Caldewgate Ragged & Industrial School
Just about where Cumbria CVS Community Resource Centre stands today on Shaddongate behind John Street Emergency Accommodation was once the home of Caldewgate Ragged and Industrial School which opened its doors to children of the neighbourhood in 1851 and provided education, care and support for the next 40 years. An industrial area full of mills and factories, Shaddongate back then was densely populated with poor housing, and a local population of weavers and labourers that faced daily hardship. The Ragged Schools had their origins in London, where for many of the City’s destitute children, going to school each day was not an option. There was no such thing as free education for everyone. From the 18th century onwards there had been some ragged schools, however they were few and far between. They had been started in areas where someone had been concerned enough to want to help disadvantaged children towards a better life, and in Carlisle, this someone was George Head Head, a mayor, magistrate, banker, mine owner and philanthropist. Indeed the school was often referred to as Head’s School. Ragged Schools were given this name because the children who attended often had only very ragged clothes to wear and rarely had shoes. Like other Ragged Schools across the Country, as well as the provision of basic lessons many schools provided food, and as time went on, some also opened refuges where the children could sleep especially in the extremely cold weather. |