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LOWSIDE QUARTER BEACH BUNGALOWS MISCELLANY


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There are all sorts of odd sources for the history of the beach bungalows and their surroundings which don't really merit a whole web page to themselves. Here are a few samples, starting with a picture of Braystones Station in 1850, showing the stretch of beach where, as shown on the plan at the bottom of this page, development of the bungalows would first get going at the beginning of the 20th century (many thanks to Benny for this image):

Braystones Station, 1850
Bulmer, J. (Ed.) "History, Topography and Directory of Furness and Cartmel with part of the western or Egremont division of Cumberland." T. Bulmer & Co. (2nd edn., 1911-12):

Lowside Quarter:
"BRAYSTONES of recent years is becoming known as a health resort. Bungalows have been erected, giving good accommodation to visitors, there is excellent bathing, and not the least attraction is the beautiful surrounding country. There is a railway station here, on the Furness line. The Tower at Braystones was erected by William Henry Watson, Esq., J.P., in memory of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It stands on an eminence, is built of stone, with three floors, and is used as a museum for the local antiquities, of which it contains about twenty-five specimens of the Neolithic age, a quern or corn-grinding stone found on Bagholes, plaster casts of old arrows and hammer heads, the originals of which are in the British Museum, &c. There are two cannon from Woolwich, which were used at Waterloo. The tower bears the following inscription: "In honour of the Queen, and in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee- sixty years' reign, 1837 to 1897- of Her Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, this tower was erected by William Henry Watson, Esq., of Braystones, and opened by John Quayle, for thirty-six years overseer of this parish, and by Thomas Jenkinson."
Upon the draining of Ehenside Tarn, some years ago, several stone battle axes were found, evident relics of the Stone Age of our history.
At NETHERTOWN is a small school, with an attendance of 43 children- boys, girls, and infants. Religious services are held in the village on the first and third Sundays of each month by the clergy of St.Bees."

The passage about the bungalows is not found in the earlier "History, Topgraphy and Directory of Cumberland" (T. Bulmer & Co., 2nd edition, 1901), and the Nethertown information is replaced by:
"At Braystones and Nethertown are railway stations on the Furness line. At the latter place is also a small Board School, with an attendance of 33 children- girls, boys, and infants."
I hope eventually to discover which of the bungalows in the 1910 list below is depicted in this picture from the 1907 Cumberland Annual (sorry about the poor quality- I also hope to find a better original to copy from).From the Cumberland Annual, 1907

Braystones bungalow sites in the 1910 Land Tax (Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle, ref. TIR 4/81).
All owned by Furness Railway Co. except 97, owned Lord Leconfield.
Assessment No. Occ.House No.Annual Value Rateable Value
90Winter18/57/0
91Borrowdale28/57/0
92Miss Bennett310/08/10
93John Wilson48/57/0
94Birkbeck58/57/0
95Miss Dawson65/04/0
96Hy. Spowart710/08/10
97William Eilbeck15/04/0
98Rev. Draper28/57/0
[97 & 98 are at Nethertown] Braystones 1910 Land Tax plots

Images of the bungalows at the Beacon museum, Whitehaven (indexed under St. Bees):
Neg 2913- WHHMG:1981:11- bungalows c1920
Neg 2981- Postcard numbered 30140- bungalow "Summerfold" c1920
Neg 4985- "R.H." (London EC4) postcard, posted 1956 Nethertown bungalows