Buildings of Interest

Description

2022 -Sad to observe the condition of The Dover Lock Inn at Abram during a recent canal-side walk. The pub was known originally as The White Lion. An advertisement for the sale by auction of “the aforesaid Public House, recently erected, and known by the sign of the White Lion; together with the stable, gardens, and other appurtenances belonging thereto" appeared in the 7 August 1830 edition of the Manchester Guardian.

In his “Memorials of Abram” (1882), (see link below) John Leyland records that “The Old Dover Inn ... stood opposite where the old stocks are placed in the centre of Dover hamlet. About 50 years since the license was removed to a new house erected on the canal bank, not many yards distant from the public road, in the expectation, it is presumed, that the new site would extend the business.” So it seems to have proved, for 35 people were on boats in the vicinity of the pub on the night of the 1841 census. The name had been changed to The Red Lion by 1858. A century later it was changed again to The Dover Lock Inn. In more recent times licensees struggled to turn a profit, possibly not helped by the decommissioning of the adjacent locks. In December 2021 the building was twice set on fire after standing empty for a number of years. 

Images and text by the Makerfield Rambler

Memorials of Abram by John Leyland (1882) - Read