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Walton-le-Dale (Higher Walton) - Black Horse Inn

Name: The Black Horse Inn

Address: Gregson Lane, Higher Walton

Courtesy of WhatPub
The Black Horse Inn was originally the home of Robert Sharp and his wife Elizabeth.. Robert worked as a blacksmith and they initially lived just up the road in Moon's Mill after marriage in 1840, before moving to Gregson Lane in the late 1840s.

1840 Marriage of Robert Sharp and Betsey Blazard
On the 1840 OS Map below there is no trace of a public house, as it only opened in the 1850s.

1844 OS Map

1841 Census Robert Sharp (Blacksmith) Moon's Mill

1851 Census Robert Sharp (Blacksmith)
By the 1850s business was expanding, and they were working the farm alongside the smithy, and employing several workers there. In 1854 Robert was listed as a blacksmith on the below directory, although, a press cutting from later the same year evidences that he and Elizabeth had opened the Inn, so the exact year of its opening remains unascertained at this time.

1854 Mannex Directory Robert Sharp

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Sept. 9, 1854

Listed landlords at the pub were Robert Sharp (-1871), John Sharp (1871-), Albert Knowles (1891-95), Edmund Ratcliffe (1895), Thomas Robinson (1901), James Rainford (1911-), Thomas McGowan (1917), George Bellingham (1924), William Craven (1939) and Kathleen Horry (-1988).

1860 Electoral Roll - Robert Sharp

1861 Census Elizabeth Sharp (Innkeeper's Wife)

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Sept. 17, 1864

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Oct. 13, 1866
1869 Slater's Directory - Robert Sharpe

1871 Census Robert Sharp

1881 Census John Sharpe
In the 1870s Robert had handed over the reins at the inn to his son John; he and Elizabeth moving into the Homestead Farm on Hoghton Lane to see out their years. He died in 1884 and was buried in the parish church.

1884 Burial Robert Sharp

1885 Electoral Register John Sharp

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Jan. 8, 1887

Liverpool Mercury Monday,  Feb. 6, 1888
1892 OS Map

1891 Census Albert A Knowles

1895 Kelly's Directory Edmund Ratcliffe

Gloucester Citizen Monday,  Nov. 25, 1895
1901 Census Thomas Robinson

1909 OS Map

1911 Census Summary Sheet James Rainford

1911 Census James Rainford

1915-16 Electoral Register James Rainford

1924 Kelly's Directory George Bellingham

1939 Register William & Sarah Craven and Kathleen Horry

Beautiful finish to work
The refurbishment of the pub comes with the retirement of the former licensee Kathleen Horry. Kathleen, now 80, has seen almost 60 years behind the pumps of the Black Horse.
Published: Friday 05 August 1988
Newspaper: Wigan Evening Post

1938 OS Map

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