Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/121

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CARLISLE
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the walls upon the heads of the beleaguering Scots below. ln the 15th century Richard, duke of Gloucester, was governor of Carlisle Castle, and during his governorship extensive repairs were made in the old fortress, and in the course of time, during the reigns of Henry VIII. (who built the citadel) and Elizabeth, it was adapted to artillery. In 1568 Mary Queen of Scots, having fled from Lochleven, arrived in a fishing boat at Workington, a Cumberland seaport 132 miles from Carlisle, and was there met by the deputy-governor of Carlisle, and conducted to Carlisle Castle, where she was lodged nominally as a guest but actually as a prisoner. She remained there for two months. A little later in the same year a daring exploit was per formed by the duke of Buccleuch. William Armstrong, a redoubtable Borderer, better known as " Kinmont Willie," having been taken prisoner in disregard of a truce or understanding which facilitated his capture, the " Bold Buccleuch/ with 200 followers, attacked Carlisle Castle, and rescued the prisoner, an achievement which gave

dire offence to Queen Elizabeth.

During the civil wars Carlisle was harassed by frequent troubles ; but the next event of importance occurred in 1644, when the city and castle were besieged by the Parliamentary forces under General Leslie for eight months. Sir Thomas Glemham, the commander-in-chief of the royal troops, was in charge of the garrison, who were reduced to great extremities before they surrendered on 25th June 1645. Their valiant resistance was recognized by the besiegers, who alluwed them to march out " with their arms, flying colours, drums beating, matches lighted at both ends, bullets in their mouths, and twelve charges of powder a-piece." The Parliamentary anny pulled down some important portions of the cathedral buildings, and out of the materials erected a guard-house in the market-place. In 1648 Sir Philip Musgrave and Sir Thomas Glemham elfected the capture of Carlisle by surprise ; but in October it was again surrendered to Cromwell, according to treaty. At this time great distress prevailed in the county, con siderable families having barely the necessaries of life, while numbers of the poor died on the highways.

In the Scottish rebellion of 1745 Carlisle again figured in history. The Pretender, Prince Charles Edward, laid siege to it, the three divisions of the army with which he marched from Edinburgh having converged at the city. The castle was at that time garrisoned by only two com panies of invalids and some disaffected militia, and Colonel Durand, who was in command, found it necessary, with great reluctance, to surrender. " Bonnie Prince Charlie " rode into the town on a white charger, with a hundred Highland pipers playing a triumphal march in front, and made a house in English Street, which is still in existence, his headquarters. But in December of the same year the duke of Cumberland arrived and bombarded the castle, which his grace described as " an old hencoop, which he would speedily bring down about their ears," and on the 30th the garrison surrendered. The duke quartered his soldiers in the cathedral, and thirty-one of the rebels were subsequently executed at Harraby Hill. The tower in which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned was pulled down in 1835 ; but a considerable portion of the ancient castle still remains, and it is used as a garrison for the 2d Brigade Depot. Only a small portion of the old city walls now exists, and the city gates have entirely disappeared.

Carlisle suffered in 1380 from a great fire, which destroyed 1500 houses in three of the principal streets ; and the plague in 1598 carried off 1076 persons, one-third of the inhabitants.

Carlisle is the see of a bishop. The cathedral was founded by William Rufus, and completed by Henry I. The original proportions of the building have been very much curtailed. A disastrous fire, in 1292, destroyed the nave, only a small part of which now remains. The most interesting architectural feature of the cathedral is the east window, which has been pronounced by archaeologists to be one of the finest in the kingdom, the harmony of its parts and the easy flow of its lines being particularly remarkable. The remains of Dr Paley are interred in one of its aisles, and a stone pulpit, richly carved in Caen-stone and ornamented with white alabaster, has been erected to his memory. The window in the north transept has been filled with stained glass in memory of the five children of Dr Tail, archbishop of Canterbury, who died of scarlet fever while his grace was dean of Carlisle. The cathedral possesses many memorials of interest. A large portion of the adjacent priory, founded by William Rufus, was destroyed during the civil wars, but the remains may still be traced on the south side of the cathedral. A convent of grey friars which existed in the city was destroyed by the fire in 1292. There was also at one time a convent of black friars, and a hospital founded at St Nicholas for lepers; the latter was destroyed in the 17th century. According to Lyson's History, the bowels of Richard Cœur de Lion were buried in Carlisle cathedral.

In addition to the cathedral and the castle, the chief buildings in Carlisle are tbe court-houses two large round towers built upon the site of the old citadel ; the county jail, contiguous thereto ; the news-room, the post-office, the railway station, the infirmary, and two of the joint- stock banks. There is a market-cross in the centre of the market-place, and two marble statues adorn the principal streets. One of these, between the two court-houses (by Musgrave L. Watson), is of William, earl of Lonsdale; the other, in the market-place (by Woodington), is of James Steel, editor and proprietor of the Carlisle Journal, a citizen who during his lifetime took a prominent part in local public affairs. In addition to the cathedral there are eight established churches in Carlisle, and several places of worship for Independents. Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Roman Catholics. Its literary and scientific institutions include a mechanics institution, a young men s Christian association, and several working men s reading rooms, managed entirely by working men themselves. Its charities consist of an infirmary with 1 00 beds, a dispensary, and a fever hospital ; and in connection with the infirmary there is a convalescent institution at the seaside at Silloth, to which patients are admitted- upon payment of a small weekly sum. There is a school-board, of nine members; a school of art ; and a cathedral grammar school.

Carlisle is a great railway centre. The London and North-Western, the Midland, the Caledonian, the North British, and the Glasgow and South-Western Railways have each a terminus there ; while the North-Eastern Company have access to the city by their Newcastle and Carlisle section. In 1876 more than sixty passenger trains left Carlisle Citadel station every week-day, and as many more entered the city.

The principal business of Carlisle is the manufacture of cotton goods, the finishing of silesias, the printing of calicoes, and the manufacture of biscuits. There are also within the city two or three large iron-works, and the manufacture of felt hats is carried on upon a large scale. A dock at and railway to Silloth, on the Solway Frith, 2 1 miles from Carlisle, were constructed in 1855 to facilitate the transit of the commerce of the district, and this gradually superseded Port Carlisle, which is no longer used as a harbour.

Carlisle returns two members of parliament. Its

municipal government is vested in a mayor (unpaid), ten aldermen, and thirty councillors, who also constitute the

Urban Sanitary Authority. To them belong the gas-works