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Brackenthwaite
Brackenthwaite maps
Historic maps of Brackenthwaite and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Brackenthwaite maps
Brackenthwaite photos
We have no photos of Brackenthwaite, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Wigton| Caldbeck| Dalston| Boltongate| Ireby| Cummersdale
Brackenthwaite area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Brackenthwaite and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Brackenthwaite
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Cumbria memories
Crofton Hall
Crofton Hall has wonderful memories for me, because that is where I started school.
The school was heated by a fire in the winter. We were allowed to play in the open spaces of the grounds, amongst the trees, and wild flowers. In the spring, I remember the ground at the front of the Hall covered by snowdrops and hyacinths.
Miss Banks was our infant and junior teacher (enough said) but she did teach the children to read write and spell. Mr. Fawcett taught the older children. The Hall was an imposing building, and we children were convinced it was haunted. I do remember climbing to the top of the roof - but don't think the grown ups ever found out!! It was also where I went to Sunday School, where Mr. Snowball taught the children. I have been been back to Crofton several times; but it is not the same without the Hall (I now... Read more
I Have Fond Memories of Brookfield School, Wigton.
I was a foreign exchange student at Brookfield School in 1984-85. Coming from Mexico I found the place to be a completely different planet from what I was used to at home. I must say that year was one of the happiest and most exciting in my whole life. I am now 40. I was there when the school was taken over by another administration. Later I learned that it had disappeared due to a fire. I have to mention my good friend Mr Trevor Green the headmaster. He made me feel at home thousands of miles away from my home country. I will never forget Mrs Barbara Rowe (maths), Mr John Woodcock (PE), and Mrs Celia Howarth (French, Italian). To all of them my deepest gratitude for all I learned. We would walk to Wigton on dark rainy afternoons, to the sweet shop and back. Friends meeting on Sundays was a new experience even though I was a Catholic.
I will never forget the time spent there, the memories... Read more
My Mum
My Mum and Gran worked at Brookfeild Maden - Name Sally Hill, Grans Name Fanny Hill.
Early Years!
I lived in Wigton for the first 8 years of my life, so 1955 is a mid point!
I have happy memories of the town. We lived in West Avenue when it was known as 'the avenue' - an unmade up road and for years I thought that if a road was called 'avenue' it was full of puddles when it rained and dry mud when it didn't. We played on that avenue all the time - 'dens', climbing trees, hooa hoop! I remember being bitten by a dog on my way to Sunday School when I was about 4 - just missed my eye! I remember a dentist opposite the church I think, where the smell of gas was always the first thing that registered - a lifelong fear of dentists has been with me since! I remember a brilliant time at school - Wigton Infant school I think and a Miss Bird who was the teacher in the top class and a wonderful first day aged 4/5 when... Read more
Wigton Boy
I was born in wigton in 1951. We lived at 19 Brackenlands, a friendly housing estate where everyone knew everyone. My early years were spent at Saint Cuthberts school and at the age of eleven attended the secondary modern or affectionately called the whitewashed cow shed. The school has been replaced by houses now. On leaving school I went to work for Ike Wilkinson as an apprentice carpenter on Market Hill the business having been bought from Jack Hutton. I later went to work at Banks Woodyard on station hill opposite the railway station. On leaving there I went into the merchant navy. My mother still lives in Wigton at The Crofts. I can still remember collecting rose hips, brambles and mushrooms and selling them for a few coppers at Thorntons garage next to the Kings Arms public house.
The Mance House, Anthorn
My great-grandparents lived at the Mance House, Anthorn, Cumberland, they were the Marshall family. Alfred Bailey Marshall was a lay preacher there from about 1879 till about 1900, he was married to Emily Willoughby. They had quite a big family, my grandmother (Grace) being one of them. I have seen the house a few times over the years, the chapel is no longer a church. A guy from Liverpool brought the property and renovated it (to quite a high standard, may I add) but I don't think he owns it now. Peter Bell from Roby, Merseyside.
Grandfather's Grave
As a child my father frequently told me that his father was buried next to John Peel in Caldbeck graveyard. I now live in Australia, but in 1997 I visited Caldbeck hoping to see my grandfather's grave. Unfortunately it was not in Caldbeck graveyard. A kind lady from the church shop helped me by showing me a complete map of all the graves in the churchyard. There was not a grave with the name James Rice on it. I left in great disappointment, but on my return home I began to trace my family tree and discovered that my father had been born in Thorn Tree Cottage, Caldbeck and his mother's family had lived there and at Cleator Moor for quite a long time.
My ancestors were the Whelpdales of Argill House, Stainmore and they married into the Thornborrow family. I had lived in my younger days at Lazonby and Witherslack, where some of the Thornborrows also lived and died. In 2009 I have planned a return visit to Caldbeck,... Read more
