Muncaster Castle begins hosting heritage talks for visitors

A talk was held at the castle this week for staff and visitors exploring photographs of the local area dating back to the 1920s. 

David Simpson, who works with the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, gave a talk on Mary Fair who has a collection of photos dating back around 100 years. 

Ewan Frost-Pennington of Muncaster Castle said: "We've been looking at upskilling the team at Muncaster, by learning more about the local area and celebrating the heritage. 

"We wanted the Muncaster team to learn more about this and decided that we would get the public involved. It led to the decision that we would start a monthly talk series exploring the history of the area surrounding the castle. 

"It's important to pass this knowledge from generation to generation, I've learned lots about this place's heritage and I think there are a lot of people with some great stories to tell. We want to capture those and give people a platform to share their experiences."

David Simpson volunteers at The La'al Ratty, which is a neighbouring tourist attraction to Muncaster Castle. 

He also works with Tullie House in Carlisle where he has produced a display about Mary Fair. 

Mary was passionate about photography back in the 1920s and photographed many parts of West Cumbria. 

There is now a collection of 4,000 photos of the area from this bygone era, giving an insight into what life was like in the area all those years ago. 

Mr Frost-Pennington continued: "We like to try to build networks with other attractions in the area, it's all about creating this collaboration by sharing our resources and ideas. 

"It's about building up that heritage connection and capacity here within the county."

The next talk will take place on Tuesday, July 23 which will focus on The Book of Spells. 

The book is one of the oldest in the collection of literature at Muncaster Castle, giving an insight into medieval life in what is now Cumbria. The book is also said to contain some spells.