Rivals

Appleby Boroughgate

As I came out of the Opticians and wandered through Appleby to where Gordon had parked the car as he went to the Gym, I thought I would take this photo and add it to my list of Boroughgate buildings.

Numbers 19 and 21, next door neighbours, were built in the 1870s as banks. The one on the left was originally the Carlisle and Cumberland Bank, then Barclay’s Bank, which I remember it as. It is now apartments. The one on the right was the Cumberland Union Banking Co Ltd, then Martin’s Bank and is now Low Howgill Butchers, an excellent place where we buy all our meat products.

It would seem that the original banks were rivals and competed with each other with their architecture, as well as for customers. Look at all the fancy parapets, elaborate wrought iron balconies and elegant lower windows - all to impress customers. They are also made of much higher quality stone that the buildings nearby. Is it significant that the doors face away from each other I wonder. It is likely that the Bank Managers lived in the upper floors of the buildings in very smart rooms. The confidence and status of banks at the time!