Kendal Oral History Group aims to compile a picture of earlier times through the recorded memories of the area’s older residents. Dorothy Lear was born in 1923 and interviewed in 2002:

THE house down Cross View Yard is the one I remember the best, that’s on Highgate.

There’s a cross above the yard entrance and, whenever there was a funeral (I’m going back a lot of years), the hearse had to stop there for two minutes.

Where we lived was a big stone-built four-bedroomed house but no hot water.

It had a big cellar and the coal used to be tipped down from the outside into this cellar.

At the bottom of the yard was a big croft where there were two toilets - not flush ones, either - for all the yard.

If we went at night and tried to take a candle, the flame would inevitably be blown out before we got there.

There was also a communal washhouse - mum used to have to go down to the croft to do her washing.

It had a big stone boiler and she used to have to go very early in the morning to light it to get the water hot.

Each house had their own day for washing.

Ours was Tuesday, and it was a full day’s work.

If it rained, all the children’s nappies had to be aired in the kitchen’s oven by the fire.

Every Friday, the fish man used to come and we had flukes.

He had a little barrow and he would stop at the top of the yard.

He’d ask 'how many babies have you?' and mum said 'oh there’ll be four of them today', so she got an extra one.

Every Saturday, without fail, dinner was rabbit pie with shin beef.

The dish it was cooked in was like a washing-up bowl and she had a big enamel plate which she turned upside down and the pie crust went on there.

I can taste it now - it was lovely.

If it was very cold, me dad always got the oven shelf from out of the fire oven, out came The Westmorland Gazette and he would wrap it all up and it went in the middle of the bed, which is where we slept top and tail.

The next morning you could not see the paper ‘cause it would have so many feet on it.

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