Dolphinholme, Corless Cottage c.1950

Photo ref: D210004

More about this scene

The name Corless is associated with the family who lived at Springfield House, Pilling. James Derham owned Corless Mill in Nether Wyresdale, 6 miles from Lancaster, and in 1801 he manufactured gas to light the mill and his workers' cottages. Dolphinholme was the first village to be lit by gas, and its first gas lamp is preserved at Derham House. At its peak the mill employed 1400 people, who worked shifts, day and night. Four hundred of these workers combed wool in their homes at Forton, Scorton and Nether Wyresdale. The lavish use of stone in these cottages (it came from quarries at Tootle Heights near Longridge) was made possible by the plentiful supply in those days. This 19th-century terrace is typical of Lancashire villages in this region backed by long ridges of Pennine hills. It is identical to Club Row in Longridge, which only came about through the tenacity of twenty Lancashire quarry workers who saved up and built the terrace.