Lost pub · St Cuthbert's Lane
The Fish and Dolphin
- Built
- In local directories 1844-1913/14; rebuilt 1898
- Gone
- Gone from the directories after 1913-14
- There now
- Not established
- Address
- 2 St Cuthbert's Lane
- Where exactly
- Placed by house number at the English Street end of St Cuthbert's Lane, on the north side; the Cumberland News of 1991 put it on the site then occupied by Topshop. The position is approximate.
At 2 St Cuthbert's Lane, and older than its best-known name. It was the Crown and Cushion from before 1801, and Parson and White's directory of 1829 names Jane Carruthers as its keeper under that name. It was the Fish and Dolphin from 1844. John Reid is named as innkeeper in the 1847 directory, and Thomas Long, 42 and born in Carlisle, in the 1861 census. The Cumberland News of 22 February 1991 places it on the site that is now Topshop.
It may have been called the Woolpack around 1865, and the Woolpack name is worth chasing. In August 1866 the Chief Constable reported that 'the Woolpack, English Street' had been pulled down, yet in February 1867 E. Johnston signed the innkeepers' memorial for a Wool Pack, so a second house was carrying the name by then; this one, if it was the Woolpack around 1865, or the new beerhouse on Milbourne Street, built about 1867, are the candidates. The 1991 column, separately, lists a Woolpack among the lane's inns on Binns' site, and asked for photographs.
In May 1868 the licence passed from James Lawson to Harrison Smith. It was the Drove by 1873, when the Post Office directory lists 'Drove, Mrs. Mary Marrs, 2 St Cuthbert's lane'; another record has the Drove name from 1869. The directories have John Carrick there in 1884, and he was still there in 1891, 40 and born at Houghton. It was rebuilt in 1898 and later passed into the Jennings estate. A Carlisle Old Brewery house at the end, it is in the local directories until 1913 or 1914; Jonathan Varty Wilson had it in 1910, its last Kelly's listing.
Sources 10
- Carlisle Encyclopaedia, "F" page
- CARLISLE_PUBS_Ver_3.xls (Mike Tuer's pub database)
- The Cumberland News, 22 February 1991, p. 4: 'Lore and More' (Norman Nicholson), 'Unsavoury types at old city pubs' (with Bill Boak's request for photographs of the lane's pubs) (via newspapers.com)
- Carlisle Patriot, 31 August 1866, p. 6: 'Brewster Sessions' (via British Newspaper Archive)
- Carlisle Patriot, 22 February 1867, p. 7: 'Carlisle Town Council: the Public House Closing Act', with the innkeepers' memorial (via British Newspaper Archive)
- Carlisle Patriot, 25 September 1891, p. 6: 'Public houses in Carlisle sixty years ago', reprinting the 1829 Parson and White directory list (via British Newspaper Archive)
- Carlisle Patriot, 29 May 1868, p. 5: 'Transfer of public-house licences in Carlisle' (via British Newspaper Archive)
- Post Office Directory of Durham, with the principal towns of Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland (London: Kelly and Co., 1873), Carlisle: street directory and publicans (University of Leicester digital copy)
- Bulmer's History, Topography and Directory of East Cumberland (1884), Carlisle: hotels, inns and taverns, beerhouses, and wine and spirit merchants (University of Leicester digital copy)
- Kelly's Directory of Cumberland (London: Kelly and Co., 1910), Carlisle: street directory and public houses (University of Leicester digital copy)
Open question
What we don't know yet
Does anyone have a photograph of the Fish and Dolphin on St Cuthbert's Lane? Bill Boak asked for one in the Cumberland News of 22 February 1991, placing it on the site that later became Topshop.
If you know the answer, or where it might be found (an old photograph, a family story, a document), tell us and it goes into the story above.
Also lost on St Cuthbert's Lane
- The Robert Burns Inn
- The Duke of Wellington
- Farmers Arms
- The Golden Lion
- The Town Crier
- The Lowther Arms
- The City Arms
75 other lost pubs stood within 250 m of here. See them on the map
Still serving, near where it stood
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10 maway
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30 maway
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80 maway
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110 maway