Address: Moor Gate, Chorley Old Road, Horwich
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| Blundell Arms c.1900 |
The Blundell's Arms, or Moorgate Inn, as it was sometimes referred to dates back to the 1700s and is a Grade 2 listed building. Located on Chorley Old Road to the East of Horwich it is next to the Moor Gate Quarry, which is now used as a fishery.
The pub's own website records the following information: -
The pub's distinctive stone slate roofs, and its dressed stone and quoins on the exterior fit perfectly with this area, where beautiful architecture and history flourish together. Less than 15 minutes walk away lies the Grade II listed Holy Trinity Church, consecrated in 1831, and constructed by renowned religious architect Francis Octavius Bedford. Horwich Parish Hall is also nearby - another impressive Grade II structure, which was built in 1793, and had such close ties to the church that its staff were payed from the Sunday service collection.
The reference to the Blundell being a courthouse dates back to the 18th and 19th centuries when many prominent Inns were used to host Coroner's Inquests and the cellar would have been used as a mortuary. In this case I suspect that many workers from the quarry ended up there as it was a high risk occupation with many deaths at work.
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| 1825 Directory |
Listed landlords of the Blundell's Arms were Matthew Lambert (1825-36), James Culshaw (1841), John Pendlebury (1851-54), James Kershaw (1861), Robert Fogg (1864-65), George King (1865-68), Gwen Owens (1868-71), William Haslam (1871-80), Margaret Haslam (1880-81), James Allen (1891), Henry A Hughes (1901), Sarah Hughes (1905), George Butler (1911), Thomas Taylor (1924) and Charles Leslie Eden (1944).
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| 1836 Poll Book for Horwich |
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| 1841 Census James Culshaw |
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| 1845 Map |
The Inn was named after the Blundell family who probably owned the building and let it out to tenants along with the surrounding land for farming. The Blundells acquired large tracks of freehold after the Anderton family had conflict with the crown after the battle of Preston in 1715. The Blundell('s) Arms still displays the Blundell family coat of arms above the door.
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| 1851 Census John Pendlebury |
In 1851 the publican, John Pendlebury was listed as a farmer of 20 acres as well as a Publican and he was still at the Inn at the time of the 1854 directory below.
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| 1854 Mannex Directory |
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| 1861 Census James Kershaw |
James Kershaw has taken over behind the bar by 1861 and continued the trend of working the farm and Inn simultaneously.
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| 1871 Census William Haslam |
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| 1876 Post Office Directory |
John Pendlebury - 22 Farmer Bachelor of Heaton
Emily Jane Haslam - 22 Spinster of Horwich
Groom's Father: William Pendlebury, Farmer
Bride's Father: William Haslam, Inn Keeper
Witness: Charles Pendlebury; Ann Walker
Married by Registrar's Certificate by: William S.F. Maynard, Curate
Register: Marriages 1854 - 1881, Page 236, Entry 471
Source: LDS Film 2113122
William Haslam died in 1880, shortly after his daughter's marriage to John Pendlebury. Whether John was related to the previous landlord of the same name is not known to me at this time but I suspect they will be related. A year later, Margaret was left running the Blundell Arms as a widow...ten years later she had moved on.
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| 1892 Map |
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| 1901 Census Henry A Hughes |
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| 1905 Kelly's Directory |
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| 1907 Map |
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| 1911 Census George Butler |
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| 1925 Kelly's Directory |
I enjoyed this history very much, thank you. An ancestor of mine James Allen, born 1829 in Bolton, was Inn keeper here in 1891, widower with his daughter Elizabeth Alice Allen born 1875 at the Lord Collingwood, Deansgate Bolton. I have found no further trace of either of them. Elizabeth told her cousin Charles Frederick Hyde of Manchester on 4th. November 1895 that she was going to marry a collier. Sadly no name was given and I have been unable to trace any further clues or facts to establish what happened to either of them.
ReplyDeleteI live in hope!
My Great Grandad William Whiteside and his son Tom were regulars at the Blundell. William who played for Bury FC c 1890-1900 died on his way home from the Blundell. The Whitesides lived in Victoria Grove, Halliwell and were both manual workers at Mortfield Bleach works. I believe they usually walked up Chorley Old Rd for their drink (most nights).
ReplyDeleteMy Great Grandparents ran the Blundell Arms Henry Albert Hughes and his wife Sarah. He died after breaking a horse in, in a nearby field. His wife Sarah then took over the business of running the Blundell
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