Penrith
Penrith maps (2 available)
Map of Cumbria
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Penrith books (2 available)
- 37 photos on Penrith appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Penrith
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Penrith and Cumbria
Penrith memories
Read and share memories of Penrith and Cumbria inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Cumbria below.
Cumbria memories
Tirril
My name is Sandra and I am the little girl on the right of the picture. I lived at the Post Office with my grandparents, Mr & Mrs Robinson and I have very fond memories of growing up in the village. The bigger girl with me was Ann Tatters who used to take me to school at Yanwath.
A memory of Tirril contributed by First Name Last Name
Langwathby Hall Farm
As a youngster of 12 I was evacuated from my home in Wallington near Croydon Surrey to Cumbria, where I attended Penrith Grammar School in 1940. I lived at Temple Sowerby at Riggside at the farm (Millrigg Farm) of my elderly cousin, Isaac Huntington. His elder brother was George Huntington a retired farmer of Langwathby Hall Farm. Those two brothers were sons of Joseph and Ann Huntington also of Langwathby Hall Farm. I spent many happy days in the company of both Isaac and George Huntington. My ancestry is from Cumbria dating back to the 12th century and in the 1990s I researched and published a book titled "The Solway Plainsmen" relating the history and quality of life for Cumbrians from ...read more here
A memory of Langwathby contributed by Douglas Huntington
many happy holidays
My granparents and uncle live in soulby, I have many happy memories of spending my school holidays at Row End farm helping with hay time, milking and feeding the cows. I still love visiting soulby going to the stepping stones and a wander round the village
A memory of Soulby contributed by christine crawford
holidays
I came to Soulby for a holiday when I was 8 with my mother and sister. We stayed in a caravan the other side of this shallow river - by the local shop.
The caravan was owned by a local farmer who was either a family friend or distant relative.
A highlight of the holiday was visiting the farm and helping get the cows in for milking. We loved playing in the shallow river and enjoyed the novelty of the caravan - I remember my mother hired a radio for the week for entertainment!
We went to Appleby one day and my sister bought a silver ring in a second hand shop.
I wonder if its changed?
A memory of Soulby contributed by jean berry
Extracts From Penrith & Cumbria books
A surprisingly tranquil
view of the cobbled Market
Place on a sunny day in
1893, looking north past
the Musgrave Monument
into Devonshire Street. The
name reminds us that the
Duke of Devonshire once
owned the rights to the
town’s markets and fairs. In
1878 the rights were sold to
the Penrith Local Board of
Health, a forerunner of the
local council which now
controls them. A traditional
Farmers’ Market in still held
here every third Tuesday in
the month, selling local and
award-winning specialities,
seasonal produce and
distinctive crafts.
An extract from from"Penrith Photographic Memories".
In 1716 the parish
church of St Andrew
was found to be ‘in a
dangerous and ruinous
condition’. It was rebuilt
in 1720-22 in the manner
of Nicholas Hawksmoor,
though the identity
of the architect is not
known. It incorporates
a medieval tower, seen
here to the left, which
would have been used by
the townsfolk as a place
of refuge during the days
of border warfare.
An extract from from"Penrith Photographic Memories".
The ‘Giant’s Grave’ in St Andrew’s churchyard is a collection of two badly-weathered 10th-century cross-shafts and four
Norse ‘hogback’ tombstones. Stories about the Grave have been linked not only with the mythical giant Sir Owen Caesarius
and the Arthurian legends, but also with Owain, son of Urien, a 6th-century king of Rheged, and Owen, King of Cumbria
from AD 920 to 937. Beyond is the Gothic-style monument to Robert Virtue, engineer, who supervised the construction of
the Lancaster to Carlisle railway which opened in 1846.
An extract from from"Penrith Photographic Memories".
A further example of the Victorians restoring and re-erecting an old Celtic cross, perhaps inventing a suitable fanciful nickname for it too!
An extract from from"Ancient Monuments and Stone Circles Photographic Memories".
From 1670 until 1971 children were taught in Robinson’s School, now Penrith Museum, the lowest building on Middlegate’s
right side. Behind it flows Thacka Beck. Newton’s brewery formerly stood adjacent, but by 1911 it had been replaced by the
Alhambra entertainment hall, now a cinema. In the 1930s Middlegate experienced a revolution in retailing with the arrival
of the chainstores. Burtons and Woolworths altered the streetscape with their respective Art-Deco and stuccoed cost-cutting
neo-Georgian designs.
An extract from from"Penrith Photographic Memories".