Mary Gertrude Birt née Kennedy 1806 – 1846 (younger sister of Georgiana Molloy)

A bit more about… Mary. Georgiana Molloy wasn’t the only one of the three Kennedy sisters to have a difficult relationship with their mother. Mary’s letters to Mrs Kennedy usually describe her difficult financial circumstances. She often sounds petulant but the letters she received back from Mrs Kennedy deal with financial matters in the same […]

A new beginning

I’ve been writing posts on my ‘Georgiana Molloy 1805-1843’ Facebook page since November 2013 but this is the very first new blog on the full website.  The site went live today, together with one enormous posting of all the archives and photographs from Facebook, to make sure that any new viewers don’t miss out on what’s […]

Snapshots from the Georgiana trail

Garden door, Crosby Lodge, Cumbria 2011

St Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, London

A quiet moment in 2011, enjoying the beautiful interior of the church of St Martin, on a visit to follow in the footsteps of John Molloy. This was the day that we found the white marble font where Molloy was Christened in 1786. John Molloy had a long life both before and after his years […]

Carlisle Castle, Cumbria

Two views of Carlisle Castle built in the 12th Century by a son of William the Conqueror, a direct ancestor of Georgiana Molloy on her father’s side. The castle was immediately opposite the block of land where her family were living when she was born, just out of shot to the right in this photograph […]

Abbey Street, Carlisle, Cumbria

Abbey Street is still paved with grey stone ‘sets’ as it was when Georgiana lived there as a little girl. This is the view from near the site of her home, her grandmother’s ‘mansion house’, looking towards the Cathedral at the end of the street. The ancient abbey gate can just be seen, looking very […]

Crosby Lodge, Crosby on Eden, Cumbria

Crosby Lodge was built by Georgiana’s father, David Kennedy as his ‘country seat’ and the family moved in during July 1808. The original building was much smaller, without the large end towers and the roof line was not castellated as it is today. Three different styles of bricks show clearly how the original single bay […]

Crosby Lodge in winter

View from Crosby Lodge across the meadows to the River Eden and the village of Low Crosby, looking much as it did during the first winter at Crosby Lodge for the Kennedy family; the village was cut off from the outside world for several weeks because of deep snow.

View from the drawing room, Crosby Lodge

The windows of Crosby’s living rooms and bedrooms look out towards the village church. This is not the original church from 1819 when David Kennedy died, but Georgiana must have been able to see the tower of the church where her father was buried, each time she looked out. She was fourteen when he died.

View from Crosby Lodge

I took this photograph in 2014, from what was the back entrance to Crosby Lodge during Georgiana’s childhood. There’s snow on the hills in the distance. It’s just a few moments’ walk from the Roman wall that once separated England and Scotland, the emperor Hadrian’s Wall. Even today, the country around the house is still […]