There were sixteen submissions, most of them from individuals and some from couples. The spread of representation from our groups was very wide. To judge from messages received, participants found it challenging, informative and enjoyable…
The winners were:
- Jackie & Dave Wedd, Ravenstonedale Parish History Group, with 78 points.
- Kevin Grice, CWAAS Kendal & Individual Member, with 74 points.
- Margaret Martindale, Cumbria Industrial History Society, with 73 points.
Thanks to all participants, to those who submitted questions, and to Adrian Allan, who joined me in the adjudication.
Peter Roebuck, Chairman CLHF
Questions and answers
1. Around 400 years ago, according to legend, Herdwick sheep were brought into Cumbria: from which country? According to the legend, Herdwicks came from Spain, which is the correct answer. However, the modern understanding is that they originated in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden or Finland).
2. Brougham Castle is partly built on which Roman fort? Brocavum
3. Identify the following places in Cumbria, named as follows in archives:
a. Abbey Lander coast, Aldeneby, Aylnfoote.
Lanercost, Alston, Ellenfoot/Maryport..
b. Bello Monte, Brackmeer, Burgo iuxta Sablones.
Beaumont,Thirlmere,Burgh by Sands
c. Byrkscawe, Chirchebrid, Christkeld Brisco,Kirkbride, Skirsgill
d. Henriby, Kirkeby, Le Chastel de Hehed. Harraby,St Bees, Highhead Castle
e. Petrelwra, Trepenna, Ullesby. Wreay, Torpenhow, Ousby
4. Identify a. the city to which the following text relates and b. any of those mentioned. ‘At the ninth hour they were looking at the city wall and the well formerly built in a wonderful manner by the Romans, as Waga, the reeve of the city explained’. Carlisle. St Cuthbert & the Queen of Northumbria AD685
5. What do the following places in Cumbria have in common: Aspatria, Askerton, Caldbeck, Irthington and Crosthwaite, near Keswick? Churches dedicated to St Kentigern
6. Why is there no entry for the whole of Cumberland and a large part of Westmorland in Domesday Book? Because they lay on the Scottish side of the border. It was not until 1092 that William 11, son of the Conqueror marched north to Carlisle with a large army and brought the north west of England within the Norman sphere of influence for a number of years.
7. Where can you find at least one church in Cumbria currently dedicated to St. Thomas Becket? Farlam
8. Who was the founder of Cartmel Priory? William (the) Marshall
9. Temple Sowerby takes its name from which order of knighthood? The Knights Templar or Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon or Order of Solomon’s Temple.
10. Which English king created the Diocese of Carlisle? Henry 1
11. To which religious order did Shap Abbey belong? Premonstratensians
12. Which Scottish monarch died in Carlisle Castle? David 1, King of the Scots, in 1153
13. Identify the Cumbrian bishop who crowned Elizabeth I. Owen Oglethorpe, Bishop of Carlisle, 1557-1559
14. Which Cumbrian town saw the greatest loss of life in the Plague of 1598? According to the plaque in St Andrew’s church Penrith, the answer is Kendal with 2,500 deaths, followed by Penrith with 2,250 and Carlisle with 1,196.
15. Name the wandering poet (1588-1673) born in Kendal. Richard Braithwaite
16. Which Oxbridge College was most frequented by Cumbrians during the early modern period? Queen’s College, Oxford
17. Which Westmorland family included in the space of six generations a Warden of a March, an ally of Mary Tudor, an aristocrat who supported the Puritans, and a ’wayward genius’ who disrobed at his own wedding? Wharton family ( 1540-1729)
18. Name the founder of the Appleby alms houses. Lady Anne Clifford
19. Name a. Sir Daniel Fleming’s father, and b. where the family lived?
a. William. b.Coniston/ Rydal
20. When a. was the first turnpike road in Cumbria built and b. which places did it connect? a. 1739 b. The Whitehaven Harbour Act joined St Bees and Whitehaven.
21. After whom is Maryport named? Mary (d.1790) wife of Humphrey Senhouse of Netherhall (d. 1770), who founded Maryport. The Act to improve the harbour of Ellenfoot and so lay the foundations of the new town, dates from 1749.
22. In which year in Cumbria (and the rest of Britain and Ireland) was 2 September followed by 14 September? 1752
23. What natural phenomenon was described by Nicolson & Burn in their History of Cumberland & Westmorland in 1777 as ‘a rolling cloud sometimes 3-4 days together, hovers over the mountain tops, the sky being clear in other parts….a violent roaring hurricane comes tumbling down the mountains, ready to tear up all before it, then, on a sudden comes a profound calm’? A Helm Wind
24. In which year did Appleby Fair begin? 1775
25. Identify the location in Cumbria of one of the supply depots established by the government during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Whitehaven
26. The Hoad Monument commemorates which Ulverston born citizen?
Sir John Barrow, founder member of the Royal Geographical Society and Permanent Secretary of the Admiralty.
27. Which Cumbrian hamlet was the early home of the Countess Mary Ossolinsky? Armboth
28. A new factory building was opened in Carlisle in 1838, the year of Queen Victoria’s Coronation, and is still called the Coronation Building: name a. its owner and b. its location. a. Metal Box. b. James Street
29. Which Cumbrian characters lie buried in Caldbeck churchyard? John Peel, Maid of Buttermere.
30. Which was the first public railway line in Cumberland?
Newcastle/Carlisle 1838
31. In a. which year did the railway reach Windermere, and b. which poet opposed it? a 1847. b. William Wordsworth
32. Who was the architect of the railway stations built at Grange-over-Sands and Ulverston (built 1864 and 1873 respectively)? Edward Paley of Paley & Austin
33. Who or what is Moses Trod? A high-level path that skirts the base of the north face of Great Gable (Named after a quarryman, Moses Rigg)
34. Where would you find Cumbria’s Whitehall? At Mealsgate near Wigton. The Whitehall estate was bought in 1858 by George Moore (1806-76), the great philanthropist, who made a fortune from the lace industry. It was in memory of his first wife that Moore erected the gilt-decorated memorial fountain in Wigton market place in 1872-73.
35. To which lake in Cumbria was Tennyson referring in these lines: ‘He stepping down by zigzag paths and juts of pointed rock, / Came on the shining levels of the lake’? Bassenthwaite
36. Identify the Cumbrian artist who was particularly associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle (1843-1911)
37. Which Emperor visited Cumbria in 1895 and 1902? Wilhelm 11
38. Which radical member of the nobility with both Cumbrian and Yorkshire connections was Bertrand Russell’s aunt? Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle (1845-1921), wife of George, 9th Earl of Carlisle.
39. Which British politician and minister lived at Netherby Hall? Sir James Robert George Graham
40. Who a. was dubbed the ‘Father of Lakeland Geology’ and b. where did he live and die? a. Jonathan Otley b. Keswick
41. In which Cumbrian village will you find the Mayburgh Henge? Eamont Bridge
42. Can you a. name the Cumbrian-born father and son who uniquely shared a Nobel prize, b. for what, and c. in which year? a.Sir William and Sir Lawrence Bragg. b. X-ray Crytallography. c. 1915
43. Lance Sergeant Tom Mayson VC came from which Cumbrian village? Silecroft
44. Can you identify those with Cumbrian connections who have served as a. Lord Chancellor, and b. as Speaker of the House of Commons?
a. William Fitz Gilbert, 1141-42 became William de Lancaster
Silvester de Everdon, 1244-46
Sir Robert Parning, 1341-43
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury 1454-55.
George Neville, Archbishop of York, 1460-67
Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Lord Brougham &Vaux 1830-34
Farrer Herschell, 1st Lord Herschell, 1886, 1892-95
b. Sir James Pickering, 1378,1383
William Gully, later 1st Viscount Selby, 1895-1905
James Lowther, later Viscount Ullswater 1905-21.
45. In the ‘Spanish flu’ epidemic after the Great War was the mortality rate in Carlisle greater or less than the rate nationally? Less-in Carlisle the rate was 13% and in England and Wales above 30%.
46. Rev. H.H. Symonds was one of the founders of which Cumbrian environmental group? Friends of the Lake District
47. The author and poet Dorothy Una Phillips was a former owner of which Cumbrian house? Acorn Bank
48. Who lived at 14, St. George’s Terrace, Millom? Norman Nicholson
49. Which Brítish politician was born in Warcop?
Edward Short, later Lord Glenamara
50. Can you identify varieties of apple that originated in or have particular associations with Cumbria? 22 varieties. (1 mark per variety)
Autumn Harvest; Bradley’s Beauty; Carlisle Codlin; Cockermouth Codlin;
Cumberland Favourite/Greenup’s Pippin, Green Rolland/Red Hawthornden/ Yorkshire Beauty; Cumberland Lemon Pippin; Duke of Devonshire; Egremont Russet; Fallbarrow Favourite; Forty Shilling; Harvest Lemon; Irish Reinette; Keswick Codlin; Lancashire Pippin; Lemon Square; Longstart; Lorton Vale; Margil; Nelson’s Favourite; Rank Thorn;
Taylor’s Favourite, Wheaten Loaves.
51. Identify the farm animals described in dialect terms as: a. stot, why, & tip; and b. gimmer, hogg & twinter.
a. bullock, heifer, ram.
b. young female sheep, sheep in its first winter, sheep in its second winter.
52. Identify the trees described in dialect terms as: aik, birk, eller, hollin and burtree.
Oak, birch, aider, holly, elder
53. Identify the wildlife described in dialect terms as: brock, mowdiwarp & paddock. Badger, mole, toad
54. To the nearest 1000, what was the population of Cumbria in 2016?
498,000
Prof. Peter Roebuck.