Extracts from Parish Newsletter – Facts about Lindale
Yew Tree Green
The oldest date stone in Lindale, 1684, is now set into the wall of Yew Tree Green. It was once the lintel for a house which may have been called Yew Tree House. The house was demolished in the 1920-1930s to widen the road up Lindale Hill. The date and possible initials have been picked out in black paint, which is now wearing off, and the stone is sadly breaking up due to weathering and ivy growth. It looks as if this part of Lindale’s heritage is disappearing before our eyes. Are the initials I and E? Is there another initial above? Does anyone have any records or knowledge about this fine house which once sat in Lindale Square? Sylvia Woodhead
A Famous Lindale resident at the Old Parsonage
Freddy Spencer Chapman, mountaineer, climber and war hero, was brought up in Lindale’s Old Parsonage. He was born in 1907 in Kensington, but his mother died at birth and he was brought up by Rev Francis and Florence Dewick, who moved from north Cumbria to Lindale in 1909 until 1919. Freddy apparently loved Lindale. He tobogganed down the steep hill, and set off for the river Winster, where he learned to identify wild flowers and butterflies. It is said that hiding away in the extensive loft at the Old Parsonage was where he learned the skills which kept him alive for 1000 days behind enemy Japanese lines in Malaya in the war. Sylvia Woodhead
Freddy Spencer Chapman remembered
Andrew Little, who attends Lindale church, rang up to say how worthwhile the heritage notes in the newsletter are. He must be one of the few people who have actually met Freddy Spencer Chapman. In the late 1950s Andrew was a pupil at St Andrews College, Grahamstown, South Africa, and was friends with Stephen Spencer Chapman, Freddy’s middle son. Andrew was acquainted with the family and used to go to their household, where he saw Freddy who was Headmaster of St Andrews College, from 1956-61. Freddy used to get his three sons to do dangerous things. He set up a zip wire between trees, and one son fell off and broke both ankles. Stephen disappeared in 1954 while on a motor bike expedition in Saudi Arabia. Sylvia Woodhead
Yew Tree Green 1684 date stone – an update
Part of the mystery surrounding the Yew Tree Green area may have been cleared up. A 1936 Plan of the buildings due to be demolished for ‘improvement of the A590 in Lindale’ referred to them as ‘Manor Cottages’. The plan shows three cottages, with small front gardens, (extending nearly to the present opposite kerb), and privies behind. All the buildings were to be demolished, including a cutting into the hillside. The present wall and date stone would have been in the back garden of the middle house. Sylvia Woodhead
Manor Cottages 1684
The name ‘Manor Cottages’ for the demolished house, whose datestone is on Yew Tree Green, raises an intriguing link with the Manor of Lindale, which in 1684 was in the parish of Cartmel. It appears from references in James Stockdale’s 1874 Annals of Cartmel that the Manor of Lindale was granted to people who may not have lived in Lindale. In 1612 Lindale Manor was granted to John Eldred and William Whitmore of London, and in 1622 transferred by indenture to William Thornburgh, and later purchased by Robert Curwen and Robert Rawlinson. A 1636 deed of purchase of Lindale Manor has the marks of 18 freeholders and tenants of the manor.
Investigating Lindale’s Water Mill
In May, Lindale experts helped members of the Cartmel Peninsula Local History Society (CPLHS) to reconstruct details of Lindale’s Mill and Mill Pond, and how the water wheel operated. Water from Lindale Beck used to be diverted above the weir along a channel, partly visible, into the Mill Pond. The outlet, known as the ‘Plughole’, took water in a pipe directly to the Mill. This channel used to rest on the brick pillar recently uncovered from ivy, near Coronation Cottage. The mill wheel was overshot, and at right angles to Lindale Beck. Its water inlet was quite high above the Lindale Beck. Further details will appear later in the Bulletin and web site of CPLHS. Sylvia Woodhead
Lindale (imagined) in 1215
Cartmel is celebrating Magna Carta in September 2015. At the time of Magna Carta, Lindale was just a hamlet in one of Cartmel’s parishes, and may have had a chapel, which might have been a stone building. There would have been a scattering of small farms/ smallholdings with roughly built cottages, possibly peat roofed. Only oats, rye and barley were ever grown. Some fishing may have taken place at ‘Townend’ where it was possible to sail a shallow drafted boat out into Morecambe Bay. Wood products and quarrying for building stone would have supplemented the meagre farming. There would have been no roads, just footpaths linking the chapel, over Hampsfell to Cartmel, and a few tracks for pack horses. Oat cakes might have been the main diet, and fevers were prevalent. Lindale was a remote place then. Sylvia Woodhead
Lindale Chapel
Lindale’s chapel was shown on Saxton’s map of 1577, one of the earliest maps of the area. The building was demolished when the present church was built in 1828, to a design by George Webster. An old print suggests that the chapel may have been painted white, to make it easy for people to see where they should go for the Sunday services. This may also be the reason why the church is at the top of the village, standing clear above the houses, as does the church in Hawkshead. There would have been clear visibility up to the church with a myriad of informal paths from all parts of the village leading to the church. The paths are now incorporated into gardens and the view is largely obscured by trees. Sylvia Woodhead
Lindale Gill woodland
One of the most notable features of old photos of Lindale is the relative absence of trees in the views. In the past there would have been many people producing a wide variety of wood products, from poles and baskets to charcoal and firewood, from the local woods. Over the years this management of the local woodland has been lost, and trees have sprung up, in many cases in places where they are not wanted. So, it is good to see that the self-sown ash and sycamore trees obscuring the view of Lindale’s waterfall are being managed and expertly cut down. Brash has been left on the inner sloping bank, to provide a refuge for hedgehogs which are seriously endangered now, and other small mammals. We can expect to see lovely flowers in the spring- bluebells, perhaps wood anemones, now that the light will be let in. Their seeds might well be in the ground. The area will need managing to keep it clear of brambles to allow us to enjoy these spring flowers in future years. Sylvia Woodhead
The Lindale Inn, Lindale’s ‘Bottom House’
The earliest known records show a building at the bottom of the village. Originally the Commercial Inn, the location was crucial for travelling through Lindale. Long before the bottom road to Grange was built after 1857, horse drawn coaches would call in for a drink and sustenance before tackling the infamously difficult Lindale Hill. There may have been stabling for horses. It certainly provided accommodation for travellers. Over the years the Lindale Inn has had many landlords, and many Lindale residents will have fond memories of happy times spent there in the past, listening to live music, attempting the quiz, playing darts and pool. It is sad to see it in such a sorry state today. It seems an appropriate time to try to capture this disappearing aspect of village life.
Sylvia Woodhead
