Martin Luther King Day at Cairo Street Chapel
The middle years of the 19th Century must have been a great time to be a member of Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel, for not only were plans being developed to […]
This Month in Writing – January
‘The Grey Woman’ Published January 1861 in volume IV of Charles Dickens’ All the Year Round January is a dull month after the Christmas festivities, so what could be better […]
This Month in Writing – December
‘The Secret Life of Edward Higgins: The Squire’s Story Published in the Extra Christmas Number of Dickens’ Household Words, December 1853 After looking at some interesting Welsh locations in ‘The […]
William Robson – Warrington’s Abolitionist
In Warrington’s Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel, close to the steps leading to the Priestley Gates, is an obelisk commemorating the lives of William Robson (1812-1902), his wife Anna, and their […]
This Month in Writing – November
‘The Well of Pen – Morfa’, November 1850 In the autumn of 1850, the year that Elizabeth Gaskell and her family took up residence at 42, Plymouth Grove, Charles Dickens published […]
Cousin Phillis
Gaskell’s last novella, Cousin Phillis, was published in The Cornhill Magazine in 1863, only two years before she died. In this story she returns to her beloved Knutsford, now named […]
This Month in Writing – October
Mary Barton – the book that divided a nation 1848 was the year of revolution. A series of political upheavals took place across Europe. Their aim was ostensibly to remove the old monarchical structures and […]
Gaskell Service 2019
Every year, on a Sunday close to what would have been Elizabeth Gaskell’s birthday, we head to Brook Street Chapel in Knutsford to lay flowers on the Gaskell family grave […]
Samuel Gaskell – Warrington’s forgotten pioneer in the treatment of mental health
As part of the Heritage Open Days in 2019, the doors will be open at Cairo Street Unitarian Chapel, Warrington’s oldest Dissenting Chapel. Founded on the same site in 1662, […]
The Old Nurse’s Story
‘The Old Nurse’s Story’ can be found in collections of Gothic stories, ghost stories and tales of the macabre, something which might seem odd for a woman who was the […]