We would like to say a big “thank you” to our heritage partners in Cumbria
Furness Abbey, Barrow
Did you know that, in medieval times, Furness Abbey was the second most prosperous and powerful Cistercian monastery in the whole of England? Being right on the border between England and Scotland, the monks used to get caught up in border warfare and, after one raid by Robert Bruce, had to pay a ransom to prevent Furness getting attacked again. When Henry VIII introduced the Reformation in the 1530s, Furness was the first major monastery to be dissolved.
We explored Furness Abbey with historical interpreter Iain McNicol, who told us stories about what life was like for medieval monks.
Visit the Furness
Abbey website
Read what Wikipedia has to say about Furness
Abbey, the Cistercians and
the Protestant
Reformation
Read the ID1000 article, “The Ghosts of Furness Abbey”
The Dock Museum, Barrow
Did you know that Barrow was just a small fishing village before the Furness Railway opened it up to the Industrial Revolution, when the mining and shipbuilding industries turned it into a boom town? It experienced the fastest population explosion of any town in Europe!
Visit the Dock Museum website
Read what Wikipedia has to say about Barrow
Swarthmoor Hall, Ulverston
Did you know that Ulverston is the birthplace of the Quaker movement? George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, came to Ulverston in 1652, and Swarthmoor Hall became the “powerhouse” behind the movement for several years. Quakerism spread all over the country, and across to continental Europe and the Americas before the end of the century.
Bill Shaw, the Resident Manager at Swarthmoor Hall, told us the story of George Fox and the Quakers.
Visit the Swarthmoor
Hall website
Read what Wikipedia has to say about George
Fox and the Quakers
Read the ID1000 article, “The
Divine Revelation of George Fox”
Conishead Priory , Ulverston
Did you know there is an amazing Victorian Gothic mansion just outside Ulverston, which used to be a convalescent home for sick miners and is now a Buddhist meditation centre? It is called Conishead Priory after the monastery that used to exist on the site in medieval times.
Visit the Manjushri
Kadampa website and read what Wikipedia has to say about Conishead
Priory
Read the ID1000 article, “A
Journey to Enlightenment”
Barrow Record Office
Have you seen the film “Housewife, 49” by Victoria Wood? Did you know that Nella Last, the woman whose wartime diaries it was based on, lived in Barrow? Did you know that the Mass Observation Archive (for which Nella Last was keeping her diary) is still recruiting new writers?
Visit the Barrow
Record Office website
Visit the Mass
Observation Archive website
Northern Centre for Storytelling
Did you know there’s a storyteller who wears a Tale Coat, an amazing piece of textile art? It works like a juke box: you point to an image and ask to hear that story!
Taffy Thomas, one of the country’s leading storytellers, told us tales of Cumbria. We also used stories from Taffy’s book “The Linking of the Chain: Legends of the North” as material for drama-devising workshops.
Visit Taffy Thomas’s website
Furness Tradition
Our site-specific performances at Furness Abbey included a lot of music, and we devised several songs ourselves during workshops led by Les Ord and Mike Willoughby of Furness Tradition.
Visit the Furness Tradition website
Laurel and Hardy Museum, Ulverston
Did you know that Stan Laurel was born in Ulverston? An Ulverston man called Bill Cubin was a huge fan, and accumulated an enormous collection of Laurel and Hardy memorabilia, believed to be the largest in the world. Bill’s collection can be seen in this unusual museum in Ulverston, now run by Bill’s daughter and grandsons. Visit the Laurel and Hardy Museum website and read what Wikipedia has to say about Laurel and Hardy
What do you think is the most popular tourist attraction in the north of England? Read the ID1000 article, “The Last Frontier: Letters to and from Hadrian’s Wall”
Where do you think Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, was actually born? Read the ID1000 article, “When the Saints Go Marching In”
Where do you think the legendary King Arthur started his life? Read the ID1000 article, “King Arthur: The Identity of a Myth”
Did you know that a man called Barrow, who was born in Ulverston, was responsible for a huge campaign of exploration and map-making in the time of the British Empire? Read the ID1000 article, “Charting the Unknown: The Story of John Barrow”
Do you know where the Royal Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine was built? Read the ID1000 article, “The Fortunes of War”
What do you think is the point of the local saying, “let their eyes fill with wonder, but their heads may stay wary, as the beauty of the Bay disguises its true self”? Read the ID1000 article, “The Cruel Tides of Morecambe Bay”