Tuesday morning we woke up to a cold, wet and blustery day.....a very good day to spend mostly indoors. So with a warm bowl of porridge in our bellies, we set off for Kendal, once again, to try and complete our paper record search. We managed to get there a bit earlier this time, and were able to use the free parking available for early risers like us! The rest of the day was spent poring over microfiche records, and also very old paper and parchment documents, all relating to the parish and church bishop's records. By 4pm we were feeling quite cross-eyed and tired, but had accumulated almost £40.00 in photocopying costs....quite a haul! Much of the material we got was confirmation of what we already knew about our family, but sourcing and proof is everything in genealogy. We did find a few new gems, however, including birth and wedding records for my 6x gt-grandparents, Thomas and Isabell Waistell. The drive home was easy – by now we knew the way. And by 5pm we were back at the pub at our resort, enjoying a pint before dinner of pizza. Our jet lag is still obviously with us, though, as we were propping our eyelids open by 8:30 – so off to bed by 9:00pm.
Wednesday, today, was a mixed bag for weather, but much brighter – so we decided to further investigate the “old stomping grounds” of our ancestors, and to try a bit of “graving” (finding and photographing relevant gravestones). Our research indicates that our principal concern should be in Warcop, Sandford (only 1.5 miles from Warcop), and two other towns within about 5-6 miles of each other – Crosby-Garrett, and Kirkby-Stephen.
Apparently the Red Squirrels around here are something to watch for....vicious? really cute???
I think maybe just endangered - so don't run them over! ...... We didn't see any.
The roadway led us into Sandford first – a sleepy little hamlet (it even has a pub – closed on Wednesday, though). We saw no-one there, and ended up just passing through, continuing on into Warcop. Entering the village is the parish church where many of our ancestors were baptised, married, and buried. There is a graveyard around the church, but most of the old ones are unreadable, and we were unable to discover any buried kin from the 1700's or early 1800's.
The Parish Church at Warcop, where we believe many of our ancestors are buried.
A cousin, Jim Westell, had advised us to find a gentleman named Gregson, who was a 6th generation grocer in Warcop. His shop, however, was no longer open, and his museum operation above the old store is open only on appointment (which we didn't have, and couldn't get in time – Mr. Gregson is apparently ill at the moment). Ah well – continuing on, we drove the very narrow and twisty lanes to Crosby-Garrett, and investigated the local church here. Some of the gravestones here were in better, more legible order.....and we may even have found a couple of kin buried here, although I haven't fully checked out the details yet. The church appears to be quite old, and the scenery around it very picturesque.
The village of Crosby-Garrett. The aqueduct in the background is a bridge for trains.
We decided to try a laneway leading another mile and a half, to the village of Waitby, but the road/lane was only as narrow as the car, and about half a mile into it, we met a tractor coming the other way, towing a trailer. With rock walls on one side, and a hedge on the other (not even enough room to open a car door here), we had to back up the half-mile to give the tractor room to pass – not an easy task when I'm used to reversing from the other side of the car, usually! So we decided to give Waitby a miss (could be more tractors out there!), and continued on the normal narrow roads to Kirkby-Stephen for a look around, and a bit of fish and chips for lunch. A short walk around the town, and we visited the son of Mr. Gregson from Waitby, the son now running a grocer shop in Kirkby-Stephen. He confirmed the details about his dad, and wished us well. So back to our accommodations again, in time for us to catch up on our accumulated laundry chores, with time for a quick Blog entry (this is it). It may be a couple of days before we can get back to another entry, but we will see how time and wi-fi availability goes!
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