Museum Lockdown - Remembering the Evacuation of Gallipoli

 



As we enter another lockdown, I find myself back to working from home as the Museum, once again, closes to the public. Re-establishing a new online routine with the staff to put in place regular social media posts has once again become important, to keep connected to our remote audiences. And, of course, it's time to restart the blog.

This week has been dominated by a series of Regimental anniversaries. None more so than the evacuation of the Gallipoli penninsular in 1916. One hundred and five years ago saw the successful evacuation after what had been a disastrous campaign. The Border Regiment's 1st Battalion was chosen to be the rearguard and Captain Walter Ewbank wrote to his parents sharing his experiences of deceiving the Turks with timed rifles and exploding bombs to the shooting of the horses. For service in the campaign both the 1st and 6th Battalions received eight Battle Honours with 'GALLIPOLI 1915-16' shown on the Colours of the Border Regiment. Interestingly within the Castle site we have another, more permanent reminder of this campaign - the name on one of the buildings.

The buildings within the Castle site all have their own individual history highlighting their military connection.  Most of them have names of battle honours. The block standing across the parade square from the Museum is named Gallipoli. It was originally built as a single-storey canteen building for the barracks in 1829, and rebuilt and extended as a barrack block in 1876.  Originally called Conway, it was renamed Gallipoli in 1930 to commemorate the battle honour. Many visiting veterans who did National Service at the Castle remember being billeted in this block (which now stands empty) and it is one of our tasks to chat to them and record their experiences whilst they were stationed within Carlisle Castle.

Whilst undertaking my weekly check of the Museum (Alma) last week, I took the opportunity to photograph Gallipoli block, fascinated by its individual history - the history of the building itself, the history of those that have used the block and the history associated with its name 'Gallipoli'. It seemed appropriate to use this anniversary to restart my online ramblings and share my Museum thoughts with folk as I start another week working from my dining room table. So welcome back to the blog. The Curator is back...

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