Old Photographs of Patterdale

In Patterdale Village

This G P Abrahams Postcard

Patterdale Village - pre 1913

Postcard by Atkinson & Pollitt of Kendal. Posted 21 Jul 1926 but image is much older, as the Post Office, which was built after 1913, is not there.

Patterdale Village - c1929

Patterdale Village c1950

One very windy day in 1951, the corrugated iron garage, seen in the foreground of this photograph, was blown to bits and pieces of the corrugated iron were scattered around the village. One piece soared higher than the rest and came down on Boredale Hause, half way up Place Fell, having travelled a distance of about half a mile and achieved a vertical ascent of at least eight hundred feet.

Patterdale Village - c1955

Postcard by Sanderson & Dixon of Ambleside

Goldrill House, Patterdale
This is the house that Mary Mounsey moved to when Patterdale Hall was sold to the Marshalls. It became a Youth Hostel in 1932.
The hostel closed in 1967 and was demolished to make way for a new purpose-built Youth Hostel built in a Scandinavian style, including some flat roofs that were covered in grass. The new hostel opened in July 1971 and was managed by Joe and Margaret Boothroyd for over 20 years.

'Hudsons' Patterdale Hotel, Ullswater - c1907

A colour tinted 'Phoenix' Series Postcard by Brittain & Wright
Posted on 10 Jul 1907

Patterdale Hotel 

" Where mountains rise against the sky"
A Fine Art Postcard by Shureys

St Patrick's Church and the Old Yew tree - c1883 

The photograph for this old postcard must have been taken before 1883 because the ancient tree in the foreground is the venerable old Yew Tree which, despite a wall being built around the base to help preserve it, was blown down during a storm in 1883. The tree had great girth and was even mentioned as a 'very fine old tree' at the time of the Norman Conquest!

St Patrick's Church with the remains of the Old Yew tree - c1900

A section of the tree trunk was left as a reminder of the once magnificent old tree, some of which is still there today. The date of this photograph has been estimated from the growth of the Fir trees on the left of the church.

Patterdale Church

The date of this photograph is not known. There appears to be a person working on the east window but no ladder!

Kilner's Tea Gardens, Patterdale

The Tea Gardens were just across the road from the church. We believe they were set up in the early 1920's by Thomas and Margaret Kilner, who also ran the Greengrocer's shop in Glenridding. The business continued into the early 1950's. The buildings were later demolished when the road was widened.

Motor Charabanc in Patterdale - c1925

A boy on an unusual tri-cycle waits for a Motor Charabanc to pass near the church. The house was the Police Station, built in 1902. The vehicle is thought to a Lancia Charabanc. The national speed limit at that time was 20mph - it's interesting to note that 100 years later, in August 2025, the speed limit on that section of road (now much wider) has been reduced from 30mph to 20mph.
Postcard #684 by Atkinson & Pollard of Kendal