A DRUNKEN riot put down by police with cutlasses and a birthday celebrated in the nude, featured in talk on the role of pubs and breweries in South Cumbria.

The presentation by The Mail’s nostalgia writer Bill Myers was made at a festive sherry and mince pie evening for Cartmel Fell and District Local History Society.

Regulars at the Sheffield pub got a surprise in May 1993 when Robert Evans, of Byron Street, Barrow, celebrated his 21st by wearing nothing but his birthday suit.

The Mail noted that he was part of the crowd in the pub to see the FA Cup Final on TV.

As there was nowhere safe to pin his rosette, the article noted: “We can only wonder whether it was Arsenal or Sheffield Wednesday he was shouting for.”

The game ended in a draw - with Arsenal winning the replay.

In the summer of 1866 the village of Haverigg, near Millom, saw a drunken riot by several gangs of Irishmen who were based at Hodbarrow to sink mine shafts.

The rioters took possession of the Harbour Hotel and the Britannia.

Special constables were sworn in and extra officers drafted in from the Whitehaven district – armed with wooden truncheons and cutlasses.

One policeman was thrown into the water at Haverigg Pool and attempts were made to drown another.

The riot was eventually quelled - after a week.

Drinking water was of suspect quality before the later years of the 19th century so beer and ale of varying strength provided a safe alternative.

Dalton was the market, legal and administrative base for Furness Abbey in medieval days and the abbots sent out ale tasters to maintain quality and purity.

In the days of Queen Elizabeth I the tradition was continued as part of the three-day October fair.

Two tasters would visit every public house and award a red ribbon for the best ale and a blue ribbon for the runner-up

This role was revived in recent years and the volunteer had to sample a half-pint in each pub, twice a year, before picking a winner.

Many of South Cumbria’s older pubs, inns and hotels owe their existence to the increase in wheeled transport from the late 16th and 17th centuries.

Many more sprang up along the side of improved roads created by turnpike trusts in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

There were rival routes over Strawberry Bank and through Newby Bridge and Gilpin Bridge to Greenodd and Ulverston.