Garsdale
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.
Memories of Garsdale
This
website has been established to celebrate the valley of Garsdale.
Local
events will be advertised here (free), as will local businesses and
services.
Events
in the next few weeks:
Wednesday, February 15th at 7:30 p.m. Domino Drive at the Village Hall.
Plans for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations: >>>>>>>
Pictures of the Ingmire walk are here
>>>>>
The Parish Council have a new website here
>>>>
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
Most of the people in the
valley joined Elizabeth's family and friends on May 11th 2011
in a packed church to pay tribute to a beautiful young girl.
We will never forget you, Lizzie.
This page will feature the history of various houses in Garsdale.
Dandra Garth (now sold) is one of the oldest houses in the dale, dating at least from the early 1500s, and probably much earlier, but there don’t seem to be records of a connection with either Coverham or St Agatha’s. A coat of arms with thistles and a lion rampant commemorates the visit by James I of England (James VI of Scotland) as he travelled to take up the English throne in April 1603. It is thought that a steward of James lived there at that time, so perhaps there were Scottish connections, though the proximity to Paradise, owned by St Agatha’s at Easby suggests a connection with the monks there. A legend that an underground passage runs from Dandra Garth to Rackenthwaite is less convincing. Horses used for haymaking in the field west of Dandra Garth always hesitated before crossing a certain line, but the geology of the dale suggests that such a long tunnel is very unlikely!
Members of the Atkinson family lived here in the late 1600s, then the Nelson family, and in 1741, Edmund Dawson, uncle of the famous mathematician, farmed here, with Edmund's son James later owning the property, then Edmund's nephew, Revd James Dawson whose sister, Mary, had married Thomas Blades, curate of Garsdale, and when the Duke of Cambridge, son of George III stayed here in the 1820s for shooting on Garsdale Moor, he was joined by Thomas who “happened to be a crack shot and a good whist player, and the duke found him a congenial spirit”.
The
Cowper family farmed here in the mid- to late-1800s, then three
generations of Brackens were tenant farmers here, with the Harpers
moving here from 1945. Restoration of the property will make
an
interesting project for the new owners! We hope that they
will let us know their plans.
If you think there is
anything missing from this site,
please e-mail : 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 in 2010. Two
books of short stories written in Garsdale dialect were written by Rev
James Dodd Jackson, 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 Other
mentions include a
reply by Derek Twigg to
Mr.
Eric Martlew (Carlisle) about stations which did not have toilets or
disabled access, Did
you know that Wensleydale cheese used to be made (almost) in Garsdale
(at Farfield) 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).
One scene is set on
Langst'n
Fell, but Garsdale is incidental to the plot. Click here for
an extract >>>>>>
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 an extract
from "'Twixt Moor and Mead", written in 1887,
can be read here:
>>>>>>>
The stories depict real people from
Garsdale in the 1800s.
an ambulance to travel to Lancaster (and therefore Westmorland General
Hospital should remain open).
link
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
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".
Do you know of
any others?