The Visitors Book

Categories: ABOUT

I remember my great grandparents taking me to visit Tot Hetherington in Gilcrux when I was little, this would be in the mid 70s. I remember using a toasting fork to make toast on the open fire, and being taken down, what I remember as being a long corridor to, I guess, a dining room, where I was allowed to choose a glass to drink from, from a cabinet.

They has also taken my mum there when she was little. Here are some of her memories.

[Archivist’s note: the contributor wishes to remain anonymous]

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Tot and Herbert were Hetheringtons. Cousins of Grandad (John James Blakeley, builder, of Carlisle) as was Noble Hetherington, a Carlisle solicitor.

I don’t know anything about where Tot came from. Did I mention that I stopped in Gilcrux so I could see what has happened to the place? George Irving’s farm, The Beeches, is a caravan park, and the Mason’s Arms is all cleaned up.

I remember the farm. George would take me to see the calves in their own byre. There was a horse in the front ‘garden’ which belonged to George’s daughter, Mary. I only ever saw her in a boiler suit, wellies and a flat cap. There was a big chicken house, though they were free to wander in a field during the day. Next to the calf byre was the dairy, a few steps down from a very small kitchen. There was a huge dining room. I could imagine the workers, or a big family sitting around the table. Being a cold house there were chenille curtains over the doors and at the foot of the stairs. I was free to roam around. I remember a wonderful brass bed with ceramic inserts in the rails.

I have a clear memory of the Mason’s Arms. Nobody used the front door and went in via a byre on the left hand side. It was also used as the men’s lavatory. It was unlit and I’d pass shadowy men peeing among the cattle. Turning right there was a door into a passage. The first room on the left was full of farmers drinking. There was a special chair in the corner called the President’s chair. Further down the passage the stairs were on the left and one large room on the right which wasn’t used. I use to play the piano in there which made Grandad proud. At the end of the passage was the tap room with two or three barrels on a rack. The beer was dispensed into a big jug to fill glasses. If anyone wanted a ‘Mackeson’ or anything bottled, I would go down some stone steps at the end of the tap room to a large cellar. I helped washing glasses and remember the smell of the beer and the soapy water. The farmers were amused by a calendar with a hula dancer on it. The type which appeared to move as you looked at it from different angles. The men played dominoes.

I think that Tot and Herbert’s daughter had moved to Canada. I think she was called Ann. Ann Hetherington was Grandad’s mum.

There was a big barn on the way out of the village where there were barefoot children hanging out of the windows. Grandad said that there were thirteen children there.

[Archivist’s note: the contributor wishes to remain anonymous]

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