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Caton
Caton maps
Historic maps of Caton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Caton maps
Caton area books
Displaying 1 of 17 books about Caton and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Caton
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Caton.
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Wartime Evacuee 1939-1940
In August 1939 I was evacuated frm Salford to Caton. I had my gas mask, a small parcel of food and a label on my clothing. We arrived at the then beautiful station, adorned with flowers. Then we walked to the Village Institute, where villagers were waiting for us and to choose their evacuees. I was lucky to be chosen by a lovely old couple, George and Mary Thexton, who then lived at 4 Gable Houses, now renumbered. They were very kind to me and I enjoyed every moment living with them. George worked at the cotton mill where I used to help, cleaning machines, haymaking, looking after Dobbin the horse and feeding the many ducks on the mill pont. I went to Brookhouse School but the evacuees only went for half days so the village children could go on the other half days. I walked over the hill in all sorts of weather. I remember that awful winter when the snow came as high as the bedroom windows. I... Read more
Lancashire memories
Grandparents
My grandparents live just off shot, and have lived there for as long as I can remember!
My grandad has sadly passed away but is still nearby, he is buried in the church yard! I remember when I first met my husband, and we went to the "fenick" for a drink while my grannie got dinner ready - my grandad was a real character! I used to go mushroom picking in the fields, and walking across the fields to the river, I don't think I ever liked the cows though!! I saw my first birth there too, a cow in the field opposite, something I have never forgotten. What ever happened to local dialect? I would listen to the strange way my grandad spoke, fascinated as I struggled to understand what he was saying! Good job my dad could translate, something I then did for my husband!
Draining The Lands
I took my father back here in the 1980s as he said he use to work on the fields around this area draining the lands. He is in his eighties now and recently we went through some of his old photos and came across Quernmore. I have old sepia photo' he had taken of this area and of the small church to the left of this picture halfway down the road on the right hand side. This was his job in 1948 to dig and drain the land around this particular location. They lived in temporary huts just a little further up from the cross roads on this picture.
1958-1964
My name is Steve Whitfield, we lived in Whitecroft (on the Crossroads) and that is where I grew up. Went most of my time to boarding school with my two brothers, dating back to the 1960s. My father was employed as Chief Accountant for Jas. Williamson in Lancaster (remember them?) and I have so many wonderful memories as a child, cycling down to Condor Bottom, or catching moles with dear old Mr Fox. John Cousins exercised his racehorses on the roads up to Clougha, past Bolland's farm, and that's where I learnt to ride. As a boy, in my school holidays, trips to Manchester and Haydock in the horsebox were dreams come true, the locals in Bowerham used to applaud us when we left the yard fully laden with our equine superstars! Unbelievable now in this day and age.
I now train racehorses in Germany, but still have wonderful memories of my youth, the rain, the sheep, the Border Collies (Ken, he was brilliant), the abundant blackberries, Bees Bros,... Read more
The Village Policeman
My father was the village policeman during the Second World War, his name was Archie Evans. My mother died there in 1949. We lived in a house called Somersby. I was only 4 when we left, and my sister Carol was 11. My name is Kay Irene and I think I have godmothers in the village, but perhaps they are no longer alive. I have a picture of my mother taken on D-Day, I think with other mums and children in a field. My mother was called Mary but was known as Molly. She is buried in the churchyard but I have only been back to visit once.
Another Village Policeman
My dad was the village policeman from 1952 to 1958. He was Edward (Ted) Parkinson and we moved from Liverpool to Bolton-le-Sands in 1952. We lived in 40 Church Brow, which was the police house at that time. My dad retired in 1958 aged 46 after 25 years with Lancashire Constabulary and died suddenly on the night of his retirement presentation. There was a collection in the village and my Mum donated an altar cloth to the Parish church, which happened to be on the altar when I visited the church a few years ago. I have really happy memories of living in the village, obviously apart from when dad died, especially being in the Girl Guides run by Betty Cottam. Now living near Bolton I drive through the village quite often on my way to visit one of my daughters in Hawkshead.
Williamson Park Gate House
The 1881 census shows my grandfather (John Smart) and his family living in this house. He was the Landscape Gardener of the park.
