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| Underbank and north hillside |
The Pennine Way runs above Jumle Hole Clough on the Eastern side, passing old Naze Chapel. The chapel opened in 1842 after occasional services were held in the area since 1836. The chapel was an offshoot of mount Zion at Heptonstall.
You can see from this early photo that the chapel had a landscaped garden in front of it. This later became a small graveyard with a number of headstones which can be seen in the photo below and many of which are still standing. Click here to see photos and transcriptions of the existing grave stones.
Some extracts from the Underbank Mill Sunday school minute book record:
There are several large houses in the Underbank area - Underbank Hall and Lacy House are within four hundred metres of each other on the level ground almost in the valley bottom. Underbank House is 750 metres west of Lacy House, nearer Hebden Bridge, about 150 m altitude. Higher Underbank House is much higher up the hillside from Underbank Hall and Lacy House. Higher underbank is a small cluster of houses half way up the hillside, on the Pennine Way.
The main dwelling is Higher Underbank House which was built about 1770. There is an unusual inscription on the rear wall of Higher Underbank House. We do not know what kind of script it is or what it says (it has been said that it is a vernacular interpretation of the Greek words for Jesus Christ)
WINTERS Winters is situated on the lip of the valley. It consists of half a dozen houses, some of which have been coverted from an old mill (click on the Winters heading and it will take you to the mills page where further information on the mill will be found).
1842 valuation In 1842 a survey and valuation of Winters was completed ". The part of the valuation that covers domestic buildings is set out below. Click here to see the valuation of the mill machinery. Room over School
Farming stock
Warehouse for goods
Milk cellar
Larder
Beer cellar
Kitchen
OTHER HOUSES ON THE HILLSIDE We can identify at least 4 houses: Higgins house This was part of the Horsfall estate and is now in ruins This farmhouse and barn, built in 1684 is below Higher Underbank. In the 1900s, the farm was worked by Thomas Cockroft, and later by his son James who rented extra land from Lacey House. They stabled a cart and horses and had cows, pigs, hens and other poultry. James retired in 1942. . This small pair of cottages is to the East of Higher Underbank This is lower down the Pennine Way
Christopher Rawdon was succeeded at Underbank Hall by his sons, Christopher and James. Christopher moved to Liverpool after his marriage and James remained at Underbank, where he gained a reputation for the quality of the entertaining he offered. Anne Lister of Shibden recorded in her diary for 30 January 1823:
In 1815 Christopher Rawdon (Kit) drew up a list of his properties, which covers the whole of Charlestown and makes fascinating reading. He makes the following statement:- 'I, Christopher Rawdon claim to be entitled to Right of Commons and Waste Lands and Commonable Places within the Township of Stansfield in respect of the following estates, viz. "Particulars of Occupiers' Messuage and Names Lands, etc.
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| Underbank and Mansion and Wood Laceybottom House and Barn Sandbed and two cottages thereon Scott's Farm or Bottoms Publick House Callis Bridge and Underbank 11 cottages Dove (?Scout) Wood Spa Hole Mill, Wood and (?), cottages, Gardens Rawtenstall Wood (?) Under Road, Rawtenstall Wood (Callis) Mill Dyehouse, Warehouse Dyeing house and two houses Mill Yard (Jumble) Hole Mill and four cottages (Charles)town two warehouses (Charles)town (Ware)house adjoining Lacey bottom and Underbank Land |
C Rawdon Geo. Ashworth C Rawdon David Hollinrake Sundries C Rawdon Sundries C Rawdon C Rawdon C Rawdon C Rawdon Geo. Ashworth Geo. Ashworth Sundries C Rawdon C Rawdon |
| (signed) Christopher Rawdon | |
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The Rawdons, as major landowners along the valley, were in an advantageous position when the canal and railway companies needed to purchase land for their enterprises. Many textile manufacturers were in favour of the canal, as they expected it to be beneficial in terms of transport routes for their goods, but they had legitimate fears for the safeguarding of their essential water supplies against the demands of the canal. Christopher Rawdon played a cunning game by refusing to sell land to the canal company until the price it was offering had risen to a very high level.
In 1893 Underbank Hall was occupied by James and Mary Stott. Mary moved to Woodland View when she was widowed. Eddie Suttle ran a bakery at the back of Underbank Hall until he moved to Pleasant View at the end of the second World War.
At some point the Hall was split into two dwellings. From the mid 1950s, both parts of Underbank Hall were occupied by the Spencer family at different times.
LACEY HOUSE
The house John Rawdon built (now known as Lacy House) bears the date stone 1793, together with his initials, over the original front door and this is repeated in carved stone on the top riser of the cantilever dog-leg staircase. It is possible that the brothers used the same architect as the houses are very similar, with Venetian windows in the gable ends at the attic level, and the same style of carved date stone at the top of the stairs. The stairs are stone treads with wrought iron balusters and mahogany handrail. Both houses have been divided into several dwellings, with alterations and additions, during their lifetime.
Following the sale in 1855, David Lacy, who had been living at Underbank Hall, moved (?back) to Stoodley where the family already had land and connections (the brothers had been involved in the reconstruction of Stoodley Pike), and Gilbert Lacy moved with his wife, Anna, to Lacy House. They had six children, of whom one, William Ingham Lacy, had died aged sixteen while they were still living at Mytholmroyd, and the youngest, James Fielden Lacy, had died aged nineteen in 1859 at Lacy House. On census night in 1861, however, the only occupants of the house were Gilbert, aged 54, a Cotton Spinner employing about 200 hands, and his two unmarried daughters, Elizabeth (32) and Susannah (26). It seems strange that there was not even one servant but as Anna Lacy was away from home perhaps she had been accompanied by a maid. The eldest son, Henry, aged 30 probably had his own household at that time. Underbank was occupied by Hannah Lacy, widow of Thomas Lacy, brother to Gilbert, David and John, and her two sons, David Henry and, inevitably, another Gilbert (the repetitive use of forenames in every generation is an inescapable feature of the times!) This household had a 38-year-old servant living-in. There had been further changes by 1871. Both Gilbert and Anna had died in the 1860s and Lacy House was now occupied by their son Henry, his second wife, Ann, and their young family of three children and a servant. Henry is described as a Master Cotton Spinner employing 211 hands. A further three children were born to them at Lacy House. (Henry Lacy died in 1895, aged 65, in New York, according to the Todmorden and Hebden Bridge Historical Almanac of 1897, "while on a visit with regard to the appointment of one of his daughters to an important post in a massage establishment, and also to pay a visit to his son Harry. Mr Lacy for many years carried on the business of cotton manufacturer at Callis Mill, and in addition he went in largely for dog breeding.")
showing behind the railway line Callis Mill dam can be seen at the bottom of the picture which dates it to before 1900 John Lacy, now widowed, was living at Underbank Hall and was described as a retired cotton spinner. Also living there was his daughter Hannah (28) and son Thomas (25), a student of Chemistry, and two servants. On census night they also had an overnight visitor, one Martha Fielden, who was very probably Hannah's cousin. Ten years later (1881) John was still at Underbank Hall but the children do not appear on the census. The only other residents are a housekeeper and a housemaid. There have been changes at Lacy House, too. The 1881 occupants are David Lacy's daughter Phoebe, his son-in-law William Henry Sandbach, their four daughters and three servants. John lacy died in 1883 at Underbank Hall. Another ten years go by and Phoebe has been widowed and has returned to her mother's home at Lower Stoodley with six of her children. In 1891 Lacy House is occupied once again by John Stead and his six children. When was Lacy House divided into separate households? There is a (municipal) name plate high on the front wall reading 'Lacy Houses' and there is evidence from birth and death records that it was still known as Lacy House in 1915 but each section was identified as '1 Lacy House' through to '5 Lacy House' by 1925. In the 1940s through to the 1960s it was a working farm, running dairy cattle and pigs. It was taken over in the late 1940s by the Lumb family who had previously farmed high on the Erringden side of the valley. Edgar Lumb published a memoir in 1999 called "born to be a farmer". They found the modern conveniences of electric light at the touch of a switch, gas cooker and new decorations and carpeting throughout, a great improvement.
UNDERBANK AVENUE |
