Introduction

Witherslack, together with Meathop and Ulpha, are ancient villages mentioned in the Annals of Kendale(l) in the 12th and 13th centuries. There is also a mass of information held in the Earl of Derby's papers that are kept at the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, in Preston (2) therefore to mention Witherslack, Meathop and Ulpha in isolation of the 20th century, without reference to earlier centuries, is to do them an injustice.

Witherslack is a quiet and peaceful village situated on the east bank of the River Winster, just over 5 miles from Grange-over-Sands, 6 miles north west of Cartmel and 10 miles south-west of Kendal, in what was, before the County Boundaries reorganisation of 1974, the old county of Westmorland. Witherslack is bisected by a hill called Yewbarrow. It is a scattered village with its centre at Townend.

At Townend and turning right at the triangle after the Post Office leads on to the hamlet of Millside, and turning left a little further on to the Lords Seat on Whitbarrow Scar, and in the opposite direction down to the main A590 road from Kendal to Barrow.

The differences between the beginning of 20th Century and the beginning of the 21st Century particularly in farming are enormous. At the beginning of the 20th Century houses were not owned, except for the landed gentry. The main landowners of the village were the Earl of Derby, the Honourable F.A. Stanley M.P., Mr. William Maurice Farrer Esq., J.P. of Whitbarrow Lodge, and Mrs. Williams of Meathop, William Farrer of Over Kellet and the Revered C.G. Townley M.A. of Townhead of Ulverston.

Farms were rented and the yearly calendar was dependent upon the seasons. Holidays were just that, Holy Days as defined by the church, days were regulated by sunrise, daylight and sunset, and not by the clock. At the beginning of the 21st Century the village has grown in size, and home life and farming have become mechanised, radio, television and personal transport have reorganised our lives so that we have become more independent. The clock often controls our lives by the relentless ticking away of the seconds and minutes of the hour and day.

1. Farrer W. & Curwen J.F. 'The Records of ‘Kendale' Kendal Record Office.

2. Earl of Derby's papers. Ref. DDK Lancashire Record Office Preston