Peeping into the Archives: Mosdale Cottage by Tony Blackdown.
With the project to bring Mosedale Cottage under the MBA’s wing, members and other kindred spirits
may be interested in a few historical notes that I have collected recently.
Speculation must remain as to the origin of the cottage. Limit it, however, to two alternatives - either a
building linked to the adjacent slate quarry (of more below) or that of a.n upland shepherd’s dwelling,
perhaps in the style of the Welsh hafkid or lluest or the shieling found in Scotland and the north of
England.
The name Mosedale stems from the Middle Ages, occurs in half a dozen Lakeland dales, translates as
‘valley with a moss or peat bog’. Our particular interest lies in that dale on the east and less travelled part
of the district, easily accessible from either Longsleddale or Haweswater or, more distantly, from Shap on
the A6. The translation remains relevant today and it needs some cunning to arrive dry-shod.
Early records
A reference occurs in 1249 in the following extract from an agreement between Patrick, son of Thomas,
and the Abbey of Shap:-
... and the abbott shall have common of moss and moor and wood and pasture for all kinds of his
beasts beginning from the head of the water of Great Mosdale southwards and eastwards
everywhere within the bounds to the pasture of the monks of Byland according as the same water
of Great Mosdale descends from the bounds of Kendal by the bottom of the same valley of
Mosdale unto Swyndalebeck, and so descending by the same water into the water of the Lowther;
except the woodland under Ketomyre(?) in Mosdale, so that neither Patrick nor the abbott may
take wood without mutual consent. Saving to Patrick the shielings and closes now existing. Patrick
granted also a free way for going and returning with the beasts aforesaid.
At such an early date, the use of the word shieling above would more properly relate to a piece of pasture
to which cattle were driven for grazing, rather than an actual dwelling place, while closes would
correspond to the modern term enclosure. The woodland under Ketomyre in Mosdale is intriguing as the
dale is now bare of natural woodland, although I have seen traces of ancient trees in neighbouring
locations, buried some three or four feet down in the peat layer.
A later Abbott of Shap, in 1473, had a hand in an arbitration between two local families - the Salkelds and
the Curwens - who had respective interests in Mosedale. Briefly, the Salkelds and certain of their tenants
had rights of common in Shap to the west of the Lowther river, between Swindale Beck and Tothemanfeld
dyke on the one side and Thomthwaite Park on the other. The Curwens had made ‘improvements’ (ie
enclosures) on this common, in extension of the park which had been theirs from immemorial times. The
award, in its original language, runs thus:-
... also where I fynd certane catall of Richard Salkeld of Corkby agestyd [ie turned out to graze]
by the said Thomas Salkeld in to Moysdale, the grounde of the sayde Sir Thomas Curwen, I
awarde ordennez and demyz the sayde Thomas Salkeld to pay or ‘make to be payde the ageste
[payment for depasturing] of the same catall to the fermours of the sayde Moysdale....
The slate age
Leaping further centuries, metaphorically speaking, The History & Antiquity of the Counties of
Westmoreland and Cumberland (Joseph Nicholson & Richard Burn) records in 1777 that Mosedale:-
... is a wild bleak mossy and mountainous dale, but pro?table for ?ne blue slate, which since it
was found out (which is not a century ago), hath quite altered the face of the country as to
building. It is a beautiful, dry, clean, light covering; and in Westmoreland, by reason of its vicinity,
cheaper than thatch, because durable. Much of it, by land carriage, is conveyed over Stanemore
into the counties of Durham and York. This dale is the property of Edward Hassel Esq.
The Rawes family of neighbouring Wetsleddale and Swindale were active in the slate industry at this time
and in the parish registers appear variously described as slateman, slate merchant. slate dresser and slate
river [riving = the splitting of slate]. Robert Rawes of Wetsleddale was the tenant of Wrengill Quarry at
head of Longsleddale in 1788 and also at around this time succeeded his father William at Mosedale. That
the industry ran through family generations is illustrated by the fact that Robert’s son William also
became a tenant at Mosedale Quarry and his (Robert’s) grandson was indentured as an apprentice river in
1815.
In a directory of 1829 we find
... in Mosdale fine blue roofing slate is wrought by Messrs Rawes & Hudson'.
There is, however, no indication of a permanent habitation in the dale.
The Census years and beyond
Significantly, perhaps, I cannot find Mosedale Cottage in the 1841 census, nor did I see any Mosedale
entries in the normally helpful Shap parish register until 1850 when the shepherd Edward Rutherford
appears. The 1851 census has:-
Mosedale Cottage:-
Edward Rutherford Head, Married aged 28 Shepherd born Westmorland, Moss
Mary Rutherford Wife aged 25 born Scotland
Margaret Daughter aged 3 born Cumberland, Peat Rigg
Kitty Daughter aged 2 born Westmorland, Mosdale
Thomas Son aged 11 mths born Westmorland, Mosdale
Three more children followed in the years up until 1855, but by 1861 the family had left the area. Perhaps
the challenge of bringing up a young family in this difficult location had proved too hard, or maybe they
simply joined the exodus to the towns that affected many rural locations in this period.
Over the succeeding decades, however, more than one family was to test their resolve at Mosedale. In
1861, the local Rawes family were here, although only Hannah and son Lancelot, age 4, appear on the
Census. By 1871 they had rejoined Hannah’s husband, Richard, lower down the valley where they farmed
525, acres of land.
Also in the same census, in the next valley, is:-
Public house, Dun Bull, Mardale
John Robinson 39 Innkeeper and fanner of SO acres
Much has of course since been written of this location, now more commonly known as Haweswater, drowned
in the present century to satisfy Manchester’s thirsty population. In times of severe drought, the
waters recede to reveal the forlorn ruins of this once tight knit community.
The Greenhow’s were the next to try their luck at Mosedale Cottage and interestingly in 1868 George
Greenhow was described as a ‘Hind’, which presumably ties in with the stalking of the local deer
population, descendants of which can be found today in the area. Look at the relatively high ceiling in the
cottage for the heavy meat hooks that perhaps date to this period. Although my introduction offered two
possible origins of the cottage, this does actually offer a third one to ponder over.
Shepherding, however, was certainly the main occupation although, writing in 1904, J Whiteside notes in
Shappe in Bygone Days:-
... Rawes [no first name is given here] was born at Thorney Bank in Sleddale; later he lived 8 years at
Mosedale, which was then much more lively with shepherds before the enclosure of the common ....... in
1902, his last winter, .....
Both the 1871 and 1881 census has the description Mosedale Shepherds Cottage, the latter date just
mentioned having a couple with roots from outside the area: James Dodd, a shepherd born at Grey-steed,
Northumberland, and Mary his wife born at Bewcastle. Five young children and a servant gave them
company.
The slate quarry 400 yards up the hillside from the cottage would have provided a link with the outside
world and while the quarry bears its own ruins I don’t know if any of these comprised a shop or
temporary dwelling in the same way as we see these on the Pennines, at Greg's Hut for instance.
However the shops or ‘barracks’ would have been less frequent in the Lakeland landscape as they
were generally in closer proximity to the valleys and thus the quarryman’s occupation often doubled with
that of farming.
Apart from the quarry, it would have been a fairly solitary existence at Mosedale and, sitting on the 1500’
contour, the prospect for self sufficiency would have been severely tested with perhaps a heavily manured
small enclosure around the cottage providing an opportunity for a few basic crops.
I am not aware when the Cottage was last lived in - there is a directory entry in 1930 (Donald and Jessie
Sutherland) - but I am sure that there is a good chance of local people having living memories to tell a
warmer tale than the bare information recorded in my own notes.
