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Shap
Shap maps
Historic maps of Shap and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Shap maps
Shap area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Shap and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Shap
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Cumbria memories
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... Read more
The Bellas Sisters
Before emigrating to Australia in 1927, my uncle Michael Samuelson (1898-1975) lived for about a year in Rosgill and made a living taking farmers' eggs to market. On leaving England, he was given a photo of the Bellas sisters standing in the steep lane that runs down through the village towards Bampton. Behind them, on the left, stood Rose Cottage, where he lived at the time. When I first visited Rosgill in the late 1980s I saw the same smoke rising from the same cottage chimney as in that old sepia photo. Mrs Florence Gowling, the then owner of Rosgill Head Farm, took me to Penrith to see an elderly gentleman who had dwelt in Rosgill in the 1920s. I showed him a 60-year-old photo of my uncle, he said: "It's the egg man. I'd know him anywhere." My uncle was staying in Rosgill because of his love of the fells. He then lived in Australia for 25 years before settling in Vancouver, Canada. By sheer coincidence, on a... Read more
Gathering Primroses
It would have been 1965-66 and we, that is Rosemary and Barbara and myself, would walk along the road to Knipe from the cemetery in spring, hoping to find the first show of primroses on the side of the road. So many memories that are good from then. Stealing apples with Lee and his brothers, bike rides, playing on the Green, rafts on the river, under the bridge, hot melting tar on the road, swimming, climbing Knipe Scar, pop and crisps from the Crown a Mitre, Mr Ainsley and his pipe at school, walking to school on the wall from Bampton Grange when it flooded- the list is endless...
Lowther Castle
We moved in to the lodge at the main gate of the castle on 6th June 1953 till March 1965. Spent many happy hours playing in the castle gardens and summer houses and also in the castle itself, it was partly furnished then and I used to go up main staircase and onto the roof, great view across the parks and to Penrith, also down in the cellers where there was lots of stuffed animals and ex-army radios and ariels which we made into fishing rods. The lodge had large doors when we first moved in so people used to try to get in, some even tried their own keys, later they removed the doors and made another room. When they started to dismantle the castle the boss and his wife lived in a caravan next to the lodge, his name was Bob Garvy, rest of the men lived in the flats in the castle. I remember helping on the day they sold all the timber and furniture ... Happy... Read more
Evacuation
I had lived with my family in Birmingham through part of the Blitz in the Second World War. In January 1941, the firm for which my dad worked moved their head office to Appleby and I well remember the snow was falling as we approached our new home in Bongate Hall where several families lived in the rooms above the offices. The times were both exciting and daunting. I was aged 11 and was starting at a new school, Appleby Grammar - an all boys school in those times. There were many boys from Birmingham and I well remember our First Year Form Master, Mr Boulton trying very hard to understand our 'Brummie' accent, just as we were having problems understanding the Westmerian accent of the local boys. As there were so many evacuees we were housed in almost every hall or room that had space in the town including, The Sands Methodist Hall, the Oddfellows Hall, as well as the Institute etc. We got to know the... Read more
Flakebridge
My mother died on 13 June 2011 aged 87 years old. Her name was Margaret Elfin Gunn (nee Simpson). Her date of birth was 03 October 1923 and she was born in Flakebridge, Dufton. She was the first of 15 children in the Simpson family, 10 girls and 5 boys. Her father was Thomas Frederick Simpson (Farm Laborer) and mother was Edith Annie Simpson (formerly Barker). I believe that she was in service. My mother's name Elfin was after a member of the family that she worked for. My Grandad eventually had his own farm, Sandford Hall at Sandford. If anyone has any further information or could point me in the right direction of the house that my mother may have been born in could you please let me know, my email is ycr62@aol.co.uk. I would love to go and see it if it is still there. Many thanks.
Temple Sowerby
My grandparents Lol (Lawrence) and Edith Johnston owned and operated the Black Swan Inn for many years. I would love to find out some family history, their son Tom emigrated to Australia in 1964, I was 2 and my sister 1 when we left. I am sure there are lots of people who may have some lovely old stories for us. I am also keen to know a little about my mother's family, my grandparents were Fred & Jean Martin of Appleby, my mother's brother David Martin was sadly killed in a road accident coming home from naval leave, I believe around 1970. Please email me Sally Munro (nee Johnston) anything at all to: magpiejim@bigpond.com.au
