The boot thief and the belligerent curate -researching the history of Cumrew

How do you discover more about a place and its people? Bruce Bennison takes us on a quick journey through time, introducing the history of Cumrew, and highlighting some of the methods that anyone can use to build up a picture of life in a small Fellside village over 5,000 years.

The aim is to show what can be done using resources which are freely available online, and how they can be combined with deeper research, using the excellent facilities of local libraries and archive centres. The results can be fascinating and addictive.

Bruce Bennison is a retired local government officer living in Newbiggin, just north of Croglin, in the heart of the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme area. Bruce has lived in the area for over 20 years. Now in retirement, he is a valued volunteer as part of the scheme.

This Fellfoot Forward lunchtime talk was presented online on Thursday 27 January. You can watch the recording of the talk here (running time approx. 1 hour).