Thursday, March 14, 2024

Lives and Times of Smithills Estate

About the Book

'Lives and Times of Smithills Estate' is a selection of stories, essays and explorations of the people and history of the Smithills Estate in Bolton. The book contains 19 chapters over 268 pages and is fully referenced and indexed. It includes over 300 colour illustrations, old and new photographs, plus a gazetteer of buildings, tenants and occupiers from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries.

Researched and written by the Smithills Estate Research Group, it won the 'Community Publication Award' in the Alan Ball Awards 2022. The publication was funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and The Woodland Trust. All proceeds will go to the Woodland Trust at Smithills to further their programme of conservation and engagement. It is an ideal book for anyone interested in the history of the Smithills Estate, or genealogists researching ancestors who once lived there.

Back Cover - Two Lads
Back Cover


How to Buy

The cost of the book is £25, plus postage.

In Person    Smithills Hall Shop
Horwich Hertiage Centre
OnlinePayPal or Credit Card
Amazon
BorrowBolton Central Library

Or contact the research group directly by email at smithillsresearch@gmail.com to make other arrangements.



Chapters

  1. Two Lads: The Myths and Legends
  2. Poaching on Burnt Edge 1630 and 1684
  3. Chadwicks Close Farm
  4. Women and Work from the Late 1780s to the Early 1850s
  5. Who Killed George Henderson on Winter Hill?
  6. Jack O'Nandies
  7. The Sutcliffes, Handloom Weavers at Walker Fold
  8. Slack Hall and Newfield
  9. Lost Cottages on Winter Hill: Newspaper Hall and Black Jacks
  10. The Freeman Sisters, Victorian Laundresses
  11. Leaving the Estate Far Behind
  12. Women's Work on Deakins, Lomax Wives and Holdens Farms
  13. Up the Sixty-three Steps to Twitchells Farm and the Brown Cow Beerhouse
  14. Violent Attacks of Gamekeepers, and a Tragic Love Story
  15. Horwich Casanova
  16. Old and New Colliers Row, and Colliers Row School
  17. The Story of Alice and William Stead
  18. The Harts, Emigration to Canada
  19. Love Across the Continents: Putting Down Roots in the New World


Appendices

  • 1620 William Senior's Map of the Smithills Estate
  • Gazetteer of Farm Buildings
  • Lists of Tenants & Occupiers of Smithills and Halliwell
    • 1543 Lay Subsidy for Halliwell
    • 1613 - 1656 Early Baptisms & Burials for Smithills
    • 1642 Protestation Returns for Halliwell
    • 1666 Hearth Tax for Halliwell
    • 1678 Poll Tax for Halliwell
    • 1723 Smithills Estate Tenants
    • 1790 Land Tax for Halliwell 
    • 1801 Smithills Estate Occupiers & Tenants
    • 1814 Smithills Demesne Rents
    • 1819 Smithills Demesne Rents
    • 1869-70 Smithills Estate Tenants
    • 1902 Ainsworth's Estate Tenants


Book Details



Lives and Times of Smithills Estate - Front Cover
Lives and Times of Smithills Estate
Published 2022

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