Businesses and Trades

Today there is only one inn in the village, The Black Swan, kept by Mr. and Mrs. J. Kirk. Other landlords have been Mr. and Mrs. Kirk Senior, and Mr. and Mrs. T. Sowerby. At one time there was another inn, The Blue Bell, but this was burnt down many years ago, and Eden Bank was built on the site. It is said that there was a terrible smell of paraffin during the fire and that much of the ale and spirits had been moved into the buildings at Elm Tree Farm before the fire started! The sign of The Blue Bell was apart from the house, and was suspended from two posts. During a wind it swayed and creaked, making rather a weird noise. There was no wall in front of the inn: it was open to the road.

Several houses in the village have been shops at one time or another, e.g. Croft House was one, kept by Willie Hunter. He had a housekeeper who looked after his house and shop. By all accounts she was not a very good business woman, for when children called to buy sweets she scolded them for wasting their money. One small boy called one day intending to buy a "pennorth o' goodies," but when the housekeeper appeared, his courage failed him and he stuttered out "A pennorth o' string, please " ! Another house that was once a shop was Church House. This was kept by Bella Furness. There is still an iron ring in the garden wall where horses used to be tied up. Then there was Huddart's shop, kept first by Sarah Huddart. In her time the shop was also the kitchen where she and her son lived. After her death, her son James and his wife carried on the business and later had the Post Office. They lived in the house adjoining the shop. Although there was not the variety of goods in the shop that there is today, it was harder work looking after it, for everything was bought in bulk and had to be weighed or measured out. Flour, sugar, oatmeal, lard, paraffin and even treacle and vinegar were all to weigh or measure. Still another shop was kept at Sycamore House by Mrs. Kitchen. This was the favourite shop for children, as she kept a great variety of sweets. She was a most patient old lady and never got upset or annoyed however long it took a child to spend a halfpenny, which was the usual amount spent at a time. It was amazing how much could be bought with that small coin!

Today there is only one shop in the village: this is in the same building as Mrs. James Huddart had her shop. The proprietor is Arthur Hindson, and his daughter-in-law looks after it. It is a general store and all kinds of provisions are sold, including groceries, frozen foods, ice- cream, haberdashery, bread, stationery, fruit, vegetables, paraffin, cigarettes and tobacco, etc. One part of the shop is set aside for the Post Office. The little place is so full of goods that there is hardly room for customers!

There has generally been a butcher in Culgaith, and for many years this trade was in the hands of the Eggleston family. In an 1847 Directory the name Benjamin Eggleston, Butcher, is mentioned. William Eggleston and his wife Ellen had the business for many years. Ellen could kill a sheep and cut it up as well as her husband could.  Later the business was carried on by a son, Benjamin. He hawked his meat round Culgaith and surrounding villages in a horse-drawn vehicle something like a dog- cart. The meat was kept under the seat and was reached from the back. Sometimes Ellen helped her son on his rounds, wearing her apron and "clout hat."

For many years Tom Atkinson ran a pork butcher's business, and Culgaith sausage were famous for miles around. His place of work at one time was one of the buildings in Edmund Croft. This was whitewashed regularly and kept spotlessly clean. The meat was put into a machine for mincing and this machine was worked by a horse.

The mason's business was for many years in the hands of the Sewell and Oglethorpe families. They obtained their stone from the Crowdundale Quarry, and every stone had to be dressed. This is an art which has almost been forgotten. All the houses were built of this local red sandstone, and very lovely it is. Nowadays practically all new houses are built of brick and often roughcast. John and Tim Oglethorpe were the last of that name, and William was the last of the Sewells to carry on the old family business.

Plastering was done by William Kitchen and his sons, who lived at Beech House. At one time their front wicket was made of wrought iron, the top half of which was formed of the initials P.W. The children were all firmly of the opinion that these stood for "Putty Willie," the plasterer's nick-name. It was a great surprise to learn that one, Paul Westmorland, had the gate put there, and P.W. were his initials.

Before the days of machine-made goods, there was always work for joiners, and this trade was carried on for many years by the Hindson family. Joseph, a joiner, had four sons, all of them joiners. William set up in business at Dufton; the other three remained at Culgaith. Joseph and John were in partnership at Tarn House, and after Joseph's death his brother John carried on and was later joined by Joseph's son, Thompson. After Joseph retired the business became Thompson's until he retired and took up farming. The old joiners' shop at Tarn House is now used as a garage. Thomas, the fourth son, had a joinery business at what is now called Tarn Villa. He was succeeded by his sons, Joseph and Sander. Neither had any family and the business passed to a nephew, James Sewell, whose mother was a Hindson. Since he retired a few years ago, the joiner work in the village has been done by Fred Thompson, builder. Nowadays, many things can be bought ready-made, but at one time the farmers depended on the local joiners for the carts, sheep troughs, sheep racks, sheep stools, fencing, etc. The joiners also did household repairs, some carpentry, and they made all the coffins and acted as under- takers. They often had one or two apprentices learning the trade. These young men were not paid a regular wage, but the master joiner gave what he considered they were worth, starting with a shilling or two a week.

Just as the joiner was essential to the farmers, so was the blacksmith. The Richardson family carried on this trade for many years. A Joseph Richardson, blacksmith, is mentioned in the 1847 Directory. Another Joseph lived with his sister, Elizabeth, who kept a draper's shop in the house adjoining the smithy. He had plenty of work shoeing all the horses in the village and making the metal parts of implements, e.g. the hoops of cartwheels. He also did repairs in ironwork for farmers. Joseph was a very clever horse-doctor, and it is said he would even extract teeth for humans! His nephew, another Joseph, was apprenticed with him in the business, and after the old man's death, young Joe carried on until his death in 1947. Since then, the anvil has been silent. As in Longfellow's poem, the children of the village loved to call in the smithy and blow the bellows and watch the sparks fly from the anvil. It was the custom for anyone troubled with warts to dip their hands in the "sleck trough." This was considered a certain cure.

Shoes were also made in the village. James Huddart was a shoe- maker for a number of years, then he got Edward Simpson as his assistant. They worked in a room behind the grocer's shop. When James retired, Edward took over the business and after he married he lived next door and had a wooden hut in the back yard where he did his work. He mostly made men's heavy working shoes and clogs, and did a lot of caulkering. When children needed a caulker on their clogs they called at Ned's and sat and waited until the job was done. After Ned's death there was no other shoemaker in the village.

At one time it was possible for men to get all their clothes made by Edward Kitchen and his son Albert, at Sycamore House, and women had a choice of dressmakers, for Nellie Eggleston and Elizabeth Annie Sowerby both took in sewing.  Recently Anne Burkett has started doing some dressmaking, and so fills a much needed want.

A very unusual occupation was that of Ann Stanfield, who lived in the old thatched cottage later occupied by Bob Taylor and his parents. Ann was one of the few women in Culgaith who owned a mangle, and as she was a widow (her husband having been killed on the railway) she made herself a little money by mangling her neighbours' washing. Her charge was threepence for a basketful of clothes. She had a very primitive kind of mangle, consisting of one roller with a handle attached. Underneath this roller was a big flat stone on which the clothes were laid, and when the handle was turned the roller went over them, flattening them out.

In the days before roads were tar-macadamed, there was always work in the village for two or three stonebreakers. These were generally men who were too old to do hard manual work, or men who were incapacitated in some way. One man in the latter category was Bob Taylor, who lived with his parents in a little cottage-now disappeared-next to Rose Bank Cottage. In his younger days Bob had been a great poacher, and once when he was out poaching he shoved his rifle down his trouser leg to hide it, and it went off, causing terrible damage to his leg. He tied his handker- chief round it as tightly as he could and managed to crawl home. His leg had to be amputated, and for the rest of his life he wore a wooden one, and was generally known as Peg-Leg. He and Tom Lancaster (or Lordy, as he was generally called) were regular stone-breakers for many years. The farmers carted unwanted stones from their fields and deposited them in certain places. Cross Howe was one place, the Pin Fold another, and yet another was just above the school. The stone-breakers each had a long-handled, small-headed hammer which they swung over their shoulders and broke the stones into small pieces. From these they made beautifully tidy heaps, rectangular in shape, and with neat, sloping sides. When the heaps were finished they were measured, and the men were paid so much per cubic yard. When a road needed repairing, these broken stones were spread over it, then soil or clay was spread over the stones. Next a watering-cart sprinkled water all over it, then a steam-roller went over it. Finally, all the soft puddle was swept into small heaps at the sides of the road. For weeks after this repairing was done, the road was in a shockingly dirty condition. No wonder people had to wear pattens or clogs !

As far as can be learnt, there has never been a barber in the village. When it was difficult to get to Penrith, men used to cut each other's hair and fathers (or mothers) had to cut their boys' hair. Getting a hair-cut was generally referred to as "having a powl."

Today things are very different as regards occupations. Farming is, of course, still the chief industry. Most of the married men engaged in agriculture live in good cottages, provided with all modern amenities. The unmarried ones are mostly village lads who live at their own homes. Very few farmers' wives have maids nowadays. At one time they often had one or two daughters at home as well as a maid. Today, of course, all farm houses have electricity, water laid on and many labour-saving devices. As they have no hired men in the house, and generally no outside work to do, such as milking or feeding the calves, things are easier in spite of having no maids. Farmers' wifes find it very difficult to get maids, as most girls do not seem to care for domestic work. In these days of trains, buses, cars and motor-cycles, it is easy for young people to get work in Penrith, Carlisle, Appleby or surrounding villages. Quite a number of girls and boys work in Penrith as shop assistants, while a few are apprenticed to trades, e.g., as builders, joiners, electricians, and so on. Some work in offices in Penrith and Carlisle. The paper mill at Little Salkeld, Long Meg Sulphur Mines, the barytes mines near the Radar Station, the railway and the caravan factory all employ Culgaith men. Fred Thompson, builder, also finds work for a few men, and the Stamper family employ some as lorry drivers.

Nowadays there are vans and travelling shops in the village every day of the week, but many of the old types of itinerants have long since disappeared. At one time a familiar sight was Jane Lowther and her son George with a horse-drawn flat cart. They came every few weeks from Penrith, selling pots, cheap cups and saucers, mugs, basins, jugs, cream pots, mixing bowls, and so on.

Then there was the herring man. He also had a horse and flat cart, and all the way down the village he used to call out in loud, ringing tones, "Feresh herring, fine herring!"

A great favourite with the children was the barrel organ man, who was a black-haired, black-eyed Italian, with a wide smile. The children crowded round him all the way down the village and were always sorry to see him go.

There were many more tramps and peddlers fifty or sixty years ago ago than there are today. Tom Sewell, a tramp, used to appear every now and then, begging food and shelter in a barn for the night. Hannah Robshire came with a basket on her arm, peddling tapes, buttons, etc., and halfpenny lucky-packets for the children. Ruddy Mary and her son Willie paid an occasional visit, pushing an old perambulator containing rudd, which women bought for reddening wall tops, the surrounds to doors and windows, and door steps.

A visit of the Cheap Jack caused quite a stir in the village, especially amongst the children. Jack Hives and his family came every year or so, and hired some of the buildings in Edmund Croft. He sold cheap pots and ornaments and set these up as best he could in the accommodation to hand. There was no trade during the day, but when evening came he illuminated his "shop" with naptha flares, and customers gathered round. With much talk and noise he sold his goods by Dutch auction, and every now and then raffled a tea-set or other pieces of china. 

An agricultural show at a neighbouring village always caused a little excitement for the children. Farmers passed through the village in the morning, driving or leading their sheep, cows and horses, on their way to the show. The horses, especially, were greatly admired, as they were beautifully groomed and had their manes and tails plaited and tied with gaily coloured ribbons. Then when the animals returned in the evening, it was very exciting to see them wearing their prize tickets : "First," "Second," "Third," and " Highly Commended." The first three were easy enough to understand, but the children were not so sure of the meaning of the last-named !