Carlisle

Scotland

Population

• -- City (75,306) - 2011 census

Curse of Carlisle

The Curse of Carlisle is a 16th-century curse that was first invoked by Archbishop Dunbar of Glasgow in 1525 against cross-border families, known as the Border Reivers, who lived by stealing cattle and pillage. The curse was not directly aimed at Carlisle or its people so it seems illogical that it should be called the Carlisle Curse. It is likely that the whole thing was whipped up by a cynical press. For the millennium celebrations, the local council commissioned a 14-tonne granite artwork inscribed with all 1,069 words of the curse.

In 1998 some Christians, among other projects, began campaigning to prevent the city of Carlisle from installing the stone. In the wake of this controversy, a minority prone to superstition whipped up a furor about the stone. They blamed a number of the city's setbacks on the curse stone, including an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a flood, various crimes, rising unemployment statistics and even the fate of Carlisle United, which was relegated out of its league. Most Carlisle and Cumbria citizens attached no credibility to this notion[citation needed]. The City Council shared their skepticism.

In March 2005, Liberal Democrat city councilor Jim Tootle, on the request of a Christian citizen, proposed the stone either be moved outside the city boundaries or destroyed altogether. Kevin Carlyon, the self-titled "high priest of the British white witches" and the "Living God of all Witches" but only in his own and very singular opinion, proclaimed that such actions would give the curse more power. He commented that: "A curse can only work if people believe in it. I think at the moment the sculpture is a nice piece of history, but if the council destroys it, they would be showing their belief in the curse." A council meeting on 8 March 2005 rejected Tootle's proposal, a move welcomed by council leader Mike Mitchelson, who had earlier questioned whether moving the stone was a good use of council funds.

Fortifications

• -- Carlisle Castle --