The Norman & Medieval Tour of Carlisle

The year is 1203. King John is losing French territories. The King of Scots remains a threat to the border city of Carlisle, where its people are burdened by heavy taxation. Still, the question remains: who's going to feed them?

Meet Sir Hamo de Inglewood, recently restored knight and clerk of the kitchen. He will be your guide.

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The Tour

A stroll into the past

Explore medieval Carlisle through the eyes of those who fed it, as you hear tales of sieges, feasting and sneaky border reivers.

Connect replica items and imagery with the real, everyday stories of Carlisle's citizens from all walks of life.

Learn fascinating local facts, from a professional, costumed guide, whilst walking the historic streets of Carlisle...a city boasting over fifteen hundred listed buildings.

Your Guide

Tom Hudson is an Oxford graduate, with over a decade's worth of experience working within heritage. He has guided in Surrey, Kent, Lancashire and Cheshire since 2013.

 

BOOK PUBLIC TOURS

 Private tours and school tours can be booked at any time (subject to availability). Please note we require a weeks notice.

Book Private Tours

"Really enjoyable and interesting tour, the guide clearly knew his stuff and shared lots of stories about Chester and the Stuart/Tudor period (and a few ghost stories thrown in...). Fantastic to see inside Stanley Palace, and lots of tips on other buildings to visit."

Charlotte

"The tour lasted 90 minutes and Miles was able to tell us many interesting facts about the Tudor/Stuart history in Chester. He was excellent with my daughter who is a budding historian, taking time to answer questions and gave her encouragement to learn more." 

Lynn H

"The guide Miles Mason took us on a walking tour of some of Chester's tudor buildings, including the beautiful Stanley Palace, which the group was show around by the guide. Thoroughly recommend." 

Sophie C

"Thanks to Miles for the excellent walking tour today ending at Stanley Palace. Good to learn more about Chester."

Debbie M

"Thank you, Myles Mason, for a very informative tour of life in Tudor times. Really enjoyed it thanks." 

Shane & Angela

"Excellent tour , interesting and informative. Lovely architecture in Chester. Fascinating stories of the people who lived and worked in Chester during this period. The tour was done at a relaxed pace so everyone was able to keep up and enjoy the guide’s humour and knowledge of the subject." 

Christine G

"Very entertaining and quite funny, lived around chester and found out so many things I’d never known" 

Jack

"Absolutely fantastic tour! There was so much interesting information and our tour guide was so entertaining and had an unbelievable amount of knowledge. I try to do a history tour in any new city we go to and this has by far been the best. This is an absolute must do tour for a fascinating insight into the history of Chester." 

Becky

"Had the pleasure of taking this tour last weekend. Completely worth the very reasonable price. Thoroughly enjoyed it, Myles was very knowledgeable and good company." 

Jacqui S

Disclaimer

If due to unforeseen circumstances a tour is cancelled, and an alternative date cannot be agreed, customers will receive a full refund. 

Customers should arrive ten minutes before tour start times. If delayed, customers should contact the guide by phone before the tour is due to start. 

Guides will wait for up to ten minutes after tour start times. If customers do not arrive by this time, there will be no refunds on tickets purchased. 

A brief history of North West England

Scroll through the timeline to discover some fascinating local facts...

ROMAN...
43AD
72-80AD
SAXON/VIKING...
630
685
907AD
NORMAN/MEDIEVAL...
1070
1092
1133
1158
1207
1265
1403
1485
EARLY/MODERN...
1506
1536-1540
1540-1541
1542-1551
1555
1564
1568
1603
1612
1617
1642-1643
1644-1646
1648
1652
1660
1665
1687
1689
1714 
1715
1717
1732
1745
1758
1775-1776
1779
1788
MODERN...
1797
1798
1801-1804 
1803
1810
1815
1819-1820
1820
1831-1833
1837

-:-

Roman invasion of Britannia

Romans build forts at Carlisle (Luguvalium), Chester (Deva Victrix) and Manchester (Mancunium) with an auxiliary station at Lancaster (Calunium)

-:-

First church on site of Lancaster Priory

Monastery founded in Carlisle by St Cuthbert

Chester and Manchester burhs created by Aethelflaed and Edward the Elder

-:-

Chester castle built by William the Conqueror

Carlisle Castle built by William II

Lancaster Castle built by Roger of Poitou

Caer Luel/Carlisle becomes a city when King Henry I's founds its Diocese

Carlisle receives its first charter

King John grants Liuerpul (Liverpool) charter and 1421: original building (now Chetham’s Library) erected in Mameceastre (Manchester)

Duchy of Lancastre/Lancaster created by King Henry III

Henry ‘Hotspur’ Percy’s rebellion in Chester

Wars of the Roses end  

-:-

Chester becomes a city after King Henry VII's great charter

Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries

Henry VIII dissolves Chester‘s friaries, turning St Werburgh’s Abbey into new cathedral
(www.chestercathedral.com)

Lancaster Priory dissolved, reopening as parish church
(www.lancasterpriory.org)  

Carlisle Priory dissolved, with secular chapter added
(www.carlislecathedral.org.uk)

War of the Rough Wooing between England and Scotland

George Marsh under house arrest for heresy in Chester
chesterghosttour.co.uk/

Birth of William Shakespeare 

 Mary Queen of Scots under house arrest in Carlisle Castle

Death of Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch 

Pendle witches tried at Lancaster Castle (www.visitlancashire.com)

James I
visits Carlisle, Lancaster and Chester on his jubilee progress

Royalists capture Lancaster but not its castle
(www.lancastercastle.com)

Carlisle Castle made a royalist garrison

Parliamentary siege of Chester (www.visitcheshire.com)

Parliamentary siege of Carlisle

Start of Second Civil War as Scots and royalists seize Carlisle

Quaker George Fox preaches in Lancaster (www.pendleheritage.co.uk)   

Charles II visits Lancaster Castle, freeing its prisoners (www.lancashire.gov.uk)  

Great Plague
(www.sicktodeath.org) 

James II talks religious
toleration when visiting Chester (www.westcheshiremuseums.co.uk)  

William III brings troops to Chester for Irish campaign

Tullie House built in Carlise
(www.tullie.org.uk)

 Death of Anne I, the last Stuart monarch

 First dock in Liverpool

Carlisle town hall built

 Lancaster’s port breaks free of Chester’s control (www.visitlancaster.org.uk)

Precautionary walling up of Chester’s Watergate and Northgate against Jacobites

Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Lancaster with 5000 Jacobites (www.visitlancaster.org.uk)

Carlisle besieged and captured by Bonnie Prince Charlie

Carlisle-Newcastle turnpike road constructed

John Poole publishes Chester Chronicle

Start of American War of Independence

Chester-Nantwich Canal opens (www.gps-routes.co.uk)

 Skerton Bridge built in Lancaster

-:-

John Rennie’s Wyre Viaduct opens for Lancaster’s canal (www.lancaster.gov.uk)

Wedding of novelist Sir Walter Scott in Carlisle 

The Carlisle Journal newspaper introduced

William Minshull
publishes Lancaster Gazette

Anne Lister studies at York

Start of Napoleonic Wars

Demolition of Chester's Pentice

New courthouse built in Carlisle

Wigan highwayman George Lyon hanged in Lancaster

Gas lighting introduced in Carlisle and Lancaster

Peterloo Masacre in Manchester

Duke of Wellington visits Park House, Chester

Princess Victoria opens the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester

Great Reform Act

"The worst army hospital in Britain" built within Carlisle Castle

Cholera epidemics in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Liverpool

Birmingham's botanical gardens opened

George Hudson begins work on the Leeds-York line

 Grasshopper Tea Warehouse opens in Lancaster
(www.thecoffeehopper.com)

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