Hidden Cumbrian Histories

Hidden Cumbrian Histories

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How historical ignorance wrecks Cumbrian farm livelihoods
Bourgeois myths that sheep eat trees and cherry blossom should flourish on top of Great Gable are pushing Lake District families out of agriculture
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Paul Eastham
How an unknown Roman city rose from the Cumbrian mud in a single night
Devastating 2009 floods removed a mile of soil a metre deep, revealing the largest imperial conurbation in the far north-west of Britannia
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Paul Eastham
1
Did Richard III hide in Cumbria plotting bloody path to the crown?
Defamed as a hump-backed child killer and “capable, cunning and dangerous” usurper, supporters claim during 14 years as a Penrith-based ruler of the…
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Paul Eastham

June 2025

Does the Cumbria’s future lie in hosting shadowy killers like the lynx?
Advocates say bringing back the nocturnal predator that died out 1,300 years ago would boost biodiversity. It would kill “pests" such as deer - and…
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Paul Eastham
Hanged in chains: Henry VIII takes revenge on Cumbria
Protesters suspended in body-shaped iron cages after 40,000 northerners joined “loyal rebellion” that almost toppled the king
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Paul Eastham
Who made Chernobyl more disastrous for Cumbria? Whitehall did
Three weeks after Chernobyl nuclear explosion in Ukraine, bossy but ignorant Government officials descended on Cumbria insisting there was nothing to…
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Paul Eastham

May 2025

What really lies at the bottom of Dunmail Raise
The last king of Cumbria may not be buried under a heap of stones on the A 591. But his story tells us his realm was an independent Celtic kingdom born…
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Paul Eastham
Spendthrift Cumbrian lord turned pirate to impress Elizabeth I
Wealthy George Clifford bankrupted himself buying fancy clothes and horses to woo Virgin Queen
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Paul Eastham
The forgotten king of Papcastle rides again
Pabo Post Prydain was a fierce sixth century Celtic king reputed to have ruled part of Cumbria from the abandoned Roman fort of Derventio after the…
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Paul Eastham
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April 2025

Why do we let greedy metal detectorists sell off our history?
A gaping legal loophole let two men sell “unparalleled” Crosby Garrett Roman helmet privately for £2.3 million, destroying vital historical knowledge …
Who stole 500 years of Cumbrian history - and why?
Cumbrian school pupils learn about Anglo-Saxons, Tudors and Nazis - but not that their homeland was an independent Celtic kingdom for 500 years. Has…
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Paul Eastham
Why Cumbrians risked death seeking fortunes in India
They braved a perilous sea voyage, ignored a one in three chance of dying and worked decades for a scandalous company hoping to become a super-rich…
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Paul Eastham
© 2025 Paul Eastham
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