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PastPresented Cumbria Presenting images which help to reveal Cumbria's past

North of Aldingham is Baycliff. Today's first image, as you may be able to guess from the exaggerated colour tints, is f...
23/10/2026

North of Aldingham is Baycliff. Today's first image, as you may be able to guess from the exaggerated colour tints, is from the National Series, by Millar & Lang of Glasgow, postmarked 1961.
The second image, from a similar viewpoint, is a detail from a card by rivals Valentines' of Dundee, whose View Register informs us that the photo was taken in 1937. Close inspection, however, reveals that something must have gone wrong, because there's a large area of retouching at the bottom of the image.
An accident may also explain why, the following year, Valentines' returned to Baycliff, producing the photo for this postcard of the Fisherman's Arms.
The other view of the Fisherman's Arms is by Eversheds' of St. Albans; not a name commonly associated with Cumbrian postcards. I'd hazard a guess that this was produced in the 1950s.
Finally, we move inland to Urswick for another Valentine postcard. Image L 633 was photographed in 1955.

Meandering north and east from Furness Abbey we first encounter Abbot's Wood, residence of the locally-dominant Ramsden ...
22/10/2026

Meandering north and east from Furness Abbey we first encounter Abbot's Wood, residence of the locally-dominant Ramsden family. The first image is from George Markham Tweddell's 1870 "History and Antiquities of Furness" (aka "Furness: Past and Present"). This is one of a pair, the other of which I featured in my original Furness Abbey episode a few months ago:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02XNTErdVvBQhbiKAcfJsUipmtXzG1MzWd46wQHfu6P7CzjwWf3NVy3fwatDi5MUUNl&id=61567811986159
The plan of Gleaston Castle is another illustration from the 1822 revised edition of Thomas West's "Antiquities of Furness". I used to have an 18th century print of the castle by S. & N. Buck (and, for that matter, another of Piel Castle) in the PastPresented shop in Whitehaven Market Place, but I sold them …
So we return to the coast, and Aldingham. The first image of Aldingham Church is an anonymous real-photo postcard, postmarked 1943. The other is an equally-anonymous halftone printed card, postmarked 1942.
Aldingham Hall is Valentines' of Dundee card G.6492, which would have been photographed in 1937.

So the reason for my return to Furness Abbey- is that I've just acquired another (small) batch of Victorian stereo photo...
21/10/2026

So the reason for my return to Furness Abbey- is that I've just acquired another (small) batch of Victorian stereo photos on Ebay, most of which show Furness Abbey. There's a scientific reason for this: ruins have lots of gaps and holes, which allow a photo to capture objects at various reasonably close distances, ideal for stereo images.
We begin with two published by J. Garnett of Windermere, who was active from the 1860s through 1880s. These are numbers 1 (the East Window) and 4 (the Sedilia) in his series.
I had thought that the third image was also by Garnett, but it's number 19 in an anonymous series (showing "north end of Transept from the nave").
The fourth image is again anonymous, and but it's part of a professionally-published series. There's no serial number, but it's captioned as "Remains of Vestry".
Finally, another photographer working from the 1860s to 1880s, but J. Stuart was based in Inverness. Nonetheless, this is part of his series "Views of English Lake Scenery"- number 119, captioned as "Entrance to Chapter House".

I've already covered Furness Abbey in this series, but circumstances which will be revealed tomorrow prompt me to break ...
20/10/2026

I've already covered Furness Abbey in this series, but circumstances which will be revealed tomorrow prompt me to break a few rules. First rule-break is an Edwardian postcard in the S.Y.B. Series, showing Croslands Park (or as they preferred, Crosslands). The S.Y.B. cards are actually early publications by Sankeys of Barrow, for whose work I normally prefer to direct you towards their online archive:
https://www.sankeyphotoarchive.uk/collection/view/?id=1865
In general, I do not use artists' impressions in this series when photographic images are available. However, Furness Abbey is a good place to illustrate the artistic cards produced for the Furness Railway. There were basically two competing Edwardian series, the first of which was produced around 1905 by McCorquodale & Co. of London, as seen in today's second and third images.
The rivals were the famous Raphael Tuck & Sons, responsible for today's last two images. The backs of their cards included the railway company's logo, which added a touch of class.

There seems to be nothing exciting in my image collection related to Rampside, or Foulney, or Roa, but Piel Castle is do...
19/10/2026

There seems to be nothing exciting in my image collection related to Rampside, or Foulney, or Roa, but Piel Castle is doable.
The first two images are both from the 1822 revised edition of Thomas West's "Antiquities of Furness".
Third is an Edwardian postcard by national published Hartmann.
Fourth is a view from the opposite side by Valentines' of Dundee, unnumbered and possibly from their 1894 visit.
Finally a closer view from an anonymous card posted in 1914, with a serial number E 48273 (similar to the format used by German firm Stengel).

Today we're saying goodbye to Walney, and more-or-less to Barrow-in-Furness. First, an early postcard by Wrench of Londo...
18/10/2026

Today we're saying goodbye to Walney, and more-or-less to Barrow-in-Furness. First, an early postcard by Wrench of London (sent in 1904) showing a street in Vickerstown.
Second, a Valentine view, number 56557, from what may have been their third visit, in 1906, showing the view over James Dunn Park to the ferry.
Third, view 60050A by Friths' of Reigate looking back towards Barrow, photographed in 1908 according to their website (60050B showed the same view without the tram).
Fourth, another Valentine view, from their 1933 visit, showing almost the same scene as the Frith card, but with many changes.
Finally, another excerpt from the 1957 rail track plan I featured when contemplating the odd geography of Dalton-in-Furness, this time showing details of the lines through Barrow.

More of Walney today, beginning with a Souvenir Series postcard of the church (postmarked 1905).For the rest of today's ...
17/10/2026

More of Walney today, beginning with a Souvenir Series postcard of the church (postmarked 1905).
For the rest of today's images we return to Valentines' of Dundee and their almost obsessive coverage of the Barrow area.
As you can see from the message, their view of the hotel by the ferry is a very early postcard, with an undivided back on which only the address was to be written. It lacks the helpful serial number, but I have examples posted in 1902 and 1903.
Bigggar Bank does have its number, telling us that it was photographed in 1894, though posted in 1909- so the same visit may have produced the hotel postcard.
The view across Walney Channel is also postmarked 1909, but its serial number tells us it was photographed in 1905.
Finally, the view back towards the mainland from the ferry terminal is also un-numbered, and unfortunately unposted, so I can only guess that it was also photographed in 1905.

Continuing the island theme, a look across the channel at Walney. Today's first two images are from postcards in the chr...
16/10/2026

Continuing the island theme, a look across the channel at Walney. Today's first two images are from postcards in the chromatically-challenged National Series by Millar & Lang of Glasgow. The North Scale view is postmarked 1960.
The third image, which I believe to be another North Scale view, is much earlier, an anonymous real-photo card titled "Walney Channel" (with a second L in "Wallney" crudely scratched out) posted in 1908.
Fourth, another inexpertly tinted postcard, sadly anonymous and undated but possibly from the 1920s, looking from the North End towards Black Combe.
Finally today, complementing yesterday's sea-chart, a map from the 1920ish revised edition of the Harmsworth Universal Encyclopedia.
More from Walney tomorrow.

The Barrow Island theme continues today, starting with a reproduction of a 1737 chart of the ancient port known as Piel ...
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).

Today, some more municipal facilities of Barrow-in-Furness, beginning with a view of the new Post Office as seen in the ...
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.

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