Moonrakers Cowling Local History Group

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.

On the 21stJuly three Moonrakers gave an illustrated talk to Lothersdale Over 60′s, as a part of their programme of talks. As we had done such a talk a few years earlier, this one had to have different features. Over 30 people attended, which we were told was a high attendance

The one and a quarter hour presentation opened with dialect poetry from Cowling. We then projected photos onto a screen, using computer graphics and explained the information provided.

The first half of the presentation was an update for the audience of new items of history that have arisen since our last visit. These included: the cudgel from the Broughton Hall affray of the 1850′s, Gill Bottom Fire report of 1870, Pram Race Memorabilia from the 1970′s, Snowden Memorial signs, book on chicken sexing, used in Cowling, from Japanese authors,  a dilapidated cottage in Ickornshaw 1904 and new Foresters Hall information.

The first half ended with another dialect poem.

The second half was selected old and modern photos of Lothersdale projected for the audience to enjoy and assist with recognition of people and places. The computers programme’s ability to zoom into photos added great interest and detail. Much  audience interest was aroused

The Moonrakers involved really enjoyed doing it and the audience was most appreciative. We hope to return again in a few more years.

Two trip out in the parish in May and June were reported on . (See earlier article)

The rest of a shortened meeting was spent reporting to the group items that had come in during the last two months when there had been walks instead of meetings.

Lots of pictures and news articles had been received from Mrs Dolphin (previously Mrs Clewes), the landlady in the Bay Horse when the  pram race began. Visits by actor/director Sir Richard Attenborough and singer Anita Harris, to present trophies for funds raised at two successive annual pram races between Cowling and Sutton, via Cross Hills were the main items of interest. These have been sent for inclusion on the website gallery.

Items have been received for storage but these will be detailed in the Autumn when there is more time at meetings.

Forester’s Hall research was reported and will appear as a separate article.

A first draft of a history leaflet for B& Bs and campsite was shown and it was agreed that this was possible to produce using the Microsoft Publisher computer programme.

Finally a family history request had been recieved and a member had been able to furnish information.

The shortened meeting was followed by a short walk up to Winkholme top, to continue from June’s trip. It was noted that the stone to mark the site of the toll bar at Winkholme top needed cleaning, as the words were hardly visible. A member has since done this.

Two guests who have been to a recent meeting attended again this month. It is good to have new interest, which is always welcomed.

In the last month we received an invoice for website hosting. Enquiries were made about a Berry Bottoms standing stone. A request was made by the Village Hall committee for a Moonrakers display board at their celebration of 125 years on April 10th. They also said that they may hold another event in the Autumn, as a further celebration. Notification of the possibility of repairs to Ickornshaw Beck Damstones was received. A request for payment for a replacement key for the village hall was received.

At the meeting the group agreed to pay £35 for Internet web hosting  for another year. It proves a worthwhile  form of communication with people interested in Cowling history, worldwide. It was reported that enquiries by a member regarding the missing Berry Bottoms standing stone have drawn a blank. No one seems to know where it has gone. The request for a display board by the village hall committee was turned down, due to the time schedule being short and members were busy over the Easter weekend. It was agreed if more notice was given of an Autumn event then we would try to be involved. The group asked to be kept  informed about Ickornshaw Beck Damstones but the group has no official view on the subject. It was decided that as the group had never asked for a key for the village hall and did not need one then no payment should be made for keys.

There then followed an in depth discussion regarding the objectives set for this year. It was suggested it was time to narrow these down to achievable objectives. It was felt that a ‘Nostalgia Afternoon’, a ‘Where Do You Think You Are Afternoon’ and a ‘Book of Old Pictures’ would be best left until members with the knowledge and technical  know how were once again available.

It was decided, one, that the Philip Snowden Cairn and Sign renovation could go ahead, in conjunction with the Parish Council. A site visit was agreed for the next meeting night on 6th May.

It was agreed that, two, one walk should be the first aim for the summer. The one to Ickornshaw, Cock Hall and Winkholme was chosen. A planning trip will be held on June 3rd. It was decided that, three, a recording of historic sites, with photographs and grid references could commence on this visit. Other recording trips may be undertaken later in the summer.

Finally a member offered, four, to draft an outline of the proposed history leaflet for B&B’s and campsite guests, using computer programme Microsoft Publisher. This would be shown to the group in May.

This was a good meeting’s work. The four objectives (numbered in bold) selected  can be noted as  fulfilling the groups agreed aims – To record and share as much as possible of Cowling’s rich past and announce its place in history through our website and other forms of communication.

So much happened in the month of February that the entire March meeting was virtually taken up reporting it.It was good to welcome two visitors to the meeting,  both of Park Lane Bottoms. They were generally interested in Cowling History.

The meeting began with a request from a third visitor, the chairman of the Village Hall Committee. He advised the group that the Village hall was 125 years old and that the committee were to celebrate this on the 10^th April. He asked the group to be involved, to show what they did and to show the history of the village hall. The feeling of the group was that this was short notice. Members did not know if they were available on the date mentioned. We did know that we did not have enough information about the village hall to display its history.The chairman said he would contact the village hall committee regarding the matter.

Just after the February meeting a request had been received for the group to give a talk to Lothersdale over 60’s about our work. This had been arranged for 21/7/10

A member has acquired a postcard dated 1909, showing stepping stones crossing the beck adjacent to Carr Head. The whereabouts of these stones and the reason for a river crossing in that area lead to much discussion.

It was reported that two members had made a visit to the Emmett Moor shooting hut to see if anything remained of the circular hut portrayed on the group website. Part of the ruined walls remained, but a new rectangular hut was now in use.

In February the chairman had communications with a Slaithwaite radio station and the Moonraking festival committee, regarding our Moonraking story. It is hoped to forge a connection between the two villages with Moonraking in common.

There was a communication with a past visitor to a meeting, reporting that a member had helped trace part of the family history and extended knowledge about the Gott family tree.

The idea of having historic pictures in All Saints parish church was reported to the group. Permission was given for any website pictures to be used for this purpose.

A past landlord of the Bay Horse public house, 1973-6 had contacted the group offering memorabilia of the pub and pram race. They also questioned the whereabouts of a bowl and plaque commemorating fundraising efforts, from the charity concerned.

A member requested photos, information regarding the demolition of Providence Place, Cowling in the 1960’s. This is to go in the next newsletter item under “Do You Know?”

Drystone Radio again requested input from the group. The chairman is to inform them that we have been on a programme in the past and are quite happy advertising aourselves in the village through the newsletter.

It was reported that a standing stone with a hole through the top in Berry Bottom, near the footbridge, has been removed. It is suggested that the stone  could possibly be linked either to a gateway or industrial use in rope making.

Ickornshaw Beck weir, it was reported has collapsed. Presumably it has stood since circa 1791, when Ickornshaw Mill was built. One of the visitor to the meeting  suggested it may be rebuilt for historic reasons. The group asked to be kept informed.

It was reported that two members had walked from Middleton to Kildwick along as much of the Corpse Road as was possible at that moment, with there being no Ridge Mill Bridge at present.

The meeting ended on a light note as a temperance pamphlet from the nineteenth century was circulated. Thiswas against allowing a licence for a new public house. Unfortunately it was not dated and the public house in question was not named.

February marks the beginning of the new year for Moonrakers. As we began in February 2003, this month is the commencement of our eighth year.

Fistly the meeting was advised of all the requests and communications we’d had since the December meeting (January meeting cancelled due to snow/ice and insufficient heating in the village hall):

1. A request for David Hoyle  sketches, following “The Dalesman” article “Raking in the Moon” January 2010

2. The above “Dalesman” magazine received to thank us for our assistance, with picture and information.

3. Website material received from a member and some added to site.

4. News of Carr Head postcard on EBay auction.

5. News that Gale Mill Hawes have on view the David Hoyle painting (copy) – section view of a textile mill, that we donated.

6. 1924 Philip Snowden visit to Cowling – letter re visit arrangements received.

7. Richard Bradshaw (ex Methodist minister) communication re Alice Smith aural recording on website.

8. A request for a David Hoyle CD.

After discussions about the above the proposed spring Nostalgia Afternoon was aired. It was decided that at this stage a date could not be fixed due to some members not being available, due to work or family commitments. This will be looked at again next month.

Summer short History Routes planning, another objective for 2010, was then examined. After discussion it was proposed that the following five routes could be planned (not neccessarily all for this year).

1. Cowling Hill to Middleton

2. Ickornshaw, Cock Hall and Winkholme.

3. Keighley Road – Winkholme top to Collinge Road and return via allotments to St Andrew’s church.

4. Lane Ends area and Dick Lane.

5. The Corpse Route – All Saints church to Wainman’s Bottoms (at present, until new bridge built, via Berry Bottoms)

Next month’s meeting will look at starting to plan the historic interest to be noted on these routes.

In our other items section member Dennis Harker brought some very interesting items.

To link in with the proposed picture book objective for the year Dennis brought two picture books he had compiled of village history. These books had involved many hours of preparation and could possibly form the basis for the picture book idea. Members at the meeting perused them with admiration and interest.

Dennis also donated for storage receipts from the old Cowling Co-operative store. These comprised of a reciept book from 1946 and a set of reciepts from 1928/9. Again members delighted in examining these and finding family members  or Cowling characters mentioned in these records. They have been added to our store of Cowling Archives.

Finally a request was made for aural recording ,available on the website, to be made available to Lancashire Local History archives. The meeting agreed and enquiries decided upon to do the same in Yorkshire.

The December meeting was a little down on numbers, due to clashing village events. However it started with a flurish, as a non-member came to donate historic documents relating to an Ickornshaw Moor court case. These have been stored for safekeeping and can be viewed on request.

The major decisions to be made were to set objectives for the coming year. These were as follows:

1. A Spring Nostalgia Afternoon (decided last month)

2. Planning short history routes around our area, to be ready for use in summer,with resources for points of interest. 

3. A history leaflet for B&B , campsite customers.

4. Begin a record of all historic sites,with photographs and grid references

5. Renovation of Philip Snowden Memorial Cairn and signs in conjunction with the Parish Council.

6. An Autumn “Where do you think you are?” afternoon for residents who are not born and bred Cowinheeaders. Information, in the form of a picture show, would demonstrate what used to be where houses now are and also give the basic main features of history that makes Cowling a unique historic community. 

7. Commencement of a picture book of old pictures. 

This is quite along list, but it was thought better to put them all down and if all are not acheived, then they can be carried over to the next year. Work will commence in January, with a designer coming to talk about how the B&B leaflet and picture book could be approched. January and February meetings should also see work on the Spring Nostalgia Afternoon (date to be decided).

Other items presented to the group were:

• a  Hugh Smith Charity document of 1902
• an excerpt from the Kildwick Almanac of 1868 supporting the change from domestic industry to mills, due to it leading to a disiplined life for workers. This posed a few interesting questions over a century later and proved once again that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The final item raise quite a laugh and brought proceedings to a close on a high. Research on the internet showed that William Bradley Wainman, of Carr Head, famous landed “gentry” of our area, was in the 1860′s quite a pig breeder. He was one of the early improvers of the Yorkshire White. He was a prizewinning exhibitor at both the North East (held in Belfast) and Royal Agricultural Association shows in the early to mid 1860′s, winning three years running with the same pig – Arch Trespasser, a boar ( as a small, then medium, then large white).

The funniest tale however was that Mr Wainman leant a tenant farmer a pregnant sow. The sow’s litter was then purchased by Mr Wainman. The proceeds of the sale allowed the tenant to pay off his rent arrears to the same Mr Wainman, in ‘the terrible year of 1860′ , when farmers were struggling to make ends meet. It sounds like Mr Wainman needed a pat on the back for being an understanding landlord.

Thus another profitable meeting ended as members left ,still digesting their pre – Christmas mince pies devoured at the refreshment break.

Our November meeting saw a visit from two local people who were researching family history. Not unusual you might think, but it was quite a coincidence. In the spring we’d had a visit from an Octogenarian cyclist from near Aldershot, interested in seeing the places where his ancestors had lived in Yorkshire. We had a great day, showing him the sights. Our two November visitors were, like the cyclist,  researching the  Gott family. We have been able to put them in touch, using the internet. This family history side of our work is not something we considered when we set up the group, but it is growing in importance as can be seen in the last paragraph of this report.

As Remembrance Day and Sunday were imminent we had a timely reminder, with war extracts from the school log book. I’ve since heard that the most up to date list of  the Cowling fallen was read out for the first time, at the memorial, compiled from the research of one of our members.  

Also presented to the meeting were a list of Highway repairs from 1627-9, a document dated1873 from Cliffe Castle re the Hugh Smith Charity and a list of Trades People in Cowling Parish in 1791.

An excerpt from a Dry Stone Radio programme was listened to because of its history content. Following this the Chairman was instructed by the group to offer our services as history advisers to the radio station. 

The group were brought up to date regarding the posibilities for a proposed replacement bridge  at Ridge Mill. There is to be another Council open meeting with County Council representatives, within the next two months. The old bridge, on the historic Corpse Road to Kidlwick was damaged beyond repair by a fallen tree three years ago.

The group went part way to deciding on two major objectives for the coming year. This decision making will be concluded at the next meeting. 

It was decided to continue with meeting throughout the winter months, unless the weather intervenes.

Finally it was reported, that since  the last meeting, two family history enquiries had been received, St Andrew’s had informed us that they were to sell some Alice Smith CD’s, information regarding a Lane Ends Bridge of 1791 was received and Moonrakers had assisted the Parish Council in a letter to Pendle Labour Party regarding a query about the maintenance of the Philip Snowden Memorial and signs.

All that and a cup of tea. It’s no wonder that two hours flashed by.

‘It’s absolutely brilliant.’

 That was the verdict of one outspoken member after he had viewed the new website at the October meeting. A very well attended session was given a run through of the latest articles (‘posts’ in computer jargon) on the new website , plus an insight into its features and the simple techniques used to contribute to it.

The website host then explained that anyone with an interest in Cowling Local History, no matter where they live in the world, can contribute articles, information and pictures, once they have registered with the group, on the website. So someone who left Cowling years ago, but has some information, can share it here.

Members heard that in addition the website will very soon have it’s own members forum. Here registered members will be able to exchange messages about Cowling local history topics, ask questions and swap information.

On completion of this information, the popular refreshment break (have a cuppa) was reintroduced, when members could circulate and have a chin-wag for 10 minutes over a tea or coffee.

Following this, there was still time to discuss a list of Lisencees (publicans) who had sold the amber nectar, in Cowling parish during the late 18th century. These would have therefore, probably been at Ickornshaw, Cowling Hill and possibly Middleton, as Cowling village was still 50 years away. Unfortunately the names of the public houses were not included. 

Finally a very interesting document was presented to the group. This was ‘AN ADRESS etc’ in 1844 to the inhabitants of Cowling on the building of their new church ,by the then vicar of their previous church in Kildwick, reverend JTC Fawcett. This address was four A4 sheets long. In it, amongst many points,  he  attemts to appease any fears as to the expenses the village will inccur.

 ‘I have also heard fears expressed concerning the future repairs of the church.You must know, then, that there has already been put by a sum of money equal to 10 per cent upon the cost of erection as a repair fund: unless anything unforseen occurs, this will do all that a new and substantial building will be likely to require for some time.’ Unfortunately a century an a half is beyond ‘some time’, as parishoners recently discovered, with much work needed to the roof and tower.

So as members dispersed we were left to reflect on what Reverend Fawcett and the earlier publicans would have made of the internet and websites in Cowling.

NEXT MEETING:

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

EVENTS:

None Planned at the moment.

NEWS IN BRIEF: 2012/13

A local history booklet  introducing visitors and new parishoners to Cowling History has been worked on to go into B&Bs and other businesses. We thank the parish council for donating the printing costs. Work has stopped awaiting decisions about photographs and design.

June walk cancelled to concentrate on deciding which parish council old documents to keep.

June -Parish council documents have been sorted into categoriesand are being scanned and listed

June/July D Gulliver, Cononley historian/author  providing Moonrakers with new information (See June meeting report)

July – Work on council documents completed.

June/July/August – extreme wet weather hindered usual outside meetings – Only one short one at Cowling Hill (Head)

September – 10th year commemorative calendar planned.

November – 50 calendars sold in 4 days. A further 25 ordered and sold. No more orders to be taken. Thanks to those who have purchased our 10th year commemorative calendar.

November meeting – David Gulliver – local historian/author  – speaker re Cowling research findings

December – change of mind on calendar re-order due to demand – 10 more ordered – all sold

2013 January – ‘Thrang as Throp’s Wife’ – Cowling Hill(Head), Ickornshaw connection. Cowling Pinnacle building research begins, Research on early owners of Ickornshaw Mill begins. Decision to take advice re condition of Viscount Snowden Memorial.

2013 February  -Advice from English Heritage re Viscount Snowden Memeorial passed to parsh council. Research to be trialled at March meeting. 11th year as a local history group begins.