Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town

Gawthorpe

Gawthorpe is a small village on the northern outskirts of Ossett with historic ties to Dewsbury and the settlement of Kirkhamgate (via the Gawthorpe Lane footpath) in Wakefield. For many years, Gawthorpe was considered a separate hamlet, but in 1866, it was joined with Ossett and South Ossett to become Ossett-cum-Gawthorpe.

Above: Picture of High Street, Gawthorpe circa 1911, showing the now defunct High Street stores (later Gawthorpe Post Office) and to the right of the shop is the Boot and Shoe public house. Immediately to the left of the building housing the shop is the Gawthorpe Zion Chapel.

The use of ‘thorpe’ (originally pronounced ‘throp’) in place names is of Danish origin, and means ‘outlying farmstead’. The earliest spelling of the Yorkshire village is Gaukethorp, which means, ‘the farmstead of Gauke’, with Gauke being the name of the settlement's founder who almost certainly was a Viking. However, there is evidence to suggest the village may have existed in Roman times and certainly there was a small Roman settlement at nearby Street Side, alongside the old Roman road.

At the lower end of Gawthorpe village is an earth mound known as Fairy Hill. This is thought to be a Viking burial mound.

Like most English villages, Gawthorpe used to be self-contained with a large selection of shops offering every conceivable type of goods and service. There were greengrocers, confectioners, butchers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, bakers, barbers and ale sellers who all plied their trade at the end of the 19th century. In 1891, Benjamin Day, aged 73 and his 20 year-old grandson Halliday Day had a greengrocer's shop on High Street, near Tately Lane, but were also herb beer brewers, producing non-alcoholic drinks for those customers who were perhaps members of the Temperance Movement.

The villagers didn't have much in the way of transport, so local shops competed on price and quality alone. There was still a good selection of shops in the village during the 1960s and 1970s with a busy Co-op store, a post office and general store. Today there are none. It is as if the heart has been taken out of the village, largely caused by the modern trend to shop in out-of-town supermarkets. Much of the community spirit in the village has disappeared with the closure of the all local shops.

The construction of the Ossett bypass, which snakes obscenely through the very southern edge of the village has destroyed some of the ancient charm of Gawthorpe. Fine old buildings such as Royds Villas and The Mount were demolished to make way for the asphalt and speed cameras.

Above: The Mount, Gawthorpe pictured in 1972, perched precariously at the side of the excavations for the new Ossett bypass, which had been driven through the grounds of the old house. The Mount was later demolished and my brother-in-law, David Hemming, built one of two new bungalows for Mr. J.R. Fletcher on the land that had been vacated.

The Maypole
Gawthorpe is one of the few places where a permanent Maypole may still be seen. Indeed the Maypole and its cul-de-sac setting are two characteristics by which Gawthorpe is remembered by visitors. The only other village nearby that still has a Maypole celebration is Barwick-in-Elmet, to the north-east of Leeds.

The continued presence of a Maypole in Gawthorpe has not been easy since its existence has been endangered from time-to-time. The fact that a Maypole is still standing is due largely to local pride, determination and tenacity of purpose. When, precisely, a permanent Maypole was first erected in Gawthorpe is not easy to say. There was certainly one standing in the present site in 1840. In 1850, a Gawthorpe resident by the name of Mr. A. Pollard, suggested and bought, the first recorded permanent Maypole for the village. Previously, each year, a birch tree from local woods had been cut down and used as a Maypole.

The new Maypole, complete with weathercock on top was duly erected. At this time the 'Streetsiders' i.e. people living in the vicinity of the Waggon and Horses public house helped in the organising of the May Celebrations and they were represented on the Maypole Committee. A problem dealt with by the Committee led to a dispute between the Gawthorpe and Streetside elements in the Committee. The 'Streetsiders' were in a minority and were outvoted. This made them resort to other methods and so, one night, a party of 'Streetsiders' sawed down the Maypole and carried it away, placing it in the yard behind the Wagon and Horses. That Maypole never came back to Gawthorpe.

Shortly after taking the Maypole, and it is believed, with the motive of adding insult to injury, the 'Streetsiders' made another nocturnal expedition with the object of digging out and taking away the stump of the pole that they had previously sawed down. However, they were met with sterner opposition this time and a pitched battle ensued in which, it is said, one man was killed, one crippled for life and several others had scars as mementoes. It was only terminated when the wives and other women folk intervened.

The next pole was erected by public subscription and voluntary labour in 1874 and in 1875, the first procession took place. There was a free tea and the Ossett Observer for May 8th, 1875 said this:

"A public notice invited the ratepayers of Ossett and Gawthorpe to partake of a free tea at the old schoolroom to commemorate the raising of the Maypole. Precedence to be given to ladies over 50 years of age. On putting in an appearance, we were cordially welcomed by two of the Committee at the door, who were distinguished by wearing satin rosettes. Entering, we partook of a capital cup of bohea (a black Chinese tea); there was a full attendance and huge piles of tea cake and other comestibles provided, which were partaken of by about two hundred persons at different sittings down. After tea, the procession arrived from Ossett headed by seven of the Committee on horseback and the South Ossett Band, numbered by about 24 performers. The Band, stationed near the Maypole discoursed some excellent music, which caused the horses to prance around the pole as though they were dancing, which bipeds were prevented from doing by reason of the weather. The proceedings closed by the singing of the Doxology (a short hymn as Christian praise to God). The Committee partook of a substantial knife and fork tea at Mr. B. Cooper's 'The Old Shoulder of Mutton Inn'."

Again, in 1880, the 'Streetsiders' made another attempt to saw down the Maypole. This was again attempted during the night. However, when the pole was partially sawn through, the intruders were disturbed and had to run. Though they did not get the Maypole this time, the 'Streetsiders' saw nevertheless proved effective, because the pole was so weakened that it was blown down in a gale, which occurred a few nights later.

The next Maypole was erected without delay, this time with iron plates covering the bottom portion of the pole to protect the Maypole from further damage from the Streetsiders' saw. At a later date, the iron plates were removed and a fence with spiked iron railings was erected around the foot of the post to serve the same purpose as the iron plates and not merely to keep off children.

Above: Erecting the Maypole in 1953 the hard way using ropes and muscle power. This Maypole lasted until 1986 when it was found to be rotten and had to be replaced for safety reasons.

Traditionally, the Maypole festivities on the first weekend in May include a procession through the streets of Gawthorpe and Ossett, with the reigning May Queen leading the parade on horseback, followed closely by her six attendants. The procession includes decorated floats entered by local schools, church organisations and local businesses. There are also children in fancy dress, marching bands and a large contingent of horses and riders. The mayors of Wakefield and Kirklees are also invited to take part along with the local MP and other dignitaries. Other features of the day are the Maypole plaiters, who are all pupils from Gawthorpe Junior and Infants School and a funfair with various rides and stalls. On the Monday immediately following the Maypole procession, a sit-down tea and entertainment is provided for Gawthorpe's old folk.

Above: A team of volunteers led by Mr. C.C. Hitch Chairman of the Maypole Committee carrying the new Maypole past Gawthorpe Junior and Infants School in 1986.

Maypole Dancing
In 1906 the local school children, both boys and girls, were taught the intricate steps of Maypole dancing by Mrs. Stephens, a teacher at the school. In 1927, a Miss Green joined the school and assisted in the instruction of the various dance sequences. These consist of one of the most comprehensive plaiting sequences in the country if not the World. These are; Ropes, the Barbers Pole, the Single Plait, the Double Plait, the Spiders Web, the Gypsy’s Tent and the Centenary Polka. It takes approximately six months to teach the dance steps to the dancers, now all girls, and as the seniors leave for secondary school at eleven, they are replaced by 8 / 9 year olds from the earlier years. In this way there is a continuation and approximately half of the girls each year are doing it for the second time.

Coal Mining in Gawthorpe
It is confirmed that a coal mine was established at Gawthorpe as long ago as 1366 during the reign of Edward III. The Lords Saville and Cardigan owned the land surrounding Gawthorpe during the reign of Elizabeth I and much of Gawthorpe remained in the ownership of the Earl of Cardigan until very recent times.

During the mid-19th century the village of Gawthorpe prospered, mainly due the development of the coal mines in the village. George and John Haigh ran the two adjacent coal mines at New Lodge Colliery off Gawthorpe Lane between the early 1850s and 1889. New Lodge Colliery can be seen on the earliest 1851 1:10,560 OS Map.

Also, in the late 1840s, the second Gawthorpe mine, Greaves Colliery was located off the old Bridle Lane, Gawthorpe on the site of the current Swithenbank council estate. Greaves Colliery was owned by Joshua Greaves (1800-1877) one of three brothers who had extensive business interests in Gawthorpe. By 1861, Greaves had sold the colliery to Wilson and Co. who operated the mine until 1872 when it closed. Swithenbank Estate was built on 26 acres of land where the colliery had been located in the 1930s to house working-class families displaced by a slum clearance programme in other parts of Ossett.

There were also pits on the site of the golf course at Low Laithes, Flushdyke, Shepherd Hill, Roundwood and nearby Wrenthorpe. All these pits collectively employed over 600 Ossett and Gawthorpe men. Whenever any fatal accidents occurred in the Gawthorpe pits, the inquest was usually held in one of the local inns: The Beehive Inn, The Boot and Shoe or The Shoulder of Mutton. By 1880, the Gawthorpe pit owned by Wilson and Co. had closed, but four other pits had opened within a mile of Gawthorpe. These were at Chickenley Heath, Chickenley Wood, Chidswell and Shaw Cross Colliery, which opened in 1903 and finally closed in 1968.

The coal mines in Gawthorpe attracted workers from all parts of the UK to the village. A glance at the census returns for 1881 and 1891 shows that there were coal miners and their families living in Gawthorpe from places as diverse as Leicester, Birmingham, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and there was even a Scottish family: Alexander Drummond and his wife were living in High Street, Gawthorpe in 1891, having moved from Scotland. Drummond was working as a colliery mining engineer, presumably at Low Laithes, which had opened the year before. These 'incomers' would have no doubt contributed to the cultural development of the village. However, the vast majority of Gawthorpe's inhabitants at this time were from the immediate locality, i.e. Ossett, Gawthorpe, Dewsbury or Batley. Surnames such as Kemp, Broadhead, Bould, Howroyd and Terry were common. Nearly all were employed in either coal mining or in the local textile mills of Ossett, Batley and Dewsbury. The remainder were farmers, shopkeepers or carting agents - the white van men of Victorian times.

It was quite disturbing to see that even as late as 1891, children were still working underground in the Gawthorpe pits. George Henry Redfearn aged just 13 was a hurrier in a coal mine and 15 year-old George William Thompson, who lived in the cramped Pepper Alley, also worked as a hurrier in a Gawthorpe pit.

Due to the restricted height of the roadways in the pits, it was necessary to employ teenage children to move loaded wagons of coal from the coal face to the shaft, a process known as 'hurrying'. They were not employed by the mine owners but worked directly for a collier who paid them according to the number of wagons (corves) that they hauled to the pit shaft. Some colliers only had one hurrier but others had two or three. In some parts of the country, even in the 1920s coal miners were still working semi-naked by candle light in a 17 inch seam, and hurriers now fourteen or older were still pushing corves along 36 inch roadways.

Low Laithes Colliery
In 1890, Low Laithes Colliery was opened in Gawthorpe, a few hundred yards along Gawthorpe Lane next to the now demolished Low Laithes Villa. In 1894, the Low Laithes Colliery site was shared with a brickworks and the colliery was a much smaller undertaking than it was in 1908, indicating considerable expansion between 1894 and 1908.

In 1908, the colliery was managed by Mr. A.B. Blakely, followed in 1915 by Mr. David Arnold West, a mining engineer born in 1875 at nearby Birstall. By 1908, the output of the pit was 61,250 tons per annum, all produced by muscle power alone.

Above: 1908 Map of the Low Laithes Colliery.

Low Laithes was served by what was called a 'mineral railway', which ran from Flushdyke to a rail terminus at the edge of the colliery. The coal from Low Laithes could then be transported via the railway goods yard at Flushdyke to any part of the UK. The coal extracted from Low Laithes was from the high quality Haigh Moor seam or poorer quality Gawthorpe seam and there was a ready market for coal of this quality. During the summer months, at the height of the pit's productivity, the railway line was also used for occasional special excursion trains to take Gawthorpe families to places like Scarborough and Blackpool.

Above: A group of coal miners from Low Laithes Colliery, Gawthorpe in about 1922. The expressions on their faces suggest a lifetime of hard work. Does anybody recognise any of them to put names to faces?

Low Laithes Colliery closed down in 1927 as a direct result of the 1920s Depression. Trading was difficult with a reduced demand for coal and many coal miners were either on shortened working weeks or had already been made redundant. The Ossett Observer in December 1928 noted that the chances of the Gawthorpe pit re-opening were remote and in fact it never did, despite probably being viable.

Above: The site of new Low Laithes colliery in Gawthorpe in 2007. The area has mainly been wooded over or returned to agriculture and there is little left to describe the industry that existed here.

In the event, the site changed its production role, re-emerging as the Doric Kerb Works, making concrete kerb stones for road construction. It is likely that the Doric Kerb Works was owned by the Low Laithes Colliery Co., Ltd. since in 1923 an H. Peace, an employee of the Low Laithes colliery company, patented a unique mould for the production of concrete kerb stones.

The Doric Works were derelict in the 1960s and it is believed that production ceased in the 1950s. There is now little evidence of this once thriving local industry and much of the area that was new Low Laithes colliery, then later the Doric Kerb Works, has now been returned to nature in the shape of a burgeoning woodland area and also to agriculture. The spoil heaps are long since gone and the pit shafts have been filled in. The only relic of the intense industry at Low Laithes Colliery and the Doric works is a long, shallow triangular dam, which survives.

Above: The only remaining relic of New Low Laithes Colliery and the Doric Kerb Works is this long, triangular dam, which is hidden in trees and brambles. When I took this picture in September 2007, a heron flew lazily off to the right when I disturbed him as he searched for fish in the old shallow, weed-infested dam.

Gawthorpe Churches
A growth of population in Gawthorpe led to the creation in 1901 of a third parish in Ossett (although it was technically designated a consolidated chapelry) bearing the name Gawthorpe with Chickenley Heath, combining portions taken from the older parishes of Ossett, Earlsheaton and Hanging Heaton. The church of Gawthorpe St Mary the Virgin was built in 1899 to serve the new parish.

St. Mary's Church, Gawthorpe closed in 2001 because of a declining congregation caused by road building and recent housing developments. The Gawthorpe parishioners were transferred to Holy Trinity Church, Ossett whilst Chickenley parishioners were transferred to a new church in Dewsbury. In 2007 planning permission was granted to convert the old church into a modern apartment block.

The Zion Congregational Church, Gawthorpe was opened in 1857 and closed in 1972 due to the general decline of religious interest during the 20th century. The building is now used as the Gawthorpe Darby and Joan Centre. The Gawthorpe Darby and Joan Club was formed in January 1950 by the late Mrs. F.G. Rhodes to provide extra amenities for the old folk of the village.

The Salvation Army is now the only Christian church with its building in Gawthorpe. It was formerly a Wesleyan Chapel in the 19th century. The Salvation Army building serves as a community centre for the local community and provides dinners for senior citizens and facilities for parent and toddler groups.

The Bethesda Methodist Chapel and Schoolhouse was opened in 1873 and came under the Dewsbury Circuit and the chapel is not mentioned in any Ossett Methodist records. The Sunday School served children in the village of Gawthorpe during the 19th century. Often, the only rudimentary education that the poorer children received was at Sunday Schools such as this, where, if they were lucky, they learned to read and write. The schoolhouse was demolished in the 1965 to make way for a modern bungalow, which now occupies the site.

Above: The Bethesda Chapel Schoolhouse, Gawthorpe pictured in 1962. It is believed that the buildings were demolished in 1965. The Bethesda Chapel was on the other side of High Street roughly where the Croft House Nursing Home is now located. It is not yet known when the chapel was demolished. The lane at the left of the old Bethesda Schoolhouse used to be known as Pepper Alley, but was later renamed School Lane. Pepper Alley was a desperately overcrowded area of Gawthorpe in the 19th century with a lot of old slum properties and in 1937, eleven of these old buildings were demolished after a meeting of the Sanitary Committee of Ossett Town Council. School Lane was later re-developed with more modern houses in the 1960s.

In addition to the religious establishments in the village of Gawthorpe, there was a Primitive Methodist Chapel on Dewsbury Road, Streetside and the New Wesleyan Methodist Chapel opened in 1884, almost adjacent to the Primitive Chapel on Dewsbury Road, and close to what is now Kingsway. The New Wesleyan Chapel was demolished in the late 1950s.

Gawthorpe Schools
Gawthorpe Junior and Infants School was opened in 1927, but prior to that, National School in Gawthorpe was further down Royds Lane at the junction with Leeds Road. This school was constructed in 1840, but was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the new Ossett bypass.

Above: St. Mary's Church School Hall, previously called the National School at the junction of Royds Lane and Leeds Road in Gawthorpe pictured about 1970, just before demolition for the Ossett Bypass.

Gawthorpe's Textile Mills
Royds Mill, previously known as Fosters Mill on Leeds Road was often described as a 'the cotton mill' since, when it had opened in 1820, it had been used for cotton spinning and weaving, which was unusual for Ossett. The mill was still called Fosters Mill in 1854 as shown on the OS Map below. Later, the mill was owned by John Lee and Sons, who were blanket manufacturers and by 1879, when their business failed, the mill was bought by George Hanson (1837-1893) and Henry Wormald, two local men from Gawthorpe. At some time after 1854, the name of the mill was changed to Royds Mill. However, it is known that some of George Hanson's ancestors had owned the mill a generation or two previously. Hanson and Wormald had started their partnership in March, 1875 as rag and mungo merchants, first renting rag-pulling machinery at Greengates Mill, Chickenley Heath and then moving to Greaves Mill at Gawthorpe.

George Hanson was the senior partner with Henry Wormald in their business concern at Royds Mill, which they operated as woollen rag and mungo merchants, buying in huge stocks of rags. In 1881, they employed 25 men and 90 women as mungo manufacturers, letting part of their extensive premises to other manufacturers. Royds Mill itself had been extended several times from a single mill building running parallel with Leeds Road before it was bought by Hanson and Wormald. By 1881, there were three large mill buildings; two were four-storeys high and one three-storeys high with additional offices, stables, dye-house and an engine house complete with a 300 horse-power, steam-powered, condensing beam engine and two Cornish boilers with a dry- house over the top of them.

In 1887, the business was doing well and George Hanson had recently built a large detached house in extensive grounds, off Royds Lane, called "The Mount", at one of the highest points in Gawthorpe and with extensive all-round views. His partner, Henry Wormald, lived with his wife Sarah in the more modest, but decidedly up-market, Royds Villas on Royds Lane.

Disaster struck on September 6th 1887 when fire broke out during the night in a rag warehouse at the mill. This was at a time when they had a higher stock of rags than ever before, having availed themselves of recent price fluctuations in the market to buy heavily. The bales of rags were piled up from floor to ceiling on the first and second floors in two of the large mill buildings and in all there were hundreds of tons of rags in the mill buildings.

Sadly, because of the prevailing drought in the summer of 1887, the water supply to Gawthorpe was turned off overnight. For over an hour, there was no water for the high-pressure hosepipes and the fire very quickly took hold, completely destroying Royds Mill. It was said at the time to have been the most extensive and rapidly destructive fire ever to have taken place in Ossett within living memory. The fire caused £30,000 of damage if the losses of the other occupants of Royds Mill; Mr Joseph Briggs and Messrs. Briggs and Waterhouse, cloth manufacturers were taken into account.

Above: A drawing from Cockburn's Ossett Almanacs depicting Royds Mill after the fire which destroyed the buildings in September 1887. The other mill chimney, which is smoking is at nearby Greaves Mill (see map below.)

About 170 workers were made redundant overnight because of the fire. Part of the gutted building fell into Leeds Road causing it to be closed to traffic and the embers of the building burned for days. However, almost immediately, Hanson and Wormald resumed operations at nearby Greaves Mill, which had been unoccupied fro some time. They also subsequently rebuilt Royds Mill with one storey sheds replacing the previous four-storey buildings, despite only being insured for about half of their considerable £26,000 loss as a result of the fire.

Both George Hanson and Henry Wormald were involved in public life and became Mayors of Ossett. Sadly, George Hanson died at the early age of 55 from a bout of pneumonia during his term of office as Ossett's mayor. He was staying at Southport over the Easter holiday in 1893 in an attempt to recuperate from his illness when he succumbed and died. Hanson, a lifelong teetotaller and stalwart of the Zion Congregational Church in Gawthorpe, was also an ex-Chairman of Ossett's Local Board, and was a very popular and well-liked man. He was afforded a public funeral at Holy Trinity Church, Ossett where he was buried with many tributes to his contribution to public life. The Ossett Observer said of him in 1889 " Of him it may be said that Gawthorpe never furnished a member more attentive to its particular interests, or one who took a wider and more intelligent view of local matters generally."

Henry Wormald J.P. (1837-1901) lost his wife Sarah Ann in October 1891 and sadly the couple had no children, so, after the death of his partner George Hanson in 1893, Wormald enthusiastically put his heart and soul into running the business at Royds Mill and also into local politics. In 1900, he converted the mungo and rag business at Royds Mill into a (private) limited liability company.

A native of Gawthorpe, as a young man, Henry Wormald was a piecener at Royds Mill, when it was a blanket factory and was subsequently employed in the mungo trade in Ossett and Morley, before going into partnership with Hanson. Wormald succeeded George Hanson as councillor for the North Ward in Ossett, being re-elected several times without opposition. He became mayor of Ossett in 1899 and had a reputation for working hard on behalf of the Borough and for his native Gawthorpe. A staunch Congregationalist at the Zion Church in Gawthorpe, Wormald was also president of the North Ward Liberal Club. Wormald had been ill for some time and died on the 16th July 1901. He was buried in the family vault at Holy Trinity Church, Ossett with his wife.

Greaves Mill
Greaves Mill was built about in about 1840 by the Greaves family who had extensive business interests in Ossett, owning Greaves Mill in Gawthorpe plus warehouses, a counting house and cottages. Three brothers Joseph, Joshua and Thomas Greaves built and ran the woollen mill, which can be seen on the map below. Joseph Greaves, who was born circa 1800 was the eldest of the three and he passed on the mill and other family businesses to his sons George and Henry.

Above: 1851 OS Map showing Greaves Mill and Fosters Mill when it was a four-storey building (later Royds Mill) and St. Mary's Church School Hall called at that time the National School.

By 1881, this next generation of Greaves brothers; George born in 1823 and Henry born in 1827, who were also farmers, were now running the family business at Greaves Mill. Greaves Colliery, between Streetside and Bridle Lane, Gawthorpe was owned between 1855 and 1860 by Joshua Greaves of the same family and one of the brothers from an earlier generation.

George Greaves, built Heath House in 1854 for his new bride, 15 year-old Ann Heaton. The house, which sits in nearly five acres of land, was built immediately adjacent to the mill. Henry Greaves, who never married, lived at Greaves House (later renamed Quarry House), also very close to the mill. It appears that by about 1885, the business had failed because Greaves Mill was unoccupied. In 1892, George Hanson purchased Greaves Mills, which had been standing empty for several years. They were renamed as Borough Mills and it was Hanson's intention that the mill would provide additional employment for people living in Gawthorpe.

At the time of George Greaves' death in 1899, he was living at Lodge Hill Farm, Gawthorpe. His brother Henry Greaves died in 1895 and was living at New Park Farm, Gawthorpe.

The old site of Greaves Mill and Greaves House is now the location of a large traffic island at the Gawthorpe end of the Ossett Bypass. Heath House, just off this roundabout has thankfully survived and is now a four-star rated hotel run by Jo Holland, whose family have owned the house for over 50 years.

Above: Royds Mill pictured in decline circa 1977. It was later adapted for factory units with the Wakefield Car Warehouse, Dulevo (a cleaning company) and Diespeker GRP Products all now taking up residence in the old mill sheds.

Gawthorpe's Public Houses
In the 19th century, there is some evidence of the existence of at least two beerhouses in the village, where beer was brewed and could be bought and drunk on the premises. Beerhouses were usually private houses with one or two rooms converted into public rooms. This followed the controversial Duke of Wellington's Beerhouse Act of 1830. The Act, designed to curb the rise of gin consumption and to bypass local magistrates legislation, allowed any householder or ratepayer, on payment of two guineas to the Excise, to sell beer and cider (but not wine or spirits) from their property. The Act was pushed through by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, before he was ousted from Downing Street. It was in response to increased agitation over the 200 year-old licensing laws which were regarded as archaic.

For many years, Gawthorpe boasted three public houses: the Boot and Shoe, the Beehive and the Shoulder of Mutton Inn. However, the Shoulder of Mutton is by far the oldest licensed pub in the village and dates back to before 1822, when the landlord was Percival Terry. The Shoulder of Mutton was classed as an inn, so patrons could sleep, as well as eat and drink. Most publicans strived to gain inn status since this allowed them to remain open as long as a bed was empty and food was offered to any lawful visitor or traveller. They could also serve any kind of alcoholic drink and were not restricted to selling just beer or cider. However, the established inns faced increasing competition from the large number of beerhouses springing up after 1830 and this would have been the case in Gawthorpe.

The Boot and Shoe was classed as a beerhouse until 1961, when landlady Kate Edith Mugglestone successfully applied for an All Liquors Licence, but it dates back to 1866 when John Ingham was the licensee. The Beehive was classed as a beerhouse in 1838 and, at the time, was run by Ann Jessop. By 1857, the licensee and publican of the Beehive was Randolph Jessop, who was also a cloth weaver. By 1872, the Beehive had been licensed under the 1828 Licensing Act and so was no longer classed as a beerhouse amd could sell spirits as well.

In Gawthorpe, there was a Liberal Club and also a Conservative Club in Bridle Lane, which was demolished at the time of the building of the Ossett bypass. The Belmont Working Men's Club, (which may have earlier been the Liberal Club), became the present Conservative Club, in April 1971, which is licensed to sell beer and spirits.

Above: The Maypole in September 2007. To the right of the Maypole is the Shoulder of Mutton public house and the building behind the Maypole is the old Gawthorpe Co-op, now a pizza parlour with an Eastern flavour.

In 2006, the Beehive Inn was demolished by its owners Leisure Inn Developments Ltd to make way for the construction of new housing on the old site. Despite a spirited campaign for English Heritage listed status by local residents, CAMRA and others who wanted to preserve the historic, over 100 year-old, public house, the bulldozers raised the pub to the ground in November 2006. All that remains currently in 2007 is a pile of rubble and to date, no houses have been built on the site.

Above: The Beehive, Gawthorpe, which was demolished in 2006 after declining trade and the high costs of repair forced the owners to sell the site for housing.

The Gawthorpe Bould Family
My wife's grandfather, David Bould (1872 - 1938) was from a long-established Gawthorpe family, dating back at least to the early 1700s. David's grandparents, Joseph and Mary Bould were tenant farmers with premises down Gawthorpe Lane, close to the new Low Laithes Colliery. David's father, Mark Bould (1838-1898) also worked on the family farm and the children were brought up there. David Bould was an excellent horseman and became a groom for Henry Wormald, co-owner of Royds Mill and one-time Mayor of Ossett.

Above: David Bould, one of the long-established Gawthorpe Bould family, pictured in about 1900.

Sportsman’s Death - David Bould's Obituary 1938
Mr David Bould of 4 Bridle Lane, Gawthorpe who died on Sunday after a long illness at the age of 65 was a well-known local sportsman.  In his younger days he played with the old Ossett Rugby Club and subsequently with Gawthorpe Football Club.  He was a prominent playing member of Ossett Flying Horse Bowling Club for over 20 years up to the time of his death and was also fond of horseback riding.  A native of the village where he had resided all of his life, Mr Bould was a groom during his boyhood and early adulthood for the late Mr Henry Wormald who was the Mayor of Ossett from 1899-1900. After carrying on business as a farmer for several years, he afterwards acted as a carting agent for his cousin Mr Turton Bould.  Eight years ago he was knocked down by a motorcar near the Flying Horse Inn and sustained injuries to his chest, a broken collarbone and broken wrist.  The funeral took place on Wednesday at Ossett Parish Church, the vicar the Rev. G.H. Marshall officiating.  Mr Bould leaves a widow, a son and two daughters.

Taken from the Ossett Observer, November 1938

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