Finds / Cumbria Reading Detectives

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On Lindale Hill

March 15, 2010 11:36 AM from Helen | Whilst working on Reading Detectives, the Grange team decided that they would like to commission a poem about the local area, written by a poet living in Cumbria. We decided that it would be a fitting finale to our work,... Read more

Grange-over-Sands: The Story of a Gentle Township

October 31, 2009 2:27 PM from Mary Rossall | Well, I thought it would be nice to finish this amazing project with a final book which tells the story of this 'gentle township' where I live. The author, W. E. Swale, published his book in 1969 and in it... Read more

The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland

October 31, 2009 10:51 AM from Helen | In 1936 Chiang Yee visited the Lake District, staying for 2 weeks in B&Bs around Wasdale and Keswick, and this book, published in 1937 is the journal of his stay. It is one of the most beautiful and amazing pieces... Read more

Red Ike

October 30, 2009 7:28 AM from Anne | Get ready for a tale of gypsies, outlaws, poaching and romance set among the Cumberland fells. This really is a bodice ripping adventure of wronged heroines and their courageous, honest suitors. The original story was written by 'Mr' Denwood but in... Read more

Cumbrian Privies

October 28, 2009 8:35 PM from Mary Rossall | This fascinating book written by John Dawson and published in 1997 records the history of Cumbrian privies from the soldiers' latrines at the Roman forts on Hadrian's Wall, the 'garderobes' in the great castles and religious houses of the Middle... Read more

Ethel Fisher's West Cumbrian Dialect titles

October 27, 2009 6:18 PM from Helen | Cumbria has its own distinct dialect...or to be more accurate, that should read "dialects" given that there is so much variation between the north, south, east and west of the county! Dialect has already been touched upon in my post about Jacob Polley's Talk of... Read more

The Embalmer's Book of Recipes by Ann Lingard

October 27, 2009 5:19 PM from Helen | Last week we had two library events with the author, Ann Lingard. Ann was a lecturer and research scientist at the University of Glasgow, before changing career to write and broadcast. She and her husband and a few... Read more

Nella Last's Peace

October 27, 2009 4:16 PM from Helen | Thanks to the wonderful play Housewife 49, written by and starring Victoria Wood, I think a great many people are now familiar with the war diaries of Nella Last, upon which it was based. However, considerably fewer people may know that a... Read more

Riding the Stang by Dawn Robertson

October 25, 2009 3:13 PM from Mary Rossall | "Riding the Stang" is the first novel by writer Dawn Robertson and was published by Hayloft Publishing in 2000. I have already posted a find by this author - "Secrets and Legends of Old Westmorland" - and she is obviously... Read more

Life on the Fell - a pictorial chronicle of a Lakeland community

October 20, 2009 6:11 PM from Anne | This book had its origins about 25 years ago when the late David Caldwell, who had retired from the Civil Service to Cartmel Fell, began to collect old photographs. David died in 1985 but the collection continued to grow with... Read more

About Scout Scar

October 17, 2009 7:35 PM from Mary Rossall | Last year we had a very enjoyable evening listening to Jan Wiltshire, the author of "About Scout Scar", giving a talk in the library about her book which had just been published. She explained how her habit of writing a... Read more

William Wilberforce - A Summer Diary 1779

October 14, 2009 1:14 PM from Mary Rossall | My detective work has now led me to the discovery of a diary written by the great anti-slavery politician, William Wilberforce. In 1779, in his final year as an undergraduate at Cambridge, he set out to meet Thomas Cookson, Wordsworth's... Read more

Beatrix Potter - the unknown years

October 13, 2009 11:42 AM from ChrisS | Reading the blog about Harriet Martineau and her connection with the Armitt Collection reminded me of the other treasures there, Beatrix Potter's paintings of fungi. While Beatrix Potter is well known for her children's books it is not generally known that... Read more

Smoke over Shap by Margaret Potter

October 12, 2009 1:44 PM from Mary Rossall | This book finds me making a link with the BBC, another partner in the Reading Detectives project. "Smoke over Shap" was created for BBC children's programmes and was first broadcast in six parts as a 4th Dimension serial on Radio... Read more

Songs of a Cragsman by George Basterfield

October 11, 2009 7:30 PM from Mary Rossall | After a very busy week at work I've been having a lovely time today being a Reading Detective! I discovered this book while having a hunt along the Local Studies shelves in Ulverston library a couple of weeks ago and have been... Read more

The Grasmere Dialect Plays

October 11, 2009 4:13 PM from Mary Rossall | In an earlier find I talked about Canon Rawnsley and his charming book "Lake Country Sketches". One of my favourite chapters from this book is entitled "At the Grasmere Play". In it Rawnsley tells of a visit he makes to... Read more

The Grizedale Experience: Sculpture, Art & Theatre in a Lakeland Forest

October 11, 2009 12:43 PM from Mary Rossall | Grizedale is a magical forest tucked away in the fells of Furness in the southern Lake District. When Bill Grant arrived at Grizedale as Head Forester in 1963 he recognised that it was time to start managing the forest as... Read more

An Atlas of The English Lakes

October 9, 2009 7:05 PM from Mary Rossall | "An Atlas of The English Lakes" is written by John Wilson Parker and was published in 2002 by Cicerone Press. I am delighted to say that the author, John Parker, is a resident of Grange and a regular visitor to... Read more

How Hall. Poetry and Memories. A Passion for Ennerdale by Tom Rawling

October 8, 2009 2:51 PM from Helen | Today is National Poetry Day and we had an event at Cockermouth Library this morning, with Michael Baron talking about the Ennerdale Poet, Tom Rowling. Michael has edited, and also written the preface to, How Hall, which has just been published by... Read more

Stumpy, Hero of the Lakes

October 8, 2009 9:01 AM from ChrisS | I discovered this little book on sale in a local community shop and a few weeks later saw it at Dalemain, a stately home near the shores of Ullswater. It is described as suitable for all ages from 8 to... Read more

The High Places by A. Harry Griffin

October 6, 2009 12:21 PM from Mary Rossall | Harry Griffin grew up in Barrow-in-Furness and his interest in outdoor activities really began the day he took himself on a bicycle ride to Coniston. That day this teenage boy climbed Coniston Old Man, wandered down the slopes to Goat's... Read more

The Highest House in Wathendale

October 5, 2009 12:10 PM from Helen | The Highest House in Wathendale is a story by Harriet Martineau. Harriet Martineau was one of the most emininet women writers of her day. As well as being a writer she was a philosopher, a sociologist, and political economist, noted for her feminist and abolitionist... Read more

Kendal by Roger Bingham

October 4, 2009 1:22 PM from Mary Rossall | The full title of this book is "Kendal A Social History" and as the author explains his aim was 'to record widely the diverse life story covering a thousand years and more of an important northern town within the matrix... Read more

Secrets and Legends of Old Westmorland

October 4, 2009 10:13 AM from Mary Rossall | This book tells many stories; stories which were never written down but survived for over a thousand years passed from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Each story is illustrated with wonderful and very atmospheric black and... Read more

Reminiscences of Wordsworth Among the Peasantry of Westmorland by Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley

October 3, 2009 4:01 PM from Mary Rossall | Canon Rawnsley was born in 1851, one of a family of 10 children. As a young man he went to Balioll College, Oxford where he met John Ruskin who was to remain a lifelong friend. In 1877 he became vicar... Read more

Little Gods by Jacob Polley

October 3, 2009 1:06 PM from Mary Rossall | Last Thursday some of the Grange Reading Detectives, plus members from the other three reading groups based in Grange Library, were treated to a very special evening with Jacob Polley. Jacob was born in Cumbria and still lives in Carlisle... Read more

A Lakeland Summer

October 3, 2009 12:28 PM from Mary Rossall | "A Lakeland Summer" was written by Elizabeth Battrick and is the story of a family holiday which took place in the Lake District early one summer in the 1930's. It tells of a young girl's introduction to the high fells,... Read more

Hunter of Harter Fell by Joseph E Chipperfield

October 1, 2009 6:02 PM from Janet | Anyone who likes dogs and the fells will enjoy this regardless of their age. The book was written in 1976 by Joseph Chipperfield who obviously loved Alsatian dogs and the Cumbrian hills. The main character is Hunter, a much... Read more

And Nobody Woke Up Dead

October 1, 2009 9:59 AM from Mary Rossall | Author Jan Levi has written a fascinating account of Mabel Barker - a quite remarkable woman whose life deserves to be better known. She was born in Silloth in 1885 and grew up to become one of the leading female... Read more

An accessible paradise

September 30, 2009 1:12 PM from Mary Rossall | In the early days as a Reading Detective (it seems so long ago!) I wrote a blog about a visit to the Bluebell Bookshop in Penrith. I can never visit a bookshop and leave without a purchase and that day I... Read more

The Fleming Family novels and Graham Sutton

September 29, 2009 6:03 PM from ChrisS | I have previously written about Graham Sutton's novel, Shepherd's Warning, and Ann has written about the sequel, Smoke across the Fell. We now know that between 1947 and 1955 Graham Sutton wrote 4 novels about the Fleming family spanning the... Read more

Excursion to Loweswater. A Lakeland Visit 1865

September 29, 2009 3:37 PM from Helen | In 1865, Robert and Rachel Jackson of Waterend, Loweswater, wrote to their Quaker friends in Manchester and invited them to come to stay for a weekend. The invitation was accepted with great enthusiasm...by 44 people! Quite a house party by... Read more

Writing on the Wall

September 29, 2009 3:04 PM from Helen | Writing on the Wall is probably best described as a kind of portfolio or collection of writing arising from a very special creative writing project which ran from 2001 to 2006. It was an international project based on Hadrian's Wall and... Read more

Beyond Scafell by Alan Robinson

September 29, 2009 2:23 PM from Helen | I think that many of us involved in this project have commented how, were it not for Reading Detectives, we wouldn't have chosen to read particular titles or we would simply have "missed" them altogether by not coming across them.... Read more

Rogue Herries by Hugh Walpole

September 29, 2009 12:50 PM from Helen | Rogue Herries is the first of four volumes that make up the Herries Chronicle and was published in 1933, with the succeeding titles (Judith Parris, The Fortress and Vanessa) charting the Herries family up until the 20th Century. Set in the 18th Century,... Read more

Kendal In The Nineteenth Century by A Wainwright

September 28, 2009 10:19 PM from Anne | Doreen's enthusiasm for T'Bacca Queen led me to delve further into books about Kendal's past and particularly Fellside. Alfred Wainwright well known for his pictorial guides, but less well known for his other works, produced one such book 'Kendal in the nineteenth century'. In... Read more

In There Somewhere

September 27, 2009 1:26 PM from Mary Rossall | I've been thinking about dry stone walls! Many years ago I worked for twelve months as a ranger for the National Park. In that time I helped to construct a bridge over the beck which runs next to Rydal Mount, the... Read more

The Bondwomen by W G Collingwood

September 26, 2009 7:21 PM from Anne | Well Helen, I haven't yet read Thorstein of the Mere but I have read the sequel, The Bondwomen. Like you I have found my eyes opened to the historical significance of parts of our county's landscape, areas which were home... Read more

"Ah'd Gaa Back Tomorra!"

September 24, 2009 8:42 PM from Mary Rossall | When I read "The Cumberland Coast" by Neil Curry (see earlier find) he mentioned in the chapter about Whitehaven how the screen lasses worked sorting and grading the coal at the local pits. This caught my attention and after some... Read more

A Cumbrian Copper by Ray Huddart

September 24, 2009 5:34 PM from Chrissy Ogilvie | This is a memoir by a policeman who served his time in Cumbria rising from the beat to detective level. The style is a little plodding at times but then one senses an authentic voice and not one that has... Read more

The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards

September 24, 2009 5:15 PM from Chrissy Ogilvie | One of a series of crime novels set in the Lake District and featuring academic historian Daniel Kind and professional detective Hannah Scarlett in an arms length romantic dance. In true Miss Marple tradition, the amateur helps the professional to... Read more

Old Will Stories by Dudley Hoys

September 24, 2009 5:09 PM from Chrissy Ogilvie | A rather quaint and charming collection of short stories featuring a fictional rural Cumbrian character 'Old Will', a man of the land. There is a strong sense of place and a sketch portrait of the kind of farmer who may... Read more

The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff

September 24, 2009 9:45 AM from Anne | When I was in my first year at Grammar School in 1967, our form had to read Rosemary Sutcliff's version of Beowulf and it left a lasting impression. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover that among the many... Read more

T'Bacca Queen by Theodora Wilson Wilson

September 23, 2009 7:29 PM from Anne | I must confess I haven't read this book, but am writing this entry on behalf of Doreen, a fellow detective, who as a true local has a keen interest in the local history of what is now south Cumbria, but what... Read more

Furness and the Industrial Revolution

September 20, 2009 7:37 PM from Mary Rossall | I am writing this blog on behalf of fellow Reading Detective, Liz. "Furness and the Industrial Revolution" was written by J. D. Marshall and was first published in 1958 with a revised edition in 1981. It is easy to think... Read more

The Shadow of Black Combe

September 19, 2009 10:39 AM from Mary Rossall | Black Combe is the fell that sits in splendid isolation at the mouth of the Duddon estuary and towers over the town of Millom where Norman Nicholson lived all his life. It played a large part in the poet's... Read more

The Painted Letters of Percy Kelly

September 18, 2009 12:42 PM from Anne | I'm putting this up as a find on behalf of a fellow detective, Doreen. After reading 'Hercules and the Farmer's Wife' by Chris Wadsworth, I came across another lovely book by her called 'The Painted Letters of Percy Kelly'. It tells the... Read more

Ivver Sen

September 17, 2009 8:11 PM from Mary Rossall | Ivver Sen is the Cumbrian dialect for ever since and is the title of a book published in 2008 and written by Keith Richardson who lives in Keswick. It has recently won the Lakeland Book of the Year competition and... Read more

Lakeland in the 1830s

September 16, 2009 5:58 PM from ChrisS | This book by Wendy M Stuart is a transcription of an original manuscript written by her great-great grandfather, Isaac Simpson. It is a daily journal of a journey taken in a horse-drawn gig in the autumn of 1831 from Preston to... Read more

Wasdale Climbing Book By Michael Cocker

September 16, 2009 7:40 AM from Anne | Having identified myself as a climbing widow (only joking, Mike!), this book was always going to interest my husband but I did think before reading it that I might find it hard work! I'm glad to say I didn't,... Read more

Riding High by Barbara Sneyd

September 13, 2009 6:36 PM from Anne | Janet (a fellow reading detective) and I have both read this lovely book set in Finsthwaite, a small village at the southern end of Windermere. It is a beautiful collection of paintings, sketches and letters by Barbara Sneyd who was born... Read more

Deborah in Langdale

September 11, 2009 7:27 PM from Mary Rossall | This fictional story of two sisters, Deborah and Enid Machell, was written by E. M. Ward and published in 1933. The story begins in Folkstone where the two unmarried sisters are living with their aged uncle. Life is hard and when... Read more

Early Recollections of Grange

September 9, 2009 4:17 PM from Helen | I have just finished reading the most delightful piece of writing about Grange over Sands, and regular readers of the Cumbria page on the Reading Detectives website will perhaps recognise it as one of the titles referred to by Mary in her very... Read more

Hazard's Way by Roger Hubank

September 8, 2009 6:38 PM from Anne | Being married to a climber and mother of another, I automatically reached for this book when I saw the picture of Wasdale adorning the cover. Set at the turn of 19th century, the book revolves around the life of a... Read more

Yan, Tan, Tethera

September 7, 2009 8:31 PM from Mary Rossall | I was thinking today about the Herdwick sheep which are so much a part of the Cumbrian landscape. They are a small hardy breed which 'heft' to the fellside on which they were bred. There is a whole Cumbrian language... Read more

Talk of the Town

September 7, 2009 10:29 AM from Helen | In preparation for some upcoming events in our libraries with Jacob Polley I have been reading his debut novel, Talk of the Town. Jacob was born in 1975 in Carlisle. He is perhaps better known as a poet. He won the Eric Gegory Award and... Read more

Capturing the Mountains

September 6, 2009 12:55 PM from Mary Rossall | I am writing this entry on behalf of Reading Detective June. "Capturing the Mountains: The Lake District Through the Lens of the Abraham Brothers" was published in 2008 and includes an introduction by Sue Steinberg, Ashley Abraham's granddaughter, who also... Read more

Hope On, Hope Ever

September 6, 2009 9:06 AM from Anne | I'm posting this on behalf of fellow Reading Detective, Brenda. The book was written by Mary Howitt and was first published in 1840 and reprinted in 1988. Mary Howitt visited her Quaker relations in Dentdale in 1836 with her husband,... Read more

Mildred Edwards: Our City Our People 1889 - 1978 Memories

September 4, 2009 11:07 AM from Helen | Working for Cumbria Libraries we are fortunate in being able to pick the brains of colleagues with specialisms. Our team of Local Studies librarians have an amazing wealth of knowledge and expertise, and they manage collections which hold all kinds of amazing... Read more

Lakeland Limericks

September 3, 2009 5:34 PM from Mary Rossall | Well this must be one of the slimmest hidden gems I've found so far - just thirty-seven pages but sometimes the biggest surprises come in small packages. "Lakeland Limericks", written in 1941, by C.Armstrong Gibbs and illustrated by William H.... Read more

Surrounding loveliness

September 3, 2009 10:05 AM from Mary Rossall | "I started on the scaling in Tup Close, and found that the time taken for twenty-five piles was one hour, including a break for a few puffs at a pipe. The sun had come out. Harter Fell stood clear and... Read more

Haweswater by Sarah Hall

September 2, 2009 8:35 PM from Helen | Today I have been at Ulverston Library where I had arranged an author event with Sarah Hall. Sarah was speaking about her latest novel, How to Paint A Dead Man which has been longlisted for this year's Man... Read more

Coast to Coast by Jan Minshull

September 1, 2009 7:48 PM from Helen | This find is posted on behalf of one of our group members, Janet. Janet has been busy reading a book called Coast to Coast by Jan Minshull. This is a book about a woman, a wife and a mother, who... Read more

Sunshine To The Sunless

September 1, 2009 7:46 PM from Anne | This is a blog for two of our members, Pat and Janet. Janet ~ The main character is a teenager, Andy, who witnessed the deaths of 2 tourists, a father and son, in the quicksands of the Duddon Estuary off... Read more

Geese, cattle wallopers and secret Irish paths

September 1, 2009 7:40 PM from Mary Rossall | This is the title of a book by Irvine Hunt which was published in 2008. Having just read Norman Nicholson's autobiography I was interested to discover that Irvine Hunt was good friends with Norman and, in fact, they held joint... Read more

Anarchists, Angels and wet Bank Holiday Mondays

August 31, 2009 10:51 PM from Helen | Today is August Bank Holiday Monday and true to form, the weather has been vile in south Cumbria! A stiff breeze and patchy showers gave way to an even stiffer wind and a torrential downpour complete with thunder as the day progressed. Having... Read more

A more unconventional kind of find...?

August 30, 2009 11:56 PM from Helen | You don't get a blog from me in ages then just like buses, three come along at once! The internet is a brilliant tool for any Reading Detective, and it also means that many "finds" can be instantly accessed by... Read more

Skiddaw Summit by Kathleen Jones

August 30, 2009 11:03 PM from Helen | Many years ago - more years now than I care to recollect! - I decided that I would like to celebrate my birthday by climbing one of Cumbria's highest peaks, and, hopefully achieving the summit! The fact that my birthday is 4... Read more

Thorstein of the Mere: A Saga of the Northmen in Lakeland

August 30, 2009 7:33 PM from Helen | I can't believe how quickly time passes and I was astounded to discover that a month has passed since I made my first blog entry! I haven't been slacking though, and apart from 2 weeks away on holiday I... Read more

Wednesday Early Closing

August 30, 2009 4:34 PM from Mary Rossall | This is the title of Norman Nicholson's autobiography published in 1975. Norman Nicholson was born in Millom in 1914 and lived all his life in the same house in St George's Terrace. He is obviously best known for his wonderful... Read more

Smoke Across The Fell

August 27, 2009 7:34 PM from Anne | Graham Sutton, the author of Smoke Across The Fell, was a notable Cumbrian writer who died in 1959 at the age of 67. He was born in Scotby and educated at St Bees (on the Cumberland coast) and Queen College,... Read more

The Sand Pilot of Morecambe Bay

August 24, 2009 10:09 AM from ChrisS | Before the advent of the railway, the main route from Lancaster to the Furness Peninsula was across the sands of Morecambe Bay, an area beset by quicksands and ever-changing channels. There is evidence that a guide was appointed in the... Read more

The Chronicles of Boggerthwaite

August 24, 2009 8:24 AM from ChrisS | After enjoying a second historical novel by Graham Sutton, I have turned to something completely different, the Chronicles of Boggerthwaite, pronounced Boggerthit, an everyday story of Lakeland folk, by northern writer David Bean. This hilarious book is based on a his... Read more

Carrock Fell

August 23, 2009 2:59 PM from Mary Rossall | After enjoying the exploits of the 'Two Idle Apprentices' as they climbed Carrock Fell I have just discovered this poem which I thought they would have enjoyed reading. It is in a collection of poems called "Give or Take" by... Read more

Feet in the Clouds

August 20, 2009 4:00 PM from Mary Rossall | This is the title of a book which was published in 2004 and which won Richard Askwith, the author, the Best New Writer prize at the British Sports Publishing Awards. It is a tale of fell-running and obsession. For those of... Read more

Hercules and the Farmer's Wife

August 19, 2009 7:34 PM from Mary Rossall | This curious title belongs to a book published in 2009 by Chris Wadsworth. Chris is the owner of Castlegate Gallery in Cockermouth and the book is the story of how she moved to Cumbria, bought Castlegate House and turned it... Read more

Shepherd's Warning

August 18, 2009 9:30 PM from ChrisS | What a fascinating project this is, giving us the opportunity to read books about the Lake District of which we were previously unaware. I have enjoyed 'Shepherd's Warning', a novel by Graham Sutton written in 1946 but set on the west... Read more

The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices

August 17, 2009 3:52 PM from Mary Rossall | In Neil Curry's book 'The Cumberland Coast' he mentions a visit to Cumbria by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. This intrigued me so I located a copy of the book which they wrote - thank you Carlisle Library - and... Read more

I've been so busy reading I haven't had time to blog!

August 17, 2009 2:20 PM from Mary Rossall | The library has been so busy this last couple of weeks with summer activities for the children and library staff on holiday that I haven't had time to record my finds. Anyway here goes! I have been on a bit... Read more

It was a wet and windy night....

July 30, 2009 5:00 PM from Mary Rossall | It was a wet and windy night in Grange-over-Sands but the Reading Detectives didn't have time to worry about the weather. They were too busy discussing their latest finds and deciding what to read next! The meeting began with a... Read more

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