A historian is calling on residents of a Cumbrian village past and present to come forward as he looks to uncover its 150-year story.

Henry Barker has lived in Harriston, near Aspatria, all his life.

Now, he wants to tell the story of the village and reveal the untold tales of its residents and their lives.

"Harriston today is a relatively new village, everything was moved in the 1970s," he told The Cumberland News.

"But I want to go beyond that and find out what life was like before then - to tell the story of before my time.

"There've been other people who have lived here for a long time and will be interested to find out about Harriston's past."

Last year Henry was part of a group that successfully saved Harriston Village Hall from closure after its former owners, the Your Derwent & Solway housing association, advertised for its lease or sale.

"We contacted Cumbria County Council about some funding," he said.

"We've been given money to make some improvements and to have broadband installed, but when I mentioned that we wanted to set up a history project, they seemed really keen," he said.

Henry has been in touch with both current and former residents via social media and has already made in-roads into the project.

"There's a Facebook group called Old Aspatria and through that I've been in touch with a few people," he said.

"I've been able to dig out some old maps and I've also got the censuses from 1871 to 1901, but there's still some gaps to fill in.

"What I really want to be able to do is go to people who are living in any of the older homes that are still here and tell them who lived in their homes.

"It'll add a realistic element to it.

"I've got a lot of stuff already but there are still bits of the jigsaw to put together."

When Joseph Harris sunk a colliery near Aspatria in the 1860s, he built homes for his workforce and named the village Harristown - later changed to Harriston.

However, the two-up-two-down homes commissioned by Harris were condemned in the 1970s and many residents relocated.

"It was pit number three," Henry added.

"Although Joseph Harris built homes for the miners, I've discovered that he also built the Harris Institute, which was a place for people to socialise.

"I've also found out that a bowling green was built as well.

"The other thing that's interesting is that there's a list of who owned their own homes.

"I'd thought everyone that lived in one of Joseph Harris's homes rented it from him, but actually quite a few people owned theirs.

"I didn't realise my parents had a mortgage."

He added: "Something else I've found is that there were concerts in the village and the money raised was used to send children on a trip to the Lake District.

"Things like that still happen today, so nothing's changed in that respect."

But Henry, who is hoping to unveil his findings at an exhibition in the village hall, is calling on people to get involved and help to reveal even more about Harriston's past.

"It'd be good to have an oral history as well, recordings of people who lived in the village to tell their stories," he said.

"I've got photographs but I can't name the people in them, so photos people might have would be welcome as well."

Henry has invited anyone who wants to get involved in the project to take part in a short survey, which can be completed by visiting: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FRFQJNS

Anyone that would like to help can also get in touch by visiting the Facebook page - "Harriston - Cumbria, UK History Project", or emailing harristonvillagehall@outlook.com.