This site introduces you to the Lorton and Derwentfells Local
History Society, L&DFLHS, its activities, its publications,
and historical resources. For more about the Society's role,
please scroll down. To see a poster for our next event please
click here.
Whether you live locally or not, you can join as a member for
£12 annually or £20 for two at one address. Your membership will
include the streaming of our Cumbrian history talks through 2024 on this page , or at the Yew Tree Hall
in Lorton. To join the Society or to supply your email address for
Zoom talks, please contact the Membership Secretary, Lena
Stanley-Clamp.
Our Digital Archive and Catalogue - February 2024
In February 2024 the Society launched its new Digital
Archive and Catalogue on https://derwentfells.org.uk. This
site has been established to provide an enduring archive of
the publications of the Society over its thirty-plus years,
and to make available much of its collection of archival
material, such as digitised photographs. Search facilities
are provided.
You will find that all of our publications
currently on this site are now available on the new archive site,
and we will continue for the time being to upload new publications
on both sites. However, only the new archive site will contain the
photographic images, society records, and other archival material
which will be uploaded through 2024 and beyond.
For further information about our Digital
Archive and catalogue please see the article in Wanderer No.51,
February 2024. We are looking for volunteers to upload and
catalogue our photographs on the new site.
Our Digital Archive and Catalogue is hosted on
webspace provided by the Cumbria Local History Federation, which
is available to member societies as content providers. The archive
catalogue system has been developed by and will be supported by
Tim Haldon. The project has been supported with funding by the
Westmorland Dales Heritage Lottery Fund and the CLHF.
Our
'Digital Archive of Historical Sources' is now available
February 2023 the Society made available a large collection of
digitised primary sources relating to its area of interest. Copies
can be borrowed by Society Members on a flash drive/memory stick and
by other UK researchers for projects in the Local History of our
area. The content and how to obtain is given on
this
page.
Follow us on Facebook
The Society has a Facebook page where you can keep up to date
with our activities and publications, follow links to relevant
material and join the discussion about the local history of our
area. You do not need a Facebook account to read the material, but
you do if you wish to contribute. Go to our Facebook page by
clicking
LortonLocalHistorySociety.
Our area in the County of Cumbria
The Society has its principal focus in the
area of the English Lake District to the west of Keswick and the
south of Cockermouth. The map shows this area of Cumbria, formerly
Cumberland. The old townships covered are Brackenthwaite,
Buttermere, Embleton, Lorton, Loweswater, Mosser, Pardshaw,
Whinfell and Wythop.
'New
Domesday' digital resource -May 2020
In 2020 the Society created a digital resource
containing the records for our area of the land valuation
survey undertaken during 1909-15. This resource of images held
at Cumbria Archive Centre, Carlisle, and The National
Archives, is not an online resource, but images for particular
properties can be requested and sent by email. The content and
how to access is given on this
page.
The Greenwood maps
The Society provides the Greenwood county maps of Cumberland
and Westmorland at the original scale to view, download, and
use freely. These maps were surveyed in 1821-3 at one inch to
the mile. Click the image above to go to the Greenwood page.
What does the Society do?
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The Society is a membership organisation, run by an elected
committee.
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It organises a programme
of events for its members and visitors, primarily a series
of bi-monthly talks. Additionally it organises historical
visits and occasionally walks and exhibitions.
-
It publishes a quarterly booklet called the Wanderer, has
previously published The Journal,
and occasionally publishes
books and other material.
-
Additionally it organises historical visits and
occasionally walks and exhibitions.
-
It keeps an archive of historical material related to the
area, and provides support to other local and family
historians.
-
The Society is a member of the Cumbria
Local History Federation, a founder member
of the Cumbria
County History Trust, and a member of the British Association
for Local History.