The Westmorland Gazette

The Westmorland Gazette is a weekly newspaper published in Kendal, England, covering "South Lakeland and surrounding areas",[1] including Barrow and North Lancashire. Its name refers to the historic county of Westmorland. The paper is now owned by the Newsquest group, forming part of Westmorland Gazette Newspapers, which includes the weekly freesheet South Lakes Citizen and other titles. It has an office in Ulverston in addition to its Kendal base. The circulation is about 14,500.[1] It changed from broadsheet to compact format in August 2009.[2] The editor, Kevin Young, also edits the local tabloid The Lancashire Telegraph.

History

The newspaper was founded in 1818. Among its early editors was Thomas De Quincey, who was in post from July 1818 until his resignation in November 1819. De Quincey was addicted to laudanum and later became famous for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.[1] It has been suggested that his interests were too esoteric for the readership of the Gazette, but the main reason for his departure seems to have been concern expressed about his reliability: the proprietors had complained in July 1819 of "their dissatisfaction with the lack of 'regular communication between the Editor and the Printer'".[3]

William Wordsworth wrote many letters for publication in the paper, and had been invited to be its editor; other notable correspondents included John Ruskin and Beatrix Potter.[1]

From 1963 the newspaper was the publisher of Alfred Wainwright's books A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. The series was taken over by Michael Joseph after the author's death.[4]

In 2007 The Times 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 the the [sic] attitude that local news sells local newspapers. People will have wondered what the fire brigade were doing."[5]

References
  1. "History of the Westmorland Gazette". Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  2. "The Westmorland Gazette breaks its broadsheet tradition with compact move". How-do: News, opinion and resources for the North West media industry. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  3. Lindop, Grevel (Sep 2004). "Quincey, Thomas Penson De (1785–1859)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 4 July 2010. Online edition available by subscription.
  4. "A Wainwright". Visit Cumbria. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  5. Hamilton, Alan (24 February 2007). "Office chair set on fire - news that made the world sit up..." The Times. Archived from the original on 26 February 2007. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
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