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PastPresented Cumbria

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PastPresented Cumbria

Presenting images which help to reveal Cumbria's past

01/09/2026

We ended yesterday with Sella Park, so here's Sellafield. The aerial panorama is from the 1968 Cumberland Official Guide (it had also appeared in the 1967 edition, but much smaller).
The second image is the magazine of the Sellafield Area Sports & Recreational Association (printed by Moss of Whitehaven).
The final three images are all from Volume 2 Number 5 of the same magazine, published in October 1956- a bumper issue celebrating the opening of Calder Hall power station. The third is from an advert for Taylor Woodrow, the fourth from an advert for Costain / John Brown, and the last is the centre spread, from which I have digitally removed the staples.
PS: For much more on the site, try the book and website "Sellafield Stories"
https://northwestsoundheritage.org/2021/05/11/uap030-sellafield-stories/

31/08/2026

When I stated a couple of days ago that my collection contained no images of the villages of Coulderton, Nethertown and Braystones, I was not lying, but I had altogether forgotten about Middletown! Here's Croft Farm, from a photograph printed on postcard stock and posted in 1906 (some of you may have seen this image previously when I posted it to the Old West Cumbria FB group).
Anyway, returning briefly to Beckermet: it doesn't feature much in Cumberland Annual illustrations, but here are specimens from the adverts in three different editions for Walter Trippiear's joinery business.
Just north of the village are the very scanty remains of "Caernarvon Castle", incorporating the little mound of Coneygarth Cop. The plan here is another illustration from C.A. Parker's "The Gosforth District".
So too are the three grave-slabs from Ponsonby church (this is another village very poorly represented in my collection). I should remind readers at this point that Calder Bridge and Calder Abbey, being more-or-less in the Lake District National Park, featured in a much earlier episode of this series, and can be found via the map index.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1zqDW0ShXQCdlqNkWvVvWpEeV8ddlT1I
Finally today, another of the minor mansions which appear all over the Cumbrian coastal plain, Sella Park. This is an Edwardian postcard by S.M. Gibson & Co. of Gateshead.

30/08/2026

More from Beckermet today, starting with another two unidentified images from the 1920s multi-view postcard by Sankeys' of Barrow.
However, the second of them is very similar to another postcard, number 4 in a real-photo series by Moss of Whitehaven, postmarked 1912. It's the top image in this mashup, and its title is "Station Road and White Mare Hotel, Beckermet".
Third today, St. Bridget's church, another Moss postcard, but from their earlier printed series, probably around 1905.
The ancient cross stump in the churchyard at St. Bridget's has been an object of fascination for centuries thanks to its mysterious inscription. The drawings here are from "Magna Britannia: Cumberland" by S. & D. Lysons (1816) and "The Gosforth District" by C.A. Parker (originally published 1904, posthumous second edition 1926).
Finally, also from Parker's book, his drawings of medieval grave-slabs at St. John's church.

29/08/2026

Bad news! In theory, today's episode would move a little inland from the beach and explore the villages of Coulderton, Nethertown and Braystones. In practice, for some reason, my collection does not contain any relevant illustrations (except for some copies of boring National Archives documents about RAF Nethertown).
So instead, let's visit Beckermet. First, St. John's church, as seen on postcard 156 by Moss of Whitehaven, circa 1904.
Second, a detail from postcard 5521, by Wrench of London, photographed from a few metres further left. I've cropped out the church to concentrate on the street scene.
From the opposite side, perhaps slightly later, a photo by my favourite mystery south-west-Cumbrian postcard publisher, identifiable only by the handwriting style of captions which are written in white ink onto each individual card.
Today's last two images are both from a multi-view card of Beckermet published in the 1920s by Sankeys' of Barrow. The specific scenes are unidentified, so please comment!

28/08/2026

A few random items connected with the beach bungalows today. First, the map from the 1911 Inland Revenue land tax survey, showing bungalow plots along the shore south of Braystones Station (the owners being: 90, Winter; 91, Borrowdale; 92, Miss Bennett; 93 Wilson; 94, Birkbeck; 95, Miss Dawson; 96, Henry Spowart). At that time, there were no bungalows at Braystones north of the station.
Planning permission files in the records of Whitehaven and Ennerdale Rural District Councils, now held at the Archive Office on Scotch Street in Whitehaven, give some clues about the subsequent developments.
Mr Watson's February 1914 plan for a bungalow 220 yards north of the station (ref. SRDED/3/635) is typical.
Mrs Barrow of of Barrow was particularly ambitious, extending her bungalow in stages (SRDED/3/933, with an addition at left from SRDE/3/plans/75).
As holiday ambitions resumed after the Second World War, the owners of Latona, half a century ahead of the fashion, installed a wind turbine (SRDE/3/plans/155/EA/117).
Also after the Second World War, it was belatedly realised that the Ordnance Survey mapping of Braystones beach, not updated since 1899, had missed decades of bungalow development. Updates based on aerial photography were issued in 1952, as seen here on 1:25,000 sheet NY 00.

27/08/2026

Continuing southward along Braystones beach, another detail from Sankeys' 1920s visit, postcard number 9854 (postmarked 1928).
Reaching Braystones Station we can compare images from two later Sankey visits. The lower one is from card E912 (probably around 1938), the upper from H875 (one of the firm's last cards, from the mid 1960s).
Number 3 in the little set by Abrahams' of Keswick looks northward over the station in the mid 1950s.
Sankeys' card H876, presumably taken just minutes after H875, uses a viewpoint slightly south of the Abraham photo to show the Tarn Side caravan site.
Even further south, another comparison. The lower image is E917 from Sankeys' mid-1920s visit; the upper is number 4 in the Abraham set.

26/08/2026

Wandering further south along the beach we arrive in Braystones township. Sankeys of Barrow made occasional photographic trips here, so I recommend a look at their online archive. Today's first image is from their postcard E916, photographed around 1938.
Rival publisher Abrahams' of Keswick belatedly provided somewhat perfunctory coverage of the beach, mostly via a small numbered set of real-photo cards created around 1957. Second today is a detail from number 5 in the set.
However, as we saw yesterday, there are also various anonymous real-photo postcards of the area, and their style is quite reminiscent of Abrahams' 1920s output. Today's third image is from one of those anonymous cards, postmarked 1929.
Back to Sankeys' for the fourth image, from their card 6202, probably photographed around 1922.
Finally, however, we're back to the anonymous 1920s maybe-Abraham cards, this one helpfully captioned "Braystones Bungalows".

25/08/2026

For starters today, the beach bungalows north and south of my great-uncle Joe's "Tomlin View" near Coulderton, from my 1992 visit.
The postcard from which the third image is taken, number H707 by Sankeys' of Barrow (postmarked 1967), is also titled "Coulderton" but of course the dominant feature is Nethertown Station.
The view up from the shore to Nethertown Green is from an anonymous real-photo card posted in 1944. The sender noted "This appears to be the last post card left in Cumberland"- and of course it would have been published before the Second World War.
I think the same is also true of today's last image, from another anonymous real-photo card postmarked 1953. The war caused a great many changes on the beach at Nethertown.

24/08/2026

Thornhill, south of Egremont, is basically a 1920s social housing estate. We begin today with a picture of some houses, postmarked 1931.
Second, a close-up of some of the houses in the first image, postmarked 1930.
Third, the community school; the refence number THL.3 is a clue that "COPYRIGHT L.L." refers to Lilywhite Ltd. who also published the first image.
I hope I'm right that the fourth image, "The Ghyll, St. Bees" (published by R.W. Broomfield of St. Bees, probably around 1910) shows the road at Gill, west of Thornhill.
I can be more sure about details of today's last image, because I took the photo myself, in 1992. It's "Tomlin View" on the beach near Coulderton, which three decades earlier had belonged to my great-uncle Joseph Robinson of Whitehaven.
More beach bungalows tomorrow, but here are a couple of relevant links. First a Facebook post in the Old West Cumbria group from a couple of days ago, by Jean Brudenell, showing the Coulderton bungalow formerly known as "Primrose Bank" but since modernised and rechristened "Seaside Cottage"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/151311261559292/?multi_permalinks=28594908616772843

and finally, my own little website about the beach bungalows:
http://www.pastpresented.ukart.com/beach

23/08/2026

Some random views around Egremont today. First an Aerofilms photo from the 1951 survey "Cumberland with Special Reference to the West Cumberland Development Area".
Second, another extensive view, but from ground level, looking north-west towards the town, from a postcard published in the early 1950s by Sanderson & Dixon of Ambleside.
The third and fourth images are both postcards published by J. Graham of Egremont, sent in 1942 to members of the Winder family of Caldbeck.
Finally, much earlier, a postcard by the enterprising G.H. Milfull of Cleator Moor, circa 1911.

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