A north Cumbrian project is trying to find items of historical interest from north west Cumbria.

Milk churns saved from the scrap man

Researchers are aiming to create a portfolio of local heritage artefacts from the Solway Plain. These could include old photographs, farming implements, local folk culture and memories. Items could possibly go forward to an exhibition later.

Fieldwork is at an early stage, with the team taking photos and documenting any items brought to their attention.

The work is part of a project called the Solway Wetlands Landscape Partnership Scheme which is a partnership between the Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other organisations.

Alex Kaars Sijpesteijn, Solway Wetlands Development Officer, said: “ If you know of anyone who has artefacts and wouldn’t mind potentially letting them be in an exhibition please let me know.

“At the moment we are simply taking photos and notes so that when the time comes we know where they are.”

The project area runs from Allonby to Wigton to Kirkbampton to the western tip of Carlisle and up to the coast. It is a four year project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If you would like more information or have an item suitable for the research team, please contact the Solway Wetlands Development Officer on 016973 33055 or email Alexandra.Sijpesteijn@Allerdale.gov.uk.

Update

A drop-in session will be held at the Royal Oak, Moorhouse, Cumbria on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 between 6.30pm and 8.30pm.

Previously unseen manuscripts from the Cumbrian poet Wordsworth will go on show later this year as part of a national project.

Visitors to The Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere will get a chance to see part of the Trust’s ‘hidden treasures,’ including original poetical manuscripts by William Wordsworth and  his sister Dorothy’s Grasmere Journals.

This event is part of a series of events around the country collectively called Heritage Open Days, organised by English Heritage.

The 200-year-old mill at Sarehole is one of only two surviving watermills in Birmingham.

From 8 – 11 September, the annual long weekend is the largest volunteer event in Britain and celebrates the quirky to the majestic, the grand to the minute and all that is unique about England’s heritage.

One million people are expected to take advantage of the four-day event, exploring more than 4,000 properties of every style, period and function, many of which are normally closed to the public or charge for admission.

Heritage Open Days is England’s contribution to European Heritage Days, taking place across 50 countries.

Other events in the UK are :

• Doors Open Days in Scotland (www.doorsopendays.org.uk)
• Open Doors Days in Wales (www.civictrustwales.org)
• European Heritage Days in Northern Ireland(www.ehsni.gov.uk)
• Open House London (www.open-city.org.uk).

Full details of Heritage Open Days activities, in England, will be available from the Heritage Open Days website from mid-July.

Heritage Open Days 2011  - Highlights (England)

Military highlights:

·         Behind the scenes at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth where visitors will be able to see buildings, archives and collection stores not normally open to the public

·         Below HMS Victory’s Water Line – a unique chance to walk under 3,500 tonnes of ship in Portsmouth and view Victory’s keel at close range

·         Discover more about one of Britain’s most courageous women at the Violette Szabo GC Museum, in Herefordshire. This small but fascinating museum is dedicated to the daring Second World War female secret agent who was executed at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945

·         Visit the decontamination centre against chemical or biological attack, based at the Greenham Common air base.

·         Wander around and explore the Royal Air Force Holmpton Bunker, in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  Constructed between 1951 and 1954 the bunker was part of a programme to modernise the United Kingdom’s radar defences

North Lees Hall, Derbyshire © Vivat Trust

Private home highlights:

·         Prysten House -  Having survived bombing raids which destroyed most of the city centre, Prysten is the second oldest private house in Plymouth, built in 1498. The house contains very fine, preserved historic interiors and houses the 28 foot long Plymouth tapestry depicting the history of the city

·         Bridge Street, in Essex, a unique 16th century house with exposed timbers will host a 17th century living history display by a group of re-enactors from the Essex Militia

·         Grade II Grey Cottage in Disley is now a bed and breakfast but the earliest part of the building is dated around 1680. Ownership is established back to 1840 and included a calico engraver, James Ralston, and the playwright and novelist Allan Monkhouse, Literary Editor of the Manchester Guardian

·         Parsonage House in Sheffield, built 1906, is also Grade II and designed by Edgar Wood. This family home has been restored to its original splendour by its present owner, the house is carefully placed on a sloped site, with rooms designed to follow the sun path and reveal magnificent views which span the surrounding Yorkshire countryside

Literary highlights:

·         Walk in Tolkien’s childhood footsteps and visit Sarehole Mill just outside Birmingham, his inspiration for ‘the great mill’ in The Hobbit and the bad-tempered miller Ted Sandyman in The Lord of the Rings

·         Chawton House, Hampshire; a Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house, once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Edward and now a unique research library of English women’s writing from 1600-1830

·         King Edward VI School, Stratford upon Avon; will open the classroom where, in all probability, William Shakespeare was taught and the guildhall where he would have seen his first theatre performances.

Religious highlights:

·         Scotch Corner Chapel -  A small and secluded war memorial in North Yorkshire, built by local man and sculptor John Bunting. The Chapel houses a number of his works and was recently famed in the book The Plot authored by his daughter Madeleine Bunting; Also in North Yorkshire a rare medieval Leper chapel

Gothic Temple Stowe - built in 1741. © Landmark Trust

·         Chapel of St Mary Magdalen containing a medieval pavement with Roman decoration, a window and stone altar will host the Old Codling Feast, an 18th century tradition with tasting of apples, cake, juices and ciders to identify

·         Sandham Memorial Chapel, a modest red-brick building housing an unexpected treasure – an outstanding series of large-scale paintings by acclaimed artist Stanley Spencer, inspired by his experiences as a World War I medical orderly and soldier

·         St Mary’s Abbey, West Malling, founded in 1090 by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester for Benedictine nuns. After its closure by Henry VIII in 1538 the property was owned by various families. Today it is the home of a community of Anglican Benedictine nuns. Visitors can see the wonderful Norman tower, medieval gatehouse and guest house and the Grade II* abbey church, built in 1966

·         Shri Venkateswara Balaji Temple, Oldbury West Midlands, the largest Hindu Temple in Europe, covering 12.5 acres. The main temple, several satellite temples and other buildings for the use of the community will all be open to visitors

Transport highlights:

·         Vintage bus displays in Oxford and Colchester

·         A historic vehicle cavalcade including 40 vintage vehicles stopping at three Heritage Open Days sites in the Burnley area

·         The Humber car collection in Hull

·         A transport-themed Window-to-the-Past event taking over one of the largest shop units at Wakefield’s Riding Shopping Centre

Other highlights include;

·         Wickwar Town Hall with the oldest town hall clock in England

·         New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge housing works by famous female artists such as Paula Rego and Barbara Hepworth

·         A chance to see behind the scenes at the National Film & Television Archive in Hertfordshire

·         Club LS1 & Three Albion Place, home to the Leeds Club since 1849 whose Gents’ are the ‘oldest public toilets’ in the city

·         The H.S. Smokehouse, the last surviving and still working herring brick smokehouse in Great Yarmouth

·         The Cider Museum and King Offa Distillery in Herefordshire

·         The Grade II* Park Hill Estate in Sheffield

·         The largely unspoilt Winsford Cottage Hospital, an Arts and Crafts masterpiece by C. F. A. Voysey, which was closed by the NHS in 1998

·         Leeds’ Red Hall home to The Rugby Football League

With eleven islands and sites of special scientific interest to choose from, you have plenty of opportunity to take photographs for this years ‘Islands of Barrow Competition’ photo competition.

Barrow Council and the Dock Museum are offering you the chance  to be featured in an exhibition and seeing your image in a 2012 calendar.

A wooden hull slowly rots near Roa Island

You can submit photographs of the wonderful coastline, wildlife, buildings and your use (camping, windsurfing, dog walking, to name but a few) of Barrow’s islands

Photographs submitted for The Islands of Barrow Competition will be considered for publication in a calendar and an exhibition to be held at the Dock Museum from 1st February 2012 – 1st April 2012.

To enter Email a hi-res image (one per entry), plus a sentence or two about what inspired you to take your photo, to consultation@barrowbc.gov.uk by 1st November 2011.

Conditions apply – go to  http://www.dockmuseum.org.uk/photocomp for full terms and conditions.

If you wish to submit your entry on a CD please send this to Photography Competition, Regeneration Department, Town Hall, Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness, LA14 2LD

Photographs will be selected by the Islands of Barrow photography team.  There will be no payment for publication and the images must be yours.

A small scale enhancement scheme for villages and communities in the North York Moors National Park has been established to provide funding for regeneration and environmental projects up to the value of £5,000.

The Scheme, a subsidiary to the North York Moors Coast & Hills LEADER Programme, has £150,000 to spend on rural development projects between now and December 2011.

Projects need to have community support and fall into one of two themes:

• Village renewal and development – aimed at projects that enhance the local village environment, strengthen and generate community cohesion or encourage community activities and village events.
• Conservation and upgrading of the rural heritage – aimed at increasing the understanding of the working landscape and helping to protect traditional skills by raising awareness through interpretation, appreciation and maintenance of local heritage and cultural features.

Successful projects will be implemented by the North York Moors National Park Authority with responsibility reverting back to the owner or parish once the work has been completed.

Clair Shields, the Small Scale Enhancement Scheme Coordinator, said:

“Parish plans often highlight a wish list of small scale improvement projects that don’t get off the ground due to a lack of time, skills, guidance or the financial resources to develop them further. The Scheme provides a fantastic opportunity to implement these ideas benefiting communities and the wider National Park.”

To find out more about the Scheme or to discuss an idea, contact Clair Shields or Rebecca Thompson on 01439 770657 or email ssescheme@northyorkmoors-npa.gov.uk

The North York Moors, Coast and Hills LEADER Programme is a partnership of local organisations, community groups and individuals who have secured £3.1 million in total from Defra and the European Union through Yorkshire Forward and One North East as part of the Rural Development Programme for England.

Visitors to  Carlisle Cathedral can learn more about this twelfth century building and it’s history thanks to new interpretation panels and a scale model.

Interpretation panel outside the Fratry

Funded in part by The North West Development Agency, the five panels and 1:16th  scale model of the Cathedral help chart the history of the second smallest cathedral in the country.

Some of the panels are mounted on columns set into stone from nearby Lazonby.  These are set at a wheelchair user and child friendly height.

A bronze model, mounted on a stone plinth depicts the site as it would have looked in 1540.

Carlisle City Council Planning Application -

Gallery