Mawdesley - Jolly Farmer Pub

Name: The Jolly Farmer Pub

Address: Smithy Lane, Mawdesley

Thomas & Margaret Cowley c.1900's presumably with two
of their grandchildren stood outside

The Jolly Farmer pub was built in 1770 and was the home of the Cowley family from the 1850's until very recently.  The original landlord is not known to me but Thomas Cowley was a farmer and beer house keeper and lived there from sometime in the 1850's until his death in 1912 and descendants continued to own the property until at least 2010 when a Richard Cowley is named on a planning application made to Chorley Borough Council for change of use.

The property has been known as, "The Willows Farm" for well over a century as it was originally a site for the weaving of willow baskets , located in close proximity to a willow wood to the east. The farm now comprises Two Grade II Listed residential properties dating to 1770 and a third dating to the 1900's. The original house is the easterly part of the property and this dates to 1770. This is the Grade II Listed element of the property with the westerly addition dating to 1900's. 

Date Stone on the Willows

Listed residents at the property were Thomas Cobham (1841-52), Thomas Cowley (1850's-1912), Thomas Cowley Jnr. and Richard Cowley (2010).

1841 Census

  

1851 Census

The first mention I can find of Thomas Cowley associated with the Inn in the press cutting below when he was victorious in a pigeon match.  Hugh Ainscough was undoubtedly the owner of the property and not the landlord. as the Ainscoughs were wealthy landowners thereabouts and Thomas went on to marry into the family (see below).

Preston Chronicle 12 June 1852

Thomas Cowley married Margaret Ainscough in 1854 and presumably moved into the Willows shortly afterwards.  The nearest property to the Willows is Lane Ends Farm and this belonged to the Finch family who were one of the main landowners in the area and were also related to the Cowleys through the marriage of Thomas Cowley (Uncle) and Margaret Finch in 1821 at St Peter and St Paul, Ormskirk.

1861 Census

1871 Census

1881 Census

1891 Census

1901 Census

1911 Census

1912 Probate record of Thomas Cowley