Today I'm in Ulverston my local town. Nestling between Morecambe Bay and the Lake
District National Park, this is a town of inspiring landscapes,
vibrant culture, and independent shopping and cafes
that perhaps make this the perfect Cumbrian town
Welcome to Ulverston
Now any exploration of Ulverston has to start
here with this - well not this, this! the John Barrow memorial
monument or as it's no more colloquially here
the Hoad. It was erected in 1850 to commemorate perhaps Ulverston's most
famous son, John Barrow. It's in the form of a
lighthouse, and in fact it was also used for
shipping in Morecambe Bay. But who was John Barrow? Born in 1764
in this little cottage in Dragley Beck in Ulverston,
John Barrow went on to become one of the most famous diplomats
of his generation. He traveled widely in China and
South Africa, became multilingual, and eventually
rose to second secretary of the Admiralty where he became one of the
prime promoters of arctic exploration and was instrumental in some of the most
famous expeditions of the time with the explorers Parry, Ross and John
Franklin, and to this day all over the arctic
regions there are places named after John Barrow.
Ulverston is also the start of the Cumbrian way. From here you can walk
70 miles over the lakeland fells all the way
to Carlisle, but better still why not start in Carlisle
and finish here in Ulverston, coinciding with one of the town's festivals.
Ulverston is famous for its festivals, there are countless throughout the year,
the Dickensian festiva,l Another Fine Fest, the Food Festival it
goes on and on! Due to the pandemic in 2020 of
course this year has been festival free but
that just means they'll come back bigger and better than
ever!
There's a good community spirit, there's lots of quirky shops,
everyone helps each other out and sort of promotes each other
We get a lot of tourists here so if someone comes in and says do
you know what so-and-so is like yeah there's one down there
there's one over there! We're always helping each other out. What's the key
to this independent spirit then because there are more independent shops
here than in most towns of this size and it really seems to be
thriving so what's the secret? Everyone seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet, like we all want the same for the town.
It's great that we have these festivals throughout the year because we've all
got something to work for. Would you agree that Ulverston is a very
creative town? Yes certainly, and I think any shop that
you're going to you'll see that everyone's got their own way, their own style,
quirky, alternative, everyone's just got their own style and they just bring
their own vibes to their their business every
day, and I think that's what people like when they come here they
like to see that, you know, really different vibe going on,
it's nice to see!
Do you remember when cinemas used to stop the film halfway through for an
interval and an ice cream, well here at the fantastic
Roxy cinema they still do! Opened in 1937
the Roxy could originally hold over 1200 people,
these days not quite so many because the bottom half
is given over to the amazing Laurel and Hardy museum.
But why is there a Laurel and Hardy museum here in Ulverston?
Well, just a few streets away from where I am now,
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born in 1890. He went on to become Charlie
Chaplin's understudy, but later became known as one half of
the biggest comedy act in the world!
The Laurel and hardy statue sits outside Ulverston's majestic
Coronation Hall.
Work began in 1914 and the hall itself commemorates the coronation
of King George V with an amazing proscenium
arched theatre, and nowadays the theatre hosts a diverse range
of productions.
Ulverston meets the sea here at Canal Foot. Strange name? Not really, it's at the
foot of probably England's shortest and
straightest canal. The canal in fact is 1.25 miles
long, it was inaugurated in 1796 and at that
time Ulverston was a center for shipbuilding and the
production and transport of iron ore slate and coal.
Alas the canal was abandoned at the end of world war
ii and since then has been a perfect spot
for jogging, cycling or dog walking.
So where does the name come from and why is there a wolf
in Ulverston's coat of arms? Well if I told you that about a thousand years ago
perhaps they were more likely to call this place wolf-erston
then you get the idea. These days the wildlife
is a little less fearsome.
What we want out of this gallery is to show a mixture, partly to show our
own work, local artists, yes some south lakes
artists, but also we're very keen to bring in
artists from elsewhere and one of the things we we want to do is to bring
something new and fresh for people in Ulverston or visitors to us and so they
get kind of the experience of oh yeah there's that artist I know her oh yes
nice to see you again oh I haven't seen that before that there
isn't any other particular raison d'être behind it other than we want
beautiful things that we think are fab in our gallery!
Is it the perfect Cumbrian town? Come visit,
decide for yourself!