The guest speaker at our October meeting was Stephe Cove who talked about “A Short History of Walking the Fells.” Stephe has been a member of Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team for 50 years and is now involved in fundraising and promoting the organisation.
He traced the settlement of the area from the early hunter gatherers of 10,000 years ago and explained that the Langdale Axe Factory had produced stone axes which have been found as far away as Poland. The stone circles in the Lake District indicate a well organised society, where people shared jobs and tasks were allocated. The Romans and Normans have left evidence of their presence in the region, in the numerous castles and abbeys.
Natural resources such as rocks and minerals, as well as water have provided opportunities for people to earn their living from the region. Woodland industries like coppicing and charcoal making developed and water wheels criss-crossed the fells to provide the water needed in mining.
The Lake District became a popular destination for tourists once the railways were built in the 1850’s. Tours were arranged by the Furness Railway, bringing people from Fleetwood across Morecambe Bay and then into the Lakes. Hobbies developed, such as rock climbing and cycling, which resulted in a growing demand for maps and guide books. Today’s tourists still enjoy the natural beauty of the Lake District but the volume of visitors requires careful management of the environment, especially the erosion of paths on the most popular walking routes.
We finished our Autumn programme of talks at the end of November when Alan Cleaver was our guest speaker. He began his talk about “A Lake District Christmas” by looking at some of the more recent traditions that have become popular and noting that traditions do change over time. We now begin our Christmas preparations much earlier than in the past, though celebrations with family are still as important now as in the olden days.
Alan Cleaver read extracts from his book “A Lake District Christmas” which celebrates the traditions in the historic counties of Westmorland and Cumberland. We enjoyed hearing about the carol singing and the Grasmere Christmas Carol, still performed today by the Grasmere Readers. Mummers have been likened to winter-time morris men and in the past groups of mummers went from place to place performing plays. The St Bees mummers tour village pubs on Christmas Eve in a play known to have been performed in the area for nearly two centuries.
There were stories of Christmas in the workhouse during the 19th century when the public perception of them as “paupers’ palaces” was relaxed for a day and gifts of tobacco and snuff were given to the inmates. In 1893 gifts donated to the Whitehaven workhouse included toys, sweets, picture books, oranges, toffee, tobacco, tea and nuts. It makes us feel very humble nowadays to think that this kindness was only a temporary measure.
Life in the Lake District in winter has always been affected by the winter weather. We heard a few of the Cumbrian dialect words for snow, of which over 40 are mentioned in Alan Cleaver’s book. In spite of the weather the Christmas delivery of post was rarely delayed, even though rural postmen had to deliver the post on foot. There were stories of ghosts and Yuletide hauntings.
The extracts from letters written by Cumbrian soldiers who took part in the Christmas Truce on the Western front in 1914 were a reminder that Christmas had a special significance for the men who lay down their arms to wish each other a peaceful Christmas.
Our 2023 meetings at Beacon Hill Methodist Church hall have been enjoyed by members, whose support we very much appreciate.