Mearclough - Mill and House

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Surname/tag: Morley Sowerby_Bridge

Mearclough

Etymology

The English Place-Name Society gives the etymology for this early-attested site in the Parish of Halifax as:

Mearclough, (le ) Mereclogh 14 YD iii, Mereclogh bothom 1383MinAcct 88, Mereclough (e )1543 Test vi, 1551WCR 2, Mereclough (e ) Bothom 1608 HAS 4, 102, 1654 WillS, Mereclough (e ) Botham 1656 ib, Mercloghbothom 1383MinAcct , Meyreclouth (sic)1492 ib, Meirecloughe 1535 HAS 27, 49, Marclogh 1525WCR 1d, Meareclough bottom 1636 WillY. 'Boundary dell', v. (ge)mǣre, clōh. It is near the boundary of Norland as well as that dividing the chapelries of Halifax and Elland.^[1]

See Boel, (2011).,English Place-Name Elements Relating to Boundaries ^[2] for his discussion on the OE element (ge)mǣre - an Old English word meaning a boundary.

The common Yorkshire place-name element ‘bottom’ refers to a long dell or valley at the foot of a hill. It often forms part of a place-name or topographical surname such as ‘Ramsbottom’; ‘the area at the foot of a hill where the male sheep graze’, or ‘Longbottom’; a long strip of valley. ^[3]

Mearclough Mill[4]

Calder-Salterhebble Navigation

Courtesy N. Brown[5]

Courtesy N. Brown[5]

History

• 1907: Kelly's Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers, 1907
• Walter Spencer - Mineral Water manufacture
• The Standard Tool Company Ltd.^[6]

Mearclough House ca. 1804-1980. Credit: Malcolm Bull's Calderdale Companion

• 1900: Bankruptcy of Percy Fielding Ball, Fielding, Ball and Company, drysalters, dyewood grinders and manufacturing chemists, at Mearclough Mill(s). ^[7]Percy was also living at Mearclough House in 1891. ^[8]
• 1888: Mill buildings (north bank of the R. Calder) used for the production of oil cloth, soap and woollens; building on south side, on Mearclough Rd, (still partly exists today), used for chemicals.
• 1865: Death of Lewis Morley, son of Moses Morley, worsted spinner at Mearclough Mill.
• 1842 and 1850, part of Mearclough Mill was also being used by corn merchants Thomas and Ashton Sladen. ^[9]Thomas Sladen's address was Mearclough House ^[10]where he is recorded as living in the 1841 Poll for Two Knights of the Shire. Sladen voted for voted for the winning Tories, The Hon. John Stuart Wortley, and Leeds-born Edmund Beckett Denison, Esq and not for the Whigs, The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Morpeth, and The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Milton.^[11]

and in August 1861, the mill was rented for £785 4s. per annum, until a new corn mill was completed in 1863.^[12]

• 1 March 1834: Moses Morley and his younger brother Samuel owned and directed Mearclough Mill on the north bank of the Calder, producing worsted.
• 1829: John or Jonathan Crowther is recorded in Elland in ^[13] and in Edward Baines's Leeds & Clothing District Directory, for 1830. ^[14] William Wooler, after the partnership with John Crowther was dissolved, had an interesting life, described by Malcolm Bull in his Calderdale Companion, and kept a diary, in which he wrote about life in Elland. ^[15]
• 1828: THE Commissioners in a Commission of Bankrupt, bearing date the 13th day of March 1828, awarded and issued forth against Joseph Walker, of Mearclough-Bottom-Mills, in the Parish of Halifax, in the County of York, Corn-Miller and Merchant, Dealer and Chapman, intend to meet on the 3d day of November next, at Twelve at Noon, at the Court House, in Wakefield, in the said County of York, to Audit the Accounts of the Assignee of the estate and effects of the said Bankrupt under the said Commission, pursuant to an Act of Parliament, made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled "An Act to amend the laws relating to Bankrupts" and the said Commissioners also intend to meet on the same day, at One o' Clock in the Afternoon, at the same place, in order to make a Dividend of the estate and effects of the said Bankrupt; when and where the Creditors, who have not already proved their debts, are to come prepared to prove the same, or they will be excluded the benefit of the said Dividend. And all claims not then proved will be disallowed. ^[16]
• 1822: Thomas Fearnside and Son were Corn Merchants at Mearclough Bottom Mill. ^[17]
• 18 April 1808: Advertisement in Leeds Intelligencer:

Messrs. Crowther and Wooler, Dwellings, and Mill, at Mearclough Bottom, lately erected and built by the late John Crowther, with House three Stories high, each Storey consisting of large, spacious Rooms, situate in Norland, in the Parish of Halifax aforesaid, with a new erected Dwelling House and barn adjoining thereto, with two Water Wheels, three Pairs of French Stones, three Pairs of Grey stones, one Pair of Malt-Rollers, a Bean Splitter and a good Drying Kiln, with the Wheel Races, Dams and Appurtenances and several Closes of Arable, Meadow and pasture ground, contiguous or adjoining thereto, called, or commonly known by the several names of the Near Bank, the Far Bank, the Near Field, the Far Field, the Back Holm, the Croft, and the Field above the Low Holm, or Sadler Holm, containing together by Estimation eighteen Days Work or thereabouts, be the same more or less, together with about three Days Work of Spring Wood, adjoining thereto, all now in the Occupation of Messrs. Crowther and Wooler, or their Undertenants, which Premises are Subject to a Lease for the term of seven Years, four Years of which are yet unexpired.

The said Mill is situate on the River Calder adjoining to the Calder and Hebble Navigation, which is very convenient for unloading Grain and other Things out of the Vessels coming up or going down the said Navigation, or sending Meal, Flour, Oats, and other Grain to Rochdale, Manchester and other places...

There are Three Thousand Three Hundred Pounds upon Mortgage of the said Mearclough Bottom Mill and the Buildings, Land and Appurtenances thereto belonging, which probably may be continued thereon for the Accommodation of the Purchaser, if required.

Messrs. Crowther and Wooler will shew the Mill and Premises at Mearclough Bottom, aforesaid; and for other Particulars enquire of Mr George Shaw, of Lockwood, near Huddersfield; Mr James Webster, of Wakefield, Corn Dealer, or Mr Garlick, of Halifax, Banker, the Assignees; or of Mr Howarth, Solicitor, of Ripponden, near Halifax. ^[18]Messrs. Crowther and Wooler were corn dealers in Elland, near Halifax. ^[19]

• 1758: The Act for extending the navigation of the river Calder, to, or near to, Sowerby bridge, in the parish of Halifax: and for making navigable the river Hebble, ... from Brooksmouth to Salter Hebble bridge (1758) facilitated construction to improve the navigability of the Rivers Calder and Hebble. Work began in 1759; the initial scheme, involving 5.7 miles (9.2 km) of new cuts, was completed in 1770, and has remained navigable since. Further improvements included the 1828 opening of the Salterhebble canal to Halifax and the extension of existing cuts bypassing river sections. The opening of the Rochdale Canal in 1804, assisted trade, providing a continuous canal from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester.^[20]

• John Walker (was) a Methodist Manufacturer from Dewsbury, who came to reside at Sterne Mills, where he opened his house as the first place of worship. When the canal was being cut from Sowerby Bridge to Salterhebble the Mearclough Estate was broken up, and Walker purchased Mearclough Bottom where he resided until his death in 1816. At that time the preaching place was transferred to a nearby hayloft. In 1796 the society had 20 members and adherents. It is said that the present Walker Lane is named after John Walker, because of the number of times he walked along it to see the progress on a new chapel being built in 1806 at its junction with Bolton Brow. These were the first purpose built premises of the society. However they were rather small, so in 1832 a new building was erected further down Bolton Brow. This is the building which is still standing today, although it has now been converted for residential use. Opened in June 1832, the new chapel was initially shorter than it is now, but the frontage is still in its original state.^[21]

Samuel Morley was a donor to the fund which financed the building of Bolton Brow Methodist Church.

• 1765? James Walton of Mearclough bottom in Skircoat p. Halifax, dyer, and Rachel his wife, (1) in debt to James Wetherherd of Halifax, merchant, James Haworth of same, grocer, Richard Brackin of same, merchant, Samuel Waterhouse of Skircoat, dyer, Richard Walton of Norland, in the parish of Halifax, Shalloon maker and Thomas Vincent the younger of Osmonthorpe, parish of Leeds, merchant, (2) conveyed real and personal estate for the paying off of the above creditors. ^[22]

• 13 January 1640; (WillsY) Richard Waterhouse the elder, of Meareclough bottom, Skircoate, Yeoman.
• 22 October 1636; (WillsY) Will of Frances Watterhouse, of Meareclough bottom, parish of Halifax, widow. ^[23]

• 1481: Robert Waterhouse: will dated July 20th, 1481
• 1534: His son, John Waterhouse died in 1534: will dated February 1st, 1533.
• 1545: John Waterhouse died in 1545, and was buried at Halifax February 10th of that year. His will does not mention definitely his place of abode, but would seem to imply that Woodhouse was the home of the family at this date. He bequeathed to Anne Waterhouse and Jane Waterhouse, daughters of his brother Edward, forty shillings each, to be paid by "Elizabeth, my wife, at such time as my said wife shall think convenient, if they, the said Anne and Jane, will be councelled by my said wife." To Elizabeth, his wife, was bequeathed the half part of a Corn Mill called Mearclough Bottom Mill, with all profits to the same belonging until such time as John Waterhouse, his eldest son and heir, should be of age, and when that period had arrived, the half part was to be divided equally between them during the lifetime of the mother and after her decease, to John Waterhouse, the said eldest son. A provisional clause was inserted in the will so that, in the event of Elizabeth Waterhouse marrying she should lose all claim to this share of the Mill. To Elizabeth, his wife, John Waterhouse devised the third part of the profits and unexpired terms in all lands in the County of York which he then held. ^[24]
• 1559: ^[25]
• Aug. 8, I Eliz. (1559): Inquisitio post mortem, taken at Hallyfax after the death of John Crozer, late of Ovenden, yeoman, by Mathew Wentworth, esq., escheator, on the oath of John Kay, Ambrose Birdhed, Robert Savill, James Waterhouse, John Wilkinson, William Doughtyman, William Wordsworth, Henry Waddsworth, Thomas Draper, Henry Kent, James Oldeffeld, Richard Marshall, Lawrence Waterhouse, and others ; who say that he died seized in his demesne as of fee of and in two messuages and lands in Ovenden, saving the jointure of Elizabeth, now wife of Gilbert Brokysbanke, which she held for the term of her life, which Elizabeth was still living, to wit, at Bankehouse.’ The said messuages were held of Henry Savile, knt., late deceased, by a yearly rent of 8s. and suit to the court of Ovenden and to the mill there, and they are worth yearly 53s. 4<^.; and that the said John Crozer senior {sic) died June 10, 10 [sic) Edward VI ( ), and that John Crozer junior is his son and next heir, and was 26 years of age. [G. T. Ramsden, esq.)

• Undated; about 1220-30.—Jordan son of John Talvas gave to Hugh de Copley, son of Thomas Talvace his brother, 16 acres in Skircote woods and 5 acres in Mereclogh-bothom, and the fourth part of the mill, etc. Witnesses, Peter de Alta ripa, Robert de Flaynesburgh, John de Thornhill, Henry de Hipperum, Hugh de Rastric, Michael Talvas, Richard de Stansfeld, William de Cownale (Dodsworth MS. 117, fo. 159d.; Harley MS. 805, fo. 207).^[26]

Sources

1. ↑ Survey of English Place-Names. Mearclough. Early-attested site in the Parish of Halifax. Retrieved from epns notts. (Here;) Accessed 16 Dec 2023.
2. ↑ Jepson, B. (2011). English Place-Name Elements Relating to Boundaries. [Doctoral Thesis (monograph), Centre for Languages and Literature]. Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University. Retrieved from lucris (Here;) Accessed 16 Dec 2023.
3. ↑ Yorkshire Historical Dictionary. Bottom: Land in the valley bottom. Retrieved from yhd (Here;) Accessed 16 Dec 2023.
4. ↑ Public Domain. Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland. CC-BY (NLS). Retrieved from nls (Here;) Accessed 11 Dec 2023.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Sowerby Bridge. Mearclough Trading Estate. Retrieved from Mearclough Trading Estate. Units to Let. (Here;) Accessed 16 June 2022.
6. ↑ Kelly's Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers (1907)., Kelly's Directories Limited. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 14 Dec 2023.
7. ↑ Sowerby Bridge Chronicle, 29 Jan 1900, Retrieved from rootsweb (Here;) Accessed 14 Dec 2023.
8. ↑ Percy F Ball, Norland, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom in England and Wales Census, 1891. FamilySearch Online Database with images, citing PRO RG 12, Yorkshire, Yorkshire (West Riding) county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey. Retrieved from FamilySearch : (Here;) Accessed 14 Dec 2023.
9. ↑ Directory of Halifax, Huddersfield, Holmfirth, and adjacent villages. 3 pt., (1850). Pub: D. Burton. Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 8 Dec 2023.
10. ↑ Hull History Centre: Papers of the St Quintin Family of Harpham and Scampston. (1220-1960). Ref: U DDSQ. Retrieved from (Here;) Accessed 13 Dec 2023.
11. ↑ West Riding (York, County of), Wentworth, Frederick Vernon., (1841)., West-Riding Election. The Poll for Two Knights of the Shire ... 8th and 9th of July, 1841. Taken by Frederick Vernon Wentworth. Pub: John Stanfield. (p.231)., Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 26 Jan 2024.
12. ↑ Jones, Benjamin, (1894)., Co-operative Production. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 16 Jan 2024.
13. ↑ Pigot's Halifax Directory of Trades and Professions for 1829. Retrieved from genuki (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
14. ↑ Leeds & Clothing District Directory, 1830, p. 172. Retrieved from sp leic (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
15. ↑ The national Archives. William Wooler, innkeeper of Fleece Inn, Elland-cum-Greetland, transcript of papers (1802-1846)., Reference: HAS/B 22/43. Retrieved from tna (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
16. ↑ The London Gazette., Issue 18856., Page 2033., Retrieved from the gazette (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
17. ↑ Baines, Edward., ‘History, Directory and Gazeteer of the County of York, (With Select Lists of the Merchants & Traders of London, and the Principal Commercial and Manufacturing Towns of England; and a Variety of Other Commercial Information: Also a Copious List of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Yorkshire) · Volume 1., (1822).,
18. ↑ British Newspaper Archive. Leeds Intelligencer - Monday 18 April 1808. Retrieved (with sub) from the bna (Here;) Accessed 14 Dec 2023.
19. ↑ The National Register., (1808)., Vol. 1, p.601, from The London Gazette)., Retrieved from Google e-Books (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
20. ↑ Wikipedia. Calder and Hebble Navigation. Retrieved from Wikipedia (Here;) Accessed 15 Dec 2023.
21. ↑ Calderdale Organs. Bolton Brow Methodist. Retrieved from hdoa (Here;) Accessed 19 Dec 2023.
22. ↑ Hebden Bridge Local History Society Archive catalogue. Deeds, Wills, Legal Documents. Retrieved from doc player (Here;) Accessed 19 Dec 2023.
23. ↑ ed. Francis Collins., YAS Record Series Vol. 4: Wills in the York Registry from 1636 to 1652. Yorkshire Archaeological Society. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 19 Dec 2023.
24. ↑ Published in Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, (vol. ix, 1910, pp.27-37)., Two Old Sowerby Bridge Houses: Broadgates, Alias Underbank. Retrieved from patp (Here;) Accessed 13 Dec 2023.
25. ↑ ed. William Brown., YAS Record Series Vol. 50: Yorkshire deeds, vol ii. Yorkshire Archaeological Society. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 13 Dec 2023.
26. ↑ Lumb, G.D., (1924)., Miscellanea VIII, part 3. Retrieved from the Internet Archive (Here;) Accessed 19 Dec 2023.