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The houses at 8-15 Church Street, dating from 1795, do not appear to have been originally built to accommodate hand looms. All have side passages with a door from the side passage into the back room. These side passages were put in for access as the houses backed on to what was then a private field belonging to Hothersall Hall (now the Ribchester Playing Fields). The 1838 tithe map shows that some of these houses had multiple occupancy, with separate families living in the back rooms. As demand for hand-loom weaving increased, weaving sheds were built at the backs of some of the houses. |
Number 11 Church Street illustrates well the water shot stone coursing which is typical of most of the weaver's cottages in Ribchester. The weaving shed at the back of number 11 was later used as a schoolhouse and as a non-conformist chapel (known to locals as "The Temple"). |
Dating from 1793, the houses at 16-22 Church Street were built to accommodate hand looms. This was the original Ribchester Club Row. Although it is often said that these houses have "weaving attics" this is probably not the case. The windows in these attics are very small and close to the floor so would not have let in enough light for weaving. The double windows on the first and ground floors are more typical of a Lancashire loom shop and the attics may have been used for storage or sleeping. |
Number 18 Church Street is one of the best-preserved examples from this row. Note the double windows on the ground floor and first floor and the small attic window. |
Numbers 20-22 Church Street have had their fronts altered. The front wall has been rebuilt and the double windows replaced by single windows. Was this to avoid paying window tax, once these houses were no longer used for weaving, and the double windows had become an expensive luxury? In 1825 the window tax applied to any house with 8 windows or more. It depends on when the rebuilding was done. |
Number 22 has been substantialy altered. Compare it to number 18, which it would once have resembled. Again, if the work was carried out in the early nineteenth century, it may have been to avoid paying the window tax, but not if it was more recent. |
On the other side of Church Street, numbers 51-58 date from 1795, the same year as numbers 8-15. The date stone indicates that they were built by the same person (possibly a Mr. Leeming, who owned a lot of property in Ribchester at that time). All the houses in this picture have triple windows on the ground floor, showing this is where weaving took place, but those at each end of the row do not. They may have been altered. The window to the left of number 55 looks like it doesn't belong; none of the other houses has a window here. Look carefully at the stonework and you will see that this was once a door. It was once the entrance to a side passage lke the one between 51 and 52. |
61-62 Church Street had weaving shops in the basement. The ground floor is raised so that windows can be accommodated to let light into the loom shops. There is an identical pattern of windows at the back of the houses. The stone steps would once have faced the other way, leading away from the houses. They have presumably been turned around to allow the road to be widened. |