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Mystery house
Village Hall events

Garsdale

Church and Chapel events

Garsdale is not a village, but a valley through which runs the A684 road from Sedbergh to Hawes.
   A mile in the centre is roadsigned "Garsdale" and includes "The Street".

The other centre of population is at Garsdale Head, still known as "Hawes Junction"
after the Wensleydale branch from the Settle-Carlisle railway.

To the North is Baugh Fell with its tarns.  To the South is Rise Hill, then Dentdale. 

Garsdale's Clough River has its source in Grisedale: "The Dale that Died"

To locals, the whole seven miles from Garsdale Foot to Mount Zion Chapel is just Garsdale.

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Memories of Garsdale

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Garsdale Ladies Group

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This website has been established to celebrate the valley of Garsdale.

Local events will be advertised here (free), as will local businesses and services.

Squirrel Sightings:    >>>>>>>

Youth page:    >>>>>>>

Garsdale words:    >>>>>>>

 

Events in the next few weeks:

Sunday, March 14th at 10:30 a.m.  United Mothering Sunday service
at Garsdale Street Chapel.  The preacher will be Rev Canon Alan Fell,
and the service will be led by Mr Tom Gorst of Mutton Hall.

For further details of what is going on in the Sedbergh area, see the "Lookaround" available in Sedbergh shops, or try this link: http://www.sedberghlookaround.org.uk

The Neighbourhood Forum details can be found here: >>>>>>

 

 

 

 

 

 This page will feature the history of various houses in Garsdale.

... Can you identify the house shown in the picture above?

This house once belonged to the Abbey of St Agatha at Easby near Richmond, then was claimed by Henry VIII in 1535.  Some of the Nelson family lived here after they bought the Manor of Garsdale in 1621, then they sold it for £46 to Isabell Garthwaite (widow of Hugh), who gave the property to Coverham Abbey.  When the Duke of Cambridge, son of George III, was staying at Dandragarth, Thomas Blades lived here, and it is reported:  “[He] happened to be a crack shot and a good whist player, and the duke found him a congenial spirit."   The house was extended by Henry Thompson in 1831.

 

Here is another house which you might recognise, but only if you have been to the South side!

If you think there is anything missing from this site, please e-mail : e-mail address

Garsdale features in three works of fiction.  It is mentioned by name in a short story called "The Death of Grass", written by Samuel Youd under the pen-name John Christopher in 1956, made into a film in 1970, and broadcast as a radio play last March.  One scene is set on Langstone Fell, but Garsdale is incidental to the plot.  Click here for extract  >>>>>>

Two books of short stories written in Garsdale dialect were written by Rev James Dodd Jackson,
whose mother, Eleanor, was born at Slack Cottage, Garsdale.  
The gravestone of his grandfather, Leonard Dodd, can be seen just inside the Church Gates.
I'm searching for a copy of "The People of the Haven", but extracts from "'Twixt Moor and Mead", written in 1887,
will appear here soon.  Some extracts depict real people from Garsdale in the 1800s.

Did you know that Garsdale is mentioned in "Hansard", the official minutes of the House of Commons?

On June 20th 2006, Tim Farron, our local MP, quoted Garsdale as an example of a place from which it takes too long for
an ambulance to travel to Lancaster (and therefore Westmorland General Hospital should remain open).  link

Other mentions include a reply by Derek Twigg to Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle) about stations which did not have toilets or disabled access,
the minutes of the Select Committee on Transport about the reopening of the Hawes Branch Line,
and John Spellar's written reply about support for the Hawes to Garsdale bus service.  link

Did you know that Wensleydale cheese used to be made (almost) in Garsdale (at Farfield)
using milk from Garsdale, Dent and Cautley. 
The Wensleydale Creamery now makes a variety called Garsdale, with garlic and chives. 
I wonder if they use the wild garlic which grows in Garsdale - locally called "Ramps".

Famous visitors to Garsdale have included William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy who stayed at Garsdale Hall, Prince Charles who occasionally stays with friends near Garsdale Station, Andrew Lloyd Webber who attended the funeral of William Garnett at Garsdale Church (William's father wrote "Aspects of Love"), and Dame Mary Peters who is the granddaughter of Mary, one of "Kits gimmers" (the eight daughters of Christopher & Jane Metcalf who lived at Nether House until 1928).
  Do you know of any others?