by Ann Frears

Published at 11:06, Thursday, 05 April 2012

THE Whitehaven and District History Society were given a talk by Alistair Herd, In And Around Egremont.

It was interesting to hear about the army huts were used by American army aircraft engineers – a bit of a mystery as Egremont was nowhere near an air strip.

We were shown pictures of the suffragettes 1912-1913 coming over the bridge near the castle. The Tan yard became a cinema along Bookwell in 1904. The Alexander Cook drinking fountain and trough which used to be in the Market Place can now be found near the castle.

Alistair told us how the parish church was built but had to wait 20 years before the tower was added. JF Stout was a well known motor and cycle dealer. He bought a house in 1902 and assembled cycles there.

The Wesleyan chapel became the Empire cinema, so at one time there were two, so much for progress, now the people of Egremont have to travel to Workington to see the latest release.

We ended with a very poignant picture of a group of evacuees on Main Street which would no doubt be a story all by itself.

The next meeting will be on Monday, April 16 at 7.30pm in the United Reformed Church Rooms when we will be digging up rubbish – the story behind the containers – with Tony Calvin.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk