Three Spinsters and a Fortune in Coal

Stonehouse Farm, Hayfield

Stonehouse Farm on Edale Road in Hayfield, was in the eighteenth century, the home of the Hall family. There are records of this family in Hayfield from at least the 1600s.  Joseph, born on 14^th December 1777, was their second son. He would not inherit  the property nor did he have any interest in the family sheep farm. On reaching adulthood, he rented a home in Birch Vale and found employment in the small coal pits then being worked on Ollerset Moor. The building of the Peak Forest Canal and the Peak Forest Tramway, saw the establishment at Bugsworth of a number of lime kilns. Here was a ready market for the locally mined coal, despite its poor quality. Much of Ollerset Moor was owned by the Duchy of Lancaster and Joseph was able to obtain his own leases from them and other landowners, to mine coal in his own right. He married Hannah Lowe and they moved into Moor Lodge, high on Ollerset Moor and close to the coalfield.  Joseph Hall died there on 8^th August 1843 after falling ill with hepatitis.

Joseph and Hannah had three sons, Levi, Amos and Elijah who jointly inherited the business. Amos  Took little interest in coal mining but always referred to himself as a "coal master" until his death in 1858. The other brothers formed a new partnership "L & E Hall Bros” and soon expanded the business opening new pits in the Bugsworth and Whaley Bridge areas.

Morland House

Shortly after the death of their father, Levi and Elijah built Morland House on the hillside above Birch Vale. At the time, this was the largest house in Birch Vale. Levi remained a bachelor but Elijah had married Mary Ashton. They had a large family, the first child being Elijah born in 1932.  Then followed nine daughters; Eliza 1834; Lucy Jane, 1836; Martha, 1838; Hannah, 1841; Mary, 1843; Maria, 1844; Ruth Amelia 1846; Merina Ashton, 1848 and Adelaide Ann, 1853.  All were baptised at Hayfield Church where there is a stained glass window as a memorial to the Hall family.  Six of the daughters married; Elizah to John George Bridge; Martha married John Turner; Mary married Ricketts Raymond Ricketts, vicar of Hayfield, Maria married Robert Banks Pearson;  Ruth Amelia married Frederick Turner, younger brother of John and Merina Ashton married Thomas Bradley, a banker.  The other three sisters, Lucy Jane; Hannah and Adelaide Ann remained unmarried and became known as “The Spinsters of Morland House".

Elijah senior,died at Morland House on 19^th November 1866, aged 57. His brother Levi,contracted hepatitis and died on 1st April 1872.

The business now passed to Elijah Hall junior who shared the management with two trustees; Henry Barber, a banker, and Joseph Carrington Braddock  of Haugh Estate from whom the Hall Brothers had leased mineral rights for many years. This arrangement came to an untimely end when Elijah junior died from meningitis on 5^th November 1875.

Elijah had married Margaret in September 1857 and had a son and heir, Levi Joseph, born in September the following year.  Being only 17 years old at the time of his inheritance, he was too young to take over management of the business which was then run by Joseph Carrington Braddock and Levi’s mother.  The three “spinsters”;  Lucy, Hannah and Adelaide had each received an inheritance from their uncle, Levi Hall as no doubt their siblings had as well. These women each invested in the coal business. When Levi Joseph reached the age of 21 in 1880 he took on the management together with his aunts and other trustees.

Levi Joseph Hall lived in Furness Vale in the late 19^th century whilst the “spinsters” continued to live at Morland House.

The three sisters had invested wisely and their fortunes had grown.  

Adelaide Ann Hall died on 7^th February 1891 in Tenerife, aged 37. A tradition maintains that she died whilst on a cruise and that her body was pickled for its return to England. Her estate was valued at £6984 12s 7d, the equivalent today of £900,000. 

Lucy Jane died at Morland House on 8^th March 1906 and was buried in Hayfield Cemetary. Her estate was valued at £11,958 16s 7d and would be worth £1.5 million today.

Hannah lived to the age of 83, dying at Morland House on 26^th April 1924. She left an estate of £15944 16s 10d equivalent to £1 million in 2020.

By the late nineteenth century, the market for locally mined coal was dying.  Lime burning at Bugsworth was in decline and better quality coal was carried from the South Yorkshire coal field by the newly opened railway.  Lady Pit, the largest of the L & E Hall mines closed in 1903, the last of a local enterprise that had operated nine different mines. 

Butley Cottage, Prestbury

Levi Joseph remained a bachelor until his death in March 1930. He was at that time living at Butley Cottage in New Road, Prestbury. Without a successor, this branch of the family died out. Levi left his estate to his sister Martha Edith Lomas who had been born at Hayfield in December 1860. and his half sister Mary Esther Hall , born in Hayfield in December 1868.

The Hall family had always worshipped at St.Matthews Church in Hayfield. In the church are two stained glass windows paid for by Elijah’s daughters in 1881. The windows are inscribed in memory of the family.

 James Nall, Levi Hall and Elijah Bridge.  Nall was a businessman from Whaley Bridge. Elijah Bridge farmed at Gow Hole and was related to the family by the marriage of Levi's niece, Elizah to John George Bridge.