From the market-place, the principal streets, called English-street, Castle-street, Scotch-street, and Fisher street, diverge as from a centre. At the head of the latter, is the ancient Guild-hall, a mean edifice, built of brick, and appropriated to the meetings of the eight free trades, viz. merchants, butchers, tanners, weavers, tailors, skinners, smiths, and shoe-makers.
Carlisle contains a few public buildings deserving of particular notice. The Cathedral church of St Diary's, is a venerable structure, partly of Gothic and partly of Saxon architecture ; where is performed the parochial and cathedral service, and in a part of it the chancellor of the diocese holds the consistory court. The choir and aisles of this building are of beautiful Gothic archi tecture, with clustered columns and pointed arches. In the aisles, on each side, are many singular legendary paintings, of the history of St Augustine, St Cuthbert, and the Romish St Anthony. In the Abbey, contiguous to the church, and in which the church properly stands, are several ancient buildings, the deanry, fratery, &c., which has been lately considerably improved by the dean and chapter. St Cuthberts, the other parish church, is a modern edifice, plain, and without orna ment. Besides these two churches, there is, in Car lisle, a Quaker's meeting-house, a Presbyterian chapel, two Methodist chapels, an Anabaptist chapel, and a Ca tholic chapel.
The castle is situated on a gentle eminence, at the north west extremity of the city. The donjon, or great tower, whose walls are 12 feet in thickness, constructed agreeably to the old mode of defence, was formerly strengthened by a draw-bridge over a wide ditch ; there is also a half-moon battery mounted with cannon, and a large platform also mounted under cover of the outer wall. A well of vast depth, within the tower, supplied the garrison with water. In the outer castle is a fine grass plot, a garden, a governor's house, and an armory lately erected, capable of containing 10,000 stand of arms. here the dreary dungeon is shewn the curious visitor, where Mary queen of Scots, whose beauty, mis conduct, and misfortunes, arc alike famous in history, was confined, after her defeat at Langsidc. During her imprisonment, the royal captive used to walk in front of the castle, which yet retains the name of the Lady',4 Walk; and tradition says, that with her hand she planted some ash trees, whose spreading branches till lately shaded this consecrated walk.
That the castle of Carlisle has been a Roman flu till cation, there can hardly exist a doubt; hut having al ways, in times of commotion and tumult, been the as sailable point, it has undergone so many alto rations and repairs, that there is scar«dy a fragment of the original building to 1w discovered. The old centre tower, or keep, appears, front the stile of the architecture, to has e been constructed in the reign of Edward 1.; and at some parts of the basement of the external buttresses north wall, where the modern easing of stone added to it in the reign of Henry VIII. is broken down by the decay of the embankment below, a part of the original may easily be observed. The stones of this wall being different from any in the other parts of the building, and eon esponding exactly with the materials that com pose the remains of the great Roman wall which crossed the northern counties of England, it is not unreasonable to suppose the castle nearly of the same date, and, con sequently, erected by the Roman emperor Adrian. The base of this still extends to the bottom of the hill on which the castle stands, and has been erected as a bul wark to defend and secure the fabric against the floods Of Eden, which river appears to have formerly run under the castle walls. The various alterations and additions that have been made to the castle at different periods, can easily be traced to the reign of Elizabeth, when it underwent a thorough repair; and from thence to the time of Oliver Cromwell, vs hen the keep was converted into a battery, and long guns, in order more effectually to command the town, mounted on the roof.
In 1807, an act of parliament was obtained for erecting court houses, &c. on the site of the citadel adjoining the English gate. The work was immediately begun, on a sere extensive plan, and is now nearly completed. The citadel was a very large building, consisting of a strong square tower, connected to two large bastions, and was built by order of Henry VIII.