Buildings of Interest

Description

When offered for sale in 2018, no. 242 was described as “Circa 1780s”. Several outbuildings and a barn, now demolished, were formerly associated with the property.

Writing in 1993, local historian Herbert Worsley conjectured that “at one time fustian weaving and perhaps later silk weaving had been going on in one of the buildings because within living memory there had been a small steam engine there, presumably to drive several looms.

James Ardern Clarke, “Manufacturer Cotton Weaver”, was living at Laurel House in 1891 according to the census return.

The couple in the painting by local artist W A Soper may represent James and Elizabeth Bevan, who had preceded the Clarkes at Laurel House. Elizabeth bequeathed £700 for the construction and endowment of the original Church of St John The Evangelist at Abram and is commemorated by a memorial tablet in the present church.”

Text and images by the Makerfield Rambler