Mardale Green
The Jewel in A Lost Crown
Everywhere we go we're surrounded by history, whether its in our working or social lives, history plays an important part in how we think and what we do, back in the early part of the twentieth century, communication between people in the back waters of the countryside was a quiet affair, people had few motor cars and were more or less cut off from each other, they never had regular access to newspapers, and most news came by word of mouth.
Mardale valley and its two original lakes of Low and High water which made up Haweswater is situated 5 miles west of the village of Shap, then Westmoreland, this story brings you the tragic history of Mardale Green, which once stood proudly at the head of the valley, , use the links below in red, for an in depth picture to how the breath taking valley of Mardale Green once looked before the flood, lets take a walk down and along the old Mardale.
The picture below sets the scene of Mardale Green, Taken during the drought of 1984 looking south with Chapel Bridge on the right and the ruins of Goosemire farm bottom left, the lane in the middle of the picture crosses Arnold bridge, eventually rejoining the main road, which crosses the bridge and Mardale beck, seen here just along the right hand side of the picture.
The background picture was taken in 2004, it shows the huge scar at the edges of the reservoir, and the area of Mardale where the main road bends round and enters the water again, just in front of the dwelling that was once the Holme family residence, and right at the bottom of the picture can be seen, two small gate posts made from stone, which was the entrance to the garden, where the washing was hung out to dry.
