The Soldier Dick

 

 The Soldier Dick opened in1805, just a year after the new turnpike road, now the A6, had been completed. It is said that the licence was transferred from a pub at Stoneheads which had lost its trade when the Manchester to Buxton traffic had ceased to pass its door.There is a story that the pub was built from materials salvaged from the pub at Stoneheads but this is based upon a diary entry which said that Sam Bower came down from Stoneheads with a cart load of stone. Bower didn't become landlord of the Soldier Dick until 1851 when he was 34 years old, so it is unlikely to be true.

 Advertised for sale in 1849 on the death of its owner, Joseph Gould. William Travis was tenant by that time.  Mr Gould is recorded as owner in 1821 and perhaps had owned the pub from its earliest days. Travis remained at the Soldier Dick until 1851.

Another sale was held in 1885, advertised here in the Manchester Guardian and this time the auction was held at The Swan at Newtown.  Thomas Ollerenshaw then became licensee, quickly followed by Frederick Hackett who was to remain at The Soldier Dick for about 15 years.

The Soldier Dick in the early 1900s. Samuel Bridge and his family pose for the photographer. He became landlord between 1901 and 1905, probably at the time that Gartsides Brewery of Ashton purchased the pub. His wife, Amelia became licensee by 1914 and continued at the house until the mid 1920s. 

Gartsides Brewery was founded in Ashton in 1830 but by 1939, when it had 180 tied houses,it was acquired by Bents Brewery of Liverpool. It retained its identity and brewing continued at Ashton until 1970 after a takeover by Bass Charrington in 1967.

At the back of the pub were these pigeon lofts. The people are perhaps Samuel Bridge and his family. The picture is on a postcard sent in 1907 to Mr Gregg of Chestergate, Stockport in which Mr Bridge asks that the bird be sent on at once.
 

 The Soldier Dick is bedecked with bunting, perhaps for the 1935 Jubilee celebrations. The outbuilding with the tall chimney is probably the former brewhouse, the pub having at one time brewed its own ale.   Note the phone box which is of the pre-cast concrete K1 style introduced in 1927.

By 1989 when Derek Brumhead took this photograph, The Soldier Dick was a Bass pub. At soe time in the 20th century a second bay window had been added giving a uniformity to the frontage.

The pub was sold to Punch Taverns in 2005 and modernised. Six letting bedrooms were installed on the upper floors.

The back of the pub in recent times
 

In 1827, a branch of the Oddfellows was formed in Furness Vale. This mutual society, a forerunner of the Welfare State was founded in Manchester in 1810. The Foundation Stone of Truth Lodge held its monthly meetings at the Soldier Dick where they occupied the top floor. A bell was housed in the ceiling and rung to announce the start of  proceedings. A hatch in the door allowed scrutiny of  anybody wishing to enter. In 1840, an artist, F. W.Roche was commissioned to paint murals on the walls of the Lodge Room. These five paintings depicted scenes from historic battles including Crecy, The Civil War and Napoleonic Wars. The paintings were preserved when modernising the pub but hidden  from view.

In the 1970s, Len Burgess, an art teacher from New Mills Grannar School was staying at Yeardsley Hall.  In his spare time he painted this mural for the "snug" depicting the exploits of te eponymous Soldier Dick. Ralph Plumley and Harold Littlewood are enjoying a  conversation over a pint of Draught Bass. 

 

Keeping time.

 

 

The two storey extension to the pub now houses  the restaurant area and the licensees flat. It was originally a shop, separate from the Soldier Dick. From 1859, this was Sarah Wright's grocery shop but for many decades of the 20th century, this was Ford's ironmongers. The building was later incorporated into the pub and housed the off sales counter with a separate entrance. It was known as Furness Vale Wine Stores.

The Unlucky Dresser

From the Glossopdale Chronicle 20th May 1871

  The inhabitants of Shady Grove , Furness Vale, were greatly alarmed early on Sunday morning to hear of a neighbour's child being lost. It appears Mr James Sharples, foreman tailor to Mr. Mosscrop of Whaley Bridge, went to Stockport on Saturday afternoon to buy a dresser, leaving by the quarter to three train, and taking with him his daughter Polly, aged about five years. On arriving at Stockport he purchased his dresser, and a good bed of flocks, as he is about to leave the neighbourhood for a colder region, (Kinder Scout, near Hayfield) he means taking care of James by creeping over head in his bed of flock after snipping hours. How the child came to be lost is a mystery. After paying for his dresser he went to see his brother Jack and stayed gilling rather too long; on arriving at the station the train was gone, so James would go and have another gill wi' Jack, leaving little Polly at the station , in the waiting room, consoling her with a few goodies, and telling her he would be back directly. Bad luck! He stayed rather too long wi' Jack again, giving him a few styles of broad cloth, and now and then a song; on arriving at the station about midnight, he found that his train had gone before ten o'clock, and his daughter too; the child having been found by a Mr. Cook, of Chapel-en-le-Frith, nearly heart-broken, he brought her along with him and took her to his own home, Chapel station, sending her home on Sunday morning to her mother, who was nearly heart-broken with the loss of her child, and to make things more sad for Martha, Jimmy never turned up till Sunday night, after being rambling about nearly all day in Stockport, in search of his child, besides sending the bellman round the town and outskirts, and giving her description to the police, and offering a good reward for her restoration. On arriving at Furness and finding that his lost child had landed safe at home, he took a run jump into the Soldier Dick, and there gave them his horrible journey of buying the dresser. When he wakened out Sunday morning his yed opened and shut, and tears rolled down his cheeks as big as t'quart pot on th' table, he shed a gallon o' tears he wor shure. It wor biggest trouble he ever had in his life, sin he wor wed to their Matt. He said haum sure I'm daft, he said if it had bin anybody else, haw should ha' laft up my sleeve, bur it wines button. So he went home arm in arm wi' their Matt.