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Garsdale is not a village, but a valley through
which runs the A684 road from Sedbergh to Hawes. The other centre of population is at Garsdale Head,
still known as "Hawes Junction" To
the North is Baugh Fell with its tarns. To the South is Rise
Hill, then Dentdale. Garsdale's Clough River has its source in Grisedale: "The Dale that Died" To locals, the whole seven miles from Langst'n Fell to the Moorcock is just Garsdale. |
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Memories of Garsdale Weather1 Weather2
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This website has been established to celebrate the valley of Garsdale. Local events will be advertised here (free), as will local businesses and services. Events: St John's carol service will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 17th.We went carol singing round the houses on three evenings, collecting for NCH Action for children. Some people were not at home but we sang at most houses where there were lights on. Sorry if we missed you. Digging up Garsdale for the Broadband project by B4RN has reached Grisdale, though there are a few bridges and road crossings to complete before fibre can be blown through and the cabinet at the Village Hall made live. Updates are available at Garsdale B4RN on Facebook. See the Village Hall page for future events at the Village Hall. Garsdale Webcam and weather: >>>> Garsdale Broadband B4RN progress >>>>>The Garsdale Red Squirrel Group was launched at the Village Hall in November 2014. We think we've got rid of most of the greys in the area, but please let us know if you see one. See www.garsdaleredsquirrels.org.uk for details. Pictures of the July 18th 2014 Village Hall walk are here: >>>>> and of the June 20th walk here: >>>>> Garsdale has formed a First Responders group. If you are interested, the details are here: >>>>> For
further details of what is going on in the Sedbergh area, see the
"Lookaround" available in Sedbergh shops, This page will feature the history of various houses in Garsdale.
The
pictures show Slack Cottage as it was 50 years ago and as it is
now. It was also known as West Slack, Billies, Bilses or Billows.
In
the late 1600s, John Thistlethwaite lived here.
When he died in 1691, he left his house in trust for
his young
son, Henry, but Henry seems never to have lived here.
William & Isabel Nelson lived here from 1707
to at least 1713
with their children William & Hannah.
William Raw lived
here at least 1738-41, William & Mary Nelson sometime before
1763, then William
Raw’s son John and wife Isabella and children Ann &
William at least from
1779 to 1783. Other
occupants include
Hannah Raw and her daughter Mary (born 1798, father was
Leonard Harker), Dorothy
Capstick in 1814, George Staveley,
then Robert & Mary Crowney in 1818,
Edmund Winn in 1831, and Thomas & Eleanor
Capstick in 1841. The
property was owned by James Hutchinson
of Slack, then by his daughter, Sarah, who married Revd Matthew
Parrington (was
he a descendant of Thomas Parrington?).
James Inman was owner (but not occupier) of Slack
Cottage from 1840
onwards, and it was let to Leonard & Isabella Dodd with
children Eleanor,
Isabella, Leonard and Sarah. Leonard
senior was a Methodist local preacher from the late 1830s to his death
in 1879. His
gravestone can be found just inside St
John’s church gates (on the right near the wall) with this
inscription: If you think there is anything missing from this site, please e-mail : Garsdale
features in three works of fiction. It is mentioned by name
in a short
story called "The Death of Grass", written by Samuel Youd under the
pen-name John Christopher in 1956, made into a film in 1970, and
broadcast as a radio play in 2010. Two
books of short stories written in Garsdale dialect were written by Rev
James Dodd Jackson, Did you know that Garsdale is mentioned in "Hansard", the official minutes of the House of Commons? On
June 20th 2006,
Tim
Farron, our local MP, quoted Garsdale as an example of a place from
which it takes too long for Other
mentions include a
reply by Derek Twigg to
Mr.
Eric Martlew (Carlisle) about stations which did not have toilets or
disabled access, the minutes of the
Select Committee on Transport about the reopening of the
Hawes Branch Line, Did
you know that Wensleydale cheese used to be made (almost) in Garsdale
(at Farfield) Famous
visitors to Garsdale have included William Wordsworth and his sister
Dorothy who stayed at Garsdale Hall, Prince Charles who occasionally
stays with friends near Garsdale Station, Andrew Lloyd Webber who
attended the funeral of William Garnett at Garsdale Church (William's
father wrote "Aspects of Love"), and Dame Mary Peters who is the
granddaughter of Mary, one of "Kits gimmers" (the eight daughters of
Christopher & Jane Metcalf who lived at Nether House until
1928).
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