SALTERFORTH 04
By 1796 the canal was fully open to traffic. The construction had brought at least two years of disruption but with some attendant advantages because the contractors would be trading with the local community for essential supplies like food for the men and horses and other goods that could be obtained locally like timber and services. We know nothing specific about this but I remember when the M62 was being built over the high moors to the East of Rochdale in the 1970s that a farmer friend of mine, Joe Jagger at Cunning Corner had a lucrative little arrangement with the contractors whereby he provided them with local knowledge and ponies drawing sledges for moving the surveyors and their equipment over the boggy ground which had defeated all their equipment apart from helicopters. I think we are safe in assuming that similar opportunities would have been available to the local farmers.
The construction was a big shock to the village but I think we need to look at the wider implications. Once again we have to try to put ourselves into the same frame of reference as the villagers. We have seen that as late as the mid 18th century wheeled transport was not common. We know of the pack-horses but for heavier loads you need good roads and these didn't exist. Having said that, and there is always an exception to the rule, I have evidence that large loads were occasionally moved. Six years ago when I was looking at Bolton Priory I came across some interesting stuff which, when combined with a reference that Doreen Crowther found for me, proved that not only was our area an important source of large timbers but that they were moved considerable distances by road.
“From CHRC [Court Rolls of the Honour of Clitheroe] Water mill at Colne repaired 1442/1443. Two loads of timber from Barnoldswick Wood carried there to make two ‘balkes’ at 8pence per load. Two loads of timber for ‘ground werke’ at 8pence per load. One load of timber for making a ‘sille’ under the ‘axeltree’; 8 pence. Paid 12 pence for carriage of another ‘sille’ and ‘ground sille’ from Pendle to Clitheroe. Same rolls record carriage of one axletree from Barnoldswick; 12 pence. Three loads of timber for the soles of the shears at the said mill [this is a fulling term and therefore must be referring to the Walk Mill.] at 8 pence per load. Carriage of three beams of ‘le shrendicg’(?) and other necessaries at 8 pence per load.”
This reference has intrigued me for years. It is firm evidence that Barlick was a source of large timbers, almost certainly oak or perhaps elm because of it’s water resisting qualities. One could be forgiven for inferring that it was a better source than Colne or anywhere nearer, otherwise, why come to Barlick? So when I saw the phrase ‘Bosco de Bernelwyk’ [Barnoldswick Wood] in the Bolton Priory Compotus (accounts) for 1297 my antennae started twitching. This entry is interesting because it too seems to be connected with expenses incurred by a mill but in this case it is specifically connected with labour connected with wagon-building. A 1312 entry of payments to Johanni le Tournour is a bit murky because of my lack of knowledge of Latin. I can’t find a proper translation of ‘meremio prosternendo’, ‘prosternendo’ is translated as to lay low, knock down, overthrow and I have guessed that this refers to felling trees. ‘Johanni le Tournour’ gets me twitching even more, could this be John the turner? The modern equivalent of John Turner.
There is plenty of historical evidence that the Egyptians were using a two man lathe as early as 1300bc. The Romans certainly had lathes and I think we can be fairly certain that the technology was widely used in the 14th century. So, given the level of skills needed for wagon-building (including wheelwright’s work) it’s not stretching the interpretation too far to assume that John was indeed a turner and a skilled carpenter as well. Add this to the evident availability of large timbers in ‘Barnoldswick Wood and we have what may have been a local industry in the 14th century.
There are later references which suggest this same industry. Atkinson says that there was an old saw pit outside Monk’s House in Barlick. There was a saw pit at Ouzledale Mill which is noted as a sawmill on the 1853 first edition of the 6” OS map. Hey Farm was a wheelwright’s shop until the early 20th century. There are tantalising suggestions of some form of mill or early industry on Lamb Hill. In Salterforth we have already seen the reference in Baines for 1822 of R Blessard, carpenter and wheelwright and the 1851 census records a sawyer, James Duckworth living at Stoops House which used to be on the left hand side a third of the way up Salterforth Lane above the bend at Wanless. Incidentally, there used to be two cottages on the inside of this bend and in 2003 Jim Bailey told me that his mother, Margaret Reeve, married James Marginson Bailey and they used to live there.
Back to moving heavy loads (I do get diverted don't I but it's all good evidence!). Apart from the exceptions we have noted, the canal suddenly made it possible for one horse to move forty tons at an average of about three miles an hour. This ability to move heavy materials in bulk dropped the price of transport and made it possible for new trades and industries to spring up. Salterforth was not going to be slow to take advantage of this and next week we'll look at how it benefited the village.
Sorry we got sidetracked there into the 13th and 15th centuries but the more we know, the better we can understand what was happening. Worth remembering as well that when the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815 England was hit by a severe depression that lasted until about 1818. This was just the time when Salterforth was being stimulated by the effects of the new canal and it may be that they were partially protected from what economic historians have described as England's first true depression. I hope so...
Burdock Hill on Salterforth Lane from Wanless in about 1890.
