107 THE ATKINSONS

THE MEANING AND ORIGIN OF THE NAME According to the Internet Surname Database: “This Worcestershire, dated 1327, and John Atkinson was famous surname is regarded as being of Anglo-Scot- listed in the Assessments relating to the feudal lists of tish origins, although with Norman antecedents. the county of in 1402. Further examples Found in the spellings of Atkinson, , Ache- are those of James Aitchesoun, master of the Scot- son, Aicheson, and Aitcheson, it is as a patronymic tish Mint in 1553, and Marc Aichesone or Acheson of form of the medieval male given name Atkin or Adkin, Achesounes hevin (now Morrisons Haven), in 1609. itself a double diminutive of the Hebrew name 'Adam', A very interesting recording is that of John Atkinson, meaning 'red earth'. Adam (as a baptismal name) is aged 24 yrs., who embarked from London on the ship first recorded in the English Domesday Book of 1086, "Bonaventure", bound for Virginia, on Janaury 15th suggesting that it was an introduction after the 1066 1634. He was one of the earliest settlers in the New Invasion. World Colonies. The coat of arms granted in 1604 “Certainly thereafter it became steadily more popular has the blazon of a red field, charged with a gold creating further diminutives such as Adcock and At- bend cotised, and thereon three red helmets. The cock, with the same meaning. Early examples include crest is a wolf head erased. The first recorded spelling Adekin filius Turst (Adekin the son of Turst) in the of the family name is shown to be that of John Atkyn- 1191 Pipe Rolls of Norfolk, and John Adekyn in the soun, which was dated 1387, in the "Records of North 1296 Records of Crowland Abbey, Cambridgeshire. Berwick", Scotland, during the reign of King Robert William Atkyns was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls of 11 of Scotland, 1371 - 1390.”

Cordelia Atkinson was Florence Smurthet (born 1670) of Ripley, Typical Darley countryside Watson’s mother, and our great, who were indeed married on Ja- great grandmother. nuary 14, 1709. But the information Florence herself was born in Man- isn’t very well substantiated, and so ningham, Bradford, but her mother I only include it here as a possibi- gives two places of birth, West End lity. and Thruscross, which are two tiny and adjacent villages in West The theory is that Robert and Alice , about 12 miles west of were the parents of Henry Atkin- Harrogate. son who married Mary Parker They appear on the map above, (born 1706) in Darley, Yorkshire in along with Thornthwaite and Fews- 1733. Henry Atkinson died in 1776. ton, and it is from this area of villa- All of these events are recorded, ges that several generations of and Darley is another of the villa- Atkinson had lived before Cordelia. ges on the map, just up the road For example, in 1651 “it was de- from Thruscross, but there doesn’t manded by ..... Grane or bedell of seem to any reliable evidence to the forest or their deputies should suggest that there really was a link. summon sixteen customary te- That is not to say that it isn’t quite nants of the Lords theird of the plausible. neighboroughood of the Forest that by his writ he was commanded to at Newby, but about 1659 removed they should be at this court to abut do”. to Thruscross in the same county, It is also claimed that they had six limit and seesorts to that aforesaid Just what all that means is hard to he was among the earliest of the children: John Reynard one sufficient and work out, but one of the tenants in converts to the tenets of George Ann Atkinson (1736 – 1776), Ro- common way from acretoyne moss questions was called Robert Atkin- Fox in Yorkshire, and he had at bert Atkinson (1738 – 1739), a se- in Thruscross aforesaid unto one son. least two sons, both of whom came cond Robert Atkinson after the first acre of land and meadow in Thrus- to Pennsylvania (John and Tho- had died (1740 – 1741), James At- cross aforesaid called heist and A study of the various Quaker At- mas).” kinson (1742 – 1760), Henry At- Longridge and Cothams and ac- kinson families of West Jersey, kinson (1744 – 1812) and Alice cordingly to this court came William USA, concludes that “John Atkin- One internet source claims to have Atkinson (1748 – 1749). Bentley Guaine of the said forest son, founder of the line at present traced our Atkinson line all the way Again, I can only assume that there and made his returns of the custo- under consideration, was a Yorks- back to Robert Atkinson (born is evidence somewhere to support mary tenants he has summoned as hireman who lived for many years 1689) of Yorkshire and Alice this, because I have not found it. 108 Henry Atkinson (1744 - 1812) and Jane Meadley (1752 – 1806)

It is then claimed that Robert and Alice’s son Henry Atkinson (born in 1744 in ne- arby Hampsthwaite) was the one that was recorded as marrying in the same vi- llage in 1769, as testified by the local parish records: “Mar. 27 Jas. lllingworth Wit. Wm. Bramley, Fran. Graham Henry Atkinson & Jane Meadley both of this par. by banns April 20.” The witnesses were Robert Petty and William Petty. This seems to be the first claim in the Atkinson line that really does seem likely to be correct. This couple definitely had two children, recorded in the Hampsthwaite parish re- cords, Jane Atkinson (1773), who seems to have died just one year later. Then came Henry Atkinson (1774). It might seem unusual that they took four years to have their first child, but the Hampsthwaite records also state that a Henry Atkinson was also father of Mary Atkinson (1770), Thomas Atkinson (1771 – 1832), William Atkinson (1772 – ), Ann Atkinson (1776 – ), Robert Atkinson (1780 – ) and James Atkinson (1782 – 1853). That would be eight children in total. However, the possibly odd thing is that Jane and Henry are registered to Henry Atkinson Jr. and the other six to simply Henry Atkinson. Whether that matters is unclear, but maybe the other six were born to a different Henry Atkinson of Thornthwaite. But I think that’s unlikely. Hampsthwaite, with the Henry and Jane would be likely to have their first child immediately after marr- school on the left. One of ying, and it seems odd that they should start having children precisely when this the village’s claims to fame other Henry Atkinson took a four-year break from producing offspring. is having six consecutive Henry died in 1812, six years after his wife Jane. consonants in its name. Henry Atkinson (1774 - ) and Elizabeth (1752 – 1806)

It is their son Henry who continues our story, one of the two children who were definitely born to Henry and Jane. This Henry apparently married to a lady ca- UK CENSUS 1841, THRUSCROSS lled Elizabeth (born 1784 in Ripon) and is the man who appears in the 1841 census as a farmer in Thurscross. He is there with two children, Jane (1816) and James (1828). That’s a massive gap between children, but that’s what it says on the census. Maybe there were other children. They had another child before Jane, Robert Atkinson (1815), who would be Cordelia Atkinson’s father. The reason he doesn’t appear on this census is be- ‘retired shoemaker’ and not a farmer as he was before. cause he was already married by this point and appears elsewhere. But his son, Robert, who lived at Stone House after Henry moved back The address given is a curious one – Stone House. That is the name of the to his home village, was recorded as both a farmer and shoe maker, Stone House Inn, in an isolated spot, but that still exists today. which shows that the Atkinsons were both. But there is no indication here of any publican working at Stone House, just the Henry Atkinson died a year after that entry was made, aged 78. Metcalfe’s down the road at the Gate Inn (1699-1960). I can’t work out what became of either James or Jane, their two youn- After a bit of investigation (see following page), I have discovered that some un- ger children. founded claims have been made as to the antiquity of the Stone House Inn. No There are Atkinsons called James and Jane all over the place for the it hasn’t been an inn for three centuries, as some have claimed. In the early next few decades, many of which don’t give any more accurate place 19th century it was Henry Atkinson’s farmhouse. of birth than ‘Yorkshire’ and there are none that are immediately ob- In 1851, Henry and Elizabeth are still around, now recorded as living just up the vious as being either of them. road in Thornthwaite, now on their own. There seems little doubt that these Neither can I find any further record of his wife Elizabeth, who must are the same people, so it is curious that Henry now gives his profession as a have died fairly shortly after. UK CENSUS 1851, THORNTHWAITE

Henry Jane Meadley Atkinson

1744

Jane Atkinson Henry Elizabeth Atkinson Atkinson

1773 1774 ~1784

Robert Harriet Jane Atkinson James tkinson tkinson A A Atkinson ~1815 - 1891 ~1816 - 1880 ~1816 ~1828

Sarah Ann Elizabeth Mary Atkinson Henry James Cordelia William Atkinson Atkinson Atkinson Atkinson Atkinson Watson

~1837 ~1839 ~1842 ~1847 ~1849 ~1849 - 1913 1851 - 1883 109 THE STONE HOUSE INN, THRUSCROSS - THE TRUE STORY

Henry Atkinson was a farmer and cobbler who in 1841 was living at a century and later applied for a beer licence. In 1869 a Jesse Peel took over, ins- place called Stone House in Thruscross. In 1851, his oldest son, Ro- talled a brewing plant and also sold beer wholesale on a dray. One of his des- bert was doing the same there, with his wife, Harriet. cendants, Edith Townson, who is 90 this year, still lives nearby.” Nowadays, this is the site of the Stone House Inn, which was almost However, it really does seem that the claim that the inn had been serving the closed down in 2005. As one story explained at the time “In these days community for three centuries is just the kind of typical historical claim that has of doom and gloom it's heartening to hear of something that's gone no basis in fact. right for a change. “The Stone House Inn, at Thruscross, two miles up Our own ancestors lived there in the early 19th century, where they were both the Pateley Bridge road from Blubberhouses, has been serving the farmers and cobblers, but nowhere is there any indication that Stone House local community for three centuries. It was closed three years ago by served food or drink to the public, and there is no census reference to it being the previous owners who claimed it was no longer viable as a pub and an inn, coaching house or anything of the sort until the aforementioned Jesse was due to be turned into houses. The locals mobilised, opposing the Peel was there in the 1871 census. And the people could smoke. plan and Harrogate Council finally rejected the redevelopment. The Yet another site gives a slightly different version of the history of Stone House. Rawson family from North Leeds bought the place and reopened it in This one, ‘Pubs and Inns in Nidderdale and the Washburn Valley’ says that February as a non-smoking pub.” “The Stone House was originally an 18th century built farm until in 1868 when Another report of the story explains that “The Stone House Inn has Jesse Peel (whose brother John ran the nearby Gate Inn) was granted a li- existed as a public house for at least 300 years and is thought to have cence and ran the pub for forty five years.” been an old coaching house before that. A Joe Topham is known to This version of events does make sense. John Peel at the Gate Inn, which have sold home-brewed ginger beer there at 2d a pint in the early 19th existed until 1960, does indeed appear on the census. On the reopening of the Stone House Inn, as the first non-smoking pub in the Dales, Thruscross Parish Meeting chairman, retired local farmer, John Verity, said: “There have been enough difficulties in the countryside with local ame- nities disappearing. The Stone House Inn has been a local meeting place for hundreds of years and people wanted it to remain open. We are delighted that this is the case.” It’s nice to see the Stone House Inn open again, but the misguided claims that it has been serving drinks for 300 years is also wiping out the history of Henry and Robert’s noble attempts to run a farm and cobble shoes, which is what was really happening at Stone House in the early 19th century. It has been an inn since about 1869. Before that, it was the Atkinsons farm. Let it not be remembered for something it was not. 110 Robert Atkinson (1815 – 1891) and Harriet Atkinson (1816 – 1880)

Robert Atkinson is a kind of missing link that tied the whole of Florence Watson’s mother’s past together. In 1841, he was not living with his parents, for he had already married to a lady called Harriet, whose maiden name I have not managed to work out. I can’t find any Harriet of any surname born, as she states, in Thruscross. In 1841, they already had their first two children, six year old Sarah and two-year old Elizabeth. They are living just two homes away from Stone House, where the se- nior Atkinsons were living, theirs being one of a number of homes listed under Thruscross Green, a place where in 2005 “signs of possible pre- historic settlement, in the form of hut circles and carved rocks” were dis- covered. Apparently “the name Thruscross seems to have been derived either from the Norse name of Thorin or the Anglo Scandinavian Thur or Thor and combined with cross which may relate to a boundary, landowners- hip or waymarker.” There is not much left there now, almost all of the houses are now de- relict. In 1851, Robert’s parents had moved back to Thornthwaite, and it is now he himnself, Robert, who is living at Stone House. And the entry also clears up the mystery of Robert Atkinson’s father’s contrasting professions. Robert has obviously taken over where his re- tired father left off, and is now a ‘farmer and shoemaker’, so they did both. And he could even take on a local apprentice in John Moorhouse, who was living with them. Pretty much all that is left of Thruscross these days - Once again there is no reference whatsoever to Stone House being an derelict and abandoned buildings. inn, it was merely the farm, which substantiates the idea that it didn’t really become an inn until Jesse Peel got his licence in 1869. UK CENSUS 1841, THRUSCROSS GREEN Robert and Harriet have all their children with them in 1851. After two daughters to begin with, they then had two more. First came Mary and then Cordelia. They seem to have made a right pig’s ear of trying to work out how to write her name, here it seems to be Kordeliah or something like that, the first of a number of different spellings she would have over the years. Finally, came two sons, Henry and James. UK CENSUS 1851, STONE HOUSE, THRUSCROSS

UK CENSUS 1861, EAST GATE, THRUSCROSS

UK CENSUS 1871, EAST GATE, THRUSCROSS

UK CENSUS 1881, ROTTEN ROW, THRUSCROSS

UK CENSUS 1891, ROTTEN ROW, THRUSCROSS 111 Over the next decade there was a massive exo- PATELEY REACES dus of Atkinson children. All of the girls and James (Anonymous traditional Yorkshire poem) as well were gone by the time of the 1861 census. They had also left the Stone House and were li- Attention all, baith great an' small, Awd Billy Broon lost hauf a croon ving at a place called East Gate. An' doan't screw up your feaces; Wi' Taty-Hawker backin', Robert no longer appears to be farming, he is just While I rehearse i' simple verse, For Green Crag flew, ower t' hurdles true, a shoe maker, and his son Henry is working with A count o' Pateley Reaces. An' wan t' match like a stockin'. him. Absolutely nothing had changed when the Fra all ower moors they com by scores 1871 census was conducted. Same three people, Girt skelpin' lads an' lasses; An' Creaven Lass won lots o' brass, same jobs, same house. An' cats an' dogs, an' coos an' hogs, Besides delightin' t' Brockils, An' horses, mules an' asses. An' Eva danc'd, an' rear'd and pranc'd; Harriet died in 1880, leaving Robert a 65 year old An gif she stood o' cockles. widower, and it was probably because of that that Awd foaks were thar, fra near an' far, But t' donkey reace were star o' t' pleace, one of their daughters, 42 year old Elizabeth, who At couldn't fairly hopple; For awd an' young observers; still hadn’t married, moved in as their housekee- An' laffin' brats, as wild as cats, 'Twad meade a nun fra t' convent run per, while her father and brother continued making Ower heeads an' heels did topple. An' ne'er again be nervous. shoes (and now boots as well). The Darley lads arrived i' squads, They are now living in the delightfully named Rot- Wi' smiles all ower their feaces; Young pronsy flirts, i' drabbl'd skirts, ten Row, which may actually be the same place An' Hartwith youths, wi' screwed-up mooths, Like painted peeacocks stritches; they lived in before, if not it wouldn’t be very far In wonder watched the reaces. While girt chignons like milkin'-cans away. On their top-garrits perches. Rotten Row still exists in some form today. A hi- Fra Menwith Hill, and Folly Gill, Lile pug-nosed Nell, fra Kettlewell, king/jogging online forum suggests the following Thorngat, an' Deacon Paster, Com in her Dolly Vardin, route “Park at Thruscross reservoir car park. Run Fra Thruscross Green, an' t' heets were seen All frill'd an' starch'd she proodly march'd over dam, follow road up for about 1km. Take left Croods coomin' thick an' faster. Wi' squintin' Joe fra Bardin. gate/un-signed path, above Rotten Row houses, All kinds and sorts o' games an' sports, over rough ground, head to water tower, follow Had Pateley chaps provided, Tha're mushroom fops, fra' fields an' shops, path to Padside Green.” An' weel did t' few their business do Fine cigarettes were sookin', By the time of the 1891 census, Robert was in his At ower 'em all persided. An' lots o' youths, wi' beardless mooths, mid seventies, and was no longer making shoes, All kinds o' pipes were smookin'. having left the business in the hands of his 44 year 'T'wad tak a swell a munth to tell An' when at last the sports were past, old son Henry, who was still single, as was Eliza- All t' ins an' t' oots o' t' reaces, All heamward turn'd their feaces; beth, who was now 52 and still the housekeeper. Hoo far they ran, which horses wan, To ne'er relent at e'er they spent That was Robert’s last census entry. He died in An' which were back'd for pleaces. A day wi' Pateley Reaces. June 1891, aged 76. Cordelia Atkinson (1844 – 1913) UK CENSUS 1861, VICTORIA STREET, BRADFORD

UK CENSUS 1871, 53, BOWLAND STREET, MANNINGHAM, BRADFORD

UK CENSUS 1911, 35, VICTORIA ROAD, SALTAIRE

There is very little to be said about Florence Watson’s mother that hasn’t already been told either in this section on the Atkinsons or in the section on her husband William Watson. She gives three different places of birth on different censuses: flat with another dress maker called Frances Maria Hudd , who must have been a Thruscross, Fewston and West End, all of which are part of the friend and/or colleague. same general cluster of villages, but it seems that Stone House A bit of a touchy issue this one. Cordelia and her friend may well have been making was her childhood home. dresses, but it is also correct to say that in 19th century censuses, ladies often used By the time of the 1861 census, she had left her country life be- the terms ‘dressmaker’ and ‘seamstress’ as euphemisms for a slightly less reputa- hind her and was a live-in servant for the Read family in the West ble trade. I’m not saying Cordelia was a prostitute, just that ... well, it’s not a possi- End of Bradford. I can’t read what the head of the household, Ben- bility we can completely ignore. jamin Read did, but he was employing six men and three ap- A year later she married, in September 1872, to William Watson, who we know was prentices. He and his wife had four daughters aged 4, 3, 1 and a from a family of millers, but he himself was working as a blacksmith’s assistant. newborn baby who didn’t appear to even have a name yet. She William was born in 1851, meaning Cordelia was actually seven years older than was just called ‘baby’. he was. In 1871, Cordelia was 26 at the time of the census, and was now And here something curious happens. Because in the next census, that of 1881, living in the Manningham district of Bradford, lodging at 53, Bo- Cordelia is suddenly giving her age as 32. There is no way she was 32, she would wland Street and working as a dress maker. She was sharing the have been about 36 or 37 at the time, in keeping with her previous census entries. 112 There is no doubt that we have the right people here. I have no record of who any of these were, or when they were born, or Even though they were now living in London, Cordelia gives her correct when they died, but they must all have died very young because they birthplace, as does William, and they have their two children Florence and never appeared on any of her census entries. Hettie. And then in the 1891 census, now back living in Shipley, Cordelia is a Especially with Cordelia being such an unusual name, there can be no dress maker once more, her two daughters are working in the mills, and confusion here – it looks like Cordelia, who was seven years older than she has returned to using her correct age once again, 46. her husband, simply lied about her age. In 1901, Cordelia was now retired, which seems quite unusual, as she Whether this was to impress her husband, to impress the Watsons, or had presumably didn’t have that much money to fall back on, but perhaps her something to do with her ‘dressmaking’, we do not know. daughters, who were both in their twenties and still living with their mum It is particularly interesting that her own daughter, Florence, also seems in Shipley while working in the mills, were supporting her. to have knocked a few years off her age when she got married to George By the time of the 1911 census, both Cordelia’s daughters had married Fisk. So was Florence just putting into practice a little family trick she had and left home. She was now living on her own on what she describes as learned off her mother? ‘private means’ at 35, Victoria Road, Saltaire. It seems that the London experience was something of a disaster all Both of her daughters had manged to marry surprisingly well considering round, and Cordelia and William were back in Yorkshire by 1883, when for their troubled and humble background. Hettie married Ernest Bovingdon, some reason, William died and left Cordelia a widow at the age of 39 with and lived in Shipley, where she even had a private servant looking after nine year old Florence and six year old Hettie to bring up on her own. her, so she could probably manage to send some money her mother’s However, the 1911 census asks additional questions, one of which is not way as well. just how many children a person had, but also how many they had had Florence, meanwhile, had married George Fisk and in 1907 they left for that had died. China. Cordelia was about 63 when Florence set sail, and it was probably And here Cordelia states that she had two living children, but also three the last time she saw her daughter. that had died (none of them at birth). In 1913, Cordelia died in Shipley at the age of 69. The other children of Robert Atkinson and Harriet Atkinson

Florence Watson’s mother Cordelia was the fourth child and fourth daughter of Robert Atkinson and Harriet. Two brothers came after her.

Sarah Ann Atkinson the oldest of the four girls, born in 1837. In 1851 she was 14, and still at school, which was quite unusual for a girl of her age in rural Victorian Yorkshire. Not that all that education seemed to do her much good, because by the time of the 1861 census, she was no more than a humble housemaid, having moved to the big lights of Manningham, where Cordelia would also move a few years later. She and a German cook called Johanna Luders were serving John Koppel and his wife Mathilde, who were from Germany but now ‘naturalised British subjects’. John was a worsted merchant. Shipley Hall, where Elizabeth Atkinson was once a servant, and now a nursing home. Sarah was still serving in 1861, this time for the brothers - was educated at Mill Hill School, As for his former housemaid, Sarah Ann Atkinson, I Dale family in Claremont, Bradford. The Dales ran London. Unlike his brothers, he did not join have no idea what became of her. what seems to have been a fairly large printing, bo- the textile company of his father Titus. Ins- okbinding and bookselling business. Despite ha- tead he took up farming, an occupation he Elizabeth Atkinson (1839) moved to Shipley and ving four daughters of adult age living with them pursued for many years. The early 1870s also became a servant, at Shipley Hall, built by Sir and seemingly not working, they felt it better to em- found Herbert running a farm on the Beau- Edward Leche in the 1630, and owned at the time ploy Sarah and a cook to do all the housework. lieu estate in the New Forest. He subse- by a merchant called Thomas Arton. That was where In 1881, she had moved to Skipton, not far away quently moved to the Yorkshire Dales, she was registered in 1861, while in 1871, by which from Kildwick, where all the Watsons had come living at Carla Beck House, a mansion time she was 30, she was still a servant and still in from (William Watson would marry her sister). She which still stands outside Carleton, near Shipley, but now for a George Hargreaves at 18, was living at Carla Beck House, and serving Her- Skipton.” Herbert Street in Saltaire is Bradford Road. bert Salt, who was the son of none other than named after him. A decade later, her mother Harriet had recently died, Tutus Salt himself, the owner of Salt’s Mill. Herbert moved to London shortly after that, and still unmarried, she returned to Thruscross to An internet site about Saltaire says that “the life of where he married Elizabeth Farrell, and keep house for her father and younger brother Herbert Salt (1840 - 1912) followed a different path after having four children, his wife died, Henry. When her father Robert also died, she sta- to those of his siblings. Born on the 28th birthday whereupon he married his wife’s sister, yed there with her brother Henry, and brother and of his mother Caroline, Herbert - like several of his who also died shortly after. sister, who never appear to have married, were still living together in their late father’s house in 1901, both now in their sixties.

Mary (1842) I have nothing on after she was nine years old in the 1851 census. Maybe she died young, or maybe she married, but I have no record of either.

After Cordelia came the first son, Henry (1847). He never left Thruscross. He helped his father with the farm and the shoemaking, and then carried on doing the same after Robert retired, and also after he died. His sister Elizabeth came home to serve the family when their mother died, and in 1901 they were still there, Elizabeth keeping house and her brother far- ming and making shoes.

James (1849) was only 13 at the time of the 1851 census, but doesn’t appear with the family and there Carla Beck House, where Sarah Ann Atkinson served one of Titus Salt’s sons. is no further record of him, so he most probably died. 113 THE SUBMERGING OF THRUSCROSS AND WEST END

If Cordelia Atkinson were alive today, and decided to take a visit to her childhood home, she would have a shock. She wouldn’t be surprised to see that Stone House was now an inn. Jesse Peel started serving ale there way back in 1869, and Cordelia herself probably went in there from time to time when she was visiting her brother Henry and sister Elizabeth, who still lived in Thruscross in the 20th century. What would shock her, though, would be the view. She would remem- ber looking down from the Stone House on the valley below, over the villages of Thruscross and the church at West End. But now they are gone, and in there place is a reservoir. In 1960, Yorkshire Water decided to flood the valley and create Thrus- cross Reservoir. The work was completed in 1966, and West End and most of Thruscross disappeared underwater. The villages had been in decline for a century, all the way back to the Atkinsons’ times. One website explains that “in 1960, the axe which had been poised over the village of West End finally fell and a start was made on the Thruscross scheme. “West End could look back on an attractive past and a small measure of former importance. In the early nineteenth century, five waterwheels had turned in this stretch of the valley, at mills working cotton, hemp and corn. “As the water rose to inundate some 142 acres, it submerged the little Cottages in West End. These were demolished to make way for the cons- Gate Inn of 1699 [the one run by John Peel, brother of Jesse Peel at truction of Thruscross Reservoir. When the reservoir water level falls it is the Stone House], the small village school which had begun as a dame possible to see the foundations of the old buildings. school and the picturesque chapel of 1688 which gained church status in the nineteenth century. “Prior to the flooding, the remaining houses in West End were demolished, the villagers were rehoused and a new church was built above the high water mark from stones re- moved from a ruined West End mill. “A century of decline and uncertainty came to an end in the valley, which had once bustled to the clatter of water-powered mill gear, slumbered in the silence of a chain of artificial lakes.” “As an industrial village, West End was do- omed before the administrators of Leeds cast their gaze upon it, and the decay was apparent in 1895 when Bradley wrote that the day of what he now saw as a dreamy hamlet had long departed: “The mills which formerly gave it some im- portance are now at rest, haven fallen into decay, and are gradually approaching utter ruin.” “At the cost of the disruption of a few va- lley households, some fine monuments to industrial archaeology and the beauty of a Pennine valley, the citizens of the teeming conurbation to the south were able to drink more deeply. “The Thruscross decision may well have Photo taken a year before the valley was flooded. The interior fittings of the Holy Trinity Church, the been a right one, but one wonders how altar, pulpit, font and stained glass windows, were removed for incorporation in a new church builds a many other little valley communities may few hundred yards uphill. Many of the bodies in the graveyard, which would have included some At- live unwittingly in the shadow of a thirsty kinsons, were exhumed and are now in a cemetery on the Greenhow Hill Toad. metropolis?” The last service was held by candlelight on Monday, October 11th. towardsWest End the Low Mill,water. shown inCross the picture the below, footbridge. was closed in 1850. Part of it still sticks out above the water (right). 114

In years of drought, such as the one in 1990 shown in the picture, Thruscross Reservoir becomes quite an attraction when the water level drops and the remains of the sunken villages reemerge. The picture shows how the old bridge is still standing.

ROUND BY DEEP WATER Walking round Thruscross, from the tops of pines we heard the sighs of drowned lives whispering the names of lost fields. Mary Sara 2005