As far as the building is concerned George Sheeran in 'Good Houses Built of Stone' points out that terracing of cottages began in the mid-eighteenth century. Short rows of three or four were linked together and this style continued until the 1830s or 1840s. The style of the front of the terrace of three cottages of which the present No. 2 Main Street is the central one suggests a date of around the 1830s although the back is lower and looks older. Perhaps an older building was improved at that time.

The earliest map I have found which shows the village buildings in detail is the Tithe Map of 1841 with its accompanying Apportionment of 1844. This shows land, the site of the present terrace of three cottages, to be 'houses and yard' in the ownership of Christopher Wright, and in the occupation of Thomas Lofthouse, Richard Wilson and Sarah Bank, implying three cottages at that time. A 'house and garden' to the west, running through to Stainforth Road, was also in Christopher Wright's ownership, but occupied 'in hand'.

At the time of the 1841 Census, Christopher Wright was listed as aged about 45, and in a household of three, all cotton spinners. Documents in the West Riding Registry of Deeds show that in 1829 he had been a mule spinner and by 1834 a cotton spinner and churchwarden. Thomas Lofthouse, about 40 years old, headed a household of nine. He and his eldest daughter were cotton spinners, the next daughter being a cotton piecer. Richard Wilson was about 35, and in a family of four, but apparently sharing a house with three young men, one of whom was a cotton dresser. Sarah Bank was a widow aged approximately 40, with five children, the eldest girl being a cotton piecer, and the eldest boy a blacksmith's apprentice. Thus each cottage held from six to nine persons.

At this time in the village, virtually everyone was Yorkshire born. The main employment was in Clayton's cotton mill, though some people worked for the paper maker Thomas Bell.

By the 1851 Census Christopher Wright, now 57, was a beerseller in New Street, married to Agness, aged 47. Richard Wilson, now 48, had a wife and three children, and one lodger. Of the six, four were at the cotton mill. Thomas Lofthouse was now a 50 year old widower. His eldest daughter acted as housekeeper, four other children were in the mill (the youngest being 13), and three were still at school. One wonders if his wife died in childbirth - she would have been about 44 at the time of the birth of the youngest. Sarah Bank still had four children living at home, the eldest now qualified as a blacksmith, the three younger ones all in cotton work.

People in the village were still basically from the locality - from Ribblesdale, Ingleton, Embsay, Sedbergh and Bentham. But things were changing in the 1840s. There had been a trade slump and villagers migrated, many to Lancashire. Claytons went bankrupt in 1849, and the mill was sold to Richard Bashall. The population of Langcliffe which had been 664 in 1841 dropped to 601 in 1851, and by 1861 had plummeted to 376, and a third of the houses were empty. Despite this, the new church had been built, the gift of John Green Paley, and consecrated in 1851.

The year 1859 saw an improvement beginning when Lorenzo Christie leased the mill from Bashall, and later bought it in 1861. With trade increasing again, he now needed to import workers. The 1861 Census showed many from Lancashire, Derbyshire and Norfolk, although the total population of the village was still low. The co-operative shop was re-established in 1861.

One must not assume that a rapidly growing family stayed in the one home. Workers' housing was mostly rented and 'flittings' were common. In view of this and the slump years, it is no surprise that in 1860, in a memorial (in the Deeds Registry) of a document which appears to relate to Christopher Wright's parcel of land mentioned above, there is mention of six cottages comprising three in the possession of Christopher Wright, beerhousekeeper, and unoccupied, and the remainder now in the occupation of Alice Batty, John Bradley and John Lawson.

By 1862 a document relates to the same six cottages as now being occupied by Ann Hudson, Elizabeth Yeoman, Edward Lund, Henry Wolfenden, John Bradley and William Lawson. So between 1860 and 1862, with Lorenzo Christie at the mill, the three unoccupied cottages had been tenanted. Elizabeth Yeoman was a charwoman, her daughter aged 11 was a cotton thread poster, and she had four boarders including an 8 year old half-timer - all in the mill. John Bradley and Edward Lund were agricultural labourers, the latter having two sons and a boarder in the mill. William Lawson was a retired farmer.

The decade 1861 - 1871 saw many changes. The 1871 Census showed that although the total number of houses was only three more than in 1861 the population was up to 665. However, 124 of these were due to a transitory factor - the construction of the Settle to Carlisle railway between 1869 and 1876. Some railway workers boarded locally, but many, sometimes with families, lived in hutments, for example Langcliffe Huts and Oxgang Huts. The Census shows their southern origins - for example Bedford, Oxford, Northamptonshire, Kent, Essex and Lincoln - and occupations such as platelayers and brickmakers. The cotton workers on the other hand came from Lancashire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Westmorland and Warwickshire.

Christopher Wright did not feature in the 1871 Census. The Yorkshire Post that year reported that in January he had, at the age of 76, a one-armed man, been assaulted in his beerhouse, the Bay Horse, by a drunken railway navvy, and died a few days later of his injuries. The labourer was sent for five years penal servitude. Wright's widow Agness was described in the Census as 'late beershopkeeper'.

It is impossible to tell exactly from the Censuses which families were in which cottages in the village. Up to 1871, only the big houses (e.g. Langcliffe Hall and Place) were named, the rest being merely listed, apparently with little order, as 'village'. In the 1881 Census, however, more detail is given, for instance Low Fold, Barbary Fold, Middle Fold and New Street are listed. But it is still impossible to tell from it who were the particular occupants of the terrace of three cottages known today as 1, 2 and 3, Main Street. It can be seen though that many households were headed by labourers, while the younger women of the families were in the cotton mill. The families were brought in during the previous decade by Hector Christie (Lorenzo's son) from Cornwall, Norfolk and elsewhere for the mill. The school had to be enlarged in 1879.

In Middle Fold in 1881 lived the Hilton family, John, 38, from Manchester, an overlooker, Margaret, 25, a cotton yarn examiner, and two children, the three year old born in Langcliffe. In New Street, William Mortimer, 29, a general labourer from Norfolk, and his wife, a dressmaker, had four small children, the eldest six, all born in Langcliffe. In another cottage, location unspecified, Frederick Hocking, 24, a general labourer from Liskeard in Cornwall, lived with his wife, a cotton doubler, and small baby. By now, cotton jobs were more specifically described. The paper mill, which in 1871 had employed 2 men now employed 15 including an engine driver from Scotland.

Despite the fact that the railway was finished in 1876 and the transitory population gone, there were 683 people in the village - more than in 1841 or 1871 - and a dozen more houses than in 1841. The labour-intensive Craven Lime Company's Hoffmann Kiln had been established in 1873.

By the 1891 Census, John Hilton and one son were still in the cotton mill, a family of three. William Mortimer was a labourer in a stone quarry. The eldest son was a page boy (presumably at one of the local big houses), three children were cotton doubler/doffer/roller cleaner, and there were three younger ones at home - nine under one roof.

John Wain, a stone quarry labourer from Derbyshire and his family of five were listed in 1891 between Hilton and Mortimer. Two daughters born locally were in the cotton mill. His wife was from Norfolk. In New Street, Fred Hocking was also in the stone quarry, and one daughter was a cotton doubler. The family now totalled six.

In the 1910 Valuation Book three cottages similarly valued, probably 1, 2 and 3 Main Street, and related houses accessing Stainforth Road were shown as in the ownership of Hector Christie. The three cottages were occupied by John Hilton, William Mortimer and Fred Hocking. They would now be about 68, 58 and 54 respectively.

The 1915 Electoral List included William Mortimer, Margaret Hilton and Fred Hocking as three Main Street cottage occupants qualified to vote. Presumably John Hilton had died. The names Hilton, Mortimer and Hocking still appeared on Main Street in the 1920 Electoral List.

Hector Christie died in 1915 but the cotton mill continued as Fine Spinners and Doublers Ltd. The cottages were rented up until 1955. In that year, a statutory declaration was made by the cashier at the time at Fine Spinners, (by now part of Courtaulds), that the three dwellinghouses fronting Main Street, and also three properties at their rear, all on a site running through from Main Street to Stainforth Road (and defined on a plan), had been in the company's possession since at least 1907, and he had collected the rents. The properties were sold off in 1955 and the cotton mill was closed.

The interesting question is when did ownership of the cottages pass from Christopher Wright and to Christie's? It might have been after the death of Wright in 1871. This was a period of prosperity at the mill and he had early on been a cotton operative. Perhaps he had lost his arm at the mill and Christie bought the cottages to help out his widow. But this is pure conjecture.

                                                                                                                Mary Slater

Bibliography

Brayshaw, T. and Robinson, R.M. (1932). History of the Ancient Parish of Giggleswick. Halton, London.

Brown, G.H. (1896). On Foot Round Settle. Lambert, Settle.

Mitchell, W.R. (1993). A Popular History of Settle and Giggleswick. Castleberg, Settle.

Sheeran, G. (1986). Good Houses Built of Stone. Allanwood, Pudsey.

Various records in:

Bradford Central Library

Leeds Central Library

North Yorkshire County Record Office, Northallerton

West Yorkshire Archive Service Headquarters, Wakefield