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The Carlisle and Cumberland
Bank merges with the Bank of Liverpool in 1911, and Cockermouth is one of the
inherited branches destined to become part of Martins. This particularly
evocative scene shows the Bank’s Cockermouth
Branch at its best the 1960s. The Branch interiors are brought vividly to
life through these rare colour images (below), although this was still the
“dark wood” period when the Bank seemed to favour impossibly dark interiors that
required lots of electric lighting – obviously a time of much cheaper fuel
tariffs than today! Positioned right
at the heart of Cockermouth’s Main Street, the Branch easily surives the
merger with Barclays in 1969, and despite extensive flood damage in 2009, it
remained open for business until April 2025. The life of this branch was
extended by about a year, whilst alternative banking arrangements were being
finalised for the town of Cockermouth.
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In Service:
Pre 1911 until 4 April 2025
Image © Barclays Ref:
0030-0685
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It
was THIS big! (No, really, it
WAS!)
Working
for Martins Bank can make you feel like a big fish in a small pond, but
sometimes the tables can be turned, as we learn in this fishy tale from 1950…
 The
photograph is of Mr. R. S. Sedgwick (Cockermouth Branch) and his 12lb. sea
trout, the biggest sea trout ever taken from the Cumberland Derwent. He
landed the fish on fly, size eight hook, from The Cradles, on the Derwent, eight miles from the sea, after a
40-minutes tussle at midnight on Friday, July 14th. The length of the fish is
31 inches, and its circumference above the dorsal fin 16 inches. Mr. Sedgwick
is treasurer of the Cockermouth Anglers' Association, and a member of the
River Derwent Board of Conservators. An old boy of Sedbergh School, he is a
native of Westmorland, and is well-known in Lancaster and Penrith. He is also
popular in Cumberland Rugby Union, a former forward and an officer of
Penrith R.U.F.C., and is now on the committee of the Cockermouth R.U.F.C.
 Show Season
 The
oldest visitor to the Cockermouth Agricultural Society’s Show, was Mr J B
Ellwood, who is over 92 years of age.
Mr Ellwood is also the oldest customer of Martins Bank in the
district, and one of his first calls on the showfield was at the MOBILE BRANCH,
where he signed the visitors’ book.
With Mr Ellwood are (left to right):
Mr J C Watson, incharge of the Mobile Branch; Mr R S Sedgwick and Miss
Heather Mallinson of Cockermouth Branch, and Mr Ellwood’s son, Mr J W
Ellwood.
Finally, we mark the retirement through ill-health of Cockermouth
Manager Mr G M Park, who has served the Bank for nearly forty years, and bows
out gracefully in the Autumn of 1955…
  At
the end of July Mr. G. M. Park retired after nearly 40 years' service, a
career terminated a little earlier than usual as Mr. Park's health has not
been too good latterly. On the day of his
retirement Mr. and Mrs. Park entertained the staff of Cockermouth branch to
tea in their home and during the course of the proceedings an informal
presentation was made of books for Mr. Park and of a bouquet for Mrs. Park.
Mr. Park commenced his service in December, 1915
at Millom. He served during the First World War from 1918-1919, returning to
Millom. In 1928 he went to Dalton where he was appointed Pro Manager in 1933.
Acting Manager in 1942 and Manager in 1946. He was made Manager at
Cockermouth in 1951. Mr. Park intends to
spend his retirement in Cockermouth where he is having a bungalow built and
we in Head Office who specially remember his pleasant contributions to our
annual entertainment at the Northern District dinners join our colleagues of
the Northern District in wishing him well in his retirement and a speedy
return to good health.
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Image © Martins
Bank Archive Collections
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This Cockermouth cheque
represents a transition period in the design and printing of bank cheques.
The “stamp duty paid” symbol tells us that the customer, still liable at
this time to pay 2d for each cheque written, has paid the tax on his cheque
book of three shillings and fourpence. This somewhat archaic form of
taxation is abolished on 1 February 1971, just two weeks before the
introduction of decimal currency in Britain. This cheque from our Archive, dates from
around 1961, and the next significant development will come in 1963 when
Martins begins to encode information along the bottom edge of each cheque –
the MICR Line, as computerisation begins to take over banking…
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