Moonrakers Cowling Local History Group

A big welcome to our Moonrakers website.

This is our newer second site built after the first webmaster  was unable to maintain the old site due to pressure of work. Our thanks go to him for his hard work.

We therefore went for a new look site, which is will continue to  develop.  The intention is to keep you up to date with the latest Moonrakers local research, history stories and events. Our hope is to have various contributors  bringing energy and  a wealth of experience to our sharing of information and historic adventure. We hopefully might even give you a laugh on the way.

We have decided to run the two websites side by side. Therefore the information on the old website will stay there. Historic pictures of Cowling can be browsed in the old site’s gallery.

So its onward and upward and into the future – or should that be into the past? Enjoy your visit to Moonrakers and please keep returning to watch us grow.

Mark Barnes,  Chairman

NEXT MEETING:

Thursday February 2nd Bancroft Room, St Andrew’s Methodist Church, 7.30 – 9.15pm  Refreshments available.

EVENTS:

None Planned at the moment.

ACTIONS:

9/04/11 Six members visited Ridge Mill Bridge area to explore the posible site of the mill. Evidence of a  rectangular structure was found near to the new bridge. The land owner was present.  14/06/11 The North Yorkshire Rural Archaeologist visited and there was not suffient evidence to confirm the structure as the mill site.

Signs have been  painted for better direction to Viscount Snowden Memorial Cairn – See Craven Herald 3/3/11 Two of the three signs have now been placed on Pad Cote Lane and Park Lane. 13/04/11 The third sign has been placed near to the cairn field. 05/11

A local history booklet  introducing visitors and new parishoners to Cowling History is being compiled to go into B&Bs and other businesses. We thank the parish council for donating the printing costs. It is expected to be published in 2012 after editing, formatting and printing.

A group has been set up to photograph historic sights and record their position, during the summer months.

During September and October members, with the permission of Cowling Parish Council, have been chipping out old pointing on the Snowden Memorial Cairn and clearing weeds from the concrete base in preparation for professional pointing and renovation. The re-pointing and renovation of cairn and base is now left with the parish council who’s asset it is on behalf of the parish.

19th century railway plans for Cowling and Lothersdale have been obtained, and copied. The three Cowling parish sheets have been cut to a manageable size and laminated. They were used for the first time 0n 9/11/11 at Lothersdale.

The illustrated talk to Lothersdale over 60′s on November 9th was a great success. See November report below.

Much of the January meeting was spent discussing the SnowdenMemorial Cairn renovation.  In 2011Moonrakers members cooperated with the parish council to improve signage to the cairn (PC asset) and then renovate the cairn that stands on the edge of Ickornshaw Moor, to the west of the parish. The cairn pointing was chipped out ready for replacement. Only at this point was it made aware to Moonrakers that the cairn was a listed monument. Once listed, buildings and monuments need permission to improve, change or renovate, from the district council.

Moonrakers have now had to step back from the renovation and trust that the parish council will complete the necessary work needed to the
cairn, base and path. The base remains badly cracked and broken and the path has almost disappeared. Once renovated, the people of Cowling Parish will be proud of the monument to its most famous son, now that the improved signage could lead to more visits.

For those parishioners who are not aware Philip, Lord Snowden of Ickornshaw rose from a lowly beginning, as a weaver’s son, to become
Chancellor of the Exchequer in three different governments. This was a feat thought worthy of a monument, on his death in 1937. It is signed from the main road, west of the village – SNOWDEN MONUMENT 1MILE.

Another item discussed was a WW1 parish War Relief Committee, which acted on behalf of families who had lost breadwinners, to
apply for benefit and helped Belgium refugees housed in the parish to repatriate.

A report was given of how a member had been able to assist a parish university student with dialect words to assist her in her degree in
Creative Writing. The words are to be used in a poem.

Some ex-parishioners of 1800, it was reported had to return to Cowling from Lancashire as they had become a burden, due to becoming too
poor to maintain themselves. In those days a parish had only to maintain its own poor.

It was reported that the Intro to Cowling History, booklet was progressing at the editing stage.

The meeting ended with members looking at a miscellany of items, collected by one of the members, on various facets of history.

Members snapped up copies of “The Tillotson Family and its neighbours” by David Gulliver at the December meeting. The Tillotson family
originated from a woman born at Norwood in the 14^th century. We still have a few copies of the book that features families from Cowling Head
(Hill) and surrounding area in the 17^th/18^th centuries and a wonderful map of the area from 1768.

New research into attempts to raise an emergency fire service in Cowling during the first half of the twentieth century was presented to the group. This will feature in a separate article in the future. We thank member Dennis Harker for many days given up to this research at Northallerton Record Office and then in converting his written notes into print.

New research into the Co-op Movement in Cowling Parish has been commenced by someone new to the group. This will be reported fully in the future.

It was reported that the listed status of the Philip Snowden Memorial Cairn has held up the renovation completion, whilst an agreement is
reached on materials to be used.

The Bannister Wood planning refusal was noted and the fact that moves were afoot to gain Ancient Woodland Status for the woods,

There was a fruitful discussion about Middleton allotments and where one had to live in the parish to be eligible for one since they were
vested in the parish council in 1947.

The sale of the village hall and its proposed conversion into dwellings was discussed.

Two requests were received during the month. One was for dialect words from a Cowling student studying creative writing at University.
We have provided words and will assist where possible. The new owner of an Ickornshaw property requested any knowledge about its history. We have again provided what we know.

A new collation of shops and businesses was presented to the group, plus information about the various names considered when Laycock’s Field was named.

Finally a smile was brought to members’ faces when information about the liquidation of Cowling Water Company was discussed.  It appeared to be a very apt ending for such a business as water responsibility was taken over by the Water Board.

We wish all parishioners old and new a happy festive season and new year.

The November meeting heard that the 19^th century railways plans for the village, which have created much interest, have now been copied, cut down to a manageable size and the group agreed to have them laminated, for use on display.

There was lengthy discussion about expenses incurred travelling to research local history by members. It was eventually agreed that 50% of fuel cost could be claimed, for journeys authorised by the group, to Northallerton and Wakefield record offices, as the transport costs to these places had risen so much in recent years.

A tenth anniversary 2013 calendar was agreed in principal, with more investigations to follow.

Finally a request was made on behalf of Alan McEwen of Farling Top, who is gathering material for a biography of Joe Sawley, a former resident of Cowling parish.  He is seeking photographs dating from about 1940-60, together with copyright permission for reproduction in his book. Anyone who has photos regarding any of the topics below, willing for them to be used, should conract Moonrakers:
Pond Hill Farm, Ickornshaw Moor, Treacle Lane Farms, Lumb Gill, Summerhouse Clough, Ickornshaw Blacksmith’s Forge and Blacksmith, Freegate and Ickornshaw Mills, Ickornshaw Mill Engine and Boilerhouse, Winkholme’s Shops including Clogger and Bake.

Organisationof the group’s illustrated talk on 9/11/11 to Lothersdale Over 60’s was agreed at the above meeting. Five of the group were then involved. An update of Moonraker projects was shown and explained, photographs old and new of Lothersdale, etc added local interest, dialect poetry recitations brought colour and humour to the proceedings and finally Lothersdale and Cowling’s 19^th century railway plans were explained and perused. The over 60’s expressed their delight in an entertaining show, which our members thoroughly enjoyed providing.

During August and September three members spent over twenty hours, doing preparation working, on the renovation of the Viscount Snowden Memorial Cairn and base. The completion of this work has now been left to professionals, so the Parish Council, whom the maintenance is vested in, are to arrange for the completion of the work.

The new Tillotson family book by D Gulliver of Cononley was discussed and orders were taken. It is awaited with great anticipation as it should add to our knowledge of the Cowling Hill settlement in the 17th century.

Much time was then spent perusing the late 19^th century plans to bring a railway line through the village. The original sheets have now been copied and will be used to display at Moonraker events, so that people can see where the railway might have been.  It appears that, although there was much enthusiasm for the scheme, the costs proved prohibitive, due to there not being enough demand to provide a profit.

Members were reminded that Moonrakers are to give a talk to Lothersdale Over 60’s group on Wednesday 9^th November at 2.00pm in the Lothersdale Village Hall. This will include Moonraker news and a member’s photos of old Lothersdale. We hope to have the 19th century railway plans available on that date, including the planned spur into Lothersdale quarry.

Now that the Snowden Memorial has it’s new signs the good news is that more visits have been reported. However a new problem  is that visitors are missing the two metre high (about 12′) structure and ending up in a farm yard at the end of the track. Moonrakers, in conjunction with the parish council, are going to add another sign ,opposite the cairn, to clearly point out its location for the short sighted

In August work commenced chipping out the old pointing on the memorial cairn, ready for new pointing, professionally carried out, before the winter.  In addition it is intended to rid the surrounding area of weeds and generally tidy up the site. The work, which of course is weather dependent, will hopefully be completed before the end of October.

The August meeting was generally taken up with sorting old Parish Council correspondence on their behalf. For possibly over a century since its beginning, when Viscount Snowden was on the first council, the villages pc records have been stored in cupboards in the village hall. With the impending sale, it was decided to rescue these and sort out which were historically important to keep. Moonrakers have had a written request to complete this task from the council clerk. We are using our knowledge of the village and its history to make sure this task is completed diligently. Members will meet informally over the next few months to complete the task.

Our meeting in September was quite a varied affair.  All the above memorial related and parish council work was reported.

As the parish council are at present replacing old seats around the parish it was interesting to note from parish records that they were introduced in 1898. Unfortunately non from that year still exist, as far as we know.

Other end  of the 19th century events reported were:

• 1897 gas street lighting – converted to electric in 1949
• 1896 naming of streets in the parish
• 1899 public urinals set up around the parish
• 1898 a chimney for freegate mill – higher up in the field opposite, presumably to create more draft.

So why were the men of our parish, in 1899, in need of somewhere, away from home to urinate more than the women? All answers on a postcard please!!

The July session walk to view maintenance work needed on the Viscount Snowden Memorial Cairn was hastily cancelled (due to a thunderstorm). Member of the group met by car and decided on work needing to be done on behalf of the parish council.

There was then a preliminary look at some old parish council documents from the village hall. Decisions are needed as to which are historically important to store once the village hall has been sold.

Earlier this month the North Yorkshire Rural Archaeologist came to examine possible site for Ridge Mill. However 400 years after the mill’s demise there was not enough evidence on the ground to confirm a site.

The introduction to local history booklet will be some months before completion. The development, formatting and editing process is taking much longer then anticipated.

We must apologise for the lateness of this report for both May and June meetings. During that time we have had  problems with our website which our website manager/ host has thankfully sorted out for us. We’ve therefore put together the last two month’s reports as follows:

May - At May’s meeting there was a change of plan. We were supposed to go for a walk through the village to check on and update our knowledge of previous businesses and shops. However previous to the meeting it was difficult to piece together our present knowledge.       That and a change to the weather lead to the walk being postponed.

We therefore met as usual in the Bancroft Room. The long project of the improved signage for the Viscount Snowden Memorial Cairn has ended, with the final sign being erected in the open space just before the cairn. Later in the summer we will improve the pointing
on the cairn.

We are looking into the possibility of an archaeologist coming to look at a possible site for the old Ridge Mill, corn mill, lost to the parish in the early 17^th century. It would be great to find this in the year that the new bridge is opened. However at the time of writing this is still being negotiated.

Work still continues on the introduction to local history booklet for the parish. This will take a while yet. The team involved are most keen to make the information as accurate as possible and have it checked and edited as necessary.

June - Our June meeting was our first fact-finding members’ walk of the summer. A large group strolled down the lanes and footpaths of Gill Bottom on a warm, sunny evening.

Additions to our knowledge of this 19th century hive of industry were:

• Better knowledge of Gill Bottom Mill dimensions,
• the position of the mill chimney,
• possible links between the dam and mill race/leet,
• possible extension upwards of damstones/weir,
• the exact location of the old adit lead mine,
• past changes to the barn
• and the possibility of the lining of beck being to stop erosion of beck bank walls.

We felt it was a very enjoyable and successful walk.

In conjunction with the parish council we are exploring having some type of plaque/board to explain the history of the Ridge
Mill and its new bridge.

See our announcements section for details of July’s walk.

The plans for a 19th century railway from Colne to Crosshill, via Cowling and with a spur to Lothersdale, were the highlight of the April meeting. Many large, yellowing sheets had been saved for the group by member Dennis Harker, due to his work for Lancashire Archive Services. These are wonderful new documents to add to our collection and show to the parishioners. The plans did not come to fruition, probably due to the expense needed and the need to set up a separate  railway company to build it. Never-the-less you can imagine the excitement as people looked where the proposed railway would have run and how near it would have been to housing, etc.

The disappointing news about the boundary change, mentioned last month, was that it was passed, despite two members representing the group and parish council at the council meeting. The wishes of the inhabitants of the time won out despite, geographical and ancient historic reasons being put forward. Therefore Lothersdale parish is no longer a dale, but a dale and a bit of the next valley as well! The sad thing is that Cowling ancient parish is now short of an area and its geographic and ancient boundary, the water shed between the two valleys.

Good news was that a new storage cabinet has been acquired at last and for only £10 transit charges, as a members duaghter was able to acquire an unneeded one from her place of work.

The new Ridge Mill is now alsmost completed. This lead onto discussion of the old Ridge Mill. We have to try to discover an original document, possibly at Cliffe Castle, which states that Ridge Mill Bridge was in existence in 1747, a century earlier than previously thought. A member had located a possible site for a building near to the Ridge Mill Bridge. It was decided that a group should investigate  on Saturday 10th April.

The James Emmott diaries of a 19th century Cowinheeader, owned by a Local History Group at Dinnington, South Yorkshire, were featured in the Yorkshire Post.

The three ancient manors of Cowling -  Ickornshaw, Collinge and Stott Hill were discussed with possible boundaries suggested. It was pointed out that the modern village was probably in the ancient manor of Stott Hill. It was decided however that it was best to retain the name as it is!

The May meeting was to be kept as the New Road Side walk, weather pemitting, as per our objectives for the year,to add to our knowledge of 20th century businesses.

It was decided, by the meeting, to accept a generous donation from the Parish Council, of £500 towards the printing of the Local History Booklet for visitors and new parishioners. This was given on the understanding that we should have printed the maximum number possible and that each family with a child at Cowling School shoul receive one. It was agreed that a letter of thanks should be sent to the Parish Council.

Finally the meeting closed looking at the previously mentioned railway plans, plus a 19th century Ickornshaw Moor rental deed.

In late February four members of the group were pictured in the local weekly newspaper, The Craven Herald, showing the completely refurbished  three oldsigns for the Viscount Snowden Memorial Cairn. Viscount Snowden, the parish’s famous son was the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the UK in three administrations in the 1920′s/30′s. These should be placed, for improved directions to the cairn, in the near future. Permission has been gained from the landowner to erect posts.  Thanks should go to member Brian Ridehalgh, who re-painted the signs. All this was reported to members at the meeting on 3rd March.

 Parish boundary proposed changes caused something of a stir amongst members. Some areas to come into Cowling below Earl’s Crag and at Lane Ends Lane seemed reasonable. However requests for areas to the north west of the parish to go into Lothersdale seemed illogical. It was thought that as Lothersdale parish is within a dale or valley that it should not be allowed to come over the hill and into the next valley. The local residents feel otherwise and these feelings are what Craven District Council say they have to follow. Moonrakers are to object on behalf of the Parish Council.

The local history leaflet being compiled for Bed and Breakfast accommodation, with emphasis on the Pennine Way area of the village is continuing to be compiled by the working group. Costs were discussed at length and it was resolved to seek a donation from the parish council’s clubs and society’s budget, to pay for printing. £360 pounds was to be asked for the rpinting of 500 leaflets. As it was felt that this would be a one-off donation, it was decided to extend the leaflet into a booklet, as an introduction to parish history for visitors and new parishioners.

Finally the group perused two documents – one detailing the history of The Outbarn, Cowling Hill, part of the previous inn and farm on the site and a Commision of Inquiry and Deposition from Colne Manor, dated 1592. This second document had boundary residents of the time giving evidence as to the boundaries between Iccornshaye,  Collinge and Colne. It was surprising to note that many of the border areas mentioned still retained the same or similar names and the boundary appeared to be in the same place on the modern OS map.

Its always good to start a new year with an idea of what you intend to do. February began our 9th year as a group. Hopefully these are more than New Year Resolutions. So at our February meeting we set our objectives for the year as:

• Viscount Snowden sign to be painted( completed 15/02/11) and cairn renovated (May to August)
• Group walk on Keighley Road (New Road Side) to further record shops and businesses. (May)
• Compile a Cowling Pennine Way history leaflet for B&B’s in time for Easter bookings. Group set up – (1/2 of leaflet completed and printers approached 14/02/11)
• Commence digital photography of historic sites. Group set up (May – Sept)
• Begin new research topic. Group to be set up. (Sep – Dec)

We have made sure that our objectives are in line with our aims:

• Record Cowling History
• Share Cowling History
• Announce Cowling’s place in history through our website and other forms of communication.

The fact that two of these objectives are well under way is great news.

During the last month we have placed our pictures from the old village hall into storage as a result of the burst pipes in the hall and its general heating problems. A request was received and answered regarding the age of Lumb Mill Farm barn. Information regarding the group’s needs in a new village hall were given to the fundraiser. Lothersdale over 60′s requested an illustrated talk from our group. A November date was arranged.

Monthly subscriptions for the group were discussed. At present we are not covering the hire of the room with our income. Afer a variety of solutions were put forward a member suggested that monthly subscriptions be kept and raised from £1 to £1.50. This appears a large increase. It was however pointed out it was in line with other group fees and that it was the first rise in eight years. It was passed unanimously.

We are still searching for a three-drawered filing cabinet for our continued storage. New avenues had been pursued without success.

Finally some copies of very interesting documents were brought by a member. These were:

• Local poor Law information 1830′s
• Formation of Cowling Committee Against Conscription 1914-18
• Cowling Under the Norman Kings (early history of the parish) – Craven Herald 1/10/1926)

These will in due course be copied onto this website.