Olympic torch route - Day 34 Carlisle

Carlisle Town Hall

There are some very good lands on the banks of the river Line. On coming near Carlisle the soil is excellent. The banks of the river Eden are the richest grounds in the north of England. It is allowed there is grass here that will feed five heavy sheep per acre. The town is pretty regular, and there are good inns; facing the north there are eighteen stables of different kinds. Most of these depend on drovers; they have a market for live cattle nine months in the year, a new flesh market that has a street and a row on both sides.

From A Scottish Farmer's Ride Through England 100 Years Ago (1904)

Carlisle has two ancient parishes, St Cuthbert and St Mary, on which the Poor Law Union and registration district were based. Original records for Carlisle are held at Carlisle Archives Centre. There is a chapter on the City of Carlisle in Volume 4 of  Magna Britannica by Daniel and Samuel Lysons (1814) at British History Online. There is more information about Carlisle online at A Vision of Britain Through Time

 

Catching up

brightsolid offices

I've had (an am still having) an unusual and pleasantly busy week, so I am a bit behind with my blog posts. However, having started the Olympic torch route series I am going to keep it up, although the illustrations might be a bit restricted for the next few days.

I'm in the USA at the moment, waiting for a plane to take me on the next stage of my travels - to Buffalo, since you ask. The first part of my week involved two interesting events in London; a conference, which they call an 'executive briefing' for some reason at CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, and the following day a reception at the smart new offices of brightsolid, a converted nonconformist chapel. So I was out way past my bedtime that night, which didn't leave much time for packing for this trip.

The 'executive briefing' was called 'The Social Media Revolution - how user-generated content is changing the way we work'. It was a very interesting day with good speakers, and if you are among the Twitterati you can find some comments on the day using the hashtag #socialmediaeb. We still had handouts in the form of printed PowerPoint slides, which seemed like an awful lot of dead tree for an event that was all about online media.

The brightsolid event was much more of a social event, and I was lucky enough to be shown round their lovely new offices, in a converted nonconformist church near Old Street. I met lots of nice people, some that I already knew and some that I had not previously met. It was a lovely evening. Someone had a lot of fun choosing the decor inside, all very tasteful in the various brightsolid brand colours.

Right now I'm in upstate NY, heading back to Boston tomorrow. I shall return.

Meanwhile, happy Jubilee weekend for anyone whois celebrating it

 

Olympic torch route - Day 10 Aberystwyth

Aberysywth. A seaport, watering-place and municipal borough on Cardigan Bay, in the county of Cardigan, Wales, situated at the confluence of the Ystwith and Rheidol, 244 miles NW of London on the Cambrian Railway. Some amount of trade is carried on, the exports being lead, flannel and iron. The University College of Wales is established here. In the summer, many visitors are attracted by the climate, and the picturesque surroundings, among which the Devil's Bridge is not the least interesting. The ruins of a castle of Edward I crown a promontory to the SW. Until 1885 Aberystwyth was one of the Cardigan parliamentary boroughs. Pop (1901) 8,013.  

From Cassell's Encyclopedia; a Storehouse of General Information (undated, but apparently early 1900s)

The local record office is Ceredigion Archives/Archifdy Ceredigion but Aberystwyth is better known as the home of the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. There is more information about Aberystwyth at Vision of Britain and you will find  The New Aberystwyth Guide by T J Llewelyn Prichard 1824 on Google Books.

 

Olympic torch route - Day 9 Swansea

Very busy and thriving town and port, with a beautiful bay and fine sands. Copper-smelting, tin-plate working, and other industrial activities. The ruins of a castle built about 1330 by the Bishop of St David's are in the midst of the town. The great docks of Swansea are continually being enlarged and improved. 

Neath 8¼, Ammanford 19¼ miles. 

London 212¼ miles. Population 160,000. Market Sat. Early Closing, Thurs

From The Dunlop Book 1920

The Registration district of Swansea has been in existence since 1837, and has changed remarkably little during that time. It includes 33 parishes beyond Swansea itself and like almost every other registration district is based on a Poor Law Union. Records for Swansea are held at the West Glamorgan Archives Service. Digitised and indexed parish registers for Swansea are online at Findmypast. Swansea is also the home of the National Waterfront Museum for Wales. There is more information about Swansea on Vision of Britain. 

 

Olympic torch route - Day 8 Cardiff

Cardiff Castle in the 15th century

Cardiff, a county and parliamentary borough on the Taff, and the principal town of Glamorgan. Though Cardiff has been termed the Welsh Chicago, it is a place of considerable antiquity. As Tibia Amnis it was a military station of importance in Roman days, and one of its gateways has been discovered in the grounds of the castle, which was built on the lines of the Roman rampart. The castle itself is an elaborate modern restoration of the medieval fortress, but the ruins of the Norman keep built by Robert of Caen stand on a moated mound in the centre of the court. The curthouse tower is said to have been for 20 years the prison of Robert of Normandy.

Besides the castle the only other ancient building in the town is St John's church, a fifteenth century edifice with a fine Perpendicular tower. The old church of St Mary, which was connected with a Benedictine priory, was destroyed by a flood in 1607. Cardiff also once possessed some habitations of Black and Grey Friars, and the ruins of the house which Lord Herbert built out of the material of the latter still stand near the City Hall.
Though always a port, Cardiff's commercial prosperity dates only from the middle of docks, and it is the largest coal port in the world. The town is well built and its streets are spacious. A fine group of buildings consisting of the City Hall, the Assize Courts, the Welsh National Museum, and the University College have been erected in Cathays Park, and there is a large library in another part of the town. 

From Glamorganshire 1911 one of the many useful resources for Cardiff as transcribed on its Genuki page

The present-day Cardiff Castle is open to the public, and its website includes a timeline of its history, dating back to Roman times. There is more information about Cardiff at Vision of Britain. The website of the Glamorgan Record Office includes a section Cardiff: the building of a capital