Jan 20 1804 - House Collapse at Carlisle - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

Jan 20 1804 - House Collapse at Carlisle

The Times, Friday, Jan 20, 1804; pg. 3; Issue 5924; col C

On Tuesday last a shocking accident happened at Calmoots, Carlisle. The wife of
one David SINCLAIR, Rope-maker, being unwell, retired to bed rather sooner than
usual. The house the people occupied was built of clay, divided in the middle by
a thin partition wall. About nine o'clock that evening an uncommon noise was
heard in the farther part of the dwelling; and when some of the inhabitants went
to examine the cause of it, they found that the gable-end of the cottage had
given way, and the whole of that part of the roof had fallen in. Some of the
timbers falling upon the woman in bed, bruised her in such a manner as to
occasion her immediate death. Sad as this accident is, its happening so soon in
the evening, probably prevented the death of others of the family; for that end
of the house accommodated them as a bedroom; and had the roof fallen in the dead
of the night, in all likelihood the whole family would have been immured in its
ruins.

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