GENERAL EVENTS
Please be aware that events may be cancelled so do check before travelling...
CLHF Annual Convention and AGM 2026
Saturday 10th October 09.00 – 16.00
North Lakes Hotel, Clifford Road, Penrith CA11 8QT
£35 to include lunch, tea/coffee etc.
“Aspects of Life in 18th Century Cumbria”
09.00 Doors open - Register, Set up displays, Tea & Coffee
10.00-10.15 Introduction – Les Gilpin CLHF Chairman
10.15 – 11.00 Paul Hindle – Tourists and Turnpikes in Eighteenth Century Lakeland
11.05-11.50 Chris Craghill –The Winners & The Losers – Cumbrian Farming Practices in the 18th Century
11.55-12.25 CLHF Annual General Meeting 2025
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.15 Trevor Grahamslaw – Times of Change, Solway Life in the Georgian Period
14.15 – 14.35 Tea & Coffee
14.35 -15.20 David Cross – Cumbrian Lives of 18th Century Beyond the Canon
15.20-15.40 Summing Up & End of Convention
Paul Hindle – Tourists and Turnpikes in Eighteenth Century Lakeland – Paul brings together early travellers and tourists, descriptions and depictions of the landscape, turnpikes and maps. He has compiled a unique talk for the Convention on two of his main research subjects, the beginnings of tourism in the Lake District and the routes to travel to reach a destination.
Bio: Paul was Senior Lecturer in Geography at Salford University. His PhD was concerned with the road system of medieval England and Wales. He continued to specialise in the study of historic roads and old maps more generally, taking a particular interest in 18th century county maps and the creation of turnpike roads. He took early retirement in 2000. He was Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Geographical Society for 35 years and is now its President.
Chris Craghill – ‘The Winners & The Losers – Cumbrian Farming Practices in the 18th Century’ – An assessment of some of the major Cumbrian manorial estate owners and their tenantry in a time of national change in agricultural practices. How did Cumbria compare and who were the winners and the losers?
Bio: Qualified local historian Chris Craghill is a long-term researcher on Cumbrian farming families and the buildings in which they lived and worked. In the past she has concentrated on the Northern Fells area ‘Back o’ Skidda’ but at present is working on the N.E. area of the county and the Barony of Gilsland.
Trevor Grahamslaw – ‘Times of Change. Solway Life in the Georgian period’. – A talk inspired by letters discovered in Carlisle Archive Centre sent by Jane Matthews of Wigton Hall to a friend, which reference institutions, work, leisure, politics and hardship for the people of the Solway area from the 18th Century into the early 19th.
Bio: Carlisle born Trevor Grahamslaw has been photographing, collecting and publishing images of the Solway for over 40 years. His latest publication “Wigton & the Solway. Times of Change” is his first book on a more in-depth history of the area.
David Cross – ‘Cumbrian Lives of the 18thCentry: Beyond the Canon’ – A talk that covers both familiar and less familiar figures who contributed to the affairs of the county during the 18th century. The names are drawn from a wide range of occupations in the arts and the sciences.
Bio: Barrow born, David Cross is both a Durham and Lancaster University graduate, an ex global teacher of English and Drama as well as being involved in the Ruskin Studies program. In 1998 he became a co-founder of the Cumbrian Lives project. www.cumbrianlives.org.uk during Covid.
Booking Form can be downloaded below
https://www.clhf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/booking-form.pdf
MOURHOLME LHS HISTORY WEEKEND
Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September
The History and Heritage of the Yealands, Lancashire
More details when available.
LDNP ARCHAEOLOGY CONFERENCE
Saturday 14th November 2026.
Details to follow.
Claiming dates
Cumbrian Railways Association
Autumn Conference Saturday 14th November 2026
Spring conference and AGM Saturday 20th March 2027
Cumbria Family History Society
Golden Jubilee Conference 29th July to 1st August 2026 with a Family History Fair 1st August 2026
Conference 6th - 8th November 2026 Crookland Hotel.
Cumbria Industrial History Society
Spring Conference Saturday 13th March 2027
Member Group Events
N.B. All talks start at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.
Please be aware that events may be cancelled due to illness - or the weather!
E Cumbria | Wednesday 1st July
Were the Romans in Allendale? | Speaker Mick Hall
Alston moor Historical society, Alston Masonic Hall.
SW Cumbria | Thursday 16th July 2026
Home Sweet Home | Speaker Ambleside Oral History Group
Askam and Ireleth in Furness HG, Methodist Church, Duddon Rd £3.00
SW Cumbria | Monday 20th July 2026
Life and warfare in Viking Age |Speaker Terry Harvey-Chadwick.
History of Kirkby Group, Kirkby Community Centre
W Cumbria | Wednesday 22nd July 2026
AGM & John Ruskin: Victorian Polymath - Speaker Dr David Cross
Duddon Valley Local History Group.
E Cumbria | Wednesday 5th August
Alston Laundry, Public Baths, and Stocking Factory | Speaker Simon Danby
Alston moor Historical society, Alston Masonic Hall.
SW Cumbria | Thursday 20th August 2026 5pm till 9pm.
A Very Special Memories and Memorabilia with an Exhibition of the Chris Killip Photographs
Askam and Ireleth in Furness HG, Methodist Church, Duddon Rd £3.00
E Cumbria | Wednesday 2nd September 2026
Flocks and Herds: Livestock Farming in Medieval and Early Modern Cumbria | Speaker Angus Winchester
Alston moor Historical society, Alston Masonic Hall.
SW Cumbria | Thursday 3rd September 2026
The Bobbin Mills at Force | Speaker Suzanne Tiplady
Cartmel Peninsular LHS, Cartmel Village Hall. Visitors £3.
S Cumbria | Monday 14th September 2026 2.00 pm
A Potted History of Barrow | Speaker Gill Jepson
Cartmel Fell District LHS, The Parish Hall, Cartmel Fell
E Cumbria | Wednesday 16th September 2026 2.30 pm
The History Of Lakeland Dialect | Speaker Jean Scott-Smith
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6
SW Cumbria | Thursday 17th September 2026
Walking the Old Postal Trials | Speakers Alan Cleaver
Askam and Ireleth in Furness HG, Methodist Church, Duddon Rd £3.00
SE Cumbria | Monday 21st September 2026
Benjamin Franklin's Visit to the Lake District in 1772
Burton, Holme District LHS
SW Cumbria | Thursday 1st October 2026
Brockhole 125 - The Story of Brockhole from the Gaddum Archive | Speaker Kevin Grice
Cartmel Peninsular LHS, Cartmel Village Hall. Visitors £3.
E Cumbria | Wednesday 7th October 2026
Methodism on Alston Moor | Speaker Mary Elliot
Alston moor Historical society, Alston Masonic Hall.
S Cumbria | Monday 12th October 2026 2.00 pm
Cumbria's First Farmers | Speaker Gill Farmer
Cartmel Fell and District LHS, The Parish Hall, Cartmel Fell
SW Cumbria | Thursday 15th October 2026
Folklore of the Lake District: Boggarts, Brownies, Hobs and their Goblin Kin | Speaker Stephen Rae.
Askam and Ireleth in Furness HG, Methodist Church, Duddon Rd £3.00
SE Cumbria | Monday 19th October 2026
Medieval Forgers? The Nuns of Armathwaite Nunnery | Speaker Harry Hawkins
Burton Holme District LHS
E Cumbria | Wednesday 21st October 2026
More Musings of a Taphophile | Speaker Bev Brummitt
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6
E Cumbria | Wednesday 4th November 2026
The Vernacular Buildings of Cumbria | Speaker Paul Lewis
Alston moor Historical society, Alston Masonic Hall.
S Cumbria | Monday 9th November 2026 2.00 pm
The High Road to Dalton | Speaker Suzanne Tiplady
Cartmel Fell and District LHS, The Parish Hall, Cartmel Fell
SE Cumbria | Monday 16th November 2026
Crime & Policing | Speaker DR M Winstanley
Burton Hulme District LHS
E Cumbria | Wednesday 18th November 2026 2.30 pm
The Making of the Stainmore Railway 200 Textile Panel | Speaker Anne Taylor
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6
E Cumbria | Wednesday 9th December 2026
Christmas get-together
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6
SE Cumbria | Monday 14th December 2026
300 Years of Schoolin in Satterthwaite and Rusland | Speaker Dr Suzanne Tiplady
Burton Hulme District LHS
E Cumbria | Wednesday 17th February 2027
To be arranged
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6
E Cumbria | Wednesday 17th March 2027
Cattle Droving in Cumbria - the Whys and Wherefores of a Long-Distance Trade | Speaker David Johnson.
Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, Newbiggin-on-Lune Public Hall Non Members £6