Black-a-Moor's Head

Name: The Black-a-Moor's Head

Address: 26 Moor Road, Chorley, Lancashire

Black Boy Inn Aug 2016

This pub was first listed in 1824 and was called the Black-a-Moor's Head until around 1851 when it changed its name to the Black Boy Inn.  There was another pub listed six years earlier in the 1818 directory on Chorley Moor called the, "Labour in Vain", which may also have been the Black-a-Moor's Head. It was only in the early 2000s that following refurbishment it was renamed the Moor Inn, as pictured above. Whilst the building itself has not moved it has had a number of postal addresses as the town developed.  This area of town is known as Chorley Moor and until the 1870s the street name, Moor Road did not exist, the pub being listed at 82,Chorley Moor. In 1824 it was listed on Mill Street.

c.1910

There have been a steady stream of different landlords including Thomas Speakman (1824), William Turner (1835-39), James Mansfield (1841), Ralph Taylor (1851), Sarah Hope (1861), William Shaw (1865-71), James Marsden (1874-6), Pennington Ashton (1879), Daniel Ratcliffe (1881), Peter Lilley (1882), Joseph Hodgkinson (1889-91), Thomas Marsden (1901), Robert Crook (1911-), William Robinson (1936) and Frank Wignall (1940's).

1841 Census

1851 Census

The 1851 census shows Ralph Taylor as the Innkeeper at the age of 77 years; he was widowed and living with his daughter Sarah Hope who went on to be the landlady following Ralph's death in Chorley in 1860 (see 1861 Census below). 

Preston Chronicle 17 January 1857

1861 Census

1871 Census

1881 Census

Peter Lilly was the landlord in 1883 when he ending up in court for permitting drunkenness in the pub.

Preston Chronicle 05 May 1883

It was a busy year for Peter as he found himself up in front of the magistrates in August too...

Preston Chronicle 11 August 1883

The final three census show the progression of landlords as listed above: -

1891 Census

1901 Census

1911 Census

1921 Census Robert Crook

c.1940 Joseph Wignall (left) who was landlord of the White Bull's Head. His son Frank was running the Black Boy Inn.

Chorley 200 year old pub is set to be demolished July 2019

In May 2017 planning permission was granted for demolition of the pub and later that year permission was given for the erection of two buildings comprising 8 one-bedroom self contained apartments, caretakers office and common room. In 2023 the work is nearing completion.