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Articles Archive Article Author History on my Doorstep Barbara Riding
It is surprising when you look round, how much history there is on your own doorstep. A small street near to where I live off Dukes Brow is called Cranborne Terrace. Why Cranborne I wondered ? It is unique in that the keystone of the architrave above each door is carved to represent different types of leaves, except no. 7. That has a carving of the face of a man…….who turns out to be Lord Cranborne.
From 1885 for 7 years Lord Cranborne was MP for Darwen, representing the Consevative and Unionist Party. He died in 1947 aged 86 years. The present Lord, who when his father dies will inherit the title of Marquis of Salisbury, was until recently Leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords. He is an hereditary Life Peer so his seat in the Lords is safe at the moment !
Do you recall an article by Kathleen Shorrock in newsletter no. 39? She waswriting about Revidge in the 1930s and remembered that the cottage where she used to live had a datestone above the door with the names T and A GUEST. When we received a copy of the deeds from the Town hall, dated 1972, the cottage was
described as "a beerhouse, with stable or shippon adjoining, situate at Tean Barn Lane Ends". The Indenture was made between several men including Thomas Guest. The Cottage was demolished after the 1939-45 war in order to widen the top of Dukes Brow.
The article attracted the attention of Ray Smith, one of our members. In 1948 when he moved into 5 Granville Road, he found a stone in the backyard of his house. It was inscribed THOMAS and ANN GUEST 1800. It is now in the garden of his home in Langho. This poses an interesting question. Is this another stone on which Thomas Guest has had his name inscribed, or is it the same stone which has somehow found its way down to Granville Road when the cottage was demolished ?
A piece of history has been lost in Dukes Brow recently. The Quarryman’s Arms has changed its name ! 150 years ago that area of Dukes Brow between Gibraltar Street and Higher Bank Street was known as Wagtail, and off Leopold Road there was a quarry with the same name. I remember the quarry as a place to which I was forbidden to go to and play – but I did ! It is unrecognisable now of course, having been filled in and grassed over. There is a building
on the 1848 map in the position of the Quarrymans and in he 1870s it is registered as a beerhouse at Wagtail on Dukes Brow. By 1888 it has been named the Quarrymans. In 1998 it was renamed "The Duck and Puddle" ! I suppose we must move with the times…….there is no longer a quarry, but in our climate………plenty of puddles !
