Bram Cragg

“Duncan and I renovated Bram Cragg in 2009, including a whole new roof using original redressed slate on half of it. Renovating revealed its original basic construction and later alterations in the 1800’s when the dairy was added, with its pegged roof to complement the new byre for dairy cows, with barn above. 

 Newspaper, from The Cumberland Paquet, dated May 1859, lined the floor joists and boards of the ceiling in the original kitchen, which were then papered over. Some pieces, being legible, tell of horse sales, free passage to Australia for those 16 to 40 years old with no ties, and of the tragic death of a toddler at a pub who was strangled when a chest lid fell on his head as he looked inside.
A French peasant, who was sentenced to death for killing his five year old son, argued that  provided his children had been baptised and were able to enter Heaven, a father had a right to kill his own children if he had too many!”
                                                                                                                            

   Gillian Stuart
   Bram Cragg Farm, St John’s Vale