Postcard info:

Publisher: Valentine and Sons Ltd., Dundee & London

Postmark: 28th July 1965

To Mr. E. Simpson, 81 Carshalton Pk Rd, Carshalton, Surrey (1939)...

109 Warwick Road, Carlisle, 15th Nov '39

Dear Ted, I hope you are not putting your staff through the mill or toiling as hard as we are here. Don't you wish you were here: In the picture, the large white building on the right is a palatial pub 'The Crescent Inn'. Next door is the P.O. What more could you wish. Our digs are out of sight on the other side. We are in the real pukka residential district. Billeted Captains and Majors are as sands on the sea-shore. As you may have learned, we have a P.O. technical advisor staying with us but I am afraid that, owing to war-time, his lips are sealed about many interesting matters. All the best, yours sincerely, Bernard. Hope to see you at Christmas."

Here's a stately view that hasn't changed much in 70 years, although most of these buildings still stand they serve a different purpose in 2010. On the right, where Bernard describes The Crescent Inn, there is still a pub but the Post Office building has now closed down waiting further use, and next to that is the Lonsdale cinema, now shamefully derelict, which opened in 1931 and would've been an ABC at the time the card was sent. I'm guessing that Bernard was posted here (no pun intended) to work for the Post Office as there's a theme running through his message. I especially like his description of the Warwick Road area residential district as 'pukka'... this area is still teeming with guest-houses.

What's great about this card is the details of the businesses, all now gone.. on the left is the imposing North British Mercantile Insurance Co. Ltd. with McGrath's shoe shop underneath, next door to Robson's Cooked Meats and a hairdresser. Opposite you can see Messenger's newsagent and the Carlisle Dyers and Cleaners. Right on the corner is the HMV sign - can anyone remember this music shop, or indeed any memories of Warwick Road in the 30s? In the background, standing above the area is the tower of St George's Church... but what happened to the four spires, I'm sure they are no longer existing...?

To Miss Eva Bell, The Post Office, Torpenhow, Aspatria... (1906)

Every town and village in the country surely has it's own fair share of local characters, real or imagined. Carlisle is no different and one of our most colourful folk heroes is Jimmy Dyer, 'The Cumberland Bard' who, in the late Victorian times and up to his death in 1903, could be seen on the streets of the city (and others across the county) entertaining passers-by. Jimmy was a regular at festivals, race meetings and the like with his fiddle, his Gladstone bag stuffed with copies of his own verses (which he would sell to those enchanted by them) and his tatty clothes. This itinerant troubadour (or busker, depending on your point of view) was a well-known sight on the streets of Carlisle, an ex-sailor who had numerous run-ins with local magistrates but who, nevertheless, became something of a cult figure. He was such a local celebrity that this card (and others) were issued to commemorate his life and in 1986, at the opening of The Lanes shopping centre, a statue of Jimmy by sculptor Judith Bluck was unveiled. It remains in the city to this day, now outside the new Debenhams department store. This card is based on a photograph by J. Robson and was published by the local firm Nicholson & Cartner. The verse reads

"By Road an River, Country Side and Town, I wander over With my Fiddle brown"

The card itself was posted from Caldbeck in May 1906 and reflects the huge popularity of the postcard at the time. Annie writes to Eva of her collection of almost three hundred postcards and expresses a penchant for those of actresses which were extremely popular at the time. Both sides of the card prove that 'celebrity' certainly isn't a 21st century craze.

If you have any further info about Jimmy Dyer, please let me know by leaving a comment below.