The Parish Church of St Cuthbert, Carlisle

07/09/2026

The fifth of six free Carlisle Community Concerts hosted by The Parish Church of St Cuthbert, Carlisle will take place on Sunday 20 September.

Eden Brass Quartet presents "Something Old, Something New…", a programme of pieces spanning four centuries.

For further information visit https://tinyurl.com/yhj7z329

03/09/2026

Heritage Open Days 2026

The PULPIT WILL BE MOVING!

In September St Cuthbert’s will be taking part in the Heritage Open Days Festival, a national event co-ordinated by the National Trust to increase public access to historic buildings.

As part of the Heritage Open Days Festival, on Saturday 12th, Sunday
13th, Wednesday 16th, Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September we will be offering increased visitor access to the church, for a closer look at the chancel, the choir stalls, organ and sanctuary between 12noon and 4.30pm.

During each afternoon the sliding pulpit will be moved towards the centre of the church and there will be a self- guided tour using information boards about aspects of our church, with volunteers on
hand to enhance the visitor experience.

This year the national theme of the Heritage Days Festival is Everyday
Histories, at St Cuthbert’s we will focus on one Cumbrian family name – Hodgson - and explore the connections to St. Cuthbert’s and the wider community, we will also feature St. Cuthbert’s historic
connections to people of African-Caribbean heritage.

03/09/2026

Evensong
Join us for a service of Evensong on Sunday 13th September at 6.30pm. This is part of the Heritage Open Day celebrations which are taking place throughout that week, and is open to all, whether regular members of St Cuthbert’s, visitors to the city, or anyone else who might like to come along.

Just Visiting? A bit about us...

The Church stands not east-west but square to the Roman Road north through Carlisle (the A6, in town Blackfriars St). It is therefore of early foundation, perhaps before St Cuthbert's visit to Carlisle in 685. The present Church, probably the fourth on the site, dates from 1778.

It has a unique moving pulpit, a fourteenth century window, a window commemorating our hospitality to a Latvian Lutheran congregation, and a very attractive series of windows depicting the life of St Cuthbert. It is open every day from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm (see above). Our motto is: "Christian Hospitality"



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Our address is: St. Cuthbert's Church, Blackfriars Street, Carlisle, CA3 8HB

Telephone: Parish Office 01228 521982 Tithe Barn Bookings 07484081255 (9.00am to 6.00pm)

Email: [email protected]

(Tithe Barn Bookings [email protected])

22/08/2026

Is this for you? A new course in Diocese of Carlisle exploring God’s call.
Venue: St Herbert’s, Currock, Carlisle.

Living Your Call is all about helping people to explore their God-given calling. This includes what might be called to in the context of the church, enabling us to develop new leadership, lay and ordained, for the years ahead, but it isn’t limited to it: this course is also about equipping people to serve God where they already are, in their everyday life and work. It will provide a foundation for Christian fruitfulness by exploring the church, discipleship, vocation, and mission, helping people to discern how they can best use their God-given giftings and abilities.

15/08/2026

The fourth of six free Carlisle Community Concerts hosted by The Parish Church of St Cuthbert, Carlisle will take place on Sunday 23 August.

Enjoy an afternoon with Lethera, a collective of seasoned performers. Expect great musicianship and beautiful harmonies delivered through a wonderful repertoire of songs.

For further information visit https://tinyurl.com/28kmvdmr

31/07/2026

Spot Angela having a good time looking heavenward while playing table football at The Shed …

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D4u9bGHDf/?mibextid=wwXIfr

09/07/2026

Free concert Friday 10th July 7.30pm in church. Lovely for a summer’s evening. We look forward to welcoming you.

29/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1ETLJreFNF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Our vicar Rev Angela has a new badge! Have you ever felt the prod from God?

17/06/2026

Join the vicar for a saunter.
Friday 19th June 1.30pm for an hour or so. Meet at St Cuthbert’s Church on Blackfriars Street.

Angela writes…
I discovered just recently, thanks to a dear friend, that June 19th is International
Sauntering Day. It's not something I had ever heard of before but I like the idea
of a day given over to sauntering rather than rushing about from one thing to
another.

Evidently this has been officially observed since 1979 when its founder, shocked by the rising popularity of jogging, encouraged people to slow down and
appreciate their surroundings a little more at least for one day each year.

Sauntering sounds inviting. An opportunity to slow down and to notice the things around and about in a new way. Perhaps the people passing by .... Or the scent of roses... The way the clouds are formed ... The bird song ... A shop
window display (check out Restore on Castle Street - the displays are super)...

W H Davies in his poem 'Leisure' contemplates the art of sauntering as he poses the question: 'What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see when ...' etc etc

Similarly, the writer of the hymn 'How Great Thou Art' writes from the
perspective of a saunterer (or at least I think they do) as they share their
experience of gazing at the stars, looking down from a mountain top, listening
to the thunder, feeling the gentle breeze etc etc. It's a transformative experience.

Perhaps you already saunter on a regular basis? But even if you don't, how
about June 19th which falls on a Friday this year? If anyone wants to go
sauntering in the company of someone else, I'm going to go for a walk that
day. I'll be outside church at 1.30pm and aim to return by 2.30ish. Come and
join me! No planned route. We'll see where the walk takes us.

07/06/2026

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted strategically placed custard creamsand, more recently, bourbon biscuits as you have been walking around the citycentre over the last few months. Not real biscuits, but bronze or golden versions,securely placed at various key locations around the city. So what’s it all about?

This may be old news to some, but as I have only recently made this discovery I
thought it might be worth mentioning here. The “Custard Cream Trail” is a publicart and scavenger hunt created by Cumberland Objects and is a project celebrating Carlisle’s rich biscuit heritage.

Carlisle is home to the world’s oldest biscuit factory,JD Carr, now Carrs/McVitie’s, which produces, among other things, millions of custard creams every single day. We are all familiar with the “biscuit” smell on aday when the wind is blowing in the right direction!

There are 50 custard creams hidden across Carlisle’s historic streets and at
landmarks such at Tullie Museum, the Cathedral and yes, St Cuthbert’s! Have a lookon the wall on Blackfriar’s Street, next to the banner advertising our concerts andyou’ll spot it. There is another on West Walls just beside the mirror opposite thecar park, and several more to find in the Cathedral grounds, to name but a few.

For the technically-minded among you, the idea is that when you find a biscuit, youscan the QR code next to it and get access to fun biscuit-related facts as well as the opportunity to post a photo of the location on the Cumbria Objectors page.
However, for those of you who tremble at the words “QR Code”, here are a couple of those fun facts…
6.5 million custard creams are produced in Carlisle every 24 hours.
If you lined up all the bourbon biscuits made in Carlisle in one year, they would
stretch 81,000km – that’s enough to circle the Earth twice!

Happy hunting – we would love to know how many you find.