Brookhouse about 1900

This is first photo thats I have. The date unknown. Brookhouse is lower left. The bottom of hill. Peel Tower is the distance.




Brookhouse, taken from the Greenmount side.
Brookhouse is the furthest building.  The girls are standing on the old bridge.
It was replaced with a wider bridge.
The nearer buildings were cottages and one looks like a shop.
My family remembers these cottages. I feel that the line of the road has not changed. The road widening must have been on the left.
This photo is of Brookhouse near Tottington. I moved here when I was 5. Lived initialy with my Grandmother. Jane Lomax nee Dunn(e). The postal address was 133 Holcombe Rd, Tottington. The cobbled road was replaced with a tarmacadamed surface. The view looks towards "Totty" from the Greenmount side of the stream. The upwards slope is called Stormer Hill. There are some steps leading up on the right to Kay's cottages. They were designed by my Grandfather Tom Lomax, Jane's husband. The Bridge was widened, and the cottages demolished. There are 3 children in the picture a small boy? is leaning against the entrance to the house. From the back of the photographer the road bends up towards Greenmount, but it splits to the right and heads towards Greenmount Golf Club. More info to follow. But who are the people in the photograph? The First entrance looks like a shop. In front of the end gable of Brookhouse is a pathway that crossed a bridge and continued up Hollymount lane. Hollymount convent was a school when I remembered it. It was later turned into an old folks home. The field at the lefthand side of the road belonged to Bernard Ellis of Brookhouse Farm. He bred Arabian horses. He also kept guinea fowl and he paid me real money to collect the eggs. They laid anywhere. But mostly by the side of the stream.

Looking down from Stormer Hill,
The Gent in the photo is where the first photo is taken


Opposite Brookhouse was a large garden. The family gardened there for 3 generations. Frank Lomax, Jane Lomax and my mother and father. My father was partial to Himalayan plants. He grew the first blue poppies that anyone had seen in the Bury area. A large lawn on the upper level. The soil was very stony. However many interesting and exotic plants were grown in the 100plus years the house and gardens were occupied by the Lomax Family. The house was originally bought at auction by Frank's wife Lucy(Dodes) My mother knew her as Grannymax. My mother had the same relationship with her grandmother as I had with mine.

Grannymax - top left with Auntie Hilda
Lucy Dodes married Frank Lomax -Tom and Irene's father.

Personal recollections of Brookhouse.
We moved into Brookhouse when I was about 5. I remembered being able to sit in the removal van's cab on the drive from Whitelegge street to Brookhouse - seemed like a big adventure. Frank was there when we arrived - He wasn't really very tall but he possessed immense strength. When the removal men could not lift my mother's piano over the bannister - he just grabbed it and lifted it over on his own. Initially my bedroom was the backroom, possibly the the largest room in the house. A great big skylight was in the middle of the ceiling, under was a great big cast iron bath. I dont recall the bath going. The skylight was covered over by a sheet of corrugated plastic. I think I recall a very expensive carpet square in the middle of the room, Axminster or something similar. It was pink, but my mother had it dyed blue - it was purpleish. Where the carpet didn't fit was varnished! The house probably still smells of varnish to this day. The back window looked up the valley. Fantastic view. There were cows on that pasture in the late '50's before it became a country park. Must have spent hours just staring. Saw pretty much every British mammal over 15 years. The squirrels hadn't arrived though!

Not sure of the date. However I would suggest it was at the time of the house being split into three. The plans were not correct as I knew them. I think there was a before and after on these plans. The bottom is the where the road runs. The left hand side is 131, the middle 133 and the end 135. It doesnt show it but there was a cellar that ran the length of the house. There must have been a way upstairs from the inside because there were 3 sets of stairs leading to the ground floor.


Jim and Irene Cosgrove, Must be a pier somewhere.
Irene and Jim lived in 135 with Frank.

Wedding Photograph
My Grandmother lived in 131, my Aunt Irene Cosgrove and her husband Jim Cosgrove lived in 135. Her father Frank lived there too. Myself, my mother and father lived in the middle, 133. I did feel that I had the run of the house then. Probably spent more time in my Grandma's than my own house. Grandad Frank frightened me a great deal. I couldn't/daren't go in the cellar on my own. It stretched all the way under all 3 houses, very dark and there were only 2 lights. There were also strange stairs and hidey holes too. Jim was a very kind man. Spoke as I recall with just the faintest of an Irish brogue. Frequently, and it must have been the weekend - he used to give me a florin (2/-) or half a crown (2/6) to clen his Corgi motor bike parts - he was a chauffeur for the CWS in Manchester. Never saw the car, so he must have ridden in to Manchester everyday! I recall the day or at least the period that he died. I also know that in true Lomax fashion - things were done and life carried on. I have a feeling that my Aunt went straight back to work both after his death and after his funeral. The funeral wake was held in our part of the house. I presume Jim's family came. Lots of strangers and I remember awkwardness and strange dialects. But life continued.

Frank Lomax -  Irene and Tom's Father
My Great Grandfather. The cat was called Twinkie. She died in a road accident outside Brookhouse.
My aunt was devastated. He is standing in the garden that was across the road.


At the end of the wall on the left a lane disappears down to an old factory. It was run down and us locals played there. It was bought out by Cormar Carpets. The sent quite large wagons down the lane. There was a 20 ft drop into the stream, none fell down to the best of my knowledge. The knocked down our corner on several occasions. I believe my Aunt sold them 20 sq yards so they had a better turning circle.

The "other" cottages at Brookhouse.
These are just to the top left of Brookhouse on the map.
This image is from the Bury Image Bank. It is the thumbnail blown up.
Not sure if the person who uploaded the image really understood the
significance of the picture because there are several objects in this picture that are no longer there including the cottages!











This picture has been taken from the left hand corner of the bridge that crosses the stream. Right heads towards Greenmount. Facing you in the photograph is the bridge that crosses the stream. (The Army blew the bridge up about 1960!) in a flood. Brookhouse cellar was already flooded - there was all sorts of garbage floating around in there including chickens from the abattoir up Stormer hill. He got into terrible trouble for disposing dead chickens down the drain as I recall!

Until I saw the map I did not even know the existence of the cottages. It is almost impossible to tease out who lived where! I shall be diving in and trying to find out the identity of the people who lived there.I am not sure my mother recalls them. The other cottages were mentioned but these were not.

The picture of these cottages reveals 3 cottages in a line. They would stretch from the edge of the lane to Hollymount to the stream edge as it heads up the valley. The stonework on stream edge is still here. The map shows access or gardens to rear. Seems to make sense from what I remember.


Map off the Brookhouse area. Don't know the year. The streams are in blue
Holcombe road goes from south to north-east. Eventually to Greenmount, Holcombe Brook and beyond. The road thet heads off north-west goes to Hollymount Convent and Greenmount Golf Club. The top right building is Brookhouse Farm.
The very large building on the right is Brookhouse Mill, which is now Cormar Carpets.
This map will be updated.
This is looking down Stormer Hill. The faint buildings at the end of the road are
the cottages that my family remembers.
The wall on the righthand side had not been built at this time.
Apart from a copy of the actual deed, that I will publish I have some names from the internet that I have tried to join up as being resident at Brookhouse over the years. They will be sorted in time but for now a rough draft.

In 1780 Robert Tickle of Brookhouse Farm, built his new house, which he called Brookhouse on the western side of the new highway in the part of ground considered to be part of Quakersfield.


Robert and Sarah Tickle 1782
James Rothwell between 1830 and 1838
Probably Ann Rothwell upto  October  1935

The names below are from the Cousins-Family Website, I will be wading my way through the census - to see if there is any more info at the censuses. I feel that these names may not have lived at Brookhouse itself.

Thomas Smith born abt 1841 Residence 30 March 1851     Age 10 (approx)
                                                     Residence  7th April 1861      20 years Cotton Weaver

Betty Smith  born abt 1852  Residence 7th April 1861           Age 9 (approx)
                                                    Residence 2nd April 1871        Age 19 Stitcher at Bleach Works

Eliza Smith  born abt 1857  Residence 2 April 1861
                                                    Residence 2nd April 1871   Age 14 (approx) Cotton Weaver
 

This is the entire 1981 Census that was living at "Brookhouse"

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 Joshua ROBERTS   Head   M   Male   42   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Bleacher And Finisher 
 Mary E. ROBERTS   Wife   M   Female   36   Stalham, Norfolk, England    
 Norman B. ROBERTS   Son      Male   13   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Herbert H. ROBERTS   Son      Male   10   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Harold K. ROBERTS   Son      Male   8   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Edith M. ROBERTS   Daur      Female   6   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Frederick J. ROBERTS   Son      Male   2   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Ellen MURPHY   Serv   U   Female   35   Wexford Ennisessthy, Ireland   General Servant 







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 Miah GREENHALGH   Head   W   Female   63   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Annuitant 
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 Alice SMITH   Head   W   Female   71   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Annuitant 
 Betty SMITH   Daur   U   Female   30   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Bleach Works Labourer 
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 Joseph NUTTALL   Head   M   Male   25   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Bleach Works Labourer 
 Mary Ann NUTTALL   Wife   M   Female   22   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Robert NUTTALL   Son      Male   3   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Charles NUTTALL   Son      Male   5 m   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 Samuel BOOTH   Head   M   Male   62   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Print Works Labourer 
 Margarit BOOTH   Wife   M   Female   60   Bury, Lancashire, England    
 William RAMSBOTTAM   Lodger   U   Male   60   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Print Works Labourer 
 James JARRETT   Lodger   U   Male   32   Bolton, Lancashire, England   Bleach Works Finisher 
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 James ENTWISTLE   Head   M   Male   31   Bank Lane, Lancashire, England   Cotton Weaver 
 Mary ENTWISTLE   Wife   M   Female   34   Bank Lane, Lancashire, England    
 Elizabeth A. ENTWISTLE   Daur      Female   12   Bank Lane, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 John ENTWISTLE   Son      Male   9   Bank Lane, Lancashire, England    
 Richard ENTWISTLE   Son      Male   1   Bank Lane, Lancashire, England    
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 Thomas LEACH   Head   M   Male   37   Bury, Lancashire, England   Cotton Spinner 
 Betsy LEACH   Wife   M   Female   35   Bury, Lancashire, England    
 Anne Maria LEACH   Daur      Female   9   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 John Robt. LEACH   Son      Male   7   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Harriet E. LEACH   Daur      Female   2 m   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 Lawrence NUTTALL   Head   M   Male   40   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Farm Labourer 
 Jane NUTTALL   Wife   M   Female   41   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 James NUTTALL   Son   U   Male   10   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Mary NUTTALL   Daur      Female   9   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Maria NUTTALL   Daur      Female   6   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Alice NUTTALL   Daur      Female   2   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 William H. LUND   Head   M   Male   41   Ewood Bridge, Lancashire, England   Print Works Mechanic 
 Ellen LUND   Wife   M   Female   41   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England    
 Thos. LUND   Son      Male   14   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England   Printworks Labourer 
 Chas.Ed. LUND   Son      Male   11   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England   Printworks Labourer 
 Edward LUND   Son      Male   9   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Elizabeth LUND   Daur      Female   5   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Mary LUND   Daur      Female   7   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 William LUND   Son      Male   3   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Rachel SCHOLES   Serv   U   Female   17   Radcliffe, Lancashire, England   Cotton Weaver 
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 Samuel ISHERWOOD   Head   M   Male   32   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Cotton Overlooker 
 Martha ISHERWOOD   Wife   M   Female   31   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Cotton Weaver 







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 Jesse HUTCHINSON   Head   W   Male   39   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Print Finisher 
 Emily HUTCHINSON   Daur      Female   10   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Ernest HUTCHINSON   Son      Male   6   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Martha BUTTERWORTH   Serv   U   Female   31   Tottington, Lancashire, England   General Serv 
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 William BROWN   Head   M   Male   31   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England   Commercial Clerk 
 Ellen BROWN   Wife   M   Female   29   Ramsbottom, Lancashire, England    
 Sarah Jane BROWN   Daur      Female   4   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Scholar 
 Kitty BROWN   Daur      Female   2   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Alice BROWN   Daur      Female   4 m   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 John MORGAN   Head   M   Male   60   Bolton, Lancashire, England   Out Labourer 
 Hannah MORGAN   Wife   M   Female   63   Bolton, Lancashire, England    
 Hannah Jane MORGAN   Daur   U   Female   24   Bolton, Lancashire, England   Bleach Works Finisher 
 Elijah MORGAN   Daur   U   Male   20   Bolton, Lancashire, England   Print Dryer 
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 Alice HEAP   Head   W   Female   64   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Annuitant 
 Ann HEAP   Daur   U   Female   32   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Annuitant 
 Elizabeth HEAP   Daur   U   Female   24   Tottington, Lancashire, England   Annuitant 
 Margaret A. HEAP   Grd Daur      Female   3   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 James GRIME   Head   M   Male   28   Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, England   Manager Print Works 
 Jane Ann GRIME   Wife   M   Female   27   Church, Lancashire, England    
 John Fister GRIME   Son      Male   2   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Alice FISTER   Visitor   W   Female   64   Oakenshaw, Lancashire, England   No Occupation 
 E.A. KERR   Visitor   U   Female   26   Glasgow, Scotland   Confectioner 
 William GRIME   Son      Male   1   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
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 Job HOLLAND   Head   M   Male   26   Radcliffe, Lancashire, England   Cloth And Yarn Agent 
 Sarah E. HOLLAND   Wife   M   Female   24   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Annie HOLLAND   Daur      Female   1   Tottington, Lancashire, England    
 Mary HUTTON   Serv      Female   14   Skelmersdale   General Servant 



(The Roberts  have taken over the house from the Rothwell family who were the surviving partners of the Tickle family)

This is 16 households. Brookhouse proper will have consisted of 3 households. Probably the Grimes, Holland and Heaps.The other 13 will have been split between the Farm - although there does not appear to be a farmer in the list and the remainder of the cottages. The farm was probably split into cottages anyway. Research to continue!!

Comments

  1. I've worked on this house a few times. And been in the cellar! It's now two houses.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carlo Picasso Decorators Ltd

    ReplyDelete

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