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PastPresented Cumbria

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Presenting images which help to reveal Cumbria's past

15/10/2026

The Barrow Island theme continues today, starting with a reproduction of a 1737 chart of the ancient port known as Piel of Foudrey (from Fred Barnes' 1951 book "Barrow and District: An Illustrated History"- the dashed line on Walney shows the 20th-century coastline; my apologies for the untidiness at the top of the image, the map goes into the gutter of the book).
Second, a crude but colourful Edwardian postcard view of Ship Street by local firm Davis.
I posted some images of the docks in an earlier episode of this series, but here are three more. Today's third image is the Devonshire Dock by the Novelty Post Card Co. of Liverpool, postmarked 1907.
Next the Buccleuch Dock, from another Liverpool publisher, number 2001 in the State Series, postmarked 1911.
Finally, the Buccleauch Dock again from another much more recent publisher trying to pretend in the 1960s that their black-and-white photos were colour, Harvey Barton of Bristol (my scan is significantly brightened).

14/10/2026

Today, some more municipal facilities of Barrow-in-Furness, beginning with a view of the new Post Office as seen in the Furness and District Year Book for 1933.
A few episodes ago I noted the way Friths' of Reigate had crudely adapted their vast stock of monochrome images for the era of full-colour postcards. They were not alone in this regrettable practice: here's a view of the Library from the National Series of postcards by Millar & Lang of Glasgow, postmarked 1963.
An earlier National Series card, with a modest but slightly weird yellow tint, introduces us to Barrow's main park.
The park was also visited by Valentines' of Dundee in 1933, as seen in their image 221147.
Although we're in the home town of the great local postcard publishers, Sankey, I am following my normal policy with respect to their photos. Today's final image, of the 1909 pageant in Cavendish Park on Barrow Island, is anonymous, but looks very much like a Sankey product. However, I haven't found it in the wonderful online Sankey Archive ( https://www.sankeyphotoarchive.uk/collection/search/?searchText=pageant ), so I'm including it here.

13/10/2026

I covered Barrow-in-Furness earlier in this series because, thanks largely to the Furness Railway Company, it was an honorary part of the Lake District in the decades before the creation of the National Park. However, I only gave the town a glance, so here's a second look in more detail.
All today's images are from postcards by Valentines' of Dundee, who visited Barrow on numerous occasions.
First, an unusual version of Ramsden Square, originally photographed as image 2805 back in 1882, but here printed on linen-textured card and posted in 1913.
Second, the Technical School on Abbey Road, unnumbered but postmarked 1906.
A more general view of Abbey Road was number 41934, photographed in 1904.
A much later visit to Abbey Road provided number K.6760, photographed in 1953.
Finally though, back in time to 1906 for Valentine photo 56552, showing the hotel and Town Hall in Schneider Square.

12/10/2026

The 1825 plan of Dalton-in-Furness which forms today's first image is scanned from a rather splendid little book titled "Barrow and District: An Illustrated History" compiled by Barrow's borough librarian & curator Fred Barnes in 1951.
The plan shows how the main road enters the town at its western end. However, the railway station is at the eastern end. Here it appears on another 1966 postcard by Friths' of Reigate. For railway purposes, the difference between west and east is several kilometres, as illustrated by the little sketch map on the official route diagram (scanned from the April 1957 edition).
The relevant section of the diagram itself shows how the railway line travels from Askam all the way into Barrow, then out again via Roose, before reaching Dalton.
However, as we're (virtually) travelling by road, we next encounter Hawcoat, as represented by a single card in my collection, anonymously published around 1905, showing the birthplace of celebrated 18th-century painter George Romney.

PS: More Whitehaven squirrels etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOk87CwAdw

11/10/2026

The Castle dominates the centre of Dalton-in-Furness. Today's first image is a combination of view & plan from the 1822 compact edition of West's "Antiquities of Furness".
Second, somewhat more recent, a postcard published by T.C. Hoskins, "Stationer, Verandah Buildings, Dalton-in-Furness", maybe around 1910.
About the same time, postmarked 1911, the parish church is shown on neatly tinted card "T.C.H. Series No. 33" which I presume from the initials was also published by Hoskins.
The church interior by Atkinson of Ulverston is postmarked 1912.
Finally, decades later, the Cricket Club card was published by Friths' of Reigate in 1966.

10/10/2026

Yesterday's cheeky selection of images provided a clue about the limits of my collection. The only postcards I actively seek out are those depicting the coastal plain of Cumberland, and the products of Keswick's publishers. I buy Lake District scenes in bulk, but those bulk lots tend not to feature places beyond the National Park boundary. Hence, for example, the coverage of Askam & Ireleth is, to put it politely, underwhelming:
First, a look eastward from outside what's now 227 Ireleth Road, with St. Peter's church on the skyline at top right. This in from a card published by the R.A. Series for M.B. Cook of Askam Post Office, probably in the 1920s.
The interior of St. Peter's is depicted on card 200 of the real-photo series by James Atkinson of Ulverston, postmarked 1906.
Then we have to move on to Dalton-in-Furness, beginning with a detail of an anonymous and cheaply printed card from a tear-out booklet, posted in 1926, showing the view from the station.
Another panorama, from the south, somewhat later (postmarked 1940) is provided by a postcard from N. Parkinson of Dalton (in reality probably produced by Atkinson & Pollitt of Kendal).
Finally, venturing into the town, another cheaply produced anonymous view, of Tudor Square in, I suspect, the 1930s (EDIT: The main film advertised on the poster seems to be "Mammy" which was released in 1930).

09/10/2026

Time for a bit of cheekiness. These images are all, effectively, from the same postcard, a 5-image multi-view, by Illingworths' of Millom, of Kirkby-in-Furness, posted in 1912, and each image is captioned.
However, the first image is scanned from the full-size postcard view of the scene which is otherwise split in four at the centre of the multi-view.

08/10/2026

Our stereo diversion completed, we resume our virtual anticlockwise journey round the parts of Cumbria which are not in the Lake District National Park.
Today's first image, from the admirable but anonymous mid-Edwardian photographer who published postcards of the region from Beckermet to Broughton-in-Furness, looks east across the Duddon estuary, with (I think) Greenslack (EDIT: No, according to a helpful comment, it's Greety Gate, and Greenslack is hidden further back), on the southern boundary of the National Park, at left.
Second, the only image I possess of Foxfield, from a 1950s multi-view postcard by J. Robson of Broughton.
Third, back in time for a card postmarked 1907 and credited to "Barr"- presumably Thomas Barr, postmaster at Sand Side.
Fourth, a panorama of Kirkby-in-Furness from card KIF.19 by Francis Frith of Reigate, photographed in 1955 according to their website.
Also from Friths' and probably taken on the same visit, St. Cuthbert's church, KIF.16.

07/10/2026

Last half-samples from the Ebay stereo batch today. These are all images with printed captions on the backing cards, but no publisher's name. It might be possible to work out their approximate dates by close study, but for the time being I'm just guessing that, like the others in the batch, they were photographed around 1860-65
First, another Coniston Copper Mines view, "The Coniston Copper Mines, clouds on the Mountains"- publisher's serial number 225. The original is rather crudely tinted, and I posted a colour version to an FB group, but I think it's probably clearer in monochrome.
Number 56 in what may be the same series is "Lord Brougham's Seat, near Penrith" [i.e. Brougham Hall].
Number 201 is "Wray Castle, Windermere".
Number 45 is "The Ruins of Furness Abbey"
Today's final image seems to be from a different publisher. Its caption, "St. Mary's Church, Ambleside, with Loughrigg Fell in the background" is printed in an artistic Old English type. A quarry on the fellside below Gilbert Scar appears on early OS maps around 1860, but the lime kiln seems to have been constructed later (though of course maybe just weeks later! [EDIT: however, the photo also shows the National School, now C of E Primary School, which wasn't built until the 1870s- but as discussed in comments on that image, it doesn't show the developments which now block this view, and they started in 1880])

06/10/2026

One more from the Petschlers' "Manchester Photographic Company Limited" to begin today: Lyulph's Tower, by the shore of Ullswater.
The rest of today's images, however, are provided by major Scottish photographic publisher George Washington Wilson of Aberdeen. Starting about 1849 as a portrait photographer, Wilson was branching out into landscapes by 1860, and these half-samples of his stereo work probably date from the 1860s (according to https://scotlan3d.com/gw-wilson-stereo-catalogue/ his 1863 catalogue goes up to number 440A, the 1871 edition to 1266, suggesting that the 500s were photographed around 1864-5).
In the Lake District, his focus was landscape, as seen in image 592 of his series, "The Heronry on Rydal Mere".
However, buildings were sometimes included, as in his pair of views of slightly misspelled "Ewedale Crag- Coniston", numbered 560 (looking over the railway) and 560 A (I'm sure somebody can name that farm [EDIT: Yes they can- see comments!]).
Last but the opposite of least, a supersized detail from Wilson's stereo card 562 "At the Copper Mines- Coniston".

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