Chorley's Inns and Taverns: Longridge

Name: Mason's Arms

Address: 10 Fell Brow, Longridge

10 Fell Brow

As its name suggests, the Mason's Arms was originally the home of a stonemason, Joshua Parsons and his family and was one of the stone dwellings on the right hand side towards the top of Fell Brow, approaching the junction with Kestor Lane. Joshua was born and bred in Alston and no doubt worked in one of the nearby quarries.

Many of the properties have been demolished over the last century or so to make way for new development but numbers 9 and 10 still stand and are residences to this day. The exact location of the beer house is difficult to pin down due to changes in the numbering on census records, appearing as either 10 or 12 Fell Brow but I suspect number 10 to have been the correct location due to the size of the plot, which at one stage would have included a brewhouse and stables.

9 & 10 Fell Brow (Google)

This beerhouse was brought into being as a result of the revolution for pubs that was the Beerhouse Act of 1830, which liberalised the regulations enabling anyone to brew and sell beer on payment of a licence costing two guineas. Landlords set up shop, often in their front rooms to supplement their main income.

The intention was to increase competition between brewers, and it resulted in the opening of 56,000 beer houses across the country by 1836; the rapidly expanding industrial centres of the North of England saw their fair share.

It was also hoped that by increasing competition in the brewing and sale of beer, and thus lowering its price, the population might be weaned off their favourite tipple, gin…current trends seem to indicate we are going full circle!

Whilst the act may have been good news for the breweries and increased employment in towns and cities the knock-on effect on public morality was something of much debate in the House of Commons.

'The new beer bill has begun its operations. Everybody is drunk. Those who are not singing are sprawling. The Sovereign people are in a beastly state…indescribable orgies occurred, accompanied by gambling, brutal amusements and licentiousness'

(Sidney Smith - House of Commons 1833)

Another by-product was the “tied-house” system, as landlords had to borrow money from the brewers to make improvements before Magistrates would grant and renew licences. In exchange they promised to buy supplies exclusively from the breweries.

1892 Map Fell Brow

Listed landlords were Joshua Parsons (1841-53), Jenny Parsons (1853-60), William Parsons (1860-70), John Parkinson (1871-), James Lonsdale (1879-), Betsy Lonsdale (1881-), William Lowe (1889-91), Elizabeth Ann Ogden (1901) and George Tyson Hewartson (1905).

1841 Census Joshua Parsons

Neither the 1841 nor 1851 census make reference to the beer house although this doesn't mean it wasn't existence at that time but enumerators often only listed the householder's primary occupation on the censuses.

1851 Census Joshua Parsons

Two years after the 1851 census Joshua died at the tender age of 42 years leaving his wife Jane and eldest son William to run the business. It may be that following his death the family needed to supplement their income and opened up their home as a beer house.

Burial: 6 Mar 1853 St Lawrence, Longridge, Lancashire, England

Joshua Parsons - Age: 42

Abode: Alston

Buried by: W C Bache

Register: Burials 1848 - 1879, Page 16, Entry 127

Rear Garden/Yard 10 Fell Brow

1861 Census William Parsons

Preston Herald - Saturday 22 September 1866

Preston Herald - Saturday 21 September 1867

Preston Herald - Saturday 11 September 1869

Burial: 2 Feb 1870 St Lawrence, Longridge, Lancashire, England

William Parsons - Age: 36

Abode: Alston

Buried by: W C Bache

Register: Burials 1848 - 1879, Page 97, Entry 771

1871 Census John Parkinson

John Parkinson was another local man, born in Dilworth and had previously worked as a shop keeper and coal dealer living next door to the Swarbrick's Arms in 1861 and probably moved into the Mason's Arms around 1870.

Preston Herald - Saturday 31 July 1875

1910 Map Fell Brow

Preston Chronicle - Saturday 17 May 1879

1881 Census Betsy Lonsdale

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Monday 29 August 1881

1883 Marriage of Betsy Lonsdale

In the years after her marriage to John Hindle the couple moved to 23, Edward Street in Preston where they ran the Ashcroft Arms for a number of years in the late 1880s. Further details of this pub can be found on Steve Halliwell's excellent blog link below>>

Ashcroft Arms

Preston Herald - Wednesday 11 December 1889

William Lowe took over behind the bar at the Mason's Arms during the mid-1880s and following John Hindle's death c.1890 Betsy moved to the Bull's Head on Corporation Street in 1895.

Preston Herald - Saturday 17 January 1891

1891 Census William Lowe

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 22 August 1891

Entrance to "Yard"

Preston Herald - Wednesday 11 December 1898

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 02 March 1901

1901 Census Elizabeth Ann Ogden

Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 04 November 1901

The 1904 Licensing Act was to have a markedly different effect on the pub scene, reducing the number of licensed premises, in particular the beer houses over the next few decades.

Supported by a surge in the Temperance movement the Act introduced a national scheme where Licensing Magistrates could refuse to renew a pub’s licence if it was considered there were too many pubs in an area or they were not of sufficient quality.

The Great War also added weight to the argument for the sake of national security…

'Drink is doing more damage in the War than all the German submarines put together'

(Lloyd George speech 28 February 1915)

Compensation was paid both to the owner of the premises and the licensee, although typically only about 10% went to the licensee. In the first two decades of the 20th century hundreds of pubs were to close in Lancashire as a result of the new act.

So it was that the fate of the Mason's Arms was sealed in 1907...