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Great Mitton
Great Mitton photos
Displaying the first of 7 old photos of Great Mitton. View all Great Mitton photos
Great Mitton maps
Historic maps of Great Mitton and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Great Mitton maps
Great Mitton area books
Displaying 1 of 17 books about Great Mitton and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Great Mitton
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Lancashire memories
Simpson's Barn
I was born and brought up here. It's changed so much now but I remember that the 'Black Bull' was never a popular pub for the locals as Old Langho mainly consisted of two estates, Brookside and Larkhill. These were staff houses for Brockhall Hospital, a sprawling self-contained Victorian 'mental' hospital. As a social club existed within the hospital grounds, most chose to drink there, so it always seemed empty. When we were around 15 years old the landlord would let my brother and I in for a blackcurrant and a game of snooker on the three-quarter size snooker table that was in there. I had my first 'real' pint in there too. To the right of the pub was a dirt track that led to a field, at the end of it was a derelict caravan surrounded by a small garden. An old man used to live there but nobody knew his name and he was seldom seen. The barn on the left was called Simpson's Barn. It was... Read more
The Old House
This is a picture of the house I lived in as a 8year old boy, I used to catch trout and eels by hand in the stream/creek. It was called the old mill house, to the left was the old bobbin mill. The driveway was directly opposite to the Bayley Arms.
Schoolboy Memories
Born at the Risedale Maternity Home in 1933 we first lived in James Street. I think it was 1937 when we moved to Clevelands Avenue in the new Beacon Hill estate. Barrow was bombed in May 1941 but it was the older part of the town that suffered the most damage. I recall, as a boy, going round the streets looking for shrapnel from the AA guns I suppose. It didn't half tear holes in our pockets. Of course it was the shipyard that was the main target, but we could also see the flames from Liverpool on tha horizon.
In 1945 I started at Barrow Grammar school under Mr SM Price the headmaster. Very strong on discipline, I remember being scared stiff of him but he was probably fair.
I left Barrow in 1947 as my dad decided to move to Rugby.
Langho Hotel
Hi I've been doing my family tree and found out that my grandparents and great-grandparents and my great great grandparents lived and worked in the police in Blackburn. My great-grandfather William Whalley was married to Betsy and lived in the Langho Hotel. But I cannot find out any information about the Langho Hotel! Please can anyone help with any information on the Langho Hotel, or was it a place at all? In the 1911 census it said he lived there with his wife Betsy and their children, at the Langho Hotel, Langho! Please can anyone help?
The Place Where I Was Born
I was born in Whalley, in the second cottage opposite the Catholic Church in the Sands, in December 1924. Next door to us was Mr Sutton who was well known around Whalley for his ice cream. He used to stand outside the abbey gates with his ice cream and he always had raspberry vinegar to put on top of the cones. I went to Whalley C of E School. Mr J Chew was the headmaster, Miss Edith as we knew her was my kindergarten teacher, other teachers I remember were Miss Forster, Miss Baxter [ who I was in Love with], Miss Roberts, Miss Dyson. I was in the church choir when I was 7, also the Boy Scouts when I was 11, and a bell ringer, when I was 14. In 1932 my parents opened a greengrocery and wet Ffsh business in Park Villas, next door to the Post Office where my grandfather was the Postmaster. In 1935 for King George's Jubilee the Whalley Scouts camped on Kemple End... Read more
The Derbyshire Family - Park Villas
My cousin Eileen Vera Derbyshire was born in Blackburn in 1905 and was adopted by the Derbyshire family, when she went by the name of Nelly / Nellie Swales Derbyshire. She was apparently taken in by Nuns at a convent, so I don't know how she came to live with the Derbyshire family. The family lived at Park Villas for some years, and her adopted father was Samuel Derbyshire, who was a joiner (carpenter), and her mother was Mary Elizabeth Haydon.
From what I can remember Eileen had several siblings - Clare Cecilia, John William, and James. Eileen married in 1934, to Clarence Walton, and I believe there is a line that follows on from them to the present day. Eileen was a school teacher when she married, but I don't know where she taught - probably nearby where she lived in Whalley. Later on, she lived in Mellor, but died in Coventry in the 1990s.
You may remember her as Miss Derbyshire,... Read more
The Best Weeks of Our Lives
During the 1950s my brother Brian and I (Peter) were what can only be described as whisked to paradise in Wiswell. We left the slums of Hulme on a vacation that has stayed with us forever, it was like taking part in our own fairytale. We went to stay with Mr & Mrs Wearing in the big white house across from the farm on Back Lane, they were very kind and caring people, who opened their home to two boys giving us an experience that would stay with us for a lifetime. We worked on the farm with the lads, hay making, sheep dipping, not forgetting going out on the country lanes in the Wilis jeep, every moment was a treasure, it was our holiday in paradise. The big black and white horse Rodger who I will never forget bit me on the arm. As I look back on the time spent in Wiswell, if I had a time machine it would be my first stop, and probably I would stay there. I... Read more
