Land Girl - The Happiest Years of My Early Life

A Memoir of Service in the Women's Land Army 1939-46

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Last and Best Assignment as a Land Girl: Marshaw – The Trough of Bowland

February 4, 2014 By LG-Admin 1 Comment

Marshaw is at the right hand extremity (east), north of the young River Wyre and at the entrance to the Trough of Bowland. Abbeystead is to the left (west) and Lower Greenbank Farm is to the upper left, (north west). South is the rising Hawthornthwaite Fell that with Catshaw Fell and other lands was in Mr John’s holding and on which the sheep ran.

Marshaw is at the right hand extremity (east), north of the young River Wyre and at the entrance to the Trough of Bowland. Abbeystead is to the left (west) and Lower Greenbank Farm is to the upper left, (north west).
South is the rising Hawthornthwaite Fell that with Catshaw Fell and other lands was in Mr John’s holding and on which the sheep ran.

Marshaw was to the east of Abbeystead on the road through the Trough to Dunsop Bridge. Set near to the River Wyre, the farmhouse was built in 1658 of stone, as was the yard. Surrounding it were the barns, shippons, stables, implement sheds, pig sties and other buildings. To the north rose Tarnbrook Fell, and to the south Hawthornthwaite Fell. Toward the tops it was open moor, and lower down bisected by miles of stone walls, more moor, meadows, pasture and newly ploughed arable fields.

The Drinkalls & My Accommodations

Mrs Drinkall greeted me warmly and gave me a fresh and snug bedroom up in the attic. And with no electricity – it was not installed until 1951 – I used to light my way up to it by candle, as I had done at Greenbank Farm. Oil lamps were used in the rest of the house. In the kitchen was a coal fired Aga stove that was never allowed to go out. The highly polished lamps always gave out a good light and I found their smell quite pleasing. Returning to the house’s kitchen after being out on a bleak and dark winters day was a welcome joy as the stove in the kitchen always kept it snug and warm. On this stove Mrs Drinkall was an expert and did all the cooking, producing the most wonderful appetizing meals. She also had some “help” from a local girl, preparing vegetables, washing and cleaning up.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Filed Under: Chapter 6 - Marshaw, The Trough of Bowland Fells, Part Two Tagged With: 21st birthday, Abbeystead, church, clipping time, clogs, daily routine, dances, distractions, Friesian cows, haymaking, horseshoeing, hunting parties, lambing, Liverpool, Lonk, Marshaw, recreation, repairing stone walls, sheep, sheep shearing, sheepdogs, shirehorses, trips to market, Trough of Bowland, Veronica

Comments

  1. David Drinkall says

    April 23, 2020 at 1:52 PM

    I am David Drinkall, born and raised at Marshaw and would love to hear more stories about Marshaw.

    Reply

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About Me

Proud member of the Women's Land Army, Jeanne Flann, nee Harlow, here. Happily retired in Utah after a full and satisfying life that got off to a great start working as a Land Girl in the Trough of Bowland, you can read more about me.

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Book Outline

  • Introduction
  • Part One
    • Chapter 1 – Prologue, the Sullivans, the Harlows and My Childhood
    • Chapter 2 – Joining Up – The Women’s Land Army
    • Chapter 3 – Lancashire College of Agriculture at Hutton
  • Part Two
    • Chapter 4 – Lower Greenbank Farm Over Wyresdale
    • Chapter 5 – Holt Farm Gateacre – Tragedy & Deliverance
    • Chapter 6 – Marshaw, The Trough of Bowland Fells
  • Part Three
    • Chapter 7 – Epilogue
    • Chapter 8 – Recognition at Last
  • Appendix

All Sections

  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells
  • Recognition at Last For Land Girls
  • Epilogue – Life After Being a Land Girl in the WLA
  • Last and Best Assignment as a Land Girl: Marshaw – The Trough of Bowland
  • Second Assignment as a Land Girl: Holt Hall Farm, Liverpool – Tragedy and Deliverance
  • First Assignment as a Land Girl: Lower Greenbank Farm, Over Wyresdale

Land Girls Memoirs and Other Memoirs

In the two step process of creating a paper memoir and now converting it into a web based one, it is my hope that my memoir, Land Girl - The Happiest Years of Early Childhood joins other Land Girl memoirs as a member of that genre, and contributes to it.

My husband has his own memoir through the same process as mine, paper memoir first, then website GunnerFlann.com. He too hopes his memoir contributes to the National Service Memoirs genre.

Please let us know if you agree contact me.

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  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells

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