CROW ROW

[Stanley]

CROW ROW

Remember me mentioning Castle View and the possible origin if the name? Another little mystery has been solved this week. Many of you will know Longfield Lane in Barlick, the road leading down to Ouzledale Mill and onwards over Forty Steps. It has the distinction of being the only row of houses I know in the town that has two cast iron nameplates, one reads Crowfoot Row and the other Longfield Lane.
For as long as I have known it, the locals called it Crow Row and I always wondered why. The clue is in the date stone on the row, there's a picture of it here. If you look at it carefully you'll see what looks like the imprint of a bird's foot beneath the date and this is where the name Crowfoot originates. The question is why is it there?
The 'W B' on the date stone is William Broughton. I have a record of him as being a stonemason in a trade directory for Barlick of 1822. As late as 1896 he is described as being a stonemason and contractor living on Albion Terrace. He came from a family that has a long line of stonemasons going back at least 150 years and this is a craft that has very strong customs and traditions. One of these is that each mason had his own 'mark', always capable of being cut with a combination of straight chisel cuts. The mason put this mark on any major work as identification to show who made it. On large contracts where many masons were working this ensured they got paid for each piece. If you go to the Barrowford end of the Mile Tunnel at Foulridge you'll see many mason's marks on the dressed stones that form the portal, it's almost as though they were artists signing their work. Once you understand this you can make the connection, the crowfoot mark beneath 1828 on the date stone is William Broughton's personal mason's mark and this is the origin of the name Crow Row. It is almost certain that William himself carved the stone because another mason wouldn't have been allowed, by the strict rules of the trade, to carve another man's mark.
I love odd bits of information like this about our town. So simple and yet satisfying because behind the story is a lot of careful investigation by many people. It was relatives of William who brought this matter up on the Oneguy website and triggered me off to go digging again and write this. Many would say that it's all ancient history and has no bearing on today's world but I disagree. One of the reasons I bend your ear each week about matters like these is that I believe they have an influence on how we regard Barlick, the more we know about our roots the more firmly we will be embedded in the town for we are the stuff that the history is made of.



The date stone on Crowfoot Row.

[plaques]

It has the distinction of being the only row of houses I know in the town that has two cast iron nameplates, one reads Crowfoot Row and the other Longfield Lane.

It just happens that I have a photo of the said nameplates.

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The date stone is to the far right.

[plaques]

If you go to the Barrowford end of the Mile Tunnel at Foulridge you'll see many mason's marks on the dressed stones that form the portal, it's almost as though they were artists signing their work.

There are certainly a lot of carvings and different patterns on the tunnel entrance but when you look at them they appear totally random with virtually no discernible repeating patterns. The general view on the tunnel entrance looks like this.

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A view on a block of them looks a quite random affair.

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While individually some elements look as though they appear on different blocks you never seem to get two alike.

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Although there may have been some degree of ownership it looks more like fun day at the tunnel. And don't forget there used to be a pub not too far away called the Grinning Rat, maybe this had something to do with it?

[Whyperion]

Roads and Terraces.
One problem I have in London, is, apart from a lack of photos fromc1850 to c1920 of my little area of concern, is a lack of reliable Maps, Street Directories and the Like, Even the Census enumerators got confused in an area probably no more than 800m by 800m ( quarter of a mile square approx in old money), that was effectively developed from farmland (with the odd building in it) from the mid 1820s to the late 1920s. Each 'Road' seems to go through several changes of name, and as each little terrace of 4 to 12 houses was built sometimes they were referred to as if they were new roads , other times a road name, then the terrace name. Its probably true of other roads where one notes carved terrace names. As to if Cast names existed I don't know, I wish I had saved some from council 'renewals' of even the recent past. The area also changed as the houses generally had gardens of 68ft to 90ft long, and sometimes one house would be bought and some adjoining, with one house demolished and the building of three / four smaller houses in the back gardens acessed by the new 'private' shared driveway. A nice little earner for landowners , but eventually creating a bit of a slum jungle, only to be replaced by industrial sheds / transport yards, then re-modelled by German Aircraft then most swept away under 1950s to 80s council schemes of flat and house building. If I find instances of two cast names anywhere else, ( there must be the odd ones in Burnley or other Lancashire places ), I'll let you know.

[Stanley]

Bumped and images restored.

[Stanley]

" the more we know about our roots the more firmly we will be embedded in the town"
As true today as when I first wrote it.

[Gloria]

[Stanley]

Thanks for commenting Love.....

[Stanley]

I still believe such matters are important!

[Gloria]

Haha I’ve done it again, read it, forgotten it, and enjoyed reading it again, oh dear . Loved the name of the pub, Grinning Rat.

[Stanley]