September 2004 Update...
The exciting news is that our books ‘Now and Then in Haile & Wilton’ will
shortly be delivered to us by the printers. The printer we chose eventually,
after a lot of research, was Titus Wilson and Son in Kendal. This turned out to
be a inspired decision because the book looks wonderful. It is a hardback book
of around 160 pages with beautiful illustrations and some stunning colour
photographs in addition to a large number of black and white photographs
representing life in Haile and Wilton in the past.
Each household in the parish is entitled to receive a free copy of the book. In
order to celebrate what we think is a great achievement for a group of
enthusiastic non-specialist local historians we are having a book
launch/celebration and exhibition on Friday 1st October in Haile Village Hall
at 7.30 pm. This will be for people in the parish, together with guests invited
by the organisers. Then on Saturday the exhibition will be open from 10.00 am
to 4.00pm when everyone is welcome to come along and have a look around. Some
members of the group will be there to welcome you and answer questions. There
will be light refreshments, free books can be collected and copies will be on
sale.
The book can also be ordered through this website. The price is £12.50 and if
you contact us we will let you know where to collect one at Haile or Wilton or
we can post one out to you for an extra charge of around £3.00 post and package
within the UK. Worldwide postage is also possible subject to additional postage
fees - contact us for details.
June 2004 Update...
You are probably wondering what the heritage group have been up to over the past
year since there has been a deafening silence on this page! We will try to put
this right in the next few weeks and months so don’t give up on us.
First an update to let you know how we are progressing with our book. The good news
is that we have all managed to condense the huge amount of information we have
collected over the past year and have written the articles which will make up
the book. We have also received a large number of photographs and taken
pictures of present day Haile and Wilton. Pen and ink drawings have also been
commissioned, as well as aerial photos. We are keen to produce an attractive
book, good to look at with lots of interesting articles and which is accessible
to all readers. We are now deciding on a printer and we hope to have the book
published in September. We intend that each household in the parish will be
given a book free of charge and books will also be given to the local
libraries, Whitehaven Records Office etc. Thereafter books will be for sale.
Following the publishing of the book we shall be holding an
exhibition/celebration which may be combined with the book launch, although we
have not made a final decision on this. We will post dates and details on this
page and in the local press as soon as we can.
We were intending to give you a flavour of different aspects of our research as it
was progressing, but the process has consumed us with frequent visits to the
Whitehaven Records Office, writing notes, examining old documents. It has
certainly been a challenge for many of us as a group of novices but an exciting
one as we uncovered each new piece of our local history. When we began our
project the staff at the records office said they had very little information
about the history of Haile and Wilton. However as we went backwards and
forwards with our notebooks and started to delve into our heritage many new
documents came to light, a number arriving at the records office whilst we were
doing the research. Many of these related to the Ponsonby family, who played a
large part in the history of the parish as large landowners and Lords of the
Manor. These documents have given us a fresh insight into life in the villages
from back into the 17th century onwards. We are enormously grateful to the
staff at the records office, who have used their expertise to guide us in
working through the vast amount of historical documents and helping us to
interpret them. We shall be giving you a flavour of these documents in the book
and a number of translations that have been done will be available at the
records office once our project is completed.
We have also had a number of guided walks around Haile and Wilton with a
consultant in vernacular architecture. We have examined several of the farms
inside and out! We have learnt how each feature of the building can tell a
story about its history. You will see some of these stories of these local
farms in the book.
A specialist naturalist and botanist visited our village hall, and after a talk and
slide show took the group into Haile Great Wood, (a Site of Special Scientific
Interest) where we explored the flora an fauna of this interesting ancient
woodland. It is well worth a visit if you ever come to Haile, or maybe it’s a
reason for paying us a visit! Just check on rights of way first.
One of our group has been researching the iron ore mines which are distinct
features in our locality. A one-time manager of Haile Moor mine and Florence
mine (just outside our parish) gave us a fascinating insight into what a
working iron ore mine was like, and stories about some of the interesting
characters he worked with. Haile Moor mine is no longer a working mine but some
of the remnant buildings can still be seen. If you are unfamiliar with this
area you may be interested to know that Florence Heritage Centre includes a
fine museum and guided tour into the mine. You may have seen it featured in
Fred Dibnah’s TV series.
Another important feature is Haile Village Hall which is featured on this web site.
It is now a thriving centre of the community but used to be Haile school where
most of the children in Haile and Wilton were taught between 1880 and 1944.
From the discovery of the teachers’ log books and the records of the meetings
of the school managers over this period we have been able to piece together
much of the day to day happenings in the school, some of which will be featured
in the book. These original school books will be presented to Whitehaven
Records Office on completion of the project so that they well be accessible for
all to view.
This is just a taste of some parts of our research but hopefully it will give you a
better idea of how the project has developed and the way ahead. We hope to give
you further updates including more details of different aspects of our research
and photographs as soon as we can find the time! Details of the book launch and
exhibition will also be posted on this page. If you have any interest in Haile
and Wilton, or information, or questions we will be delighted to hear from you.
Details of how to contact us have been given above. We would also like to take
this opportunity to thank everyone who has contacted us over the last year with
information, photographs, documents etc. It has been a huge help to the group
and although your particular information/photograph may not feature in the book
you can be sure that it has all been recorded and will be included in project
findings.
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