Original Tudor documents relating to North Cumbria on display

Cumbria Record Offices in Carlisle is opening its doors to the public this weekend to show some original Tudor documents from the time of Queen Elizabeth 1 and King James 1. 

All the documents on display in the Record Office, Alma Block, Carlisle Castle, on Sunday and Monday 25th and 26th May, from 11am to 4pm, relate to Carlisle and North Cumbria. Entrance to the Castle is free to Tullie Card holders. 

Councillor John Collier, Chairman of Carlisle Local Committee, says:   

"Cumbria Record Office has many interesting documents relating to the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 and King James 1. Included in this is an original signature from Queen Elizabeth 1, which is very elaborate, Carlisle Dormont Book of 1561, a large book including details about apprenticeships at the time and rules for the good governance of the city and a board of documents relating to the Plague, with details of precautions to be taken and the remedies available!" 

Also on display will be a charter granted to Carlisle by Queen Elizabeth, maps of Cumberland and Westmorland and Carlisle from 1576 and 1611, six boards showing aspects of Elizabethan life in Cumberland and the defence of the city and a board about the reign of James 1, including documents relating to his visit to Carlisle in 1617. 

The exhibition of documents at the Record Office is part of the 'Gloriana' celebrations currently taking place in Carlisle to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth 1 (known as Gloriana), the official ending of the Reivers and the Union of the Crowns when King James V1 of Scotland became King James 1 of England. 

A number of partners in Carlisle have been staging events throughout Carlisle as part of this, including an exhibition at Carlisle Library showing a street map of Carlisle as it was in the 1560s and a detailed description of the death of the Queen in the words of Robert Carey, who at one time lived in Carlisle and was Deputy Warden of the West March.