Canal Bridge and A Beerhouse

A newly acquired photograph ( copies are available on Ebay).  

The picture is undated although it is earlier than 1924, the year when the bridge was rebuilt. Reconstruction took over a year during which time the road was closed. A  rickety footbridge allowed pedestrians to cross. 

The building next to the bridge had been a beerhouse. Strangely it had two names both of which were in official use at the same time. The pub, The Jolly Sailor/Traveller's Call had closed in  1908, the license renewal having been refused on grounds of disorderly conduct.  This was a common reason given by the police when  a  pub was closed under the 1904 Licensing Act. This was a measure to reduce the number of pubs and beerhouses in Britain and hopefully reduce drunkenness. Also known as the Compensation Act because it provided for a payment to the licensee for loss of earnings. Note that the extension to the side of the house is of 2 storeys and much longer than at present. It is not known when it was rebuilt. It is now the White Cottage,a holiday home.

In the foreground is the stone parapet  of the Furness Vale Aqueduct.  This carries the canal across Furness Brook and also over an abandoned road. Look under the bridge and you will clearly see the roadway at the side of the brook. The Mid 19th century tithe maps show that this was a continuation of Old Road and passed under the canal before joining present day Station Road in the vicinity of Calico Lane. It was probably abandoned when the present alignment of Station Road was constructed.  This, together with Marsh Lane,had been a turnpike road managed by the Thornsett Turnpike Trust.  The tollbar was at the bridge over the Goyt. Look at the parapet and you will see a variation in the masonry where the toll cottage once stood.   John Warren's diary records an occasion when the son of the tollkeepers, the Southern Family, fell from the "battlements" of the bridge onto the rocks below.

The ground to the right of the parapet, where a modern house now stands is said to have been at one time a village tip.