Eden Bridge Gardens Work Underway

After securing funding last year from the Heritage Lottery Fund, work started on the Thomas Mawson designed, Eden Bridge Gardens in Carlisle in Autumn 2008.

Preliminary work at the end of 2008 saw the removal of much overgrown vegetation and some of the older trees which had compromised the stonework. This has resulted in a clearer view of the gardens from the main road and chances for the bulbs and smaller plants which have not seen daylight for many years, to show their faces.

The tidy worksite currently has scaffold erected on the pavilions to allow for retiling of the roofs and repointing of the stonework.

Damaged pillars on the lower pergola have been skillfully replaced with gently tapering sandstone blocks to match the existing.

Timbers have been renewed on the upper pergola with painstaking restoration of the masonry.

Workers use the fine weather to dig out the overgrown flower beds ready for replanting and clean the wrought ironwork with wire brushes.

Hard work is soon to start on the repointing of the crazy paving paths.

Both the gardens and structure which have previously been overgrown are starting to breathe a new lease of life.

With the imminent onset of spring and the promise of warmer, longer days to come, it will be interesting to watch the gardens take on their former glory.

Furlongs from Kirkby Stephen

At the junction of the A685 Market Street and the B6259 Nateby Road (NY 775 085) in Kirkby Stephen is a unique road sign.

The black and white fingerpost sign, set a little higher than the road, is unusual because the distance measurements are in furlongs and not, as is customary, miles.

The furlong, now used mainly as the distances in horse racing, originating in Anglo-Saxon England is the  equivalent to 220 yd or 201.168 m.

Searching the web and little is reported about the history of the sign.  Maybe you can add to this article by using the comments section below?

Charter Stone – Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria

Kirkby Stephen, situated a few miles off the main A66 in the Upper Eden Valley has a long heritage and a number of things to look out for if you visit.

Towards the southern end of Market Street is the Charter Stone.

Situated outside a food store, to the left as you travel south, is a circular stone embedded into the pavement edge from where the start of Luke fair was proclaimed.

A plaque, possibly made from brass, stands alongside and reads.

CHARTER STONE
Luke Fair ( Oct 27) established 1350
Proclaimed from here.

The Kirkby Stephen Town Luke Fair Charter, reaffirmed in 1605 by James l, granted the right to hold a fair on 27 October, ‘the eve and the morrow’ each year and a market each week.

The fair is so named because of it being held  St. Luke’s day.

St Luke’s day is celebrated on the 18th October. It is traditionally a day when girls could have some insight into their future marriage prospects. 

He was one of the four Gospel writer’s and is the patron saint of doctors.