Life at Bowerley, in Langcliffe, in the 1940s and 1950s

Bowerley is the large house and grounds on the road to Langcliffe from Settle, lying just outside Langcliffe village centre, and opposite Langcliffe Hall. The Waltons came to the house in 1945, and this is an account of their life there in the years after World War II.

William Foster, solicitor, was owner of the land by 1841. The house now on the site was built in 1854 by him. The verandah seen in early photographs was removed in later times (see the picture in ‘The Ancient Parish of Giggleswick’ book of old photographs). Indentures of 1856, 1857 and 1858 concerned a loan to William Foster of £10,000 from various people. In 1859 he died owing money and his estate had to be sold to satisfy creditors. Bowerley was sold to William Coulthurst, banker, of the Strand, London, for £1000. The Coulthurst family has lived in Craven for several centuries. William Henry Coulthurst, vicar of Giggleswick, lived at Bowerley with his family from about 1861 until the 1890s, and the house was later occupied by Dr Francis E Atkinson, Surgeon and the Medical Officer of Health to the District Council, along with two children, a cook and two servants. The seemingly disproportionate large number of substantial family houses with maids and other servants which existed in this area even before the coming of the railway is perhaps remarkable and one is left to wonder quite where and how the wealth was generated. Bowerley was one of these houses and this account helps to illuminate a later period of history.

In 1945 our parents Mr and Mrs John (Jack) Ridgway Walton came to live in Bowerley. They moved to Langcliffe from Gargrave when petrol became available for the car after the war. Our father, originally from the Manchester area, had come to work at Johnson and Johnson in Gargrave as an engineering specialist in non-woven fabrics for which he held patents. Non-woven materials were much easier to cut to shape but of course meant the loss of weaving jobs. The company produced bandages and plasters using this new technology. The house in Langcliffe was rented, as was the norm at that time, from the Coulthurst Trust (Mrs Coulthurst lived at Gargrave House). Our very young family of six lads and one girl grew up here. Father then commuted to Gargrave by car - we were one of the few families owning a vehicle at that time (Mr Hartley the butcher had a van, Mr Kirkbride the insurance man had a car, and Mrs Dawson of Langcliffe Hall had a car as well as horses). Having a telephone was also rather exceptional. The family had a strong background in teaching and engineering.

The house and grounds had not been occupied for much of wartime, except for a family from Leeds for a while. In 1945 the house was not in a good state and the garden was riotously overgrown. Roger, at about 5 years old, fell off an 8ft high wall into the undergrowth, neither the wall nor the old vegetable patch being visible at the time. Pheasants nested under one of the windows (at the south end). Father had used a large tree to hold one end of a wire rope and pulley system (20 or 30ft up in the air) with the other lower end fastened to a tree stump. A hammock (ex-army surplus) was hooked to the wire and used for sliding down. But it wasn’t just we young children who did this - baby went too. Up the ladder at one end, then a dash to avoid calamity at the other. Mother and Father fortunately were unaware of this wonderful game. This great freedom to play extended to adventures visiting Victoria Cave, sledging on Stubbins field, swimming in the river and at Stainforth Foss.

We two, Roger and Susan, attended Langcliffe school with three classes of about 20 pupils in each. Mrs Harris was head teacher, with Miss Graham and Miss Simpson in support. Running fast to get to school was called for when the bell rang. One strong memory for the boys was the challenge to play Settle at cricket in 1948. None of the boys knew how to play, and certainly not with a hard ball. Mrs Harris and the other lady teachers trained the team on Langcliffe village green, but to little avail as they were thrashed by Settle. Maypole dancing was an event in which Susan took part. Miss Graham was skilled at throwing her bunch of keys at unruly pupils; Mrs Harris cried when she heard on the radio that King George VI had died. Living apart from the village made for a distant relationship with the village children, as did reference to our parents as Mummy and Daddy (rather than Mam and Dad), and using proper words with a different accent.

The Langcliffe annual fête saw our mother putting all the children into fancy dress, starting with a Roman emperor who turned, with his toga plus National Health spectacles, into Gandhi because of the pair of weedy legs sticking out. The next child was a cowboy, and Roger became Robin Hood but by this time imagination and resources were exhausted and Susan was dressed with sticks of rhubarb. We did not win any prizes.

Shopping could be done in the village at Mr Hartley’s, the butcher, Jim Marchbank’s general store ( a pennyworth of broken biscuits to be had), the baker, the co-op, post office, and the Pig and Whistle on New Street for pint bottles of pale ale. Milk was fetched every morning from Mr John Clark at Mount Pleasant Farm in a large billy can of about 7 pints - one memorable day dropped by Roger. The trick of squirting straight from udder to child’s mouth is something not practised these days. On market days our mother used to walk to Settle with a pillow case for carrying bread from Sidwells. She never drove the car. In the winter of 1947 when snow was as high as the stone walls the sledge carrying the shopping shed its cargo of a pot of raspberry jam - Father’s expletive being reprimanded by Mother with a “John, not in front of the children”. The walk to Settle was via the High Road but coming back on the low road we could hope for a lift.

Friends were made at school, Spud from Winskill and Scodger being two of these. Passing the 11-plus examination to go to grammar school was an important step, but affording the uniform could present a barrier for some villagers. Perhaps Father chose to come to live in Langcliffe, in the old parish of Giggleswick, to take advantage of help with fees at Giggleswick School since he had five sons to educate. Girls had perhaps to expect less attention to their education. Having left Langcliffe School Susan wondered why her non-village school friends went to boarding school while she went to Settle High School. Our parents, with a strong belief in the value of education, knew that the school was a good one. Settle Girls High School (Susan) and Giggleswick School (for all the boys) maintained high standards. Running to and from school was usual.

Bowerley was run with domestic help - with a live-in maid Mary, an orphan (who wore a uniform), a gardener, and an outside-man from the then ‘asylum’ in Giggleswick. Mother did the cooking but on one occasion Mrs Middleton had to help out when Mother was in hospital and she arrived with a galvanized bucket of rice pudding. Mr Middleton used to baby-sit since he had the experience of bringing up 12 children. Removal of a very large Philadelphus (mock orange) bush in the garden proved a small task for the gardener, who obtained a couple of sticks of gelignite from the quarry and used them to dispose of the bush at the expense of a large hole in the garden. The pig or pigs, all called Snorty, were part of the family. One ran away into Langcliffe when Mr Hartley the butcher was on his way. Mother called to the pig which pricked up its ears and was lured back to Mr Hartley. Mother then rubbed salt into the hams (on Helwith slabs in the cellar) to preserve them. We children used secretly to cook large ham slices and consume 2lb jars of raspberry jam and wash up afterwards - these items were never missed.

Grandma came to live with the family in 1948, and took to her bed most of the time. Dressed in black dress and hat she was of a different age. She once saw us coming back from school via the vegetable plot and fruit bushes, helping ourselves to peas and raspberries. Grandma waved her brolly and threatened to tell Father, which she did. After dinner three boys were instructed by Father to meet him in his room. Roger thoughtfully padded his rear with socks knowing that retribution was at hand; the ruse was detected, Father laughed, but pain followed. Father ruled with prison-like control and a line-up of children to be beaten was not uncommon. Grandma paid Roger 3d or 6d for cleaning but was more remembered for advice to Roger to marry a strong wife rather than a pretty one - not one of these new-fangled ones. “Look at her mother” she said.

There was a heating stove on the top landing probably used for drying clothes. There were three types of bannister rail deteriorating in quality on going up the three floors - posh, ordinary and rickety.

In 1897, Langcliffe’s water supply was from a spring and the supply dried up frequently during the summer. There was another spring near the School that fed a tank and water was piped (in a lead pipe) from there to Bowerley. In later years every summer an airlock would develop as the water supply was exhausted. Father applied a stirrup pump to force water into the pipe at the house while Roger watched for air bubbles released at the school end, running back home when the airlock had been removed.

Social life or status was reflected in several ways. Friends were made with Dr Hislop’s daughter, the Gray’s children (the Stainforth paper mill family), and the Brassington family. ‘Old’ Dr Hislop lived in Marshfield owned by the Dawson estate. On going there to see programmes on the television - a novelty at that time - the parlour maid would open the door to us. Muffin the Mule will be remembered by many readers. The doctor’s handyman once called Mrs Hislop by her Christian name, Beatrice, but was reprimanded with “Mrs Hislop to you.” Mother was more worldly; she was one of a large family, well-educated, but had never worked outside the home. These rather rigid rules of engagement were maintained until just after the war. Mother was politically-minded, being secretary of the Conservative Ladies, and was at the polling station (with children ticking the voters’ list) when required. Father and Mother were involved in the Dramatic Society and appeared in local plays and opera. Mother was Brown Owl for the Brownies which used to meet in the coachman’s quarters at Bowerley. Her visiting cousin was heard to enquire if the village children were very poor.

Occasionally Mrs Cecilia Dawson of Langcliffe Hall, opposite Bowerley, would issue an invitation to play or ride with Georgina her granddaughter. “William will prepare the horses.” Mrs Dawson rode side-saddle, wearing a long black habit with black veil and hard hat. We had a pony, Dinah, straight from the Welsh hills in an unbroken state, and with foal when bought. The horses at the Hall had to be exercised - at 17 hands they were large.The ladies mounted from mounting steps at Langcliffe Hall but Roger, knowing better, used the stirrups and in the process ripped open his jodhpurs. Mrs Dawson, laughing, merely commented that such things happened all the time to her. The Honourable Mrs Dawson was a grand Edwardian lady and she knew her place; she expected others to know theirs. Mrs Dawson expected some deference when she went shopping, going to the front of any queue. One day in Mr Hartley the butcher’s shop, she went straight to the front and asked for two pork chops - saying “I am awfully sorry but may I go to the front of the queue - the Prime Minister is coming for lunch and there is nothing in.” The Dawsons lived mainly in London and came up for the grouse shooting.

Family holidays of two weeks were taken every year, staying in bed and breakfast places. One trip to Southport by car, a Standard 10 called Ethelred (ever ready) was memorable at least for the hire of childrens’ tricycles and bicycles. Father parked the car on the vast sands and went for a long run. Unfortunately the tide comes in imperceptibly at Southport and by the time he was back the car had sunk into the sand. Realizing that recovery was not possible the seats were taken out and he stuffed a rag into the carburettor air intake. The car disappeared under the water but that evening the family discovered that the car had been pulled out of the water by some swimmers; the rag was removed and the engine started immediately. On a trip to Devon in a large old Rolls Royce borrowed from Dr David Hislop, and towing a caravan, we camped in an orchard in Hereford. The heavy load included potatoes for a family of 9 for two weeks. Rationing was still in force for sweets.

Parents were rather formal and strict. Dressing and washing properly for dinner was required. Roger at the age of 15 was instructed not to act like a ragamuffin or lout just because it was summer holiday time. Adults required dinner jackets and morning dress for various social functions. People had very few casual clothes: arriving at a grouse shooting beat in jacket and tie was not quite appropriate. One had to be properly dressed for each occasion - for dinner in pre-war times long dresses were necessary for the ladies. Children were scrubbed clean (most of the time) and polished their shoes.

In 1962 our father was made redundant as director of engineering from Johnson and Johnson at the age of 51 and he went to join Smith and Nephew in Hull. Life for the family at Bowerley came to an end - but we two children returned to our local roots in due course.