~ How the Town Changed ~

The effects of the mining⁷ industry on the town's size and economy were many and varied, and can only be briefly considered here. Let us begin by referring once again to Merryweather's³ map. About half a mile to the east of the castle⁹, at the opposite end of Market Street, is Tudor Square². On the map it is unnamed, but may easily be identified by its prominent triangular shape.

Tudor Square, c. 1904

 

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Tudor Square, 2000

 

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On Hogenberg's map of 1577 it is shown as 'Town End', thus suggesting the existence of a village-type settlement, separate from but administratively part of Dalton, with its houses and farms almost certainly occupying the same building-line as the present-day houses and shops. According to W. G. Hoskins, many medieval villages developed around an enclosed space, the village green, in which the livestock could be confined, at night-time for safety. This is quite possibly what happened here; the word 'green' seems to have persisted throughout the years, even as recently as 1948, when a triangular plot of land behind the row houses Nos. 1-4, was always referred to as 'the green' by the locals. Hoskins also mentions that many of these villages had a back lane enclosing part of the site. Many older Daltonians will confirm that Beckside Road, in local parlance, was often referred to as the back lane. All this evidence, although tenuous to say the least, does at least point to the possibility that what today is a landscaped, paved area with trees, centuries ago was a rustic village green.

Map of Dalton in 1825

 

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Map of Dalton in 1825 as surveyed by Horatio Merryweather4.

In the 19th century, however, this area came to be known as Bally Green², and is shown as such on the 1842 tithe map. Attempts to determine the origin of this name have proved fruitless. James Melville suggests that it was either a place where ball games were played, or, considering the alternative meaning of the word 'ball', a place for dancing (Maypole e.g.). Both these suggestions must be considered unlikely. By the middle of the century, the Green had become a junction for the horse-drawn carts of iron-ore which were being transported from the mines around the town, to the docks at Barrow⁵. Inevitably this traffic was carried on in all kinds of weather, and, of course, the rain caused seepage of red iron ore from the carts. The rutted, churned-up earth was stained bright red as a consequence of this, and resulted in the area being rather cynically nicknamed 'Never Green Square'.

Map of Dalton in 1842

 

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Tithe Map of Dalton in 1842.

This name is interesting and could perhaps be important in trying to determine when the present name was first adopted, as it contains elements of both 'Bally Green³' and 'Tudor Square³'. If this name has any chronological significance with respect to the present name, then it could be interpreted as an indication that the change to 'Tudor Square' took place rather earlier than is generally believed. All that can be said with certainty, however, is that the name was changed sometime between 1842 and 1886, when it first appears as Tudor Square in a local directory.

One inevitable consequence of the town's transformation in the middle of the 19th century was the large increase in the number of public houses¹; an amenity rendered necessary by the large number of permanently thirsty miners who came to live in the town at this time. In Barfoot and Wilkes, mention is made of the White Horse (John Cartmel), the Red Lion (Margaret Cook), and the King's Arms (Richard Thornton); but strangely there is no mention of Lord Stanley's Hunting Rooms, or the Cavendish Arms as it was later known. From the same source we learn that the proprietor of the Punch Bowl was William Gill, although there is no indication where this property was situated. Altogether, there are nine other victuallers mentioned in this directory, but it is likely that some of these were in other parts of the parish - two at least were in Barrow⁶.

In 1825, the building now known as the Wellington Hotel is shown on Merryweather's⁵ map as Broadstone House. By 1849, it was called the Broadstone Hotel, and in 1855 its name was changed to the Wellington Hotel. In 1829, apart from the older pubs already mentioned, there were also the George and Dragon (situated immediately opposite the parish church² gates - now rebuilt as a private house), and the Plough, whose locations is now unknown. In the History and Directory of Furness and West Cumberland, published in 1882 by P. Mannex and Company, the following are listed:

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Hotels, Inns and Taverns

Black Bull	James Thompson, 14 Tudor Square
Bridge Inn	Arthur Barrow, Broughton Road
Britannia Hotel	James Spence, Ann Street
Cavendish Arms	J. Hepple, 3 Market Street
Clarence Hotel	Rd. Clark, Ulverston Road
George and Dragon	M. Askew, Castle Street
King's Arms	Jno. St Lawrence, Market Place
Masons' Arms	J. Holmes, 91 Market Street
Prince of Wales	Geo. Wilson, Broughton Road
Railway Arms	Wm. Hodgson, Station Road
Red Lion Inn	Eliz. Denney, Market Street
Ship Inn	Thos. Turner, 5 Market Place
Wellington Hotel	Fred Bell, Market Street
White Horse Inn	J. Holmes, 6 Market Street

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Beer Houses

Bow Bridge	James Barden
Brown Cow	Wm. Brand, Goose Green
Devonshire Arms	Robert Remington, Albert Street
Farmer's Arms	T. Shuttleworth, 33 Market Street
Fountain Head	Benjamin Sweetman, Stafford Street
Golden Ball	John Hardy, 15 Tudor Square
Horse and Jockey	Jos. Shaw, Ulverston Road
Joiners' Arms	Thos. Robinson, Devonshire Street
Melton Hotel	Robert Mason
Miners' Arms	Rd. Metcalf, Ulverston Road
Old House at Home	George Greave, Skellgate
Sun Inn	David Murphy, Broughton Road

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Obviously the oldest pubs in the town today are the White Horse, the Cavendish Arms and the Red Lion. It is possible that the Brown Cow is also very ancient; but attempts to determine the age of all these pubs from the property deeds have proved fruitless, because it seems that all the old documents appertaining to them have been lost or are otherwise inaccessible. This is certainly the case with the White Horse; and the earliest surviving deed for the Cavendish dates from only 1870. It is obvious that all these pubs are much older than this.

Public House Sale Poster

 

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An interesting feature of the Cavendish is the large hole which exists beneath the floor-boards of the function room at the rear of the building. This hole is several feet in diameter, with straight, completely vertical sides which have been neatly plastered. It seems as though at one time it might have been a well, although why it should be so large is difficult to imagine. It is now partly filled with rubble. The discovery of another well in the cellar of the same pub was reported in the Dalton News on 14 August 1915. 'A well which has existed in the cellar of the Cavendish Arms for several centuries, has been re-discovered. No living person was aware of its existence, and it was only brought to light through the breaking of a flagstone during some structural alterations which Mr. Dixon the landlord, was having effected this week. Mr. Comber, who was doing the work, found the well, and on testing it, ascertained that it was about eight feet deep and full of a gas which extinguished a candle as soon as it was lowered into the well. The idea is that the well was connected with the Castle¹⁰, as the Cavendish Arms is nearly as old as that edifice, documents existing to prove that it is at least 600 year old. In its early days the hotel was known as the Black Cock, the custom then being to name such places after wild animals or birds. During the occupancy of Mr. Dixon the presence of such an ancient well was never suspected'. It is a pity that this newspaper article does not identify the documents which purport to render the Black Cock as being almost coeval with the castle. Subsequent searching has failed to throw any fresh light on the subject. This, of course, does not necessarily mean that the documents referred to do not exist, or have never existed, and, if this report is true, then the present pub could well be regarded as the oldest in the town. No doubt the structure has been altered over the years, and one must accept the possibility that the Black Cock was an entirely different building occupying the same site. During the summer of 1981, the interior of the Cavendish Arms was substantially rebuilt, and, although the alterations have imparted to it an air of pseudo-antiquity, the truly ancient character of the old pub has now disappeared.

Although over the years the external structure of the White Horse has been altered, it seems that the cellar has hardly been touched and its antiquity is immediately obvious. The larger part of the cellar is directly beneath the bar; but the most interesting part is the stone-built, bow-ceilinged smaller room which appears to project beyond the building line and out beneath the pavement. There is a vague sort of tradition that long ago, this was a place of punishment and miscreant were brought here to be whipped. Whether or not this story has any foundation in fact it is now impossible to say; but it does seem to be unlikely because, until well into the 19th century, the whipping post² still existed just a short distance away, outside the castle¹¹.

The Red Lion appears to have no particular claim to fame other than the fact that, according to the dramatist Richard Cumberland, who was writing about the young George Romney¹, there was a painting of a red lion adorning the exterior of the inn and this must have been Romney's first visual inspiration in the art of painting. The point is interesting because this information can only have come from Romney himself, and must inevitably mean that he had stood outside and examined the sign, and possibly that from time to time he even visited the inn as a customer.

Although the increase in the number of public houses² was a direct result of the expanding population⁵, there can be no doubt that the most dramatic effect that the local iron-ore mines had on the town was its rapid increase in size - a phenomenon which the authorities were not really equipped to cope with at that time. Rows of houses which had been built with little or no regard to sanitation soon became slums. The disgraceful state of affairs existing in Dalton in the 19th century is vividly portrayed in a report to the Local Board¹ presented by Mr W. H. Fox, the surveyor, which was reported in the Ulverston⁵ Mirror on 20 December 1873. Some extracts from this report are given here:

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Over one thousand houses had been visited, 938 being habited dwellings. Ten thousand notes and observations as to the sanitary state had been chronicled, and to assist the members of the board at arriving at some general idea of the sanitary state of the town, examples were given from the inspection book. No names, however, were mentioned, as where so much sanitary evil existed it would have been invidious to give several offenders only. In some instances the wretched, unhealthy state of the dwellings was due to the landlords, in others to the tenants, but in the majority undoubtedly to the want of house accommodation, clean roads and pavements, good sewerage, and an efficient system for the removal of refuse. Market Street and Tudor Square⁴ showed house drainage for liquid refuse of all kinds by an open channel into the street, thence to gullies to the main sewer. Some of the water was thrown into large open middens. The disgusting effect of this, especially in summer, would not be difficult to imagine. Pigstyes abounded as in many of the other streets, some in a filthy condition, and near the back doors of dwellings… In Bankside the houses were not provided with sufficient watertaps, and a single tap had to provide 14 dwellings. The inconvenience required no comment. In some houses the tenants kept fowls, and other unsuitable tenants, which made the house filthy. At Bricklane forty persons slept in twelve very small bedrooms. In Stafford Street 33 persons were living in three small cottages. In Butt's Cottages one Convenience was provided for 44 persons, and one water tap served twenty houses. In Devonshire Street five persons were sleeping in one bedroom, 11 feet by 8 and 8 feet in height…

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Although this paints a pretty dismal picture of 19th-century Dalton, it must be pointed out that not all the town was like this - the older parts in particular remained very respectable. It must also be emphasised that, in Furness, these problems were not unique to Dalton; both Barrow⁷ and Ulverston⁶ had their less salubrious areas too in which conditions were equally as bad as those described here. Although the physical increase in the size of the town was the most obvious effect of the growth of the mining⁸ industry, the growing importance of the town necessitated the establishment of various public utility services.

Next Part: (The Emergence of the Modern Town):- 'The Post Office'

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