Over
100 people gathered at
Thirlmere Recreation Hall on Thursday 18th
August for a slide
presentation by Geoff Darrall on “The Story of St John’s Castlerigg and
Wythburn”.
The
newly refurbished hall was
packed to the doors for three hours as the audience revisited the
valley of
Wythburn and in imagination walked again to May Green and The City,
farms long
lost beneath the waters of Thirlmere. The journey continued past the
church,
one of the few buildings to remain in the valley, saw the long gone
Nag’s Head
Inn which stood opposite, joined The Prince of Wales for his visit in
1928, as
he talked to Isaac Thompson, the farmer of the old West Head Farm, and
progressed northwards past the Thirlmere Dam and The King’s Head Hotel,
(Proprietor James Easton) with the last of the Four-in-Hand Coaches
outside the
door, to the Old Packhorse Bridge at Smaithwaite.
This
trip through past history
also saw various old farms and houses as they used to be, farmers
gathering hay
with pitchforks and a lady in Victorian dress seated on one of the
stones at
Castlerigg Stone Circle.
In
addition, the show was
interspersed with readings, by Roland Kitching who recited two of John
Richardson’s dialect poems, and by short talks by Dickon Chaplin Brice
on the
rebirth of the Threlkeld Quarry railway, and Mark Cockbain on the steps
which
led to the discovery of the possible outline of a Roman Fort on
Castlerigg.
- All this was made possible by the
grant from “Cumbria Fells and Dales” towards a parish programme of
exploration
taking place over the next twelve months called “Rediscovering Our
Past.”
Refreshments
were provided and
enjoyed, and generous raffle prizes included a boat trip on Windermere,
a visit
to the Lakeland Motor Museum, and a meal for two at The King’s Head
Hotel,
Thirlspot.
This
event was the first of
several planned over the following months, the next of which will be an
open evening
for any interested people with Dr Robert David on “Researching Your
House
History” on
September 28th at
7-30pm, also in Thirlmere Recreation Hall.
Geoff
Darrall was thanked by
Sally Bickerdyke, Clerk to the Parish Council of St John’s Castlerigg
and
Wythburn, and Project Co-ordinator of the Hall Restoration Committee,
to which
the income from the tea and raffle of £370 will be allocated.