I. Now I was asking you about what happened when she was called when somebody died and she went to the household. Do you remember were there any special Lakeland customs that had to be followed?
R. The clocks were stopped. All the clocks had to be stopped, And the windows all shut. I don't think there was anything else.
I. Were the blinds drawn?
R. Yes the blinds were drawn.
I. And when would the clocks be restarted?
R. Soon as the body went out, Somebody would be left and they would open all up and restart the clocks.
I. The body stayed there until they went to the church.
R. Oh yes, the bodies never went anywhere, oh no.
I. And somebody had to stay with the body?
R. Well no, they didn't have to sit up with the bodies; though I think my sister did when her husband was killed, I remember, I was only a girl, she was a lot older than I. I remember seeing her sitting by the coffin all the while before they closed him. You know the children all went to see everybody when they were dead. I remember being sent to a boy who had died of consumption and he was out in a hut in the garden at the Bield, and he was in that hut and I remember we all had to go and see Alfie in his coffin. You all went to see the dead people. I think that was why I was never really frightened of death, it never bothered me.
I. Was this everybody in the valley?
R. Aye, connected sort of, you went to see the body.
I. And it didn't strike you then as being unusual?
R. No I don't think so, I was more frightened when people died, more so then strangers, and I had to go out, and I was a bit scared. Of course I was newly married then, I'd be about 22 then and I was a bit scared then but then I got that it didn't matter…..
I. But there was TB in the valley?
R. Oh yes, he did; but I don't know of anybody else who did die of TB, and why he got it I don't know because he lived outside in this hut always in this wood hut; but he did die, there wasn't anything to stop it then.
I. But it wasn't the common?
R. Oh no. There was of course a few families who died of cancer which everybody does today, don't they………?
I. Now going on still about this bit of the world, when the body left the house and the clocks were started and the windows were opened, everybody went off to the church?
R. There would be just one person left in the house, always one person left in the house.
I. Who would that be?
R. Why it would he some friend.
I. Somebody who could be spared from the graveside -
R. Yes. that's right, it would be a friend.
I. Now after the funeral; who conducted the funeral?
R. Oh the vicar, and the vicar had to walk from Chapel Stile every Sunday to Little Langdale - indeed, and I can remember old Mr. (?) and all with an old round black hat he used to wear and he was a very old man and he walked from Chapel Stile.
I. What about the burial, was that in Great Langdale?
R. Yes, in Great Langdale.
I. There was no burial ground in Little Langdale?
R. No, there was a Langdale Church, now it is the cemetery.
I. So everybody had to walk there.
R. Oh yes, the bodies were always taken in a dog cart or it might have been a hearse with the horses, there were only horses.
I. Everybody else was walking?
R. Oh yes. To Chapel Stile was two miles - if you went round by Elterwater which you had to do with a corpse.
I. Then after was there a meal?
R. Yes, yes there was always a meal.
I. Where?
R. Back at the house. it would depend if they had plenty of money. If they could afford it, and if they didn't well you just went home I expect. if they could afford it you went back to the house.
I. Were there any special meals?
R. Oh well it would be cold ham and cold beef, pickles and bread and butter.
I. Something that the person who was left behind in the house could -
R. Yes it would all be ready when you got back; as it was a long job. It wasn't like today when you go by car, see if you were walking -
I. It would be half a day away?
R. They did have a wagonette. Your father had a phaeton and dog cart he used to go on, same as old Tommy Dobson who was taken over Wrynose in a dog cart.
I. I do remember.
R. Well he died you see with us at the Inn and he went over and it was a wet day like this and they went and they would walk back. A few would go in the dogcarts if there were any or the remainder would walk.