The first sod

So, just a field of grass on a lovely sunny afternoon. Well, not quite, because we feel certain that this was the site of a big day of celebration on the 4th of August 1858. The day was planned to be one that no one would forget. And the event being celebrated? The cutting of the first sod for the Eden Valley Railway.

Following on from yesterday’s blip, the Admiral Elliot had helped to pave the way for an Act of Parliament to be passed in May 1858, which gave the go ahead for the building of the railway. In euphoric mood, the Directors of the railway group decided to make a big event out of cutting the first sod. The ceremony was to take place in a field to the right of the Battlebarrow road out of Appleby. We think this is the place. In the picture you can see on the left the A66 and on the right through the trees if the railway, still with track at this point, although of course long disused.
 
In extras you can see an idea of what the event looked like. This drawing appeared in the Illustrated Times of the day. There were flags and banners and seats for the ladies. At 11am Lord Brougham, the guest of honour, was escorted from Appleby Castle in a long procession with bands playing. At the ceremony a mahogany wheelbarrow was wheeled in and Lord Brougham shovelled several sods of earth into it. There then followed many speeches, including an apparently stirring one by our Admiral Elliot in which he said “Active resistance and passive apathy. Both have been faced and defeated.” And the celebrations did not end there. There was a dinner and more speeches and lots of toasts, followed by a ball. Meanwhile a banquet had been given in the town and tea for the children.  The number of people drawn into the festivities ran into thousands. Certainly a day to remember.