Walton-le-Dale - Grey Horse Inn

Name: Grey Horse Inn

Address: 156 Victoria Road, Walton-le-Dale

2025 Google Maps Image

These days the Grey Horse Inn and yard no longer exist, and in their place is a hand car wash and some industrial units behind. Roll the clock back nearly 200 years and the inn is clearly marked on OS map below.

1844 OS Map

The inn dated back to the early 1800s and the first reference I can find in on the directory record below for Walton-le-Dale.

1824 Baines Blackburn Parish Inns and Taverns Richard Preston

Listed landlords at the pub were Richard Preston (1825), William Bolton (1834), John Burton (1841), Betty & Martha (daughter) Bennett (1848-1854), Elizabeth Calvert (1855-), James Bolton (-1866), William Whalley (1866-), Mary Addison (1869), James Lee (1871-72), Henry Longworth (1872-), Richard Hoyle (1881), James Richardson (1891), George Jowell Smith (-1893), Susan Smith (1893-98), Thomas Oldham (1898-) and William C Crabbe (1901-).

1834 Pigot's Taverns & Public Houses William Bolton

1841 Census - John Burton

At the time of the 1841 census Martha Bennett and her mother Betty were running the Old Oak Inn on Hoghton Lane, but by the mid-1840s had moved into the village and were behind the bar at the Grey Horse.

1841 Census The Old Oak Inn

1848 Slater's Taverns & Public Houses Martha Bennett

1851 Census - Betty Bennett

1854 Mannex Directory Walton-le-Dale Hotels Inns & Taverns Martha Bennett

1855 Slaters Elizabeth Calvert

1861 Census - Elizabeth Calvert

Blackburn Standard Wednesday,  May 22, 1861

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Jan. 10, 1863

Lancaster Gazeteer Saturday,  Oct. 29, 1864

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Aug. 26, 1865

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Feb. 17, 1866

1869 Slater's Taverns & Public Houses Mary Addison

1871 Census - James Lee

Preston Chronicle Wednesday,  Nov. 13, 1872

1881 Census - Richard Hoyle

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Feb. 28, 1891

1891 Census - James Richardson

THE FATAL PAPER CHASE

The inquest for Edward John Jones, one of the students of St. John's College drowned at Alston on October 21st, was held at the Grey Horse Inn, Walton-le-Dale, on Wednesday afternoon by Mr. Ashcroft.

Published: Saturday 03 December 1892

Newspaper: Lancaster Gazette, Lancashire, England

Preston Chronicle Saturday,  Apr. 22, 1893

1895 Kelly's Public Houses Susan Smith

Blackburn Standard Saturday,  Aug. 27, 1898

1901 Census - William C Crabbe

1909 OS Map

Whilst the 1909 map above confirms the inn and buildings around Grey Horse yard to the rear were still standing, the pub had closed, presumably closed by local Magistrates for compensation based on the significant number of other pubs operating in the same area at the time. The Hodson family were in residence in 1911 James Hodson working as a gardener, and the inn was no more.

1911 Census - James Hodson (Garden Worker)

Site of the Grey Horse Inn c.2025