''The Westmorland Gazette'' is a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

published in Kendal,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, covering " South Lakeland and surrounding areas", including Barrow and North Lancashire. Its name refers to the historic county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

. The paper is now owned by the Newsquest group, forming part of Westmorland Gazette Newspapers, which includes the weekly

freesheet Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at ...

''South Lakes Citizen'' and other titles. It has an office in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census to ...

in addition to its Kendal base. The circulation is about 7,500. It changed from broadsheet to compact format in August 2009. The editor, Vanessa Sims, also edits Cumbrian titles the ''Mail'', the News & Star, The Cumberland News, the '' Whitehaven News'', and the Times & Star.

History

The newspaper was founded on May 23, 1818. Among its early editors was

Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quinc ...

, who was in post from July 1818 until his resignation in November 1819. Under his editorship, the newspaper covered topics such as contemporary philosophy. It has been suggested that De Quincey's interests were too esoteric for the readership of the ''Gazette'', but the main reason for his departure seems to have been doubt about his reliability. He was living at

Dove Cottage Dove Cottage is a house on the edge of Grasmere in the Lake District of England. It is best known as the home of the poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy Wordsworth from December 1799 to May 1808, where they spent over eight years of ...

, some miles away from Kendal. A drug addict, De Quincey used to take laudanum there, as he recalled in his autobiographical work ''

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821) is an autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its effect on his life. The ''Confessions'' was "the first major work De Quincey published and the one ...

''.The proprietors complained in July 1819 of "their dissatisfaction with the lack of 'regular communication between the Editor and the Printer'". Online edition available by subscription.

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

wrote many letters for publication in the paper, and had been invited to be its editor; other notable correspondents included

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

and

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

. From 1963 the newspaper was the publisher of

Alfred Wainwright Alfred Wainwright MBE (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991), who preferred to be known as A. Wainwright or A.W., was a British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator. His seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'', publis ...

's books ''

A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells ''A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' is a series of seven books by A. Wainwright, detailing the fells (the local word for hills and mountains) of the Lake District in northwest England. Written over a period of 13 years from 1952, they ...

''. The series was taken over by Michael Joseph after the author's death. In 2007 ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' reported that a minor news story in the ''Westmorland Gazette'', describing the fire brigade's attendance to extinguish a burning chair, had received much commentary. The editor, Mike Glover, was quoted as saying: "This is not the most crime-ridden or busiest of areas, and it's difficult to get much material from calls to the police and fire brigade. We took attitude that local news sells local newspapers. People will have wondered what the fire brigade were doing."

References

External links

Westmorland Gazette website
Newspapers published in Cumbria Publications established in 1818 Westmorland Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom {{England-newspaper-stub