Queen's Hotel

Name: The Queen's Hotel

Address: 52, Chapel Street, Chorley

The Queen's Hotel on Chapel Street first appeared on local records in the mid-1860s and remained open right through into the 2000's.  It is an iconic building directly opposite the Shepherds' Hall where the new micro-pub, the Shepherds' Hall Ale House has now opened. 

Listed landlords at the Queen's Hotel were Henry Croston (1865), William Brightmore (1871), Philip Tatley (-1872), Richard Watson (1872-), James Ashworth (1872-73), Richard Watson (1874), Samuel Elsworth (1876-78), Charles Parker (1881), William H Webb (1882), John T Gillet (1889-91), Joseph Greenwood (1901-09), Joseph Halliwell (1911), Mrs Blond (1916), Thomas Blond (1921), Thomas Carey (1926) and William S Ostle (1936).

1871 Census

Burnley Gazette - Saturday 27 May 1871

J Grimshaw Ltd, Keirby Brewery, 15/20 Church Street, Burnley, Lancashire was founded in about 1840 by John Keirby jnr at Lob Lane, Marsden, near Burnley. It was also known as the Well Hall or House Brewery. J Grimshaw Ltd was registered in 1897 to acquire the business of James Grimshaw, possibly related to Keirby by marriage and acquired by Massey's Burnley Brewery Ltd in 1928 with 120 tied houses...the brewery on Todmorden Road was closed in 1931.

Well Hall Brewery courtesy of Brewery History

Wigan Observer and District Advertiser - Friday 20 September 1872

Chorley Guardian - Saturday 19 October 1872

Chorley Guardian - Saturday 17 May 1873

Todmorden Advertiser and Hebden Bridge Newsletter - Friday 15 December 1876

Burnley Express - Saturday 16 March 1878

1881 Census

Manchester Evening News - Friday 17 June 1881

Preston Herald - Saturday 03 May 1890

c.2003

Preston Herald - Saturday 12 July 1890

1891 Census

Lancashire Evening Post - Monday 07 March 1892

Preston Herald - Wednesday 01 February 1893

1901 Census

Lancashire Evening Post - Saturday 01 December 1906

Like many of the publicans' families in Chorley around the turn of the 20th century the Greenwoods were also to grieve for one of their own as a result of casualties in the First World War.

William Greenwood was son of Joseph and Nancy Greenwood.

"Enlisted September, 1914, and served in Egypt and France. Took part in the Somme Battle, where he was gassed and wounded, 1st July, 1916. Killed 8th December, 1917, by a gas shell, whilst doing transport duty on the battle front. Attended St George's Church."

On the basis of the location of his grave, he probably ended up in Baus Guillaume General Hospital in connected cemetery - near Rouen. 

The CWGC notes that he was the husband of Mary Jane Greenwood of 49 Bolton Road, Chorley.

His photograph appears in the Chorley Guardian of 15/8/1917. His address is given as Bolton Road. He was aged 30 and was a joiner by trade.

William Greenwood married Mary Jane Brown at St George's Church, Chorley, in 1916. Williams  and Garwood "Chorley Pals" gives his parents as Kate and Thomas Greenwood but no match can be found on census returns. He died at No 8 General Hospital. Williams and Garwood suggest that he married was after he had been wounded at Serre on 1/7//1916.

The 1901 Census has him at 52 Chapel Street, Queens Hotel, Chorley: Joseph Greenwood (50, Born in Blackburn), Nancy Greenwood (50, Born in Tottington), Mary A Greenwood (21, Born in Chorley), Margaret Greenwood (19, Born in Chorley), William Greenwood (13, Born in Chorley) and Florrie Greenwood (8, Born in Chorley). 

The 1911 Census has him at 2 Peel Street, Chorley: Nancy Greenwood (60, Head, Widow, [scored out: Married 39 years, 9 children, 6 living, 3 dead], Born in Chorley), William Greenwood (23, Son, Joiner, Builder, Worker, Born in Chorley), Florrie Greenwood (18, Daughter, Weaver, Cotton, Born in Chorley). 

Information kindly provided by local historian Adam Cree (August 2017)

Wigan Observer and District Advertiser - Thursday 24 June 1909

1911 Census

St. Helens Examiner - Saturday 14 October 1916

1921 Census Thomas Blond

Lancashire Evening Post - Tuesday 13 April 1926

Lancashire Evening Post - Wednesday 05 October 1955

The Queen's closed for business a number of years ago and was starting to fall into disrepair... 

...until the summer of 2015 when work began to convert the former hotel into residential accommodation, which is now complete; an iconic landmark in Chorley that will survive for many years to come.