Beacons lit on Carlisle Castle as Jubilee flames spring up across Cumbria

First, the English Heritage beacon was lit on the castle ramparts.

A crowd of around a thousand people gathered on the lawns in front of the castle to watch the symbolic sight - the lighting of one of the 2,022 beacons which have flared into life across the Commonwealth.

Then, processing out of the castle gates, the Rocket Theatre Group appeared to sing a rendition of Song for the Commonwealth - a brand new work composed for the Jubilee.

Then the castle was bathed in purple light as a further procession emerged from the gates - Mayor of Carlisle, Cllr Mike Mitchelson and Mayoress, Anne Mitchelson, accompanied by Carlisle army cadets. They lit two more beacons on the bridge in front of the Castle.

The short ceremony ended with a projection of the epic Hadrian’s Wall Beacons film on the side of the Keep - a film showing the lighting of beacons at historic sites across Cumbria.

HISTORIC: The lighting of the flame in Brampton. Picture: Paul Grindley

Jane, Lady Gibson, chair of the Hadrian’s Wall WHS Partnership Board, said earlier: “Communities along the length of Hadrian’s Wall are taking part in this unique celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee made even more significant to us as it falls in the same year as our Hadrian 1900 festival, commemorating Hadrian arriving in northern Britain to supervise the building of his Wall in AD122.”

The beacon was one of a large number lit across the area and along the length of Hadrian's Wall.

In Brampton, a large crowd gathered on top of the Moat to watch as a beacon was lit. Jenni Errington, leader of Brampton Parish Council, lit the beacon at 10pm whilst a piper played a number of tunes.