We will take an imaginary shopping expedition to Furness Vale.
We have had plenty of shopkeepers in the village. There are over 30 addresses, although not all of these traded at the same time and some closed many years ago. How many can you remember?
At one time, there were two fish and chip shops as well as a fishmonger. We had a tailor, a milliners, dress shops and a candle maker. There was even a clockmaker at Ringstones.
Who can remember the undertaker with his stock of coffins lining the wall and the hearse waiting to perform its duties?
Do you remember the wool shop with its colourful window displays. Many women knitted in the past and this craft is again becoming popular. I’m told that even men are learning so it’s a shame that it closed. There were always drapers and haberdashers because so many clothes were hand made.
Every shop had it’s own distinctive aroma, whether that of freshly sliced bacon or newly baked bread, paraffin at the ironmongers or earthy potatoes at the greengrocers. Many of these businesses would have mahogany counters and fittings, always well polished. Colourful sweets arranged in gleaming jars to tempt the eyes of youngsters and weighed out a quarter at a time. Some of us will remember when flour and sugar and sometimes butter was weighed out to order and packed in a blue or white bag.
We’ll hear of Reuben our travelling yeast dealer, of two ghosts, a pub with two names, closed because of disorderly conduct and finally we’ll take a boat trip to the tea rooms.
We are going on a tour of the shops and pubs of Furness Vale.
We will start at the southern end of the village at a house called Hollins View, which stands in front of the old quarry. There was never a shop here but if you needed your shoes soled and heeled in the 1940’s, a cobbler worked from a shed in his back garden.
Now that your boots have been repaired we must get on for we have a lot of shopping still to do.
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Our first call is at Shady Grove. This row of cottages was built by the Middleton family, formerly of Ringstones and Diglee Farms. There is no record of which of these houses was a shop but that at 86 Buxton Road is the largest and in all probability is that which are looking for. It has a coach house in the back yard. In 1862 Thomas Brocklehurst and his family were at this address and their business was that of provision merchants. Between the Wars, Annie Birtles had a drapers shop there. She sold haberdashery and a few items of women’s clothing. John Jackson, the butcher was later to live here but I don’t think he ever used it as a shop.
Opposite the school were three shops. You can see them in the photo above. Most people will remember Mrs Nash at 114 Buxton Road. The shop only closed in 1994. This was an off licence and I remember that she also sold sweets, cigarettes and snacks. The shop had previously been owned by Mr Lofthouse who sold greengrocery and general goods and later by Leatherbarrows. Lofthouses would deliver to your home and many people had a regular weekly order.
116 Buxton Road had a normal shopfront and had probably been retail premises at one time. This house was owned by the Singleton family and their front room was used as a doctor’s surgery. There were chairs in the hallway where patients waited their turn to be seen. This continued from at least 1912 until 1941 and perhaps longer. Doctors visited from the practice of Boyle, Titcombe and Higginbottom of Disley on Wednesday and Friday. Nearby lived the village midwife.
This is probably the address where the village bank was first established in 1908, before moving to the corner of Station Road.
Now if you are feeling peckish, we’ll call on Mrs Cissie Roberts next door. She was a confectioner and grocer. I’m told that her cakes were particularly good. Mrs Roberts was in business for 20 years although it appears that the shop had closed by 1941.
The arched doorway alongside was occupied by Allens joinery business. One of their specialities was making coffins which could be seen leaning against the wall awaiting their customers. A hearse was sometimes kept here.
James Roberts had earlier operated as a joiner and coffin maker. His advertisement in 1871 reads “ J.R. hopes by strict attention to business combined with moderate prices to merit a share of the public patronage, and all orders will receive prompt attention.
Just across Coachman’s Lane, we come to the garage. This adjoins a row of cottages sometimes known as office row. The end house had a small window facing on to Yeardsley Lane; you can see where it has been blocked up. Just below the window is an old mounting block. This was apparently the office for a colliery, probably Lady Pit, and some older residents tell of wages being paid through the window of a Friday afternoon. It is said that the garage was originally the stables for pit ponies although by the 1920’s this had become a motor garage owned by McCabe and Jacklin. The business was sold to Cyril Milk and then to Johnson and Hockmeyer Ltd.
The Start Motor Company were the next owners and it remained in their hands until closing about 1984. Although quite a small site, there were the usual petrol pumps, sales showroom and repair shop.
The next occupier was Simon Naden, a joiner and furniture maker who traded as Timbercraft.
The building was nearly demolished in 1992 when planning permission was given for building a new garage workshop and offices and again when 5 flats were proposed for the site.
The premises remained empty for a long time until Derbyshire Green Energy took over, supplying wind turbines and solar panels. They moved out in 2012 and part of the building was occupied by “The Cake Nest” Abi and Steve established their baking business at their home in Buxworth, moving to Furness Vale when they needed larger premises. They largely sell their products by internet mail order. Having re-located to Calico Lane, the garage remained empty for a further period until a small shop opened in September 2016 selling groceries and sweets. This only traded for 6 months. At the same time, Tony Hanson sold second hand cars from the forecourt.
We’ll turn up Yeardsley Lane now and call at number 5 where we can perhaps buy a loaf of bread. In 1940, the tenant of this house, proud of her baking asked her landlord’s permission to use the front room as a bakery shop. This was only short lived but wartime shortages would have probably given her a good trade.
Two doors down is the Furness Vale Institute. In 1911, a plot of land was given to the village by Colonel Cotton Jodrell and in the following year the Institute opened its doors. On the ground floor was a snooker room with two tables surrounded by raised seating. There was a reading room where newspapers were provided, and a library. On the first floor was a meeting room, a kitchen and a bathroom. A hot bath cost 6d at a time when few village homes had little other than a tin bath tub. Evening classes were held as well as fundraising events such as beetle drives and whist drives but by the late 1960’s the building was little used. These premises were not male only like many such establishments. One of the regular billiard players was a woman and the bathroom was certainly used by both sexes.
The Community Association was formed and raised funds to extend and refurbish the building. The re-opening was held in 1974 and the newly named Community Centre featured a bar and kitchen and shower facilities for the football team.
Following the closure of the village Post Office in 2014, it was proposed that a “part time” post office counter be incorporated in the Community Centre/Social Club. Alterations provided a lockable room which would also serve as a small community shop.
The Post Office and shop subsequently opened on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
The Furness Vale Co-operative Society opened in February 1861 as an independent Society. There was only the one store but in common with Co-ops of the time it had an education committee to serve it’s members. The Co-op occupied the building that is now the Chinese Restaurant. Deeds for the site date from 1895 so the store will have been built after that time. The original shop was opposite, on the corner of Station Road, the building that was eventually to become the butcher’s shop. As built, the Co-op only occupied the left hand side of the building and the doorway was on the corner of Yeardsley Lane. A bakehouse opened in 1905. In common with most Co-op stores, the upper floor was a storeroom with a loading door and lifting gantry. To the right was a private residence, perhaps originally the manager’s home. The store closed briefly in 1890 and re-opened as No 1 branch of the Whaley Bridge Industrial and Working Man’s Co-operative Society following a merger. Much later, the shop was extended to occupy the whole building and the entrance door re-positioned.
The name of the Society changed in 1913 to Whaley Bridge and Buxton Co-operative Society. This was not a merger as is sometimes believed but simply reflected expansion and opening a number of branches in Buxton.
The store became part of Manchester and Salford Co-op from1968 until closure in 1974. The Co-operative societies were often pioneers of self service and our local store was no exception.
Who remembers their Divi number? This had to be quoted with each purchase and a cash bonus could be claimed back twice a year. By the early 70’s the divi had been replaced by little blue trading stamps which were stuck into a savings book. Rather like Green Shield Stamps except that a full Co-op book was exchanged for £11 in cash.
A burglary was reported in the newspapers of 1896 when George Brown Sutcliffe, a painter broke into the store. When his lodgings were searched a quantity of money, tobacco and pipes were found as well as skeleton keys, a revolver and ammunition.
After the Co-op closed, the building became the offices of J.Riddick building contractors who re-located from their site on Charlesworth Road where they also had a timber yard.. There were proposals to convert the building to a kitchen and bedroom showroom and craft shop with offices above but these plans fell through and in 1988 The Imperial Palace Restaurant opened. Having been put on the market the restaurant closed in October 2011 and re-opened under new ownership. The restaurant again closed early in 2017 and is currently being refurbished.
Williamsons greengrocers was at 148 Buxton Road. This closed in the late 1970’s. At one time they had also also had a fish and chip shop which was reached through a separate door at the side of the building. “Frying Times” were Tuesday and Thursday lunchtime and on Friday and Saturday both lunch and tea.
For many years this had been the village butchers shop. To the rear of the building, at a lower level was a slaughterhouse. The earliest record of 1871 lists James Pearson as a butcher. It remained in the same family until at least 1914. George Ernest Savage had taken over before the war and was certainly in business here in 1941.
At the back of this shop was a blacksmiths, one of three that we know of in Furness Vale. Horses not only provided transport but were of course used in the mines and on farms so the smithy would have been in great demand.
The pub name is unique. It refers to an occasion in the 17th Century when a lost and sick soldier, a veteran of the war, was found wandering on Whaley Moor. He was cared for by a publican but a year later again became sick and died. He is buried in Disley churchyard. The full story is on display on a panel inside the pub.
The pub and adjoining cottage were sold in 1885 on the instructions of the mortgagees. Perhaps the owners were in default. The Soldier Dick passed into the ownership of Gartsides Brewery of Ashton until they were acquired in1939 by Bents Brewery of Liverpool who were in turn taken over by Bass in 1969. In 1997 the Bass pub portfolio was sold to the newly formed Punch Taverns who extensively modernised the Soldier Dick. High rents and business rates eventually damaged the viability of this and many other pubs. Between 2008 and summer 2010 there were three different periods of management between which the pub was often closed. Having been boarded up for 12 months, the Soldier Dick was in 2011 sold into private hands and re-opened that October .
One licensee, in the mid 19th C was Sam Bowers. He seems also to have been a farmer as he was tenant of quite few plots of land between the pub and Bank End. It has always been common practice for a publican to supplement his income by another means and there are many examples of combined pubs and farms.
In 1829 The Oddfellows, a mutual society and a forerunner of the welfare state, formed a branch in Furness Vale known as the “Foundation of Truth Lodge”. Local membership was eventually to grow to over 400, more than half of the village’s population. The top room of The Soldier Dick was equipped as the “Lodge House”. Murals depicting scenes from the civil war decorated the walls, a bell was suspended from a domed part of the ceiling and the door had a sliding observation panel to see who was seeking admittance. On meeting days, the bell would be rung four times a day. The Oddfellows survived the creation of the Welfare State in 1948 and exists today, the nearest lodge being in Glossop. The society’s welfare provisions were no longer needed and local membership fell. The Lodge moved its meetings to the Institute in 1961 although the room remained intact until modernisation in 1993 when the murals were covered over. The domed ceiling remains.
In January 1868 the Soldier Dick achieved notoriety when a murder took place on the street outside. The pub had just closed on Saturday night. Thomas Dixon and Joseph Ainsworth worked together in a coal mine but there was bad feeling between them and on leaving the pub were involved in a fight. Dixon was stabbed twice in the stomach and died from his injuries. Ainsworth was charged with murder and jailed for 14 years.
The Soldier Dick is home to a ghost. I don’t know if anybody has ever seen him but staff are wary of going into the cellar. There’s a strange presence and unexplained things happen down there. Don’t be afraid of visiting the pub though, nobody has ever come to any harm.
The two storey extension to the right of the Soldier Dick which recently housed the restaurant area was built as a separate shop although it was under the same ownership as the pub. Sarah Wright opened a grocers shop here in 1859 but by 1914 this had become the ironmongers shop of William Ford. Here you could buy paraffin for your heater and also glass and china. The last trade directory entry listing Fords was for 1927 although the shop was probably open well after this date.
Eventually this area was absorbed into the pub and for a long time included the “Selling Out” counter and was known as Furness Vale Wine Stores.
Next door but one, at 158 Buxton Road was a ladies hairdresser. This was only in business for a few years and in 1989 was converted back to a house. .
In 1941 Edith Walton was running a Ladies Outfitters business at Sunnybank Farm. This appears to have been a short lived business for it does not appear in trade directories for any other years.
We can but a pint of milk as we pass 220 Buxton Road. This was probably never a shop as such but at the rear of this house was a dairy. Only a small outbuilding, it perhaps just sold milk from the land behind.
This is a computer reconstruction of the wooden lean-to shop that stood between 264 and 266 Buxton Road. Before the war, this was a haberdashery shop with the Birchenall sisters in charge. They offered a choice of scarves, gloves and hats. This was later converted into a ladies hairdressers for Jean Collier. In 1978 Julie Potts and a colleague took over the premises which by then had been empty and for a year or so ran the “Cutters Cabin”. It was a very narrow structure. In the bay window at the front were chairs where customers could wait their turn.
We’ll cross the road now and first of all let’s call at Bank End Hut for a loaf of bread. This building was across the road from the church on the corner of the track leading down to Carr Bridge and Carr Farm. This business existed for quite some years. The first record is from 1910 when James Higginbotham, confectioner was the owner. In 1925 the owner was confectioner Robert Taylor. On December 1st, The Guardian reported that the shop had been destroyed by fire and all the stock lost or damaged. Perhaps the damage was not too disastrous. The hut was either repaired or re-built and by the 1950’s Mrs Sharpley was in charge. She lived in a house opposite which was convenient for storing stock. The shop only opened for a few hours each morning. Birkett and Bostock were a large and well known Stockport bakery and they delivered their "Champion" brand bread daily. Cakes were supplied from George Murray’s shop at Newtown. Mrs Sharpley came to a sad end and the shop was sold to a woman from New Mills but only continued to trade for a year or so.
Now we’ll head back into the village. Express Dairies on the left is only a delivery depot where the milk floats are loaded and serviced. We already have our pint of milk so we will carry on.
We had better call at the NatWest bank and get some cash for our shopping. The bank used to be at the corner of Station Road but moved to 99 Buxton Road in 1930. The Manchester and County Bank opened a branch in Furness Vale in 1908 at 116 Buxton Road before moving to number 47. At first it was open during full banking hours. By 1914 it had become a sub branch because of wartime staff shortages and only opened on Tuesday and Friday between 10 and 12. The name was shortened in 1934 to County Bank and in the following year was taken over by District Bank, also based in Manchester. The Second World War saw the closure of the Furness Vale branch between October 1939 and October 1946. District Bank became part of National Provincial in 1962 which in its turn merged with the Westminster Bank in 1968. Until 1970 our local branch still traded as District Bank when the name National Westminster appeared. The branch finally closed in August 1974.
Next door but one was The Café. I’m afraid we can’t stop for a cup of tea for this was just a nickname for a bakers shop. Ernie Davies and his wife ran this business before the war and their son did the baking. By 1950 this had become a grocer’s, a sign outside advertising Pearce’s Ice Cream. This is one of our few remaining shops and has been the home of Furness Vale Antiques for the past 40 years or more.
81 Buxton Road was not a shop but the home of Reuben Bennett, the village yeast dealer and florist. He was the grandfather of Mabel Townend. The house was built by Reuben and the garden contained a number of large greenhouses where flowers and tomatoes were grown. He made wreathes and bouquets and in addition to his local trade, sold his produce in the Manchester markets. The yeast was delivered in bulk and would arrive by passenger train for collection from the station. Reuben would carefully weigh and wrap portions and would walk to neighbouring villages to sell his wares which he carried on his shoulder in a large knotted handkerchief. Many homes baked their own bread and needed a regular supply of fresh yeast..
A local paper wrote of Reuben
“Often I had seen and heard this jolly sweet-tempered man get on the bus along the route from Furness Vale to Chapel-en-le-Frith. Even on the vilest days he was polite.
“The Rose and Crown-lady-fivepence-thank you! The conductress always answered his greeting with a cheery “good morning”. Sometimes he would get on at Furness Vale- first stop Rose and Crown. Others Rose and Crown to Hanging Gate; Cockyard to Crossens and so on to Chapel.
Over his shoulder were two white kerchiefs, evidently filled with barm and he carried a black bag, also filled with parcels of the same. Near where he started his journey I noticed a sign “Reuben Bennett, yeast merchant” I coupled the two. Reuben has a jolly face, ruddy like polished mahogany with lines of laughter radiating from his eyes. He wears a beret in rough weather and a long coat, mellowed to green. Reuben is well known in the Peak District. A sweet temper is the balm of life.”
The Post Office at 75 Buxton Road opened in 1887 in a building dating from 1815. Early photographs show a single fronted premises with a narrow entry separating it from number 71. This passage was eventually closed up but it was not until the 1960’s that the Post Office was extended to combine the two buildings. One might expect there to have been many postmasters during a 150 year history but that has not really been the case. It was not until the 1930’s that the fourth incumbent took over. Some people will remember John Dean in the 1950’s. Up until the early 1960’s when Betty Williams took over, newspapers and stationery had always been sold. Vivienne and Maxine Williams took over from their mother and continued to sell women’s clothing. Peter and Gail and then Terry and Angela Bright have been the more recent owners . The Post Office closed 1st August 2014 having been on the market for over 12 months without any offers of purchase.
We just need to step next door now to pick up a few groceries. Mrs Ramwell was the last owner of number 71 until the shop closed in the 1970’s. George and Evelyn Hill ran the business through the 1940’s and 50’s having taken over from Valentines whose business was confectionery.
Is anybody feeling hungry? Our next call at the corner of Old Road is Wood’s Fish and Chip shop. Amy Johnson took over the business by 1941. It was converted in 1957 to a newsagents by Brian Smedley after John Dean stopped selling papers at the Post Office. Later it was taken over by Smalleys and finally in 1977 by Geoff Hill who ran it until closing in the early 1990’s.
Just to the rear is a two storey house at no. 2 Old Road. Originally, this had been numbered 67 Buxton Road but as such was hard to find. A walkway from street level at the side of 69 Buxton Road, led to the upper floor of this building. Here was originally a Reading Room established in the 19th century and rented to the village by it’s owner Mr Rowley. Later this was to become a gent’s tailors, Mr Ashworth and finally Eastwoods Cash Register and Typewriter Repairs. The ground floor also housed a shop. This had been a stable for the horse and cart used to collect the village’s refuse. The first shop on these premises was a greengrocery. Later this became a bicycle shop and finally a shoe repairers.
Knitting seems to be popular once more, a pity then that the wool shop on the opposite corner closed in the early 90’s. Edith Wild and her sisters ran this shop for many years. Trade directories of 1941 give this name. This had previously been a drapers and haberdashers shop. In 1926 M.Carter owned the business followed by Mrs Alexander and then Mrs Johnson.
57 Buxton Road had been Thomas Cook’s ironmongers as early as 1910 and did not change hands until the late 1930’s when Norman Bennet took over. The photo of the shopfront still shows the faded name Cook on the fascia. The window display is seen in great detail. This shop was later to become a travel agents and finally in 1988, the video hire shop of Mrs B.Winterbottom.
55 Buxton Road was one of the most recent shops to close in Furness Vale. The business had been for sale for some time and although thriving, Richard and Helen Spencer wished to retire and the shop closed in October 2012. Prior to Spencer’s taking over, this grocery business had been Scocrofts who had bought the shop in 1945. They also owned no 53 next door which they used for storage.
As early as 1878 this business was listed as a grocery and corn dealer owned by Joseph Longden. It remained in the family for 67 years. The sale of corn had long been a major part of this shop’s business as many people kept chickens and other livestock.
Number 53 appears to be a single story building. In actual fact, there are two floors below street level. The shop straddled the old tramway that had existed since 1800 and was built to carry coal from Furness Clough Colliery down to the canal. It ran alongside Williamson’s shop opposite and under Buxton Road. Early photographs show a St. John’s Ambulance first aid box at the front of the building. This contained a stretcher and dressings. The key was held by a local resident, a St. John’s member.
During the 1940’s this was Norman Bennett’s cycle shop. He not only sold bikes but also built and repaired them. After serving as Scocroft’s storeroom it was to become the antique and bric a brac shop of Bill and Amy Howard. It was later bought by property developer Tony Beswick and used as an office. Several planning applications for change of use to a take away were made and it finally opened as a fish and chip shop in April 2009.
If you didn’t get your boots repaired when we set out, here’s another opportunity. A wooden hut stood on stilts on land adjacent to 49 Buxton Road. During the 30’s and 40’s, this was Billy Eaton’s cobblers shop. The hut can be seen in the background of this 1935 photograph
49 Buxton Road, was in the 1970’s, a hairdressing salon run by Val Goddard. She later continued the business from her home further along Buxton Road. The butcher’s shop at number 45 was extended into the ground floor of these premises.
47 Buxton Road, at the corner of Station Road was originally occupied by Furness Vale Co-operative Society, founded in 1861. In 1914 this became a branch of the Manchester and County Bank which in 1930 moved to 99 Buxton Road. The premises were then converted to become Johnny Jackson’s butchers shop. When he retired in 1968 the business passed to Harry Moorcroft and then to James Lavin. Tony Arrowsmith took over on 1981 extending the shop to sell additional products. The business closed in 1990.
On the other corner of Station Road had once stood a blacksmiths. This by the early 1920’s had become the sweet and tobacco shop of Frederick Booth. During the Summer months they made their own ice cream. The milk came from local farms and was collected by the daughter of the family.
Booths sold the shop in the 1960’s to Finch’s but it was only run by them for a short period. Barbara and Stan Griffiths took over in 1967. A variety of goods was sold: groceries, hardware and toys. Stan also ran a taxi and light haulage business. The shop was sold to Gibsons in December 1982 but was not successful and closed within 6 months.
One last shop on Buxton Road at no33. We can call and buy a bunch of flowers. Adele Botham opened Furness Flowers in 1989 and traded there for a couple of years.
The deeds of 9 Buxton Road show this cottage to have once been a blacksmith’s. The building is about 200 years old so we are going a long way back.
We’ll turn back to Station Road now and we come to the Crossings Public house. The Station Inn as it was originally known was built in 1864 the railway having opened in 1857. It was constructed as a two storey building and incorporated an adjoining shop.
Licensees for many years were the Hall family, firstly Samuel Hall Senior who was responsible for construction of the pub. He had originally lived at Waterside; then his son, also Samuel who was also a farmer. Samuel Senior whilst living and running the pub was also underlooker and manager for Levi and Elijah Hall, local coal owners. We do not know if they were all related but it does seem likely. By the time of a 1901 auction, it was in the charge of James Hall, also a farmer and in addition grocer and provisions dealer. The name changed to Station Hotel at some time between 1896 and 1901 possibly at the time of the addition of the second floor.
The auction was held on 29th March 1901 and included both the pub and shop. “Inn and shop were in one block and each had the ‘usual out offices’. The buildings were substantial and in good condition.The ground plot was 480 square yards, leasehold with an annual ground rent of £4. 1s. The inn was purpose built, modern and commodious having bar, bar parlour, smokeroom, taproom, kitchen and cellars. Above was a large clubroom and six bedrooms. There was a large yard with good stabling. Loose fixtures and trade utensils were to be taken by the purchaser at valuation of the auctioneer. Further details were available from Mr.James Hall on the premises or Elijah Hall of Furness Vale.”
The sale perhaps did not reach its reserve for the pub remained in the ownership of James Hall until 1909 when it was sold to Heaver Brothers, brewers of Bollington. This was quite a small brewery which had operated since 1893 at Higher Mills at the Ingersley Vale end of Church Street. They sold most of their pubs, just sixteen, in 1920. The brewery became a bottling plant for Ind Coope until destroyed by fire in 1931.
This sale by Turner and Sons was held at The Macclesfield Arms on 7th January when a number of Hotels, Public Houses, Beerhouses, Off Licenses and Cottages were on offer The sale included the Station Hotel and the adjoining shop, the latter was let at £14. 6s per annum with the tenant paying the rates. The ground rent was still £4 . 1s and the London and North Western Railway was paid an annual sum of 2s 6d “for the right of light”. Also in the 1920 sale was The Shepherds Arms in Whaley Bridge.
The Station Hotel was now bought by Bell and Company brewers of Hempshaw Lane, Stockport. This company was taken over by Robinson’s in 1949.
There is of course a ghost, a hunchback. A past licensee was William Jackson in 1909. He was grandfather to John Jackson the butcher. William’s brother also lived at the pub and fitted the description of the ghost so perhaps it was he. Mr Jackson ran a Station Wagon to transport people to dances at The Station Hotel.
The function room on the top floor is no longer used due to fire regulations but in the early 1950’s dancing lessons were provided by Ronnie Dennis of Marsh Lane and his wife. The music, often Victor Silvester records was played on an electric gramophone .
Once a maze of small rooms, the pub has since been much altered. The bar which backed onto the station platform is now on the opposite side. The one time shop is now the games room.
The shop at 1 Station Road usually offered grocery and confectionery including homemade bread. It was popular as a sweet shop.
Just across the canal bridge on the right hand side was a beerhouse. I’m afraid we can’t stop for a drink as this closed in 1908. The white extension to the rear is now a holiday cottage. Old photographs show that this was once a full story higher. Unusually, this beerhouse had two names, The Jolly Sailor and The Traveller’s Call. The house had been built in 1839 by Joseph Wild of Disley, a provision dealer. Joseph died in 1844 leaving on his land a beerhouse and a shop. The estate was shared between his sons Elias of Bury, a grocer, and James a beerseller.
The beerhouse was bought in 1864 by William and Joseph Holt brewers, although for a time Joseph Wild remained licensee. Holt’s of Cheetham Hill was then quite a small brewery. It had been founded in 1849 and by 1882 still only owned 20 houses.
Elizabeth Roberts bought the pub 1891 and remained licensee until it’s closure in1908.
The police objected to renewal of the licence in 1908 on the grounds that this was a disorderly house. This may not have been strictly the case. The Licensing Act of 1904 also known as the Compensation Act, established that there were too many licensed houses in the UK leading to excessive drunkenness. Some 10% of all pubs were closed under the act, compensation being provided to those licensees who lost their living. Often the renewal of licences was on such grounds as disorderly behaviour so it is quite possible that this beerhouse fell into that category.
Elizabeth Roberts continued to live there until 1922
As early as 1901, Reuben Wharmby and his family were living at Furness Row (Canal Row). They had a small shop there selling fruit and vegetables and perhaps groceries and sweets. The records don’t show which house this was. When the former Jolly Sailor / Traveller’s Call was vacated, Reuben moved his business there. He was certainly still there in 1941.
It may be just a co-incidence that a Thomas Wharmby was pub licensee in 1841 but the name is not that common.
Now we’ll stop in a moment and have tea. Before the First World War, small canopied boats took passengers to a landing stage at Atkin’s Tea Rooms. This was a wooden building next to Bankside, a canalside house near Bridgemont. This was a popular excursion and combined train and boat tickets could be booked from Manchester.
The landing stage at Bankside
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