Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle / A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See

by C. King Eley

Up to the year 1870 the nave was used as a parish church. The cathedral from its beginning as the priory church, in accordance with a very common practice of the Augustinian body, contained two churches belonging to two separate bodies quite independent of each other.

The choir and transepts formed the priory church, in the possession of the prior and canons until the dissolution of the monastery, when it passed to the dean and chapter. The nave formed the parish church of St. Mary, and belonged to the parishioners. After the civil wars it was cut off from the transepts by a stone wall, and furnished with galleries and a pulpit. A new church to accommodate the parishioners having been built in the abbey grounds in 1870, all these additions were removed, and the nave was restored to the cathedral, adding greatly to the general effect. An interesting event in the history of the parish church was the marriage of Sir Walter Scott to Miss Carpenter on the 24th December 1797.

He had made the acquaintance of Miss Carpenter at Gilsland in July while touring in the Lake district. She had "a form that was fashioned as light as a fay's, a complexion of the clearest and lightest olive; eyes large, deep-set, and dazzling, of the finest Italian brown; and a profusion of silken tresses black as the raven's wing." Scott was strongly attracted to her, and within six months she became his wife.

A tombstone under the west window shows the matrix of what was once a magnificent brass.

The Font, standing on a fine marble flooring close to the west window, has bronze figures of St. John Baptist, the Virgin and Child, and St. Philip. It was designed by Sir A. Blomfield, and presented by Archdeacon Prescott 1891.

The Organ.—The former organ built by Avery, London, has been given to Hexham Abbey Church. The present one extends from one side of the eastern tower arch to the other. It was built by Willis (1856), and the diaper work was executed by Hardman. About the year 1877 it was enlarged at a cost of nearly £1000.

North Transept.—The transept is very lofty and very dark. It is about 22 feet wide, and its length from north to south is nearly 114 feet.

Standing near the entrance to the north choir aisle, looking southwards and across the nave, a capital general view of the remains of the Norman portion of the cathedral can be obtained.