WALKING BEHIND DAVID. (PART ONE)
Posted: 30 Jan 2026, 01:33
WALKING BEHIND DAVID. (PART ONE)
First published
22 August 2000
As you can probably guess, I thoroughly approve of David Whipp’s efforts to convince the powers that be that Barlick is worth walking round. I read the piece that was printed in the BET on August 18th and immediately asked him whether he would be offended if I expanded on it. He agreed and, being a Councillor, asked me whether I’d write some more stuff for him. I told him that this would depend on how I felt! One thing at a time, so here we go on David’s walk.
The Corn Mill looks slightly the worse for wear these days but used to be a regular calling shop for me when I lived at Hey Farm and we kept stock. We got all our proven from Anthony ('Cramp') Hoyle. (‘Proven’ is short for provender and is the old fashioned name for cattle food other than forage, which is hay or straw). There is little doubt in my mind that there has been a water-powered mill on this site for a long time. The earliest mention I have of it is that in 1822 the miller was Thomas Ellison. By 1885 William Bracewell was the owner, this is ‘Billycock’ Bracewell who owned most of Barlick and not the other William Bracewell who owned Old Coates Mill. In 1885 Billycock died and his executors had to realise his assets. In a sale document dated August 1887 the Corn Mill is described as having ‘modern roller grinding machinery driven by steam’. If you look in the grass in the open space behind the present mill just before you set off past the gable end of Powell Street you’ll find the base of the chimney which served the boiler.
Next to the mill is the old gas works that Billycock started building in 1852. In 1887 his executors sold the enterprise to the Barnoldswick Gas and Light Company Limited who ran the works until 1892 when they sold it to the Barnoldswick Local Board for £13,850. In the days before North Sea Gas, town’s gas was made by burning coal in closed retorts and purifying the resulting vapour by cooling it in distillation towers before storing in a gasholder. The Local Board ran the works and it was a useful service for the town. (Barnoldswick Urban District Council was formed to replace the Local Board in 1894) The most visible by-products from making gas were coke which people burned on their fires and gas tar which the council used for road-making, all the stone setts in the roads were sealed by pouring hot tar round them. In summer the tar would melt and small lads used to collect it to use as plasticine. The only problem was that it stuck to everything and the only thing that would get it off your hands was lard! Another useful but unofficial service provided by the gas works was a cure for whooping cough. If one of your children had this ailment and you took them down to the gas works, one of the workers would carry the child up to the top of the retorts where exposure to the fumes made it cough and this was supposed to help alleviate the condition.
As you follow Whipp’s Way up the end of the gables towards Gisburn Road take note of the fact that on your right is a large garage site between you and Butts Beck that is running at a much lower level. Ask yourself the question, if the Corn Mill was driven by water power originally, where did the water come from? We know from our walks on County Brook that there has to be a fall for the water in order to drive a water wheel. Where was that fall coming from when the beck is at a far lower level? This fact gives us the clue, the piece of land that the garages stand on was the lodge for the Corn Mill. When you get further on along the walk, to what is now Briggs and Duxbury’s premises, look in the beck as you cross the footbridge and you will see a well-built stone dam across the beck with a cast iron gate in it. Above the dam is a small hole in the wall nearest the gardens. This was where the water was diverted from Butts Beck through what is now Valley Gardens. The ornamental stream that is laid out through the gardens is what remains of the goit feeding water into the Corn Mill Lodge through a culvert under Gisburn Road. When the Corn Mill was first built, there was a small round dam at the end of the goit but in 1850 Billycock enlarged it to give more storage.
Walking up Butts, take particular note of the builder’s premises and the garage beyond it. The buildings were originally erected as ‘model’ lodging houses. You’ll still hear the older end in the town refer to this area as ‘The Model’, they can remember the time up to the 1930’s when these buildings were populated during the week by weavers who lived in other towns but came to Barlick for work and stayed in these lodging houses during the week. Notice also that Butts Beck seems to appear from nowhere under the road. It’s actually the confluence of Springs Beck running down from Calf Hall and Gillians Beck which rises above Bancroft. They both feed another mill lodge here but you can’t see it because it’s under Butts Mill. Harold Duxbury once told me he went under the mill to inspect this lodge, he said it was a frightening experience and one he wouldn’t want to repeat.
Before you strike off down the side of the Pigeon Club, take a minute to have a look up the lane at the top end of the builder’s yard. On the left is a modern building but this replaced a range of stables. Remember that in the old days many horses were needed to pull traders and carriers carts and they all had to sleep somewhere at night! Harold Duxbury once told me that in the big flood of 1932 a man nearly drowned in one of these stables, the water was so high.
Just at the top end of where these stood is a path going off to the left along the side of the beck behind Briggs and Duxbury’s which, if you look carefully, is paved with stone setts. There is a building on your right that has one storey opening out on to Commercial Street above and what look like garages opening out on to the side of the beck at lower level. The buildings on top used to be a marine store (a junk shop in our terms) at the far end and a livery stable at the end nearest the path down into Butts. The lock-ups below were a very important part of town life, they were the premises used by the town’s butchers for slaughtering their beasts and cleaning the carcasses. (Often known as 'Shambles'.) The beck was a useful way of disposing of waste.
Go back on to Butts have a look at the Pigeon Club. This building was erected in 1843 as a National School to replace the existing one in St James’ Church. From 1901 to 1907 it was a Catholic Chapel and then became a working man's club when the first ‘tin tabernacle’ was built on the site of what is now St Joseph’s on Gisburn Road. If you go round the Welfare Clinic and get back through the garage site to the beck you will find a small old building now used as a garage. It used to be a house or two cottages and I have an idea it is one of the oldest buildings in Barnoldswick.
Before we leave Butts, give a thought to where it got its name. The usual explanation given for this is that this was the place where the men of the district practised archery as part of the Lord of the Manor’s obligation to provide soldiers in case of war. This could be true but the name is also associated with mediaeval field systems. It’s very easy to imagine a time when the village of Barlick was much smaller and this fertile bottom land was where the communal village fields were situated. The name ‘Butts’ could just as easily come from this source. I don’t know one way or the other, there isn’t enough evidence but it seems just as likely as the archery theory.
David’s next instruction is to go ‘through the snicket into Parrock Street’. This gives me the opportunity to demonstrate how much I have to learn about Barlick. I’ve been coming across references to ‘Parrock’ and ‘Paddock Lathe’ (this is how it is spelt on the 1851 OS map but should I think be ‘laithe’ the local word for a barn) for years now and am not much nearer to sorting out the truth of it. There is a wonderful book called Yorkshire Cotton by George Ingle and in it he mentions Lower Parrock House Mill which in 1808 was owned by Henry Lambert. I’ve found Henry on an electoral roll of 1807 for Barlick and he was described as a ‘cotton manufacturer’ so that fits. He rented the mill to William Hall for cotton spinning. William Hall is on the same electoral roll in 1807 and is also described as a cotton manufacturer. Henry Lambert went bankrupt and in 1813 the mill was up for sale. It was described as being three stories high and measuring eight yards by three yards and adjoining it was a two storey sizing house that measured six yards by three and a half yards. Lambert also owned Gillians Mill, a spinning shop and a warehouse. By 1831 the mill was owned by William Mitchell and rented to John Smith. William Mitchell also owned Mitchell’s Mill, which later became Clough Mill.
All very interesting but where was the mill? Later on in the 1880’s the Calf Hall Shed Company were mentioning ‘Parrock Laithe Estate’ during their search for land on which to build Calf Hall Shed. My problem with the description of Lower Parrock House Mill is its size, it was tiny, not even big enough for Arkwright frames. The word ‘Lower’ seems to suggest it was below Parrock House, was this on the site that later became Butts Mill (Built 1846)? The earliest detailed map we have for the town is the first OS map which was surveyed round about 1849, this shows ‘Paddock Lathe’ and Butts mill but no mention of ‘Lower Parrock’. Somewhere there is an estate map that could solve the mystery but until it pokes its head above the parapet we will have to remain in ignorance. I have another small clue for you, the History of the Baptist Church in Barnoldswick describes how, on January 7th 1695, a William Mitchell sold ‘The Parrock’ to David Crosley who was the Baptist minister for £25. The land was described as ‘adjoining the meeting house in Walmsgate’. This ‘meeting house’ was the first non-conformist chapel in Barlick and is now a second-hand furniture shop. What all this illustrates is the complexity of local history. We can be certain there was a mill somewhere below what is now Paddock Laithe but we don’t know where it was.
The other thing you can be certain about is that there is much more to this short section of David’s walk than I have described. Use your eyes and your heads and see what you can discover for yourselves. I’ll walk a bit further behind David in another article.
22 August 2000
First published
22 August 2000
As you can probably guess, I thoroughly approve of David Whipp’s efforts to convince the powers that be that Barlick is worth walking round. I read the piece that was printed in the BET on August 18th and immediately asked him whether he would be offended if I expanded on it. He agreed and, being a Councillor, asked me whether I’d write some more stuff for him. I told him that this would depend on how I felt! One thing at a time, so here we go on David’s walk.
The Corn Mill looks slightly the worse for wear these days but used to be a regular calling shop for me when I lived at Hey Farm and we kept stock. We got all our proven from Anthony ('Cramp') Hoyle. (‘Proven’ is short for provender and is the old fashioned name for cattle food other than forage, which is hay or straw). There is little doubt in my mind that there has been a water-powered mill on this site for a long time. The earliest mention I have of it is that in 1822 the miller was Thomas Ellison. By 1885 William Bracewell was the owner, this is ‘Billycock’ Bracewell who owned most of Barlick and not the other William Bracewell who owned Old Coates Mill. In 1885 Billycock died and his executors had to realise his assets. In a sale document dated August 1887 the Corn Mill is described as having ‘modern roller grinding machinery driven by steam’. If you look in the grass in the open space behind the present mill just before you set off past the gable end of Powell Street you’ll find the base of the chimney which served the boiler.
Next to the mill is the old gas works that Billycock started building in 1852. In 1887 his executors sold the enterprise to the Barnoldswick Gas and Light Company Limited who ran the works until 1892 when they sold it to the Barnoldswick Local Board for £13,850. In the days before North Sea Gas, town’s gas was made by burning coal in closed retorts and purifying the resulting vapour by cooling it in distillation towers before storing in a gasholder. The Local Board ran the works and it was a useful service for the town. (Barnoldswick Urban District Council was formed to replace the Local Board in 1894) The most visible by-products from making gas were coke which people burned on their fires and gas tar which the council used for road-making, all the stone setts in the roads were sealed by pouring hot tar round them. In summer the tar would melt and small lads used to collect it to use as plasticine. The only problem was that it stuck to everything and the only thing that would get it off your hands was lard! Another useful but unofficial service provided by the gas works was a cure for whooping cough. If one of your children had this ailment and you took them down to the gas works, one of the workers would carry the child up to the top of the retorts where exposure to the fumes made it cough and this was supposed to help alleviate the condition.
As you follow Whipp’s Way up the end of the gables towards Gisburn Road take note of the fact that on your right is a large garage site between you and Butts Beck that is running at a much lower level. Ask yourself the question, if the Corn Mill was driven by water power originally, where did the water come from? We know from our walks on County Brook that there has to be a fall for the water in order to drive a water wheel. Where was that fall coming from when the beck is at a far lower level? This fact gives us the clue, the piece of land that the garages stand on was the lodge for the Corn Mill. When you get further on along the walk, to what is now Briggs and Duxbury’s premises, look in the beck as you cross the footbridge and you will see a well-built stone dam across the beck with a cast iron gate in it. Above the dam is a small hole in the wall nearest the gardens. This was where the water was diverted from Butts Beck through what is now Valley Gardens. The ornamental stream that is laid out through the gardens is what remains of the goit feeding water into the Corn Mill Lodge through a culvert under Gisburn Road. When the Corn Mill was first built, there was a small round dam at the end of the goit but in 1850 Billycock enlarged it to give more storage.
Walking up Butts, take particular note of the builder’s premises and the garage beyond it. The buildings were originally erected as ‘model’ lodging houses. You’ll still hear the older end in the town refer to this area as ‘The Model’, they can remember the time up to the 1930’s when these buildings were populated during the week by weavers who lived in other towns but came to Barlick for work and stayed in these lodging houses during the week. Notice also that Butts Beck seems to appear from nowhere under the road. It’s actually the confluence of Springs Beck running down from Calf Hall and Gillians Beck which rises above Bancroft. They both feed another mill lodge here but you can’t see it because it’s under Butts Mill. Harold Duxbury once told me he went under the mill to inspect this lodge, he said it was a frightening experience and one he wouldn’t want to repeat.
Before you strike off down the side of the Pigeon Club, take a minute to have a look up the lane at the top end of the builder’s yard. On the left is a modern building but this replaced a range of stables. Remember that in the old days many horses were needed to pull traders and carriers carts and they all had to sleep somewhere at night! Harold Duxbury once told me that in the big flood of 1932 a man nearly drowned in one of these stables, the water was so high.
Just at the top end of where these stood is a path going off to the left along the side of the beck behind Briggs and Duxbury’s which, if you look carefully, is paved with stone setts. There is a building on your right that has one storey opening out on to Commercial Street above and what look like garages opening out on to the side of the beck at lower level. The buildings on top used to be a marine store (a junk shop in our terms) at the far end and a livery stable at the end nearest the path down into Butts. The lock-ups below were a very important part of town life, they were the premises used by the town’s butchers for slaughtering their beasts and cleaning the carcasses. (Often known as 'Shambles'.) The beck was a useful way of disposing of waste.
Go back on to Butts have a look at the Pigeon Club. This building was erected in 1843 as a National School to replace the existing one in St James’ Church. From 1901 to 1907 it was a Catholic Chapel and then became a working man's club when the first ‘tin tabernacle’ was built on the site of what is now St Joseph’s on Gisburn Road. If you go round the Welfare Clinic and get back through the garage site to the beck you will find a small old building now used as a garage. It used to be a house or two cottages and I have an idea it is one of the oldest buildings in Barnoldswick.
Before we leave Butts, give a thought to where it got its name. The usual explanation given for this is that this was the place where the men of the district practised archery as part of the Lord of the Manor’s obligation to provide soldiers in case of war. This could be true but the name is also associated with mediaeval field systems. It’s very easy to imagine a time when the village of Barlick was much smaller and this fertile bottom land was where the communal village fields were situated. The name ‘Butts’ could just as easily come from this source. I don’t know one way or the other, there isn’t enough evidence but it seems just as likely as the archery theory.
David’s next instruction is to go ‘through the snicket into Parrock Street’. This gives me the opportunity to demonstrate how much I have to learn about Barlick. I’ve been coming across references to ‘Parrock’ and ‘Paddock Lathe’ (this is how it is spelt on the 1851 OS map but should I think be ‘laithe’ the local word for a barn) for years now and am not much nearer to sorting out the truth of it. There is a wonderful book called Yorkshire Cotton by George Ingle and in it he mentions Lower Parrock House Mill which in 1808 was owned by Henry Lambert. I’ve found Henry on an electoral roll of 1807 for Barlick and he was described as a ‘cotton manufacturer’ so that fits. He rented the mill to William Hall for cotton spinning. William Hall is on the same electoral roll in 1807 and is also described as a cotton manufacturer. Henry Lambert went bankrupt and in 1813 the mill was up for sale. It was described as being three stories high and measuring eight yards by three yards and adjoining it was a two storey sizing house that measured six yards by three and a half yards. Lambert also owned Gillians Mill, a spinning shop and a warehouse. By 1831 the mill was owned by William Mitchell and rented to John Smith. William Mitchell also owned Mitchell’s Mill, which later became Clough Mill.
All very interesting but where was the mill? Later on in the 1880’s the Calf Hall Shed Company were mentioning ‘Parrock Laithe Estate’ during their search for land on which to build Calf Hall Shed. My problem with the description of Lower Parrock House Mill is its size, it was tiny, not even big enough for Arkwright frames. The word ‘Lower’ seems to suggest it was below Parrock House, was this on the site that later became Butts Mill (Built 1846)? The earliest detailed map we have for the town is the first OS map which was surveyed round about 1849, this shows ‘Paddock Lathe’ and Butts mill but no mention of ‘Lower Parrock’. Somewhere there is an estate map that could solve the mystery but until it pokes its head above the parapet we will have to remain in ignorance. I have another small clue for you, the History of the Baptist Church in Barnoldswick describes how, on January 7th 1695, a William Mitchell sold ‘The Parrock’ to David Crosley who was the Baptist minister for £25. The land was described as ‘adjoining the meeting house in Walmsgate’. This ‘meeting house’ was the first non-conformist chapel in Barlick and is now a second-hand furniture shop. What all this illustrates is the complexity of local history. We can be certain there was a mill somewhere below what is now Paddock Laithe but we don’t know where it was.
The other thing you can be certain about is that there is much more to this short section of David’s walk than I have described. Use your eyes and your heads and see what you can discover for yourselves. I’ll walk a bit further behind David in another article.
22 August 2000
