A Visit to Carlisle
Mark Freeman
Today I made a belated
visit to Carlisle to see the pageants exhibition at Tullie House. Tom and I had missed the
preview
event back in August, as we were representing the project at the ICHS
conference in Jinan, China – see our blog post here.
It was worth the wait, and the long journey from London. The team, led by Linda Fleming, has created a superb exhibition, with a selection of objects, costumes, films, sounds and story-boards, as well as interactive activities, for visitors to appreciate. The exhibition has its own room: the special exhibitions gallery.
Above: The pageants exhibition in Tullie House.
The gallery is reached via the ‘Carlisle Life’ gallery, which also contains a small amount of pageant material, and – of particular interest to me – some objects associated with local football and darts.
In the exhibition itself a
series of display boards tell the story of the three Carlisle pageants, in
1928, 1951 and 1977. There is a screen with a comfortable sofa showing films of
the pageants, including colour film, with voice-over and actual pageant
dialogue, of the 1977 event. You can also hear audio clips of people associated
with the pageants, including David Clark, the 1977 pageant-master.
Other highlights include two papier maché figures – of Mary Queen of Scots and ‘Kinmont Willie’ – used in the recent Carlisle processional pageants. There is an interactive pageant quiz, and you can access our very own project website, which contains lots of material specifically about Carlisle and its pageants.
One nice feature of Tullie House is ‘The Lookout’, a balcony with a view across the main road to Carlisle castle, where the 1977 pageant took place.
Above: Carlisle castle from the Tullie House ‘Lookout’.
As the exhibition tells us, although the first two pageants were at Bitts Park, the third pageant moved to the smaller but no-less-impressive venue of the castle, which formed an excellent backdrop, as the 1977 pageant film showed.
At the end of my visit, it was time to visit the souvenir shop. I was able to buy an original programme from the 1977 pageant (a collector’s item for just £2.50!), and also a print of the 1951 pageant poster.
Above: The author with a print of the 1951 pageant poster.
Note the Festival of Britain symbol in the bottom right-hand corner.
If you want to see this wonderful exhibition, you have only a few days left! It closes on Sunday 18th October.