Lost pub · St Cuthbert's Lane
The Lowther Arms
- Built
- In local directories from about 1811; may have traded as the Shakespeare before 1857
- Gone
- Closed 21 December 1915
- There now
- Not established
- Address
- 12 St Cuthbert's Lane
- Where exactly
- Placed by house number on the north side of St Cuthbert's Lane, counting from the English Street end; the Cumberland News of 1991 put it on the site then numbered 12. The position is approximate.
A Maryport Brewery house at 12 St Cuthbert's Lane, in the local directories from about 1811. An 1841 sale notice describes it as long known by the Lowther Arms sign; one record suggests it traded as the Shakespeare before 1857, which sits oddly with that notice. The Robert Burns Inn, across the lane at number 5, traded for most of its life as the Shakespeare, and the two houses are easily confused. Not the Lowther Arms at Beaumont, formerly the Lowther Castle Arms, nor the Sportsman Inn on Heads Lane, which also wore the Lowther Arms name on its way through half a dozen signs to its present one.
J. Sherrington signed the innkeepers' memorial of February 1867 for the Lowther Arms. Nathan Taylor kept it in 1884, and in September 1890 the licence passed from him to Robert Thom. In September 1897 it passed from Tom Tweddle to John Nichol Hewitt, and the directories run on to James Little in 1914.
It closed on 21 December 1915 per the city's own minutes: one of the earliest closures, ahead of the state takeover the following year. It was still the Board's property after the war. On 30 April 1919 the Central Control Board put it up for auction at the Victoria Hotel, through the auctioneer Fred Telford, among fourteen Carlisle properties it no longer needed: number 12 St Cuthbert's Lane, 'a shop or refreshment house, with front and back bars, smokeroom, kitchen, cellar, and business rooms above'. The Cumberland News of 22 February 1991 places it on the site now numbered 12 (David Carswell's), and asked for photographs.
Sources 10
- Carlisle Encyclopaedia, "L" page
- CARLISLE_PUBS_Ver_3.xls (Mike Tuer's pub database)
- The Cumberland News, 19 April 1919, p. 10: Fred Telford's advertisement of the Central Control Board's auction of fourteen Carlisle properties, Victoria Hotel, 30 April 1919 (via newspapers.com)
- 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, 10 September 1897, p. 3: 'Licensing Sessions: City of Carlisle' (via Findmypast)
- Carlisle Patriot, 22 February 1867, p. 7: 'Carlisle Town Council: the Public House Closing Act', with the innkeepers' memorial (via British Newspaper Archive)
- North Cumberland Reformer, 25 September 1890, p. 2: 'The Adjourned Brewster Sessions' (via British Newspaper Archive)
- 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., 1897), Carlisle: street directory and public houses (University of Leicester digital copy)
- Kelly's Directory of Cumberland and Westmorland (London: Kelly and Co., 1914), 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 Lowther Arms on St Cuthbert's Lane, now number 12? Bill Boak asked for one in the Cumberland News of 22 February 1991.
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 Fish and Dolphin
- The Golden Lion
- The Town Crier
- The City Arms
72 other lost pubs stood within 250 m of here. See them on the map
Still serving, near where it stood
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30 maway
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40 maway
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80 maway
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100 maway