Well fancy that! All these years I thought that gate was part of the church grounds. I should go exploring a bit more often.
Gate
- Thread starter Acrylic-bob
- Start date
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- heritage and history
It's a lovely big house. Presumably whoever lived there as a private residence must have had a bob or two.
I've just been down there having a look. It's a terrible mess isn't it? Anyway, didn't see a name anywhere but that doesn't mean there isn't one. I do have a feeling at one time one of those two houses was called Willow Mount Nursing Home or something like that. From the back (the gate in Rowland St) it looks as if the whole area could at one tiome have been enclosed by the same wall (church, vicarage and this other house) - did all the land belong to the church at one time? Could the house have had a church connection? A church school maybe? I'd love to know if anyone knows the history of that little bit.
I do know at one time the houses in Willows Lane were numbered differently on that side and that some time after 1900 some of the houses were re-numbered - ie the one at the junction with Ormerod St was originally 127 but is now 129. It had to be after 1900 because that particular block was built in 1900.
I do know at one time the houses in Willows Lane were numbered differently on that side and that some time after 1900 some of the houses were re-numbered - ie the one at the junction with Ormerod St was originally 127 but is now 129. It had to be after 1900 because that particular block was built in 1900.
I've got to find a recent map to compare to that A-b.Acrylic-bob said:
So, in 1891 Rowland St ran straight through from Perth St to Higher Antley St, parallel with Pendle St. I've had a closer look, in real life, at the gate/wall and the gate shows evidence of being built later than the wall to the right as the stones are a little different. It looks like the vicarage may have been the building which caused the houses to require renumbering if it was built later than 1900. I wonder now if that house was the original vicarage. Do we know when the church was built?
There's an oddity in the back street arrangements too just down there.
There's an oddity in the back street arrangements too just down there.
According to the info on the Accrington Deanery web page it is 1889 and is Grade II listed.
The vicarage (ie the building which isn't on your map) was built in 1899 according to a stone over the door, so that puts paid to my idea of it being the house which caused the renumbering of Willows Lane because the houses which had to be renumbered were built in 1900.
It gets better, the area bounded by Willows Lane, Perth Street and what is now Bullough Park wasn't built in 1891 and is just shown as fields. Ormerod Street stops at Pendle Street. So the mystery of the confused numbering is not going to be easy to solve. I dimly recall something being said, a long long time ago, to the effect that buildings were knocked down at the top of Ormerod Street to make a connection with Willows Lane. This a very vague memory and I stand to be corrected on this.
I'm going to have to climb up a cupboard tomorrow to hunt out some documents which may help shed a bit more light on this. I'm intrigued.
So am I. Get your crampons on girl!
I've just been down the road (in the rain again!) and find the area around this gate very interesting.
As you can see, the wall further along seems to be of much earlier construction. Also, just inside the gate there is a curious semi-circular building. Any idea what that is and why it is that shape? I've also homed in on a funny little thing which sticks out of the wall there.
And then there is the curious case of the two back streets, divided by a wall (which you can't really see very well on this photograph) one of which is higher than the other.
I'm also curious about Rowland Street itself because the bright brick built houses seem so incongruous.
Right - off up the cupboard now to fish out some old documents.
As you can see, the wall further along seems to be of much earlier construction. Also, just inside the gate there is a curious semi-circular building. Any idea what that is and why it is that shape? I've also homed in on a funny little thing which sticks out of the wall there.
And then there is the curious case of the two back streets, divided by a wall (which you can't really see very well on this photograph) one of which is higher than the other.
I'm also curious about Rowland Street itself because the bright brick built houses seem so incongruous.
Right - off up the cupboard now to fish out some old documents.
Attachments
Looking at the 1845 map it looks as though the wall between the backs of Richmond Hill Street and Higher Antley Street is the remains of a field boundary which is clearly shown on the map and also on the later 1891 map. This could account for the lack of kerbstones on the Higher Antley side of the wall.
At the end of the end of the block, at the junction of Richmond Street and Richmond Hill Street, is an area enclosed by a red brick wall. This was the site, in 1845, of a house called "Priest Heys". The land does not appear to have been built on since then, I wonder why?
At the end of the end of the block, at the junction of Richmond Street and Richmond Hill Street, is an area enclosed by a red brick wall. This was the site, in 1845, of a house called "Priest Heys". The land does not appear to have been built on since then, I wonder why?
Perhaps no-one knows who currently owns that land?
From what I can make of the documents from my cupboard it appears that the houses currently known as 123, 125, 127 & 129 Willows Lane (same side as the photos above, where Ormerod St meets Willows Lane) were originally numbered 119, 121, 123 & 125. I only have record of those 4 houses so I'm not sure how many more this affected.
They were built in 1900 but somewhere between November 1901 and December 1902 the numbers were changed. I had thought they were only changed by one number but now I see that they actually moved up by two. So sometime in that 13 month or so period two more houses were added lower down Willows Lane and presumably all those further up had their numbers changed.
The land originally belonged to the Church of England with ground rent payable to the church. On December 12th 1902 Rev Percival Saben, vicar of St. Peter's purchased 129 (the corner house) but his address was St. Peter's Vicarage which must have been the house next to the church (built 1899) which doesn't feature on your 1891 map.
Unless any of the owners have subsequently purchased the leasehold the ground rent is currently payable to Diocese of Blackburn.
From what I can make of the documents from my cupboard it appears that the houses currently known as 123, 125, 127 & 129 Willows Lane (same side as the photos above, where Ormerod St meets Willows Lane) were originally numbered 119, 121, 123 & 125. I only have record of those 4 houses so I'm not sure how many more this affected.
They were built in 1900 but somewhere between November 1901 and December 1902 the numbers were changed. I had thought they were only changed by one number but now I see that they actually moved up by two. So sometime in that 13 month or so period two more houses were added lower down Willows Lane and presumably all those further up had their numbers changed.
The land originally belonged to the Church of England with ground rent payable to the church. On December 12th 1902 Rev Percival Saben, vicar of St. Peter's purchased 129 (the corner house) but his address was St. Peter's Vicarage which must have been the house next to the church (built 1899) which doesn't feature on your 1891 map.
Unless any of the owners have subsequently purchased the leasehold the ground rent is currently payable to Diocese of Blackburn.
There is a patch of empty land at the junction of Perth Street and Willows Lane facing the Vicarage. there are Garages on it now. When I was a Schoolboy I remember passing there every day and noticing that there were stone steps leading up to houses that had been demolished. I seem to remember doors too.
Interesting you should mention that. I don't remember having seen any houses on that land and today Busman asked me if anything had ever been built there and I said "No" because I thought it had only ever had the garages on.
The houses faced Willows Lane and there were Garages behind them. The ruins were there until 1969-70. I think they were cleared shortly after that date.
I'm not sure he would know, but it's an interesting thought. Lol @ "he has to travel to work" At least the petrol crisis shouldn't affect his journey.