Name: The Old Millstone Inn
Address: Dolphin Brow, Chorley Old Road, Whittle-le-Woods
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| The Old Millstone Inn with landlords Henry and Mary Pass c.1910 |
The Old Millstone Inn has long since closed for business and is now a private residence as photos below show but it was a long established coaching inn dating back to the early 1800's. The picture above dates from 1910 and shows the landlord Henry Pass and his wife Mary stood outside. The Inn was a Whittle Springs Brewery property, unsurprisingly given its close proximity to the brewery.
Thomas Fishwick was the first landlord I can find listed on the 1824 Leyland directory below showing him to be the licensee for the Seven Stars also: -
From local reference books it appears that the Old Millstone was the scene of a fatal road accident involving the North Britain stage coach, which overturned on the hairpin corner outside the Inn on 20th September 1836 killing a passenger, William Henry Sayer.
Listed landlords at the Inn included Thomas Fishwick (1824), Richard Spiby (1841), William Coward (1851-61), William Brindle (1871), Robert Snape (1881-1901) and Henry and Mary Pass (1905-1917) and Ernest Hargreaves (1921).
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| 1841 Census |
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| c.1905 |
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| 1851 Census |
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| Preston Chronicle 26 November 1853 |
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| Preston Chronicle 10 November 1860 |
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| 1861 Census |
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| Preston Chronicle 01 April 1865 |
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| 1871 Census |
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| Whittle Millstone, Chorley Old Road, Moss Bridge |
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| 1881 Census |
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| 1891 Census |
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| The Old Millstone Inn as a private residence today |
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| 1901 Census |
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| Whittle Millstones - Chorley Old Road |
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| 1911 Census |
Henry Pass died in 1914 leaving the Inn in the hands of his wife Mary. The probate record below confirms she too died only three years later her estate being left to daughter Ellen Barton nee Pass and a brewers chief clerk, Benjamin Bond.
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| 1921 Census |
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| Lancashire Evening Post 05 March 1924 |
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| Lancashire Evening Post 02 May 1924 |
My parents Gordon & Margaret Squires bought this farm known as Dolphin Farm in 1963 for £11,000. It was known as Squires Riding School for 45 years. There was 6 children born to the family - Mark, Anthony, Wendy, Victoria, Jane and Deborah. When my parents purchased the farm it still had signs of the old pub. Like upstairs was a ballroom that was hired out. The window seats are still there from the tavern. The old black fire that warmed the punters was still insitu. The cellar. The Coaching Side where horses were stabled was still there. If you look at the house you can see at the far end small windows that are not part of the original build. The window at the top was a loft for hay and straw. The window at the bottom was the stables for the coaches. It was sold in 2008.
ReplyDeleteI remember going to school with some of the Squires girls. I think I was in Jane's year
DeleteThanks for the comment Jane...it's a fabulous piece of history on the building.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandparents Henry Pass and Mary Pass were the landlords of this pub and are the people shown in the photo . My dad Brian Ditchfield was born there in 1935 .and funnily enough I also attended the Squires riding school for many years when I was a young girl .
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional information; it's great to see the Inn stayed in family hands for so long. It appears to have lost its license in 1924. Do you know whether it reopened after that of whether it was just used for residential purposes until its sale in 1963?
ReplyDeleteThat is my house!
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