Clayton-le-Woods - Halfway House

Name: The Halfway House aka Dantes

Address: Preston Road, Clayton-le-Woods, Chorley

The Halfway House has been a feature on Clayton Green since the early 1800's and is a thriving business today known more familiarly as Dante's. Like many beer houses the Halfway House started life as a farm and the occupants later diversified into the brewing industry.  The map below shows the property was fairly isolated in the mid-1840's on the main Chorley to Preston road between Clayton Green and Whittle-le-Woods to the south.  

1848 Map

1841 Census

The first listed landlord at the pub was a Margaret Houghton, who is shown above on the 1841 census. In 1851 the tenants were the Eccles family, the pub being run by Bernard Eccles, previously the landlord of the Cross Keys in nearby Whittle-le-Woods c.1841. 

1851 Census

This is supported by the newspaper cutting below advertising an auction at the Halfway House in 1852, referred to it as the house of Mr Bernard Eccles who I suspect was the father of John recorded above...John's son Bernard is also recorded on the record.

Shown below is another 1851 census record for a Joseph Halliwell and his wife Mary who was working as a shopkeeper and farmer further up Preston Road towards the Toll House. He was later to take over as the landlord in the mid-1850's and the family then ran the business until the 1890's.  

1851 Census (Joseph Halliwell)

Preston Chronicle 01 May 1852

Preston Chronicle 12 June 1852

Prior to Joseph Halliwell's tenancy it appears the pub was briefly in the hands of a Mary Anderton whose son's death was the subject of the article below.

Preston Chronicle 25 June 1853

1861 Census

1871 Census

1881 Census

1891 Census

Lancashire Evening Post 14 September 1892

1960s

Lancashire Evening Post 12 February 1901

Joseph Halliwell died in 1889 (aged 70 yrs) leaving his second wife Ann to run the business; in 1891 she is shown as a "Hotel Proprietor" but by 1901 she'd moved and a Joseph Kershaw had taken over behind the bar.

1901 Census

Lancashire Evening Post 29 May 1907

1911 Census

The 1911 Census saw another landlord in residence, William Henry Wilding.  In the post WW1 era Thomas Baxendale was the landlord and more recently it has been run by Peter Milnes who has also run the nearby Ley Inn for well over 25 years.

Lancashire Evening Post 08 September 1930

Lancashire Evening Post 01 November 1937