Garsdale
Memories
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Please e-mail any memories of Garsdale to :
Your name and e-mail address will be included with the memory unless you request otherwise.
Zane Skill, formerly of "The Hive" sent this memory:
"It was with great sadness that I heard the news on Monday evening of Mrs Betty Lund's death.
I lived in Garsdale from 1975 to 1981 at The Hive. Betty lived in Roger Pot, a farmhouse perched on Bough Fell that overlooked Garsdale village with her husband and son. Betty was one of the most warm hearted and caring folk in the village (and there were many). Even though I moved away from Garsdale, every time I returned to to visit my parents, a visit to see Betty was as mandatory as it was a pleasure. Betty had a breathtaking knowledge of Garsdale and her tales of events past and present were legendary.
I, and I am sure many others, will dearly miss Betty: she was a genuine caring soul."From Steve Clough : [email protected]
I remember staying at West Hind Keld when it was a holiday cottage, it would have been 1965 I believe. What I remember most (I was only 9 or 10 years old) was that there was no running water (obtained from a stream in the yard) and no electricity (heat and light by calor gas). I wonder if anyone else has any recollections of this.
Richard Bell Pratt at Clough View until her marriage to
Thomas Bousfield of Hawes in 1915.
Amy was the neice of her employer's step-mother.
From Nikki Garnett
My Mum grew up in Garsdale, her name was Almena Aldridge and our family had lived there for generations – the Kayleys, the Wilkinsons etc.
I remember going to see my Great Auntie Alice and Great Uncle Wally at Pinfold House when I was little, they had a sweetshop at the front but all the stock was stored on the beams in the living room, I used to sit for hours just wishing one of the boxes would fall into my lap. We then used to go next door to Pinfold Farm to see Uncle Tommy and Auntie Janet who sometimes had baby chicks or a lamb by the fire that they were hand rearing. Coming from Lancaster, I couldn’t understand a word my Uncle Tommy said, but it was always a warm and welcoming place to go to. My Mum has lots of stories, one that sticks in my children’s head is of her and my Auntie Rose deciding to go off down the river in a tin bath. Unfortunately they hadn’t thought that there was a hole where the plug should go and as they got to the middle it started to sink. Their Uncle George had to jump in and rescue them (and the bath which I suppose was needed at bathtime). I have some lovely photos which I will scan and upload one day soon.
Phil Willoughby ([email protected]) writes:
I used to live at Garsdale Foot Farm from 1990 to 1995.
My wife and I opened what must have been one of the remotest
restaurants in the country there.
Our water supply came from a spring on the top of Baugh Fell
and I have fond memories of clearing frogs out of the outlet
pipe at midnight one Christmas Eve during a blizzard.
Looking at your site it appears not much has changed and it
is still a remote and beautiful place.From David:
I remember the electricity being brought up Garsdale (1960-61) and Calor Gas lighting in the 1950s. I also remember the water supply for Garsdale School being drilled in the field behind the school. We watched for weeks as they brought out layers of different-coloured rock, then eventually a jet of water shot up to a height of 30 feet and formed a lake behind the school. The water was very pure except that it had hydrogen sulphide dissolved in it, so the smell of rotten eggs put many people off drinking it. Some of us were quite happy to drink it cold from the tap, but the smell got worse as it warmed up. Some people claimed that is cured rheumatism.
Please send your memories to be included here .... Hi my name is Moira ([email protected])
My family used to come up from Ware in Hertfordshire to Garsdale every Whitsun school holiday & for 2 weeks in the summer holiday from 1976 til about 1981. We used to camp on a farm ( think it may have been Hill Farm). It was owned by a lady from Ireland who I knew as Mrs Wilson, I remember her being very keen on horse racing and she also would take her bull for a walk! My sister & I became quite good friends with her daughter Davinia, & her friend Janet whose family had the garage with a campsite on the left hand side of the road as you went towards Sedbergh; they used to have another friend from the area called Debbie, but not sure where she was located. I used to ride Davinia's horses Belle, Heather, Molly & Bonnie.
The field we camped in was a large one with a big bank which had a hay barn at the top of it & it was across the road from the farm house with the fells behind it & a river ran along the bottom of the field. I have very fond memories of playing "sardines" in the hay barn. We as a family also becme friends of the family who were in what I think was Ayegill Farm, William & Mary Airey with their daughters Liz & Joyce, Joyce had a beautiful piebald horse called Flash; this family moved to Firbank in the 1980s. Would love to know if anyone else remembers any of the above and if they could refresh my memory of the farm names. Are they still there as working farms?If you think there is anything missing from this site, please e-mail: :
This website is just in an amateur attempt. Suggestions for improvement will be appreciated.
