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He has a secretary who takes his emails. I'm not sure of he dictates the replies or not.
You are better phoning.

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Mel

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Andrew has kindly sent in a picture of Stepping Stones.
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/Photo%20Archive/Briercliffe%20Buildings/Stepping%20Stones%20Cottage.htm

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Mel

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Five years on from the last post in this topic - as noted in another current topic on Catlow Bottoms I have recently undertaken an archaeological assessment of a water powered fulling mill below Stepping Stones Cottage and the results are very interesting.

Stepping Stones Cottage does not occupy the same footprint (or conform to the same axis) as the building occupying this site in the mid-nineteenth century. In other words, the current dwelling has been rebuilt - possibly at the time that the mill cottage was demolished and the road here upgraded (1860-65) or even into the twentieth century.

The original property on the Stepping Stones site was built in a position hard against the early land boundary between the estates of Burwains and Folds House (the building was on Folds land). The property appears to have occupied the NE periphery of the mill lodge and could have been an industrial building (dye house?). The road here was part of a very ancient route leading around the back of the cottage (through the lodge site) and up to Burwains.

John Clayton
Barrowford

Would the rebuild have been recorded in some way BJ or would they have been able to please themselves back then?

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Mel

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I would think that it would depend on the date as to availablity of official records - the cottage deeds should hold a clue.

The cottage deeds and map only go back to 1908, showing Catlow bottoms 'woods, plantation, cottages and gardens(as on the tythe map) ' and the rest of Folds Hs Fm being transferred from a John Appleyard to a William Farrer.
All the above land and property is referred to in domestic or agricultural terms, rather than industrial or commercial terms.

Based on Johns report, I am looking further at the ground to see what evidence there is for the resiting and when it may have occurred.

I'm surprised that it is so recent Andy! I wonder if there is anything Catlow related in the Society collection held by Roger?

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Mel

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The cottage no doubt dates from before that date, it's just the earliest paperwork regarding it's ownership as part of Folds house estate is from 1908.

Roger came down 5 yrs ago to look around. Wouldn't commit to a date suggesting a building historian would have a better idea.
Certain of the interior features/construction methods could place it around 1700.
He considered that the cottage may have been built using stones from a former building. The stones are not dressed stone, but rougher & rounded,(river stone?) of which there is plenty all round the catlow valley.

This question of possible resiting of the cottage is rather tenuous. On the ground there is no evidence for this. The only suggestion seems to come from an early OS map showing it on an orientation 30degrees from the present. In this map catlow brook has a dog leg in it that doesn't exist either.
The cottage has been extended once in the distant past too. This may have originally been for animals, then later made into a full 2story. The window styles on this construction are quite different to the main cottage. Why rebuild and use a mix of early and later window styles?
The foundations etc are different and it isn't keyed to the main building.
I need to get an expert to study the building at some point to give an opinion on this

Andrew is right here - Stepping Stones Cottage occupies the same footprint as shown on the 1st OS maps. Unfortunately I used the excavated footprint of the mill as a datum to overlay the 1st OS onto the modern survey. This proved to be a mistake as the mill marked on the 1st OS is wrongly plotted!

The original mill building is represented on four maps dating 1840-1850 as four different buildings! This has dented my confidence in the accuracy of the earlier maps - while I am sure that they are accurate to a high degree it is neverthless necessary to be very careful when accepting sites without checking them on the ground

I realised it was the date on the documents rather than the building that was recent.

Sounds frustraing BJ and a little like corner cutting on behalf of the map makers!

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Mel

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