19th Century Longtown Netherby Estate Obituaries Life in Longtown Deaths and Inquests Deaths and Inquests 1800 -1812 Deaths and Inquests 1813 -1823 Deaths and Inquests 1824 -1832 Deaths and Inquests 1833 -1836 Deaths and Inquests 1837 -1840 Deaths and Inquests 1841 -1846 Deaths and Inquests 1847 -1849 The Death of Thomas Allen Crime in Longtown Gravestone Inscriptions Longtown Memories Marriages Some Longtown Families Stapleton Churchyard Memorials from Kirklinton Church Memorials from Nicholforest A - H Memorials from Nicholforest I - Z Memorials from Canonbie A - H Memorials from Canonbie I - Z Other Memorials to Longtown People Memorials from Kirkandrews on Esk Memorials from Arthuret John Murray, Bigamist Smuggling The Murder of Thomas Davidson The Murder of Thomas Davidson 2 The Murder of Thomas Davidson 3 The Murder of Thomas Davidson 4 Charles and John Gillespie The Murder of William Forster The Death of John Donnelly Domestic Disputes The Longtown Workhouse Murder The Grahams of Netherby Random Recollections Joan Kidd Thomas Gibbons Some Longtown Businessmen Some Soldiers from Longtown Some Longtown Farmers Marriages 1800 - 1809 Marriages 1810 - 1817 Marriages 1818 - 1824 Marriages 1825 - 1829 Marriages 1830 - 1834 Marriages 1835 - 1838 Marriages 1839 - 1843 Marriages 1844 - 1845 Marriages 1846- 1849 Rev James Traill Obituaries 1804 - 1807 Obituaries 1807 - 1811 Obituaries 1812 - 1817 Obituaries 1818 - 1821 Obituaries 1822 - 1824 Obituaries 1825 - 1826 Obituaries 1827 - 1828 Obituaries 1829 - 1830 Obituaries 1831 - 1833 Obituaries 1833 - 1834 Obituaries 1835 - 1836 Obituaries 1836 - 1838 Obituaries 1838 - 1840 Superstition in the 19th Century Longtown War Memorial The Heraldry of the Cumberland Statesman Obituaries 1840 - 1841 Obituaries 1842 - 1843 Obituaries 1843 - 1844 Obituaries 1845 Obituaries 1846 - 1847 Obituaries 1847- 1848 Obituaries 1849- 1851 Sport and Sportsmen Carter v Oliver Prize Fight Some Longtown Superstitions Local Churches 

19th Century Longtown

Longtown, as it exists today, was built by the Graham family of Netherby in the late 18th century. Before then, there had been a few houses on the site, but most of the people lived in small hamlets spread out over the parish of Arthuret. Most of the inhabitants were poor, and the land badly drained.The Rev. Robert Graham inherited the estate in 1757 and invested his time and money in improving it: he drained much of the land, built houses, roads and schools, and rebuilt the small harbour at Sarkfoot. The town of Longtown was laid out just south of the River Esk, some distance from Arthuret parish church, about half a mile south of the town. Longtown is in the parish of Arthuret, but many of its residents are also found in registers of the neighbouring parishes of Kirkandrews upon Esk and Kirklinton.Until the opening of the Glasgow road over the iron bridge in 1822, the main route to Scotland went through Longtown, so the coaching inns and blacksmiths of Longtown had a busy trade.A bridge had been built over the river Esk in 1756, which made travelling to Scotland much easier, and there was a busy market in the town, with brisk trade in butter, bacon and cranberries, many traders travelling to Longtown from Scotland. Some produce was shipped from the harbour at Sarkfoot. There was a yearly horse fair, and a visit every year from the cattle drovers from Scotland who came through Longtown on their way to the lucrative English markets.Many people in Longtown worked as handloom weavers for the Carlisle manufacturers, so carriers went regularly between Longtown and Carlisle, as well as farmers taking their produce to the market at Carlisle. There were many Scots who found work on local farms, as they could get better wages than in Scotland, and quite a few Irish workers in the area, particularly weavers in Carlisle.At the beginning of the 19th century, Longtown was both busy and relatively prosperous.During the 19th century, the town suffered from the decline in the textile industry, as well as from the poverty following the Napoleonic wars and the introduction of the Corn Laws. The town also suffered from the opening of the new Glasgow road which by-passed Longtown.The first railway to go through Longtown was the Carlisle to Hawick stretch of the North British Line, the first section of which opened in 1861. There was also a branch of this to Gretna, and one to Langholm.A bobbin mill opened in Longtown in 1851, making bobbins for use by the cotton industry, made from wood from the Netherby estate. Despite the problems in the cotton industry, the mill lasted until 1936, when it finally closed.Finding your Longtown ancestorsThis is not a comprehensive guide to tracing your family history: just some hints for those trying to trace their Longtown ancestors back before the start of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1837.You may find that your ancestors stayed on the English side of the border, but quite often they may have strayed a few miles north into Scotland, in which case you have to get used to a different legal system, a different church and a different system of civil registration.For general help, Genuki (England) and Genuki (Scotland) are useful places to start.PARISH RECORDSAfter 1837, you should be able to find Birth, Marriage and Deaths certificates for your English ancestors.Before civil registration started in June 1837, the place to look is in the church records of baptisms, marriages and burials, copies of which can be found in the Carlisle Record Office.Ancestral indexes sells many useful records on microfiche, including indexes from Arthuret, Kirkandrews on Esk, Scaleby, Bewcastle, Stapleton and Rockcliff.There is also a wealth of information to be found in the Cumbrian libraries.For details about the different Cumberland parishes in the Longtown area, see Steve Bulman's excellent site, which has parish descriptions from a trade directory of 1847 : it also has a list of Longtown entries in the Jollie's Guide of 1811. Longtown is in the parish of Arthuret, but people often went to other parishes to be married, to have their children baptised or to be buried. Many of my family were married at Arthuret, but buried at Kirkandrews upon Esk or Nicholforest, although they lived at Longtown.ILLEGITIMATE BIRTHSLongtown had a particularly high level of illegitimate births. In 1860-61, for example, the Longtown registration district had the highest level of illegitimate births in Cumberland, and the 3rd highest in England and Wales. Out of 636 registered births in that year, 104 were illegitimate. Before 1837, the father of an illegitimate child is often named in the parish register, and the child may take its father's surname, even thought the parents never married. After 1837, birth certificates rarely mention the father's name, even when it was widely known. Even after civil registration, children did not always use the name on their birth certificate: they may have taken a fathers or stepfathers name, or may use different names on different censuses. PRESBYTERIANSScots living or working in Longtown may have belonged to the Presbyterian church. Their children may therefore have been baptised in Scotland, often in their parents home town.There was a Presbyterian Church in Longtown, which opened about 1800. It was connected with the established Church of Scotland, and had a chapel in Netherby street. It closed in 1897.The Carlisle Record Office have a transcription of the baptism register, or it is available on microfiche from Ancestral Indexes. The original is in the Record Office in Edinburgh.There was a split in the congregation in about 1834, and a new chapel was built which became the United Secessionist Church; the records for this chapel are not available at the record office in Carlisle.QUAKERSThere was a Quaker Meeting House at Sikeside in Kirklinton, with many families from Kirklinton attending. The Carlisle Record Office has some of the records on microfilm, or contact the Quaker Family History Society for advice.MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONSThere are memorial inscriptions recorded for Arthuret, Kirkandrews on Esk, Stapleton, Bewcastle and Irthington that I know of, although some of these are not complete. There are copies of these at the Carlisle Record Office.MAPS I find the modern Ordnance Survey Explorer maps very useful, especially if you are planning to visit the area: most of the place names have not changed, and they give a good idea of the geography of the area, which varies from the coastline and marsh land at Rockcliffe, to the hills and forests of Liddesdale, as well as showing public footpaths.Landranger 85 shows Longtown and Gretna. For a more detailed look:Explorer 315 (Carlisle), shows most of Arthuret , Gretna and Kirklinton324 (Liddesdale and Kershope Forest) shows Bewcastle and Nicholforest.323 (Eskdale) shows the area just north of Longtown into Scotland.For old settlements which have long vanished, the best map I have found is Donald's map of Cumberland 1774, recently published by the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.RESEARCHIf you want a bit of help with your research, William Bundred of Cumberland Ancestor Trackers has a lot of experience of researching in this area, he can also take any photos of locations or gravestones if you are unable to visit yourself.If you are planning on visiting the area, places to stay in the Longtown area include:Barrasgate HouseBessiestownHome from Home Guesthouse

Stories from the Carlisle Journal and Carlisle Patriot newspapers about life in a nineteenth century Cumbrian town.

19th Century Longtown

On this page: History of Longtown - How to research your Longtown ancestors

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