Netherthong Public Houses Part 2

A Memory of Netherthong.

This is the second part of my ongoing research into the public houses in Netherthong.
There is reference to two inns in Thongsbridge in 1853 - the Rose & Crown publican Hiram Earnshaw, and the Royal Oak with publican Ellen Bray. By 1857, the Rose & Crown had closed and Hiram Earnshaw had moved and taken over the Royal Oak. In 1870 the publican had changed to Walker Fenton and in 1901 it was being run by Maria Esther Walker. That was the last recorded reference. We do know that the Royal Oak was closed in 2004 and was converted into flats.

The final mystery relates to the Cricketers. There are no references to it by name in any of the Directories other than that there was a beer house in Deanhouse . However there was an unnamed public house shown in the 1932 Ordnance Survey map in the building where the current Cricketer's Arms is located. The building is dated as being early C18. In 1853 there is reference to three beerhouses in Deanhouse owned respectively by Thomas Crook, John Littlewood and Charles Wood. In 1857 there is just the one reference to Thomas Crook. There is no further information until 1936 with Arthur Sykes being listed as a beer retailer. It doesn't need much imagination to realize that there always must have been a beer house located in the building and somewhere along the line a decision was made to finally to make it 'respectable' and give it a name. There is a report in the Holmfirth Express of April 20 1889, that Deanhouse Cricket Club had been recently revived and the old field had been re-formed. When they came to give it a name what more natural than to call it The Cricketers. A public house , ph, is shown on the site of the 'Cricketers' for the first time in the 1932 OS map. In 1936 Arthur Sykes is referred to as a Beer Retailer and it is likely that the sign would have been erected by then.

The following table gives details of the landlords at the 3 NT public houses. The information is collated from information taken from the Directories in the beginning of this book.

YEAR CLOTHIERS QUEENS ARMS ROSE & CROWN

1848 Uriah Hobson John Bates Moses Sykes
1853 Uriah Hobson John Bates Moses Sykes
1857 Uriah Hobson Miss Sarah Gill Thomas Woodhouse
1866 Elizabeth Littlewood James Woodhead Alfed Gill
1870 Joseph Ashworth Thomas Woodhouse Noah Woodhead
1881 Taken over by Co-op and closed
1901 William Broadbent Fred Charlesworth
1904 Mrs. Rachel Roebuck
1912 Richard Russell
1922 John Moorhouse
1927 Mrs. Ellen Wood
1932 Purchased by Co-op & closed.

In August 1899, the Local Board dicussed Public houses and their closing hours with reference to the Populous Places Licensing Act 1874.The annual licensing sessions for the West Riding had been held in the courthouse at Huddersfield. Unless a district was classed as a populous place, licensed houses must close at 10pm. According to the Act it was up to the licensing commission to declare whether a district was a populous place. The Beerhouse Act of 1870 said that beerhouses, licensed prior to 1870, were not bound by the Act of 1874. In some districts this could mean beerhouses staying open until 11pm and fully licensed pubs closing at 10pm.
In September the Local Board referred to the licensing act confusion with the public houses closing at 11pm instead of 10pm. The Council had arranged for the gas lights to be turned out at 11pm but now the law was going to be enforced, it was resolved that they should be turned out at 10.15. The chairman said the lamps were lighted for the benefit of the people of NT and not the publicans and the resolution failed.

In June 1902 to celebrate the Coronation it was decided that non-populous places would have an extra hour of opening on the Thursday, Friday,Saturday & Sunday.

In February 1912 it was reported that the Annual Brewster sessions discussed the closing hours of the Clothier's Arms, Queen's Arms and Royal Oak Inn (which was in the NT urban district and shortly would be in the Holmfirth district). Because the population of NT was under 1000 , it was treated as a non-populous district and pubs would have to close at 10 pm. However as the Cricketer's Arms was classified as being in the Honley District it could stay open until 11pm. The question was raised that as NT was to be part of Holmfirth could the pubs stay open until 11pm. The bench declined to comment.

On the 22nd. November 1915, new regulations were brought in relating to the 'hours during which intoxicating liquor may be sold'. The regulations were very complicated with lots of paragraphs and conditions. The decision was that opening hours for weekdays would be 12 noon to 2.30 and 6.30 to 9.30. Sunday opening would be 12.30 to 2.30 and 6.00 to 9.00.

Temperance Societies were prominent and in October 1891 a Temperance meeting was held in the Wesleyan school with Fred Sykes as lecturer.
In November 1914, the Board of Guardians met to discuss whether the inmates at the Deanhouse Workhouse should be given beer at Christmas. There was a tie in voting and the chairman, Miss Seddon, gave the casting vote in favour. Letters opposing the issue of beer had been sent from the Huddersfield Temperance Society, Band of Hope Union, Women's Total Abstinence Union and the Home Mission Lodge of Good Templars.
Bentley Yorks. Brewery Co. supplied a barrel of beer.

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