LOOSE ENDS FOR SALTERFORTH

[Stanley]

030
SALTERFORTH LOOSE ENDS

One of the delights of writing these general articles is the way they trigger feedback in the shape of clarifications, corrections and additional information. It helps when you get someone like Nick Livsey who's interest is in landscape archaeology and has been researching his village for years but others pile in as well. Would you believe I have twelve pages of Loose Ends? I'm not going to load you with all of them or detail the individuals, they know who they are and will be only too pleased to see their knowledge spread more widely.
Some of the information is too detailed for an article, snippets from newspapers shed light but we could soon get bogged down. Here's a couple that grabbed me: 'The Leeds Mercury May 25th 1839 . Runaway Husbands - absconded and left their Families chargeable to the Townships of Skipton & Salterforth. Samuel Windle (who has left his family chargeable to the township of Salterforth) was last heard of at Manchester, and previously seen at Bolton; is a fiddler and dancing master; stout and about 50 years of age'. 'A ewe sheep, one year and eight months old, belonging to Mr J Barrett, near Salterforth, yeaned a fine lamb on New Years Day. (I'd never come across the word 'yeaned' and found it meant 'Yean' to bring forth young (of a sheep or goat) see ME 'yenen' 14th C. )
More substantial information. Remember me voicing doubts about the stone on Cross Lane? My doubts were resolved when I heard from the man who discovered it in a garden at Newchurch in Pendle where it was being used as a doorstep. He got it back to Salterforth, re-cut the letters and placed it where it is now. He was told by an old man that it had been stolen around 1890. There is more: He told me “I have in my possession the 18th and early 19th century deeds for 'Far Hey Farm' I know where the 'Musghyll' is... its the small gill that runs down the side of what we know as 'Bob Preston Hill' from Kayfield towards the canal. And the name means; 'mouse gill' or 'small gill' hence the term Musghyll Gate, gate; meaning in this instance an actual 'Gate' and not road... it was the end of the enclosed road proper and from there onwards towards Coates, it was previously a bridleway and originally traversed through open common grazing lands. 'Summer Height' at Rainhall refers to this practise of pasturing stock on open common land away from the enclosed town fields in the late medieval period and probably wasn't enclosed until the 17th century, thus Musghyll Gate was the gate at the end of the lane. The same situation occurred at Dumphill Gate, near Rain Hall Rock Quarry”. More from the same source about the by-name Sodom. “The term 'Sodom', 'Sodomers' or as known here pre-1870 'Sodom Maypolers' referring to the old maypole which stood on maypole square opposite the old Tithe Barn or West End Barn... The maypole was vandalised by lads from Barlick in 1870 and had to be taken down, and was stored in West End Barn until it was converted into a house in the early 1980's and was lost during those works. The base still survives today under the cobbles in the square. The term Sodom refers to the biblical tales of Sodom and Gomorrah and the strong connections with being turned into salt referring to the salt trade. Also because there were so many religious denominations here in a small village that outsiders thought they must be real 'sodomers' to need so much guidance from above... Quakers/ Inghamites/ Methodists/ Baptists/ and the long lost medieval chapel of ease, Church of England, which was part of the farm complex of Broadstones Farm. This incidentally used to be an Inn called the 'Holy Lamb Inn' during the 18th and early 19th centuries after which its name changed to 'The Plough Inn'. It ceased as a wayside inn by circa 1820”.
Pubs. I asked about the Anchor and got mail from a man who worked there. “A third storey was added to the pub when the canal was built as the road level was raised to build the bridge. The original ground floor which was the inn itself is now used as the pub cellar. The old front door of the pub is still there and when you go through it there is a section of the old road and the pub frontage perfectly preserved underground with the added attraction of some impressive stalactites hanging from the roof”. Further, from another source: “The Anchor was previously known as 'The Canal Tavern' and before the canal was built it was known as 'The Travellers Rest'. The Lane Head Inn has been an Inn since the middle of the 17th century, although rebuilt in 1914 and now being converted into a private house”. I was also made aware of this: 'WILL OF CHRISTOPHER VARLEY (1678). Let it be remembered this nynth day of februarii Anno Dni 1678 that I , Christopher Vareley of Salterforth Lane Head in the p'rish of Barnoldswick in the County of Yorke alehouskeeper'.
Remember me wondering where the barracks for the navvies was? “To answer Stanley's question; where was the shanty town for the canal navvies in our locale? Through my research and talking to Muriel Pollard and the older generation here in the village, the shanty town was sited just the other side of Canal Cottage, near the Anchor Inn on what is known as 'Canal Tavern Meadow' which is a narrow field running down the back of the old parish council allotments (pre-war) which are now privately owned pens, these are sited on top of the spoil from the cutting of the canal, as there was no easy place to remove the spoil to so they raised the land by 4 feet and it is crammed with evidence of the shanty town, coins from there are dated 1780's to around 1810 but nothing of note. I understand they lived in temporary wooden huts which periodically would be moved 2-3miles as work progressed and often sited on the edge of villages and near to a pub. The other shanty town site that I know of is at Foulridge Wharf, I do not know of a similar site near Barlick/ Thornton but there must have been one”.
Another matter that surfaced was the question of whether there was a burial ground under what was the car park at Salterforth Shed. When I rang the planning authorities I was told in no uncertain terms that this was a myth. However, here's what a witness has to say: “During the recent planning application for that site at Silentnight, we had to put forward as much evidence as we could from folklore and first hand witness evidence of the finding of an ancient burial ground when the new dyke was dug during the construction of the New Road past Harry Street/ Broadstones during the early 1930's because some of the development risked foundations being dug in to the burial ground and the loss of the village car park which is above the burial ground. There are no records anywhere of the burials which leads us to firmly believe that this was a medieval burial ground (possibly set up during the Black Death) connected with the 'chapel of ease' a satellite chapel of Gill (Brogden had the same set-up), for they wouldn't want to cart the many dead over a mile to bury them at Gill. Alternatively, the burial ground may have been a very early Baptist's burial ground before they joined with the Barnoldswick Baptists but again there are no records only folklore memories. The burial ground does exist as I wrote down statements and personally interviewed a number of people who actually worked on the construction of the New Road and the dyke which cut through the burial ground. The last of them to die was Allen King and he told me just how important it was to remember that when the workers confronted the bosses of Barlick Urban District Council (who had their offices in the old schoolhouse at the time) they told the workers to hush-up the finding of skeletons & the remains of coffins, and were forcibly told to put the tale around they were only horse and cow bones or they would be sacked”. I'm told that a very careful eye will be kept on any excavations on the site so we may get some concrete proof eventually. My money is on the witnesses but of course I would say that wouldn't I!
Nick also commented on Hall Spout: “The name 'Hall Spout' is a corruption of the name 'Fall' Spout which is the medieval name for the spring, a number of the fields around the site are called Wilson Fall, Great Fall, Preston Fall, and The Fall. This is from the old English 'Falc' which means to mow or cut grass for making hay. Hall Spout was also the site for taking water by the Salterforth Water Company”. I'd never looked up the origin of 'fall' as a field name and this clears up an old puzzle for me because the old name for the big field that slopes down from Barnoldswick Lane to Gillians Beck at Hey Farm was 'The falls or flows' and I always wondered about it.
As usual I've run out of space! Never mind, we've given Salterforth a good going over and perhaps excited some of you enough to persuaded you to dig deeper. Our history is complicated and fascinating and well repays a bit of time. Go to it, there's plenty of help out there if you go and ask for it.

[Stanley]

Some nice feedback yesterday. I was contacted by a man thanking me for the articles and letting me know that he is currently refurbishing a long case clock made by John King of Salterforth in 1796.

[Chrissyp]

Allen King was 7 years old when the road was built doubt he was working on it.

[Whyperion]

No , but 7 year old boys have an enquiring mind and , like water , can manage to get everywhere and into everything.

[Stanley]

Bumped.

[Stanley]

Retreaded again.....