Name: The Black Horse Hotel
Address: 252 Pall Mall, Chorley, Lancashire
The Black Horse Hotel on Pall Mall is one of the oldest pubs still open in Chorley today although it has seen several closures over the last few decades.
Directory and Census records show the succession of landlords from 1818 through to 1936 as James Foster
(1818-35), Thomas Hart (1835-41), Mary Moore (1841), Thomas Gudgeon (1842), Thomas Blackledge (1851-57), William Westhead (1861), Hannah Markland (1865-76), William Pendlebury (1879), George Worthington (1881-82), John Laycock (1889-90), Daniel Farnworth (1891), William Massey (1901-11), Joseph Saxon (1921) and James W Lucas (1936).
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| 1841 Census |
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| Preston Chronicle 29 October 1842 |
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| 1851 Census |
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| Preston Chronicle 09 November 1850 |
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| Preston Chronicle 12 April 1856 |
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| Postcard of Pall Mall @ Weldbank Lane Junction |
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| Liverpool Mercury 29 June 1857 |
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| 1861 Census |
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| Preston Chronicle 29 September 1866 |
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| Black Horse Street, which ran down the right side of the pub |
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| 1909 OS Map |
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| Preston Chronicle 21 August 1869 |
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| 1871 Census |
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| 1881 Census |
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| The Black Horse c.1970's |
Marriage: 10 Sep 1890 St George, Chorley, Lancashire, England
John William Laycock - 26 Packer Bachelor of Black Horse Inn Pall Mall
Jane Woods - 23 Spinster of South Cottage Farm
Groom's Father: John Laycock, Publican
Bride's Father: Roger Woods, Farmer
Witness: Roger Woods; Emily Laycock; John Woods
Married by Supt. Registrar's Certificate by: J. A. Pattinson M. A.
Register: Marriages 1883 - 1893, Page 177, Entry 354
Source: LDS Film 1526078
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| 1891 Census |
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| The Black Horse can be seen far right of the picture - the other buildings are all now gone |
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| 1901 Census |
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| Painting of the Black Horse |
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| 1911 Census |
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| 1921 Census Joseph Saxon |
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Ste Pearson and I use to climb up and over the main roof and into the parapet gutter ( long gone). And tie a wallet onto some fishing line.
ReplyDeleteSte was the landlords son back in the 70s
Stephen is my brother, and yes, we both have wonderful memories of our childhood spent living at the Blackhorse and our time in Chorley.
DeleteHehe great times 👍👍👍
DeleteGreat memories...thank you!
ReplyDeleteI was landlady at the Black Horse for a few months during 2013.The place is haunted by something really nasty. My German Shepherd was so terrified he jumped off the 12ft roof garden, bushes below broke his fall.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous former landlady – in days long gone, many public houses were used for inquests. Back in the day, if someone died in suspicious or tragic circumstances, the nearest large public building would be utilised for the inquest. In most cases, this was a pub. The now demolished Leigh Arms held many inquests because it was so near to the train line in Chorley, the scene of many a death. The lack of cold storage back then also meant the body (or what was left of it) would be placed in the cold pub cellar, then brought out for public viewing at the inquest. The Black Horse held a few too but the one that sticks in my memory, almost 178 years to the day (1st September 1845), a man called Richard Talbot committed suicide by leaping into an open pit shaft at Chorley Moor (Pall Mall was called that back then). Death wasn’t caused by hitting the bottom as anyone falling down would repeatedly bounce off the sides during the long drop. In Richard Talbot’s case, depending which news report you read, he fell either 125 feet or 125 yards. Either way, he was never going to survive. His body was recovered, and it was taken to the Black Horse to await the inquest, held three days later. Newspapers spared little though for relatives feeling, often quite graphic in description. Richard Talbot was described as “his face flattened, his skull terribly fractured, his left foot almost severed and his right leg broken at the knee”. He must have presented a gruesome sight in there for three days.
DeleteIn reply to "Anonymous" on 29 August 2023 - Like many public houses, the Black Horse has held its fair shar of inquest. Back in the day, the body of the dead person would very often be taken into the nearest pub to await an inquest, I assume (because of lack of cold storage), to rest in the cellar, where it was coldest in an effort to preserve what was left. I know of one inquest held there in which the body must have been in quite a state. Richard Talbot killed himself in 1845 by jumping down an nearby open pit shaft between 125 to 375 feet deep (depending which newspaper story you read). His body was recovered and as I've already indicated, taken to the Black Horse in the state it was found at the bottom of the shaft. In situation like this, people receive terrible injuries from bouncing off the sides on the way down and newspapers back then spared little detail, saying about Richard Talbot - "his face was very much flattened, his skull terribly fractured, his left foot almost severed and his right leg broken at the knee". Must have been quite a gruesome sight and yes, that was in that pub.
ReplyDeleteCouple of great newspaper excerpts. Thanks.
ReplyDelete