The Lindens, Rosgill

I was born in the large house halfway down the hill of the little hamlet of Rosgill, the house is called the Lindens. My childhood was wonderful. I rate my self a very lucky person indeed to have started my life in the lovely Eden valley. My father helped to build Haweswater dam in the late 1930s and met my mother, who was a farmer's daughter, in Rosgill, the family name was Martin. The people I can remember in the village are 2 dear old women, Polly Bellas and Lettie Bellas, who used to bake cakes and take them to Shap in an old 2-wheeled cart to sell, this was the only income they had. My grandmother had 12 brothers and sisters, to remember their names the father made a poem: there was Frank, Fred, Willie, Stead, Ethel, Chris, and John, Isach, Harry, Annie, Maggie, Elizabeth, Kate and Tom. I can remember Harry Noble, we collected rose hips and got threepence a pound for them when we took them to his house. I also remember George Hall, Rosemary Thorning, Arnold Cannon, Mrs Wannop, Mr and Mrs Mandale, Walter Lightburn, Cowards' Farm. Rosgill has not changed much over 70 years, only the people. Most of the small farmers have gone, a lot of the houses are holiday homes now but it is still paradise to me.