My husband and I also had a look yesterday at Old Maps and Google Earth - he is better at manipulating maps than me. We also saw what appear to be two distinct groups of buildings - perhaps Crow Trees 'Farm' and Crow Trees 'House', with Brook Dell maybe added on to the southernmost one of them (i.e. the one that abuts the cottages on Fore Side).
I have tried tracking the names Crow Trees and Brook Dell through all the censuses to look for any clues - with mixed success (as my husband pointed out to me, this is not really what the censuses are designed for) - but with no access to deeds, it seemed worth a good try!
In 1841, there are 3 or 4 separate households described as at Crow Trees,. The only one I think is relevant is that containing Thomas Grimshaw, his wife Grace and daughter Harriet. My guess is that this is the southernmost house, with the sun dial put up by Thomas.
In 1851, there is one household described as being at Crow Trees, that of Nicholas Grimshaw (maltster) and 4 siblings, plus a cow man and a housemaid. (Does the presence of a cow man suggest that this was the 'farm' (the northernmost building) not the 'house' to the south - or were they both farms?
In 1861, there are two households at Crow Trees: 1) occupied by Betty Dunderdale, widow, aged 70 and her grandson David, aged 18, a gardener. (Is this perhaps a cottage, or a separate dwelling within the main house, or farm?) 2) household of Thomas Grimshaw (cotton spinner) and his sister Elizabeth. Also present, as visitors are Richard William Harper, aged 27, wife Grace, aged 34, and Thomas Crossley, aged 2 (probably a nephew).
Unfortunately, in 1871, all the relevant consecutive households are simply described as Higherford. So we don't know who is actually living where: 1) Household of Richard Dunderdale (confectioner) 2) Household of Thomas Grimshaw, 38, unmarried, landowner (alone) 3) Household of David Dunderdale (see also 1861), 28, now married 4) Household of Nicholas Strickland, farmer of 25 acres and 'malster' 5) Household of Thomas Nutter, farmer of 20 acres 6) Household of Richard William Harper, 37, cotton spinner employing 62 people; wife Grace, 44; son Richard Walter, 8, niece Ellen Elizabeth Mason, 20, 1 domestic servant.
In 1881, only 1 household (that of Thomas Grimshaw) is described as Crow Trees. None of the other houses in the vicinity (including that occupied by the Harper household) is named. In order: 1) Richard W(illiam) Harper, head, aged 47, now described as a commercial traveller; wife Grace, 54; son Richard Walter, 18, book keeper at a mill. 2) John Perth, 52, groom, dom. servant (alone) 3) John Starkie, 26, farm servant + wife and daughter 4) William Nutter, 55, farmer of 34 acres + wife and 4 children 5) Crow Trees: Thomas Grimshaw, 48, cotton yarn agent, wife Frances, 4 children, 1 domestic servant
Looking back at the census entries for 1871 and 1881, my guess is that Richard William Harper and family are now living at what will appear on later censuses as Brook Dell. Sylvia gave us the information that Brook Dell was built by Richard Harper, husband of Grace. To fit in with our sun dial date of 1839, I had suggested that it was an earlier Richard Harper who had built what became known as Brook Dell. Now I wonder whether Richard Harper, husband of Grace, substantially remodelled (or rebuilt) part of the southernmost building (Crow Trees House, or Farm?!) and renamed it Brook Dell. The photo on Flickr, with the house name Brook Dell on the gate pillar, shows a part of the house that looks very similar to me to houses on Keighley Road, Colne which I am pretty sure were built in the late 19th century.
In 1891, there two households at 'The Crow Trees' (probably at the northernmost 'Farm') plus a Harper household at what is now for the first time named as Brook Dell. 1) The Crow Trees: headed by Mary F. Grimshaw, aged 18, described as living on own means; four younger siblings; and an uncle Thomas H. Gard, born Cork, Ireland (as was Mary's mother). 2) The Crow Trees: a household of one: that of Emily W. Morris, widow 29, living on own means, born Ireland. (I suspect that she was in the same building as household 1, and there to help look after the teenage Grimshaws. 3) Brook Dell: Richard W Harper, 28, cashier at cotton mill; wife Clara, visitor Richard Crossley, 70, (probably a relative, as a Crossley child appears in an earlier census); and a domestic servant. (Note: this Richard W is Richard Walter, the son of Richard William Harper and Grace.)
By 1901 there are no Grimshaws or Harpers at Crow Trees or Brook Dell. Mary Grimshaw and siblings are in the household of their aunt, Elizabeth Bracewell, widow, 67, at Thorny Clough, Higherford. Richard Walter Harper and family are in Flixton (Eccles). The 1901 census has three separate households and addresses (though I wonder if two of them are adjacent and in different parts of what is now called Brook Dell?) 1) Brook Dell is occupied by Ezra Greenwood, aged 27, book keeper at cotton mill, wife Emily, son aged 1, and 1 domestic servant. Not a grand household by the look of it. 2) Crow Trees Farm is occupied by John Carr, 45, farmer, wife and 5 children 3) Crow Trees House is occupied by William Henry Wilkinson, 45, architect and surveyor, employer, + wife Jane and 6 daughters. (This looks a much grander household than that described as Brook Dell.)
To complete the picture from the censuses (such as it is!), I have also looked up 191l. (Barrowford, book 28, starting on page 220) 1) Brook Dell: still occupied by the Dugdales: Ezra (away); Emily, child, sister, nephew and a servant 2) Crow Trees Farm, still John Carr, wife and 3 children 3) Crow Trees House, now occupied by William Henry Atkinson, 55, architect, employer, b. Burnley; wife Jane, b. Colne; and 5 daughters (2 cert. teachers and 1 a pupil teacher) all born Colne.
My compulsion to tie up loose ends, build pictures of family groups, and track down houses has taken me a long way from Plaque's original enquiry relating to the sun dial. However, I have found the journey very interesting - even if my results are too complicated for any sane person to waste their time on.
Now, I should go back to researching a branch of my family tree in Walmersley, Bury. Never having been there, I am finding it much less compelling than looking at Higherford, which I knew as a child growing up in Barrowford Road, Colne.
Ruth
Last edited by Ruth on Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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