Uncovering Carlisle’s Textile Revolution: Distington School

On the 12th March, we met up with our friends from Creative Conversations group at Prism Arts for our second talk by David Ramshaw who told us how the railway system had developed and its part in the industrial development of Carlisle and Cumbria. We had a break half way through and learned a few verses and chorus from a song the weavers would have sang called Poverty, Poverty, Knock.  This brilliant idea had been suggested by Ken from Creative Conversations and we all enjoyed joining in and singing along. After the talk, we looked at different types of railway engines throughout history, then after carefully  colouring these in,we cut them out and combined these into our own collaborative 'railway station' which we called 'The Very Best Railway Station'. We all enjoyed lunch together before we left to return to school after a very enjoyable morning. We are all looking forward to our next visit when we shall be chatting through ideas for

This week, 5th March we concentrated on finishing our shield designs.   We discussed what we would like to include on our shield and used a spider map to help us decide.... and made some sketches in our sketchbook....... After deciding we all set about putting our ideas onto our shields and worked really well to draw and colour these in. We all completed a shield and produced some amazing fantastic shields of which we are very proud. We all helped tidy up then put our amazing artwork onto our wall for everyone to see. Well done everyone!

Today  26th February,  David Ramshaw, writer, publisher and local historian joined us at Prism Arts, Carlisle where we met up again with participants from the Creative Conversations group. David told us about transport in the early part of the 19th Century as part of our research in uncovering the history of Carlisle's Textile Industry. We learned that factories in Carlisle were powered by water initially - there was a large furnace for example under Dixon's Chimney turning water into steam and energy to power the factory.  This  was the biggest in Europe at the time.  Although as we know from our research into Whitehaven and the Lowther family there was plenty coal in West Cumbria, there was no way then of bringing this to Carlisle's factories - roads were poor and pack horses were used to carry goods relevant to local trade. This problem had been resolved in other parts of Britain by the use of canals.  A plan in 1795 looked at building a canal from Count

We had learned from our visits to the Beacon Museum and Lowther Castle that Whitehaven had come into the hands of the Lowther family around 1630 - Christopher Lowther had developed the mining industry, then his son John Lowther transformed the town and expanded the harbour. It is not surprising to see the Crests of the Lowther Family and Whitehaven have similarities. Whitehaven Crest Whitehaven adopted the Lowther crest in 1894 - taking the white dragon and yellow shield from the Lowther Coat of Arms. So what is a Coat of Arms?   It is a design painted on a shield containing symbols which are unique and important to a person, a family even a country, company or organisation. A good example to look at briefly is Copeland Coat of Arms. Just focusing on the shield - at the top this shows picks from the coal and iron mining industries, an anchor for the ports, blue flashes of lightning refer to electrical industry served by Sellafield and Calder plants.  Below ar

As we had walked around Lowther Castle, we noticed symbols used by the Lowther Family - such as a crown, a dragon, the colour yellow..... Yellow Earl?......  We wondered why?  What was the significance? Let's find out....... Lowther Family symbols and how and where they have been used in the restoration of the Castle- they can be seen on gates, glass doors and fabulous metal fire pit in the courtyard. Lowther Coat of Arms in exhibition   The Lowther Coat of Arms from the exhibition. This shows the white dragon at the top A knight's helmet Two white horses six black circles - called annulets - on a yellow shield We shall be looking in more details at Lowther and Whitehaven's Coats of Arms but our activity this afternoon involved exploring mark making and printing with different objects - sponges, potato prints, stamping, pieces of card and even our hands and fingers! Castle under construction! We were here..