Life in Linton and Low Gap

 

Siegfried, Hedwig and Eric were living at the home of their sponsor Mr Philip Boyle at Low Gap, Linton near Wetherby, Leeds on 29th September 1939. We know this to be the case as this was the date the National Register was taken. Their time spent at Low Gap proved to be a safe haven for Grandpa, Grandma and Dad.

                                    

Linton’s idyllic rural setting must have seemed like paradise to them. The growth of Linton was relatively slow in the early part of the 20th century. It was the architect W. Alban Jones who was responsible for the first of the large new houses with large grounds dotted round the original village. They took the historic names of the fields or features associated with them. Low Gap was one of these. Alban Jones style was an extension of the traditional Yorkshire Dale house, using stone under stone slate and mullioned windows and other features in keeping with other farm buildings.                               

 

In her testimony, Grandma refers to the house as “a big mansion” and you can certainly see why from this image.

             

                                                  

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The design of the house, both inside and out, embraced the characteristic features of the Arts and Crafts style – the inherent beauty of handcrafted goods and materials, the importance of nature as inspiration and the value of simplicity and utility over ornateness.

 

Grandma says of the garden, “We went straight on the garden. It was lovely to wander there. ”And they let us live in the gardener’s flat”

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We now understand, that this residence – the gardener’s flat – to which Grandma refers, was not situated on the grounds of the house itself as we’d first thought, but is a separate building known as Smithy Cottage.

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This useful piece of information, was garnered as a result of us deciding to contact the current owners of Low Gap. We wrote to them, introducing ourselves and sharing our family history story with them in the hope that they might respond and be able to answer some of our questions. Not only did they respond but we were lucky enough to be invited into their home on Sunday 25th August 2019. They were perfect hosts, made us a lovely lunch and shared their beautiful house and garden with us. We were shown a scrapbook of the house which included references to Philip Boyle and we played them some extracts from Grandma’s tape which they appreciated.

 

Our visit to Low Gap was very poignant and special. To be able to walk in the footsteps of our grandparents and to be welcomed into the house by its current owners was quite overwhelming. Seeing the way they have kept the house, both inside and out, as it was, is a lovely homage to the history of the house and its inhabitants.

 

We are touched by the recurring theme of benevolence in our family history story - of Philip Boyle to our grandparents and Dad and of the current owners to us.

 

On  15th May 2019 the current owners wrote:  You have enhanced our view of Low Gap, and we are very impressed by the sheer humanity of Philip Boyle”.  They also told us that they felt proud to be able to play a part in the story.

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So, what was day to day life like at Low Gap for Grandma, Grandpa and Dad? What we’ve pieced together comes from Grandma’s reminiscences on the tape. She says:

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“She (being Edith, Philip Boyle’s wife) liked me, when I was doing her room, you know, the sitting room. So I was helping her with her room, with housework. Grandpa helped washing the car.” 

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“We went to visit Wetherby sometimes. It’s a lovely town.”

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“Then the evacuees came from England and the woman, (Edith Boyle, Philip’s wife) was a very pedantic woman, she didn't want us to live in the gardener's house, we should live with them, let the children be in the gardener's flat. We lived in one room of the gardener's house.”

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It must have been a tight squeeze for the 3 of them to live in one room. Moving into the “big mansion” must have been a bonus for them.

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“So we went to live in the mansion but in the end it didn’t work out because Eric made it too much.”

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We wondered what Dad would’ve done. Would he have attended the school in Linton? This is now the old Church building next to the Windmill Pub.

                                 

                          

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Given what Grandma says in her testimony above and the fact that no records exist to prove otherwise, it seems reasonable to deduce that Dad didn’t go to school. Also, knowing that he’d just arrived in a foreign country and was only six years old at the time, to be sent off to school with little knowledge of English would have been a very scary experience.

 

It is clear that Grandma and Grandpa were very grateful to their sponsor, Philip Boyle for letting them live with him in his family home.

 

“Because we were thankful too, very grateful to be escaping from Hitler from there not like my other family.” “We were happy to escape from it.” 

 

They left Linton and moved to the city. Their new address was 37 Reginald Terrace, Leeds LS7 3EZ. The Schrötter family now had a place of their own. Hopefully, they would be able to settle down and start a new life for themselves.

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JR 2021