Eccleston - Bee Hive Inn

Name: Bee Hive Inn

Address: Towngate, Eccleston

An old Eccleston farm

The Bee Hive Inn was located on the east side of Towngate roughly opposite the Blue Anchor Inn and was exclusively the home of the Parr family who were beer sellers and farmers. The building no longer stands, having been demolished in the mid-late 1900s to make way for new housing. 

I don't have a confirmed photo of the Inn but the above photo of an old farm in Eccleston seems to bear a close resemblance to the buildings' outlines and their proximity to the road shown on the map below of the farm opposite the Blue Anchor, next door to Hilton House Farm, as it appears on the enumerator's route on the census records.

1909 25 inch Map

The first landlord was Aaron Parr, who was born in nearby Heskin around 1811 and was the son of a weaver.

1841 Census

By 1845 Aaron was working as a farmer in Eccleston and married Nancy Hart, a farmer's daughter from Heskin in St Mary's Church just up the road. By the time of the 1851 census they had two children, Margaret and Thomas and were living at a farm on Bradley Lane in Eccleston.

1851 Census

Baptism: 12 Jun 1853 St Mary the Virgin, Eccleston, Lancashire

William Parr - Son of Aaron Parr & Nancy

Abode: Eccleston

Occupation: Publican

Baptised by: Wm. P. Wandby Offg. Minister

Register: Baptisms 1847 - 1900, Page 35, Entry 274

Source: LDS Film 1526114

1855 Polling Record

The polling records for the village in 1855 confirm the Parrs had moved and Aaron was the landlord of the Blue Anchor on Towngate, but this was only to be short-lived, as by the end of 1855 they had moved up the road to Whalley House working the farm. Nevertheless, it appears their time at the Anchor had given him a taste for running his own beerhouse.

Whalley House and Whalley House Cottage

1861 Census

Sometime during the 1860s the Parrs moved to a small farm on Towngate from where he started his own beerhouse, the Bee Hive Inn.

1871 Census

1876 Polling Record

THE ORMSKIRK ADVERTISER THURSDAY

Bartholomew Hodson for being drunk at the licensed premises of Aaron Parr at Eccleston on the 17th July was fined 20s costs, this being his third offence within a period of twelve months...

Published: Thursday 09 August 1877

Newspaper: Ormskirk Advertiser

County: Lancashire, England

1879 Burial of Aaron Parr

Aaron Parr died at the age of 67 years and his wife Nancy then took over the business. Thereafter she is recorded as Ann on all historical records but is confirmed as being Nancy on all census and birth records prior to that time, her date and location of birth confirming it was the same person. She ran the Inn until her death in 1895 assisted by her adult children.

1881 Census

1891 Census

Burial: 11 Oct 1895 St Mary the Virgin, Eccleston, Lancashire

Ann Parr - Age: 87

Abode: Eccleston

Buried by: H. W. Bretherton Rector

Register: Burials 1850 - 1900, Page 188, Entry 1503

Source: LDS Film 1526114

1901 Census

Eldest daughter Margret took over behind the bar after Ann's death, but sometime in the early 1900s the reins were handed over to her youngest brother James, who ran it until 1912 when the license was finally revoked by the Magistrates and compensation paid under the recent changes brought about by the Licensing Act of 1904. This was probably due to the presence of several other well-established inns being within a stone's throw of the beerhouse. 

1911 Census

COMPENSATION AUTHORITY MEET AT PRESTON

Jolly Tar Inn, Jolly Tar-lane, Coppull; ante 1869 beer licence. Grey Horse Inn, School Lane, Euxton; ante 1869 beer licence. Bee Hive Inn, Towngate, Eccleston; ante 1869...

Published: Monday 10 June 1912

Newspaper: Lancashire Evening Post

After the Inn closed I suspect James continued working the farm until his own death in 1924, his probate record below confirming that the farmhouse had then reverted to being called, 'Bee Hive House'.