William Fisher was a yeoman farmer of Low Furness and an important man in the village of Barrow. He kept a diary of local happenings, births, marriages and deaths, records of sowing and harvesting times, tragedies and every day events. The diary first came to light by pure chance. Several years ago, a student, following Bill Rollinson’s advice that nothing that was handwritten should ever be thrown away, showed him a book which she had borrowed from her friend Russell Rowlandson; this book was in fact one of the very few hand written manuscripts from Barrow Village - it was “The Diary of William Fisher of Barrow, 1811 to 1859”. This important record is now safely installed in Cumbria Record Office, by kind permission of its owner. In 1986, Bill Rollinson, in collaboration with the archivist, Brett Harrison, painstakingly copied the whole of the diary, including all spelling mistakes. It was then published as an occasional paper in book form by Lancaster University. This edition of William Fisher’s Journal “helpfully amplified by the editor’s introduction and supporting explanatory notes, will therefore provide an important source for all interested in the emergence of modern Barrow”.... Oliver Westall (general editor). William Fleming was another diarist. His diary consists of a collection of ten volumes, seven of which are on microfilm in Lancaster and Liverpool Universities and Barrow Library. The diaries (1798-1819), written by William Fleming of Pennington, are, according to Bill Rollinson, a record of social history which is the best of its kind in Britain, “A Pennington Pepys” was one of Bill’s most popular lectures, often given to local societies. Packed audiences came away feeling they had actually met William Fleming, an old boy of Urswick Grammar School, who became the overseer of the poor and highways for his parish. This socialite, raconteur and local historian was an outspoken character who disliked many members of the human race, (particularly clergymen), and said so - in no uncertain terms! Fleming came from an important affluent family; he had delusions of grandeur and signed himself “gentleman farmer”. The life and times of William Fleming were vividly brought to life by Bill Rollinson. Readings from the diaries, often delivered in strong Cumbrian dialect, and seasoned with a generous mixture of Rollinson charm and humour, transported his audience into another world - a world in which there were no antibiotics, where even an infected cut could be fatal. Fortunately for people living in Furness, Dr. William Close from Dalton, who gets a mention in the Fleming diaries, introduced small-pox vaccination in 1799, surprisingly, only three years after Jenner’s original experiments, and this is what William Fleming wrote for Friday 15th March 1816.... “In spite of the Vaccine Inoculation the Small Pox rages in Ulverston with deadly Violence and spreads fast among the Children there, but I do not hear of any being infected who have been cut for the Cow Pox. However its Efficacy in preventing the Small Pox will most likely now be put to the Test and many Doubts removed...” “In 1799 he introduced vaccine inoculation into Furness. Taking up a temporary residence at Rampside, he made a proposal to have all the children of the lower classes, thereabouts, inoculated at his expense….” (Harper Gaythorpe) 1903 Click here to Link to article on William Close in this web site “Dr. Close was a little slender man, very clever, but rather changeable and fond of riding on horseback - an absolute necessity for a surgeon in a large and sparsely populated district” (Harper Gaythorpe). I first learnt about Dr. William Close who lived for part of his life at 2 Castle Street. I have lived there since July 2000, sadly too late for Bill’s visit. He would have been a most welcome guest. (AL).
