Memorial Cottage

In 1921 the inhabitants of Patterdale raised £100 (by donation and subscription) to purchase a Cottage House in Glenridding that not only would become a permanent Memorial but also a local home, in the words of the 1921 Indenture.

“for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Patterdale in Perpetuity”

The Cottage House was known locally as the Nurses’ Cottage, and was purchased from William Hibbert Marshall in April 1921. It was occupied initially by a District Nurse called Maggie Paull.  Westmorland County Council paid the annual rent which commenced at £6 per year.  At the time the District Nurse lived within the Parish to support the population that included the families of those who worked in Greenside Mine.

Over time the Nurses Cottage became known as Memorial Cottage.  In 1923 £3-4-10 was loaned from the School Butts Parkage fund to complete required maintenance to the Cottage (at the time tourist charabancs used to visit the Dale and park on a piece of land adjacent to the School. Parking fees were charged).

We were contacted in May 2015 by the family of Alice Rebecca Banks who was also employed as a District Nurse and lived at Memorial Cottage in the 1920s (see photo below taken in the garden of the cottage). We believe by the time she lived their she had married local man Joseph Greenhow, a miner at Greenside and First World War Veteran. They eventually took on running the Queens Head Pub (now the Brotherswater Arms) at the bottom of Kirkstone, before retiring to Milnthorpe.

Memorial Cottage ceased to be a home for the District Nurse in 1965 as there was no longer a need for a Nurse to live within the Parish.

Since 1965 the Cottage has been occupied by local residents including R. Dawes, Mr and Mrs Watson, Mr and Mrs E. Wear, Mr and Mrs D. Jackson, Mr and Mrs P. Brown, Mrs Bacon,  Mrs D. Mounsey, Katie Smith and Graham Lightfoot, D. Jackson and V.A. Hegedus.

Throughout the years many Volunteers from our Community have helped maintain Memorial Cottage and protect it for future generations.

It is quite unusual for a Parish to have two War Memorials. The Monument for quiet contemplation and remembrance and Memorial Cottage which has provided a home for local inhabitants.

Both the Monument and Memorial Cottage are fitting Memorials to those who died during the Great War

Alice Greenhow (nee Banks) in the garden of memorial cottage - photo kindly shared by her family. For more on Alice and her husband please our page on Joseph Greenhow.

Memorial Cottage in Glenridding and the front cover of the original conveyance. Images courtesy of Paul Stavropoulos