WCAS started 2012 with two radically different meetings.  February saw Edwin Rutherford from Tullie House Museum with his take on the Reivers.  Edwin’s talk, illustrated by maps and contemporary sources placed the Reivers in both an historical and geographical context.  He finished by describing the end of this turbulent period of local history and the dispersal of troublesome families firstly to Ireland and later to America.  The talk was enjoyed by an audience that incuded several descendants of reiving families.  Despite their ancestors being on opposite sides of the divide the evening passed off peacefully!

 March’s meeting was a dayschool led by Peter Messenger, formerly Conservation Officer with Carlisle City Council.  The morning was a presentation outlining the development of model farms in north and west Cumbria looking at examples in the Penrith area, Workington and Maryport.  He talked about how these farms were set up to take advantage of the latest developments in animal husbandry and agriculture in the 19^th century and also in several cases to give the younger sons of landowning families meaningful occupation.  He then discussed Mechi Farm, Blennerhasset in more detail.  This farm was developed by John Lawson of Aspatria in the 1860s following co-operative ideals developed by John Joseph Mechi who farmed in Essex.  After lunch we then visited Mechi farm with kind permission of the farmer and were able to look at what remained of the buildings and machinery John Lawson had set up.

 The next meeting is Friday 20 April at Allhallows Centre in Fletchertown when Mark Graham from Grampus Heritage will talk about recent and upcoming archaeological work at Papcastle.  The talk starts at 7.30pm and visitors are welcome.  For more information e-mail westcumbriaas@gmail.com

The West Cumbria Archaeology Society was established in 2003 and evolved out of an earlier group.  It was initially created by a group of volunteers with a keen interest in history and archaeology.  Its aims are to carry out archaeological and historical research in West Cumbria and establish a valuable resource of trained volunteers to assist in archaeological work in the region.
The Society carries out  their own fieldwork and research including geophysics and excavation.  The current focus of work is the Holm Cultram Project.