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Smithfield
Smithfield maps
Historic maps of Smithfield and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Smithfield maps
Smithfield photos
We have no photos of Smithfield, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Longtown| Warwick Bridge| Brampton| Carlisle
Smithfield area books
Displaying 1 of 10 books about Smithfield and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Smithfield
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Cumbria memories
Longtown High Street
My great-great grandfather was George 'Dood' McKie and he lived in a house about six doors beyond the Graham Arms Hotel which is shown in the Francis Frith photo number L203002. He was one of those Longtown characters who are now almost gone.
For many years he was a roadman, which meant he would go along the road to where piles of stones had been left and by 'knapping' them, i.e. breaking them up with a hammer, he created a rough form of gravel which was used to full up any potholes. Eventually he went blind and the cause was blamed on having repeatedly been hit on the eye by small pieces of flying stone. Faced with the workhouse, he decided to saw logs for a living. He would have a cartload of timber delivered 'in the round' and would carry it to his outhouse where he had a saw-horse built. He could put the timber on the sawhorse in his blind state and he measured a log by... Read more
Memories of 1961-63
Does anyone remember the Lochinvar Cinema? It was sixpence and a different film every night! Paul Bass (my father) now living in Wigan does, he used to stay at his auntie's house, Ina Benson Newsagents. He has great memories of the Polish boys and girls he became good friends with, namely, Bolic, Rumec, Jon Boyko and his sister Sheila, Charlie Putsini. Best wishes also from his older brothers, Tommy and John.
The Cattanach Family
I lived at Millees Cottages in 1962 and my Dad, Charles Cattanach worked for Mr Westol at Glingerbank.
Does anyone remember him? I and my sister Lynda attended the infant school in Longtown and my mum, Brenda was a teacher at Annan Academy.
We were freinds with the Muir family who lived just round the corner from the Graham Arms. Sadly, my Dad died in May last year.
It would be great to hear from anyone who remembers us.
Jacqueline Cattanach
Early Childhood
After retiring from the RAF, my father was with Air Ministry Constabulary and we moved to Stanwix in 1938 when my father was posted to 4 MU. We lived in Knowe Park Avenue and I attended Stanwix School. My sister attended the Margaret Sewell School for Girls. I was five years old when we moved to Stanwix and ten years old when we left. World War 2 began soon after we arrived but we did not have many air raids there except when the Lake District was bombed. My childhood years in Stanwix were very happy and I loved the school. After we left Stanwix, we moved back down south to Middlesex. I met up with my childhood best friend from Stanwix when we were both in our fifties and we reminisced about those happy times.
Margaret Sewell Girls' Selective School, Carlisle
A cousin of mine, Winifred Dogherty, was appointed Head of this school in 1933 and I believe stayed there until her death in 1952. She lived at 3 Beech Grove North, Stanwix. Some of her family joined her in 1937/8 and seemed to stay until after the War, when they moved in stages to Surrey, the last to leave being her mother, Annie Dogherty, wife of John Edward Dogherty, Headmaster in Newcastle upon Tyne from 1895 to 1924 at the same school as his father had run from 1864 to 1895. This man became President of the National Association of Headmasters in the 1920's. Does anyone know any more about this lady and her career, or about the school?
Mossband Camp
My father was a serving soldier, serving at the RAOC camp until 1948. We lived in the YMCA building in the camp itself and it had a large functions hall attached where one of our officers once entertained the children at Christmas with a magic show. I remember the huge and long-lasting snowfall that stayed around for months into 1948 and the glaring red sunsets over the Cumbrian hills. I went to school in Gretna, three miles away on the bus, and remember the prefab houses on the Solway - Mum said they would be replaced with proper houses when they got round to it. I also remember the parade that was held in Carlisle with Field Marshal Montgomery riding through the streets in an open car waving to the people lining the street. I can only remember one child's name from those many years ago - a little girl called Yvonne Glendenning who was a classmate and I often wondered what happened to her. There was also a Doctor... Read more
Mossband And Gretna High School
I lived in Mossband in the 1950s, I left there 1958. I went to school in Gretna and remember Miss Davidson the English teacher and Mr Glasspool the science teacher and his wife too, Pop Liddle was the headmaster. We lived on the green at Mossband, my dad was a war department policeman and we used to go in a truck to see films in Longtown army camp. They were all RAOC or Pioneer regiments.I loved the halfpenny licorice from the shop. We did our shopping at Gretna Green, at Henrys. I would love to hear from anyone else who lived there, such as Sam Wallace, David Franklin and people in Gretna. Thank you,
Francess Jones (I was Francess Daugherty then)
