AN EXHIBITION hopes to tell the story of the journey of women during the last three centuries.

Launching in 2021, the Tullie House exhibition hopes to shine a light on the experiences of women by exploring the clothes they have worn in the last 300 years.

“It will tell the story of women in Carlisle and north Cumbria over the past 300 years,” explained Melanie Gardner, curator at the museum.

“They are costumes donated to us by local people over the years and we have now got more than 3,000 costumes in collections from the 1800s right up to the present day.

“We have some of the most amazing and extravagant dresses ever worn. We have a court mantua from 1750, so it’s 270 years old and the skirt is 2.4 metres wide.

“If you were wearing it you wouldn’t be able to get through the door. The most striking thing is we believe it was owned by a Carlisle female Lady Margery Jackson who lived on Scotch Street.

“Her father was a merchant and the mayor of Carlisle.

“When her parents died, her brother inherited all the family money and she felt hard done by so she went to court.

“She managed to get back her rightful inheritance. Paintings of her in the museum show her in Carlisle market dressed in a plain dark overcoat.”

The gallery will be broken up into three sections, with the first exploring identity.

“It focuses on the identity of five Carlisle women and how they dressed and how they used their clothes to express their identity, believes and creativity,” explained Melanie.

Other sections of the gallery include a showcase of clothes worn during special occasions and one looking at where clothes come from and the materials used.

Tullie House will also have an area dedicated to day-to-day clothes and how they have evolved over the years.

Women who worked at the McVitie’s factory in Carlisle were nicknamed Cracker Packers and their uniforms will be part of the exhibition, along with clothes worn by ‘Land Girls’.