Kendal Oral History Group aims to compile a picture of earlier times through the recorded memories of the area’s older residents. Doris Sharpe was born in 1929 and interviewed in 1999.

When I was six we moved to number 7 Sepulchre Lane. It was quite a big house.

You walked straight into the living room, then on the left – we called it the parlour – but my mum and dad used to sleep in that room. Then there was a kitchen and a little pantry off it and under the stairs was where we used to keep the coal.

There were two bedrooms on the first floor and a toilet, one of the very few inside a house. No bathroom but a toilet. Then another flight of stairs and there was a beautiful big attic with a dormer window and a little bedroom on the side. The view out of that top bedroom was wonderful. I loved that house.

In later years we were going to move down to Granny’s house on Low Fellside because our house was offered for sale. They were offering it at £160.

We had an insurance man who was very friendly with the family and he said to my mum: “I will lend you the money to buy that house”, and she said: “Oh, I would never pay it back.” And that house, we could have bought it for £160, is still standing.

So we moved down to Granny’s house. We went in the front door and the stairs were facing you.

On the right was the living room and then there was the kitchen which was slightly underground because there was a yard up above our house.

It had one big bedroom on the first floor then on the next floor there was only two bedrooms so me two brothers had the smaller one and us three girls were in the other one. One of my sisters slept in the single and I slept in the double with my older sister.

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