Walton-le-Dale (Higher Walton) - Bay Horse

Name: The Bay Horse Inn

Address: 202, Hoghton Lane, Higher Walton

Sepia postcard from 1901 showing the Bay Horse (right) and Old Oak Inn (back left)

Situated on Hoghton Lane just down from the Old Oak Inn, the Bay Horse was one of the area's oldest pubs, trading from a farm house, as so many did during the18th and 19th centuries. I can find records dating back to the early 1800s for the Bay Horse, which appears to have ceased trading in the early 1900s.

1824 Baines Directory Thomas Wrigley

What shaped the history of the Bay Horse was the fact that it was a tenanted farm, and as such, the tenants, and therefore the landlords too, came and went on a regular basis. Listed landlords at the Inn are Thomas Wrigley (1824-), Jos (Joseph) Pomfrit (1834-), George Elliott (1848-), Richard Phillipson (1854-63), Hugh Chester (1871-), Joseph Kitchen (1881)-), Robert Rigby (1891-), Edward Woodruff (1895-) and James Rainford (1901-).

1845 OS Map

1834 Pigot's Directory Joseph Pomfrit

1848 Slater's Directory George Elliott

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION

by JOHN THOMPSON, at the house of Mr. Richard Phillipson, the Bay Horse Inn, Hoghton Lane, Walton-le-Dale, on Friday the 7th day of December, 1854, at Six o'clock in the Evening.

Published: Saturday 02 December 1854

Newspaper: Preston Chronicle

1861 Census Richard Phillipson

Advertisements & Notices

RICHARD PHILLIPSON, late of the Bay Horse Inn, Hoghton Lane, begs to return his sincere thanks for the kind patronage he has received during the last ten years he has occupied the Bay Horse.

Published: Saturday 23 May 1863

Newspaper: Preston Chronicle

1869 Slater's Taverns & Public Houses Hugh Chester

1871 Census Hugh Chester

1881 Census Joseph Kitchen

1891 Census Robert Rigby

1892 OS Map

1895 Kelly's Directory Edward Woodruff

1901 Census James Rainford

The last landlord listed at the Inn was James Rainford on the 1901 census, but it was still operating as a public house in 1909 when the OS map below was completed. However, this was a period of great change for the pub industry following the introduction of the Licensing Act of 1904; a significant piece of legislation that resulted in thousands of pubs and beerhouses around Britain being "referred for compensation" i.e. renewal of the license was refused under the guidelines of the Act and compensation granted for the closure of the business.  This was something heavily influenced by the temperance movement of the time.

By 1911 it was closed and was being run solely as a farm by the Berry family. On the census of that year (shown below) William Berry is residing there with his wife and son and recorded as a retired inn keeper. Historical records show he was the son of Robert Berry who ran the Royal Oak in Riley Green, just up the road for the latter half of the 1800s. He would certainly have assisted his elderly father in running the Royal Oak, but whether he was the final landlord of the Bay Horse remains a mystery to me.

Royal Oak Riley Green

1909 OS Map

1911 Census Albert Berry (Farmer living at the Old Bay Horse)

1921 Census William Berry (Retired Publican)

1929 OS Map Bay Horse Farm

These days, the old pub is a private residence, which has been extended and now comprises two separate dwellings as the photo below confirms but retains reference in its name, the Bay Horse Cottage.

Bay Horse Cottage (2022 Google)