THE village of Mardale is long gone … but it certainly isn’t forgotten. Although it is more than 60 years since the structural remains of the small farming community were “drowned” so that the level of Haweswater could be raised to provide water for Manchester, the romance of this village’s tragic demise is still fascinating people throughout the British Isles.

On three occasions since Mardale was plunged into its watery grave, thousands of visitors have flocked to the valley and have felt both excited and privileged to see its ruins laid bare by receding waters in the years of drought, writes HELENE PHILLIPS.

For most, these rare sightings will be their one and only glimpse of this ravaged village, which would probably have remained in relative obscurity if the reservoir had not been needed ironically, “death” has given Mardale its celebrity status and it lives on in name only.

Although numerous people are avid collectors of anything connected with the former village, locally, 79-year-old John Graham, West View, Shap, is known as “Mr. Mardale”.

Over the past 20 years or so, he has accumulated an extensive collection of more than 500 photographs of different views of the valley and of buildings, social events, and residents of the village before it was submerged. He also has pictures of men working on the construction of the dam.

“I remember watching the machinery in action and the men doing that type of work on my first visit to Mardale, as a boy aged 10, while on a bike ride with a friend,” explained Mr. Graham, who ran the Shap’s South View Cafe and grocery business for 24 years.

EXHUMED

“I also remember seeing hessian around the church and wondered what was going on. Later, I learned that bodies were being exhumed to be reinterred elsewhere 104 were reinterred in Shap cemetery, four at Bampton, and two at Thursby, near Carlisle.”

Although, as a child, he was obviously fascinated by the activities in the valley in 1935, it was not until 1987, when his mother-in-law, Lucy Bell, died, that his interest was rekindled.

“While looking through my mother-in-law’s belongings, Joyce, my late wife, and I found some old photographs of Mardale,” said Mr. Graham. “Lucy and her husband, Maurice, ran the village’s Dun Bull Hotel for four years before it closed in 1936 and my wife lived there as a child.”

Previously, the hotel had been managed by Mrs. Graham’s grandparents, Robert (Bob) and Ella Daffurn, who moved to Mardale in 1906. It is thought Lord Lonsdale, for whom Mr. Daffurn worked as a gardener in the 1890s, had “used his influence” to get them the hotel after Mr. Daffurn “expressed a wish to be a landlord”.

When it became apparent the valley was going to become a reservoir, the Daffurns bought the Greyhound Hotel, Shap, but when work on the dam was halted for four years, due to lack of funding, they found themselves with two inns, so the Bells moved to Mardale to manage the Dun Bull Hotel.

“When I found my mother-in-law’s photographs I started asking questions about them and from that my interest in Mardale grew,” explained Mr. Graham, who has since discovered a second family connection with the village the schoolmistress from 1891 until 1932 was Miss Jane Forster, his wife’s great-aunt.

“Until 1976, which was the first time the water level was low enough for people to see the ruins of Mardale, there was very little interest in the village,” added Mr. Graham. “The flooding was regarded by most of those it affected, which was about 70 people, as something that happened and they just got on with their lives.”

Further interest was prompted by the droughts of 1984 and 1995 when the remains of the bridge and buildings, including 15-16 farms and smallholdings which had been passed down through families for generations, were again exposed.

COMPENSATION

“It’s amazing to think in this day and age that those people didn’t get any compensation for their losses,” said Mr. Graham. “The valley was bought by Manchester Corporation in 1919, together with Swindale, and I believe the only compensation paid was the sum of £2,800 to the Carlisle diocese for Holy Trinity Church and the vicarage.

“Something like this would never get off the ground these days. There would be all sorts of protests from groups about various aspects of a project such as this.”

The various items in Mr. Graham’s Mardale collection, which he has acquired from all parts of the country and reckons have “cost him a small fortune over the years”, now extend to nine albums of photographs and newspaper clippings, plus old prints, maps, and large photographs which adorn the walls of his staircase, where the grandfather clock from the Dun Bull Hotel takes pride of place on the landing.

But of equal importance is the knowledge which Mr. Graham has accumulated from research, from the articles and documents he has acquired, and from talking to people who lived or remember life in the valley before the flooding.

This oral history has proved invaluable on a number of occasions, two being in 1995. The first was when Mr. Graham was on hand to answer questions asked by those who visited an exhibition about Mardale in Shap Church to mark the 60th anniversary of the final service in Mardale Church this being attended by 3,000 people on 18th August, 1935.

The event also raised around £6,000 for renovations to the bell tower of Shap Church and for an African water scheme. Around the same time Mr. Graham did a live interview from Mardale Valley for GMTV.

Last year, he was again a fount of information at another Mardale exhibition, which was staged in the old parish rooms in Shap and which attracted great interest between July and October.

His knowledge of the village was also used in a lesson given by a teacher from Worcestershire who wrote to Mr. Graham after one of her pupils bought a booklet on Mardale from Penrith’s Bluebell Bookshop while visiting the area.

“Mardale was a village of mainly sheep farms and the valley was about four miles long,” said Mr. Graham. “I was able to re-create the layout of the area on a big board, which was of particular interest to visitors whose ancestors lived in Mardale.

“The valley is thought of as being fairly remote, but so were most places in those days. Even so, the Dun Bull, which had the only car in the village, attracted quite a lot of regular visitors who loved the tranquility of the valley. The hotel had 10 employees, plus members of the family, and had 900 head of sheep.”

Mr. Graham has a copy of a letter dated 16th June, 1935, which was sent to the hotel from the local branch of Geographical Association quoting a bill for £8 7s 6d for the accommodation of 67 members this included 15s for tips!

Although only the ruins of the buildings of Mardale can now be seen in years of drought, some wood and slates were removed and reused. before the buildings were blasted with explosives.

“Everything which could float and could get into the water extraction channels in the dam had to be removed, but some materials, such as wood and slates, were removed by local builders and reused,” said Mr. Graham.

CHURCH WINDOW

About half way up the valley there is a draw-off tower which now houses the window which was removed from Mardale Church. The pulpit stands in the church at Rosthwaite, Borrowdale, and the weathervane can be seen at Shap.

Mr. Graham’s collection has been recorded on computer for posterity in the village archive centre and he is intends to compile a “Walk down Memory Lane”, which will take the reader through Mardale, starting at Colby, the first property in the village, right up through the valley.

However, his search continues for a picture of High Whelter to complete his photographic collection of the buildings of Mardale.

“I would be delighted to hear from anybody who has a picture of High Whelter or knows where I can get a copy,” said Mr. Graham, who can be contacted on 01931 716560.