The Shaddongate Community Resource Centre, home of Cumbria CVS will host an exhibition devoted to the history and development of the areas of Shaddongate and Caldewgate.
Officially opening on Friday 13th December, with a launch at 6pm, the free exhibition will be open to the public on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th December from 10am to 4pm.
The Gate, a living history of Shaddongate, is a National Lottery Heritage Fund project which has brought people together with an interest in finding out more about this industrial part of Carlisle. It has already successfully run a series of heritage walks which have taken visitors on a historical tour of Shaddongate, Caldewgate and Willowholme, pointing out historical sites, facts and forgotten memories of an area once packed with factories, mills, breweries and the sounds and smells that accompanied them as Carlisle joined the industrial revolution.
The exhibition is the culmination of months spent collecting together information about the area and its importance to the development of Carlisle as an industrial city and features a timeline of events, people and places which shaped the area as it began to take off around 1750 and incudes information about weaving, rioting, football, pubs and breweries, the ship canal and many other things that made up the Free City as the area was nicknamed in the early 1800’s.
“This is a small place big on history” said organiser, Mark Costello of Effective Communities, the team behind the project. “We are scratching at the surface of it’s heritage and there are so many stories we could tell. The exhibition is taking place at the Shaddongate Resource Centre for example, a relatively new building, but one built on a site with a lot to talk about. Some people might remember the Border dairy complete with pipeline transporting skimmed milk from one side of Shaddongate to the other. But much earlier, from 1851 the site was home to Caldewgate Ragged and Industrial School. A place of learning and refuge for the areas’ poorest children at a time before free education. Earlier still in 1758 the site was the birthplace of Mark Lonsdale, celebrated Cumberland poet and writer of Th’ Upshot and Love in Cumberland. There is lots to find out about and we hope people will enjoy what we have collected and add their own memories as well.”
People can find out more by visiting www.shaddongate.weebly.com or for information can email markcostelloe@hotmail.com or call Mark on 07864080596.
