PastPresented Cumbria

24/06/2026

We're now entering a twilight zone. My random acquisitions of local postcards and other pictorial resources have turned up very little related to the area between Harrington and the Lake District National Park boundary. For example, although postcards were published showing the notorious Distington boiler explosion of September 1909, they are almost always sold individually (at premium prices) rather than being included in the sort of job lots which form the basis of my collection.
All I can offer instead is the slightly Sheila Fell-esque view up Boot Brow by Moss of Whitehaven, and the interior of the parish church (this version anonymously published)- both circa 1905.
The 1951 official survey of Cumberland industry did show a couple of nice local industrial interiors, today's third & fourth images.
Further inland there's even less, as we'll see over the next few days, wandering north to south. Here's all I have on Eaglesfield (from the 1934 Cumberland Annual).

23/06/2026

I posted the full versions of today's first couple of images in my earlier project on the history of Cumbrian postcard publishers,
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0VZJh1Xnow69XrQJUCC5KHZWtcntLqxUc31vfwW6G2uFPZeg6oWpyXL5iDSb3kTFUl&id=61567811986159
so today I'm focusing on details.
First, the view of a random group of people loitering in the middle of the road at Eller Bank in Harrington. This anonymous and undated card is in the style of W.C. Lawrie of Workington, and probably dates from just before the First World War.
The view of harvest decorations in the parish church (postmarked 1907) was published by Joe Todd of Harrington, printed for him by a German specialist. The close-up reveals how much of the background detail is actually just painted onto the original photo!
Moving up to High Harrington, another anonymous W.C. Lawrie-style postcard, again probably just before the First World War.
Today's final two images are from Francis Frith & Co. of Reigate, photographed around 1955 according to their website.

22/06/2026

Moving inland, we encounter the railway station, as depicted by Mr Deans around 1930.
The view up Church Road, with the Station Hotel glimpsed at far left, is from the enigmatic Souvenir Series of postcards depicting scenes around the margin of the Irish Sea, circa 1905.
The view back down is anonymous and undated, but probably by W.C. Lawrie of Workington around 1914.
Looking up Primrose Crescent is card 2075 in the Phoenix series by Brittain & Wright of Stockton-on-Tees, postmarked 1915 but probably published closer to 1910.
The anonymous and undated view down the same terrace may have been photographed by W.C. Lawrie the same day as Church Road.

22/06/2026

Another thrilling episode of the Whitehaven gulls saga:

Another update on the progress of the gull chicks in the backyard o...

21/06/2026

Next we visit Harrington, starting with the well-known image titled "THE SOLWAY (from Harrington Harbour)" engraved by Robert Brandard from a picture by W.H. Bartlett, for the latter's 1841-2 continuation of William Finden's "Views of the Ports, Harbours, Coast Scenery, and Watering Places of Great Britain". Unfortunately I couldn't remove this print from its mount to get a good scan, sorry!
The panorama with dredger is number 14 in the real-photo postcard series by W.C. Lawrie of Workington, probably photographed in the early 1920s.
All the last three images, however, are from postcards by Lawrie's rival Albert Deans, who ran a newsagent shop in Harrington from the later 1920s. The date 1926 is scribbled on the back of his card showing the dredger by the pier.
The stormy view of the pier head similarly has "1932" scribbled on the back; I presume it predates the last image, firmly dated to September of that year.

20/06/2026

I'll begin today with a couple of images which got missed earlier. First another from the 1925 Cumberland Annual, showing the former Low Station just before it was redeveloped as Workington Main, to create the enlarged facilities seen today.
Just beyond the station is the alleged scene of the second image. It's an anonymous, uncaptioned real-photo card, postmarked Workington, 7 May 1912, and somebody has worked out that it shows children at Lawrence Street School. The original message on the back (from "Madge") states: "I am sending you the house that Jack built, mother is busy getting the children ready for the Operetta".
Meandering southward away from Workington, here's a panorama of Moss Bay from a Souvenir Series card postmarked 1905 (followers of the Old West Cumbria FB group may recognise it as I posted it there last year).
It's not often you see multi-view postcards proclaiming "Greetings from Workington" with Salterbeck as the central image. This one's anonymous and undated, so I'm just guessing that it was published in the 1930s.
Salterbeck was one of the developments highlighted in the 1951 official publication "Cumberland with special reference to the West Cumberland Development Area" from which this Aerofilms view is taken.

19/06/2026

Just down the road from St. John's was the Higher Grade School (better known as the Wilson School), seen here on postcard 214 by Moss of Whitehaven, postmarked 1906.
South-east of that, beyond the built-up area, was the elegant mansion-style Bankfield. This card from the Unique series by Walter Benton of Newcastle may have been sold during the First World War when Bankfield was used as an Auxiliary Hospital.
Now for an abrupt change of plan. Yesterday I acquired a nice batch of Whitehaven postcards (to be featured later in this series) with others showing Carlisle, Keswick etc. Among them was this early card of Hagg Hill Market, by Nicholson & Cartner of Carlisle (postmarked 1904).
Another of my purchases yesterday was the 1937 Cumberland Annual, earlier editions of which I featured a few days ago. Today's final two illustrations are both taken from it.

18/06/2026

Time to get some more religion. Another early postcard (number 5033, postmarked 1908) in the "Unique" series by Walter Benton of Newcastle shows Workington's Roman Catholic church.
About the same time (postmarked 1907), card 3367 in W.H. Smith's "Kingsway Real Photo Series" depicts the ornate interior.
However, for a close look at the intricate decoration, here's a detail from a "Derwent Series" card by J.R. Taylor of Workington, probably also mid-Edwardian.
Today's final couple of views are slightly cheeky on my part- enlargements of individual panels from a five-view postcard by Taylor's young rival, W.C. Lawrie (postmarked 1911), showing the Baptist Church on Harrington Road, and St. John's parish church.

17/06/2026

Welcome to the cemetery, on Harrington Road in Workington. Whereas yesterday's images of Vulcan Park necessarily dated from after 1925, when colour-tinting had rather gone out of fashion, the cemetery was a popular subject for postcards in the Edwardian golden age of fake colour.
The entrance is depicted on a card published by T.D. Keenliside of Workington, postmarked 1905.
It's thus almost exactly contemporary with the photographic visit by Valentines' of Dundee in 1904, as seen in the second image.
Beatys' of Carlisle seem to have been slightly later with their tinted cards; they published the third image, postmarked 1909.
Wandering a little way beyond the cemetery we find the Infirmary, depicted by another Carlisle publisher, Nicholson & Cartner, in their "Lochinvar" series. This card is postmarked 1905.
Somewhat off our route, and not tinted, I may as well add here postcard 6054 in the "Unique" series by Walter Benton & Co. of Newcastle, depicting what was then (circa 1900-5) the Fever Hospital, previously the Workhouse.

16/06/2026

Back to the Workington perambulation after our look at the Cumberland Annuals. Vulcan Park, opened in 1925, was an easy target for postcard publishers, so it was well covered by both local and national firms.
Its dominant feature, of course, was the war memorial, seen here in an anonymous real-photo card postmarked 1937, with the Technical School behind.
Venturing further into the park, courtesy of another anonymous card, gravure printed rather than real-photo, we pass the tennis courts.
However, had we chosen a different path we would encounter acres of informal grassland, ideal for small children to romp around. According to the Francis Frith website, this photo was taken around 1955.
Similarly, information on the Valentine of Dundee collection from the University of St. Andrews website indicates that their image K.394, giving a particularly expansive view of the park, was photographed in 1950.
Leaving Vulcan Park (or rather, leaving the allotments which preceded the park, for this last postcard was produced by Beatys' of Carlisle around 1906) we reach the junction of Vulcan's Lane and Harrington Road, where we will encounter another municipal amenity tomorrow.