PearlyBooks

100 in stock

In 1974, the county of Westmorland disappeared from the map of the British Isles. In this volume, John Marsh has gone some way towards reclaiming it. More than 260 old photographs of an area centred on the county town of Appleby recall the vanished faces and places of the Eden Valley and bring to life the essential character of the county before it was planned out of existence. They recall a period that will have survived in the memories of few-when most homes were without television but the local cinema would play records by request before performances; when the roads were still unmade and the railways ran everywhere; and, the local horse and sheep fairs and the Maytime and rushbearing processions were major social occasions.It was a time of greater social distinction, when the now-lost mansions of Lowther and Brougham were occupied, but the postcard photographers of the early years of the twentieth century visited the remotest hamlets in search of subjects, and labourers and landowners alike are celebrated with the pages. Besides the towns of Appleby, Kirkby Stephen and Brough, this book covers the villages between Ullswater and the Pennines and the Rivers Eamont and the Lune - putting Westmorland back on the map. For those too young to remember, this selection vividly illustrates the everyday lives of their ancestors; for others it offers a trip down memory lane.