City in Cumbria, England
Carlisle
For 57 years the British government ran Carlisle's pubs, after a wartime munitions boom turned the border city into an experiment in state-controlled drinking.
Key information
- County
- Cumbria
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Carlisle Castle, Hadrian's Wall, the Border Reivers, Carr's Table Water biscuits
- What locals are called
- Cumbrians, or simply Carlisle folk
- Famous people
- Mary, Queen of Scots; Bonnie Prince Charlie; Kinmont Willie Armstrong; Jimmy Glass
- Football clubs
- Carlisle United (the Blues), who play at Brunton Park
About Carlisle
The city where the government ran the pubs
In 1916 the government took over Carlisle's pubs, breweries and off-licences. The reason was Gretna, just up the road, where a vast munitions factory had drawn in thousands of workers. Drunkenness was hurting shell production, so ministers decided to take the drink trade into public hands. The Carlisle State Management Scheme was meant to be a wartime measure. It was abolished by legislation in 1971, and the pubs and brewery stayed in government hands until they were sold to private companies in 1973. Pubs were rebuilt with food and games rooms, and the aim was to make drinking less of a race to the bottom of the glass. Some of those pubs are still around, and the scheme is a favourite piece of Carlisle trivia.
A frontier town with a Scottish past
Carlisle began as the Roman fort of Luguvalium, serving the northwest end of Hadrian's Wall. Its position on the edge of two kingdoms shaped everything that followed. The area stayed outside Norman control for years. Carlisle does not appear in the Domesday Book, and it was William Rufus who seized it in 1092 and started the castle that still dominates the skyline. Carlisle Cathedral followed in 1122. It is one of the smaller English cathedrals, and its huge east window is a highlight. Mary, Queen of Scots was held in the castle in 1568 after fleeing across the Solway. In 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army took the city, and the Duke of Cumberland's forces besieged the castle afterwards.
Reivers, curses and a daring jailbreak
For about three centuries the border country was run by raiding families, the Border Reivers, who stole cattle and fought feuds across the line between England and Scotland. Carlisle was their main prize and their biggest headache. The best-known story is the 1596 rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong. He had been seized at a truce day, which was against border custom, and held in Carlisle Castle. Walter Scott of Buccleuch led a night raid and broke him out. In 1525 the Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, issued a curse on the reivers. Today a 14-tonne granite Cursing Stone inscribed with part of it stands in the underpass between Tullie House and Carlisle Castle, where pedestrians walk past it every day.
The goalkeeper who saved Carlisle United
On 8 May 1999, Carlisle United needed a win on the last day of the season to stay in the Football League. Goalkeeper Jimmy Glass, on loan from Swindon, went up for a corner in injury time and scored the winner against Plymouth Argyle. Carlisle stayed up, and Glass is still remembered in the city. It was not the club's only high point. In 1974 Carlisle won promotion to the top flight and briefly led the First Division after winning their first three games. Brunton Park is one of the most remote grounds in the league, so away fans have a long trip.
Biscuits, sausages and a famous railway
Carr's of Carlisle has been making biscuits in the city since 1831, and its Table Water biscuits became a cheeseboard staple. The firm sent its biscuits across the world, and Carlisle was a manufacturing town long before that. Local food leans towards Cumbrian classics such as the coiled Cumberland sausage and Cumberland sauce. The Settle–Carlisle railway, opened in 1876, begins in the city and runs 73 miles through some of the wildest scenery in England. Carlisle Citadel station, built in 1847, stands where Henry VIII once strengthened the city's defences.
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