Andrew de Harcla was one of the outstanding northern knights involved in the Scottish Wars of Independence. He was the subject of Adrian Rogan's interesting talk to the History Society in January. Unfortunately, there were computer problems so that we were unable to see his collection of photographs very well.
  The de Harcla family had connections with Hartley Castle near Kirkby Stephen and several photographs showed how well it had been positioned. Sir Andrew also owned land in Sedbergh and district and had the advowson of the church in which he placed his brother James!
  De Harcla served under both Edward I and Edward II and for his services he was created Keeper of Carlisle and later Keeper of Carlisle Castle. He amassed a large body of soldiers; men at arms, esquires, hobelars ( mounted soldiers who could also fight on foot) and archers. He was defending Carlisle Castle at the time of Bannockburn in 1314. A year later the Scots attacked Carlisle, capturing it but de Harcla defended the Castle so well that the Scots retired.
  He was involved in several other skirmishes eg. at Boroughbridge where he defeated the Lancastrian rebels and was rewarded by being created Earl of Carlisle. At this time he could do no wrong!
  Mr Rogan believed that de Harcla and Robert Bruce had met several times. A self confessed romantic he mentioned the rumour that de Harcla was in love with Bruce's sister Constancia.  De Harcla thought that it was time for a permanent truce between England and Scotland so having no faith in Edward he went secretly to Loch Maben to meet Robert Bruce to conclude a peace treaty. The townspeople of Carlisle were delighted as it would mean peace but the king was furious and ordered the capture and execution of de Harcla. Without a proper trial he was tied to a hurdle and dragged through the streets of Carlisle before being hung, drawn and quartered and then beheaded.
  Adrian Rogan is writing three docu-novels based on the life of Andrew de Harcla. The first, entitled 'Northern Warrior' is already in print.

  (The third in an occasional series bout some of Sedbergh's Senior Citizens who are over the age of eighty and who have led interesting and exemplary lives.)
  If you were asked to direct someone to "Oakville" in Sedbergh, you might have some difficulty, in fact most people know the house well as today it houses our Tourist and Community Office. Once it had been Sedbergh's Manor House with a large garden and fields to the north and west of it, where today we have Low Langstaffe and the Joss Lane Car Park (sixty years ago the local Auction Mart). "Oakville" was the home of local solicitor, Dawson Watson. It got its name because, facing you as you entered the front door, was a very fine oak staircase. Just before the turn of the twentieth century the house changed hands. It was bought by Thomas Wilson Douglas a local tailor who lived at the east end of Bun Row, demolished to widen the street and reveal the URC Church building, in 1947. Mr Douglas used to make the navy blazers and shorts for the boys of Sedbergh School and the green tunics and bright red cloaks for the girls of Balliol School. He was the maternal grandfather of this month's distinguished octogenarian, Mrs Freda Trott.
  Freda Margaret Wright was born in Halifax. Her father was a cabinet maker who came to Sedbergh from Leeds to work for Martins. He married local schoolteacher Addie (Agnes) Douglas and they moved to Halifax. Frederick had been a soldier in the first World War before being discharged with tuberculosis. A tremendous flu epidemic began in 1918 claiming Freda's dad as a victim the very day before Freda was born in April 1919. Six weeks later, baby Freda was brought by her mother to Sedbergh to her grandparents' home, Oakville, where she spent her first five years. Within two years her mother had been appointed headmistress of Howgill School. Freda recalls being wheeled up to Howgill to visit her mother, and then, at the age of five, she became a pupil in her mother's little school. She loved those three years at Howgill but they were brought to a sudden and tragic end when Freda was eight and her mother suddenly died. Freda, now an orphan, had to go back to Oakville to live with her grandparents and Auntie Annie. Her Aunt became her main carer because Freda's grandfather died when she was nine and her grandmother a year later. Freda recalls 1929 as a very hard winter with a serious epidemic of measles - a winter when she recalls sledging down the steep slope near to the recently-built Winder House. At ten, she became the charge other aunt, and they moved to Loftus Hill so that her uncle, Thomas Athlene Douglas, could move into Oakville which had been bequeathed to him by his father.
  Freda remembers her time at the British School, now Farfield Clothing, affectionately known by some of its old pupils as "Joss Lane College". She hated it and ran away. "Just so many faces," she says, "after the few friendly ones at Howgill." It seemed big and impersonal and the change was too great for her. She was taught by Mr Downhill a headmaster with a well-used cane which many Sedbergh people over sixty may remember. Freda was particularly good at "composition" (writing essays) and was at the British (re-named Council) School until she reached the school leaving age of fourteen.
  From a very early age, Freda loved music. She recalls sitting on a tuffet at the feet of her mother while she played the organ for the services at Howgill Church. It was from her mother that Freda had her first lessons on the piano Later she had lessons from Miss Nellie Sedgwick, daughter of the Congregational (now URC) Minister who lived in Brunswick House (now Brunswick Cottage), and later still from Mr Bert Trotter, organist at St Andrew's Church and a well-known local figure. She became an accomplished pianist and was soon, according to her teacher, ready to "take her letters" (to become an ARCM). However, war intervened and her plans were curtailed. In the spring of 1940, Freda was directed, along with other local girls, to work at Millthrop Mill as a bench hand, filing the sharp edges off aircraft parts as part of the war effort. Such work was very hard on the hands and Freda never got back to her intended "letters". She had, however, started teaching piano at the age of 16 and retired only at the age of 75. She often had 40 pupils a week, working mainly in the evenings and on Saturdays She was in demand as a pianist and remembers how she used to play for Dr Skeat, the rather eccentric headmistress of Balliol School, whose favourite composer was Chopin. Subsequently Freda recalls being accompanist for ballet lessons put on for the children of the masters at Sedbergh School.
  From 1955 to 1972 she worked as Deputy Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Sedbergh. The Registry was housed in the basement of the Council Offices which occupied Highfield House at the end of Bainbridge Road. All local people went there to register their family births, marriages and deaths, accurate details of which were then forwarded to Somerset House in London.
  Freda has always loved writing and chatting with people - two skills she still practices and enjoys at 86. She has written six books on local topics and is currently working on her seventh, called "Do you remember?" - a sequel to her popular "These we have known". Her writing and researching keep her busy - a major part of her recipe for a long and happy life. The other important factor is living in a community where, because she knows so many friendly people, getting from one end of Sedbergh's Main Street to the other can take a very long time!                                             George D. Handley