Above: The lattice in the background provides a striking focal point for the flower and vegetable garden.


Inset: a birdhouse overlooks the garden. The fence hopes to keep some of the wild things out...


The Birtle garden H


igh on a hill above Birtle there is a piece of property that held what was once known to local


folk as “The Castle”. It was a large field- stone house with a tower built way back in 1881 by Edward Leacock, the uncle of Canadian humourist, Stephen Leacock. Edward left Birtle before the house was finished having lost the election as MLA for what was then a new constituency created by the extension of Manitoba’a boundaries. Another local luminary, John Sand-


erson Crawford, who once farmed the property that Birtle occupies today, next purchased the house. Crawford, who was the uncle of a future premier


30 WINTER 2013


of Brenda Evans


of Manitoba, Tobias Crawford Norris, became the first mayor of Birtle in 1884 and it was he who enticed the railroad to come through the town, and specifically through the ravine below his house. Over the years, the home had many


owners and saw many changes. The tower was removed in 1943. Later an entire wing was taken down. At some point, an ugly vinyl siding was added, but you can still see the original field stone of the much diminished structure. There was a farm attached, and over the years outhouses were constructed and removed. In 1982, Brenda Evans and husband, Ron Bell, spotted the property and fell


in love with it. Although there was no For Sale sign, they knocked on the door of the then owner, Mrs. Eliza Black- hall, and asked if she would be will- ing to sell. Mrs. Blackhall sold them the five acres behind her house and for many years, she continued to live in the former castle, hauling water pumped from a hand pump on the main floor to her second storey bedroom to bathe in, then hauling it out again. Now, 31 years later, Mrs. Blackhall is gone and Brenda and Ron own an additional 190 acres attached to the house. They still have to bring their water in from two miles away. Brenda and Ron raised their family


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