11-031 Elterwater

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A phantom Branch?

More fact than fiction, there does seem to be sound evidence that Martins Bank did once offer a Banking service at Elterwater… To begin with, our friends at Barclays have a record of both an opening and a closing year - Elterwater is opened by the Bank of Liverpool in 1898, and closed by Martins Bank Limited in 1935.

By the time of the creation of of the modern-day Martins Bank in 1928, the Bank has a string of tiny sub branches and agencies right across the Lake District, some of which survived into the second decade of the twenty-first century. For Elterwater, opening hours of last Tuesday monthly 1000-1130 are recorded, and in the above extract from Kellys Directory of Westmorland, we can see that a Saturday service is also mentioned.

In Service: 1898 until 1935

Image © Kelly’s Directory of Westmorland 1925 & University of Leicester

Image © Martins Bank Archive Collections

What we don’t know, is whether the service was open on both days, or whether perhaps there was a change made opting for Saturdays over Tuesdays! This may have been organised to coincide with a local market, and it is this market connection may also mean that Elterwater will probably have been run as an agency by a trusted member of the local community, who may even have transacted the Bank’s business from their own front room. If anyone can confirm this from memories passed down through their family, please do get in touch with us at the usual address – martinsbankarchive@btinternet.com.