BACK in the 1960s traffic police in what would later become Cumbria could be seen patrolling the roads on motorcycles bought from the British Small Arms Company.

An example of one of these BSA bikes is included in the February 5 sale by Charterhouse Auctioneers, at Shepton Mallet.

It is expected to sell for £2,500 to £2,800.

On offer is a 1967 BSA model C15 GP police motorcycle, with the registration number MRM 629F.

It was purchased by what would then be the Cumberland and Westmorland force and first registered on September 15 in 1967.

A spokesman for the auctioneers said: “The BSA would remain in service until 1974 when it was purchased by Harrison and Hetherington Limited who would subsequently sell the BSA to a Jacob Martin Doldi from Kendal.

“Mr Doldi would retain the motorcycle some considerable time before selling to a Mr W. Williams who would in turn sell to our vendor.”

The Cumberland and Westmorland police force was formed in 1856 and absorbed Kendal Borough in 1947 and Carlisle City Police in 1965.

Cumbria Constabulary emerged in April 1974 from a local government reorganisation.

The sale by Timeline Auctions in London from February 21 to 25 has a 45mm silver medal estimated at £50 to £70.

It shows the Westmorland Society’s School which was opened at West Norwood, London, in January 1854 and notes that a scholarship was founded in 1880 by Ellen Reardon.

The society was formed as a gentlemen's club in the mid-18th century for those born in the old Westmorland - now in the Cumbria administrative area - but living in London.

The same sale has a “rough out” or unfinished Langdale axe from the Stone Age.

It is expected to sell for £80 to £100.

The axe is in greenstone and dates from the fifth to the third millennium BC.

It is six inches in length and was found on Langdale Pike before 1920.

The axe once formed part of the collection formed by Dr M. G. Weller of Cornwall.

A silver pocket watch by R. Gilbert of Barrow is included in the sale by Lockdales, of Ipswich, on February 15 to 16.

The watch was hallmarked at Birmingham in 1886 and is expected to sell for £20 to £30.

Lawrences of Bletchingley, Surrey, hopes for £80 to £120 in its January 31 to February 2 sale for a painting of a sailing vessel by William J. Mann.

It has the title “The Coniston, near Scarborough, the coming Squall.”

Today’s sale by Laidlaw Auctioneers, at Carlisle, has a Cumberland and Westmorland police cape which was worn by No 227, PC G. Patterson. It should make £20 to £40.

An aluminium scale model of the hydroplane speedboat Miss Windermere III sold for £1,062 including premium in the Bonham’s of London Gentleman’s Library Sale

The full-sized version was designed and built by Norman Buckley who lived from 1908 to 1974 and was a Manchester solicitor.

He drove the boat at an average speed of more than 70mph for a full hour on Windermere in 1956, before going on to to break the record again in 1958.

Mr Buckley broke a world water speed record in Miss Windermere IV in the 1960s and another in Miss Windermere V in the 1970s.

He was awarded the MBE in 1972.