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| The Park View around 1905 with Allen Clarke (Teddy Ashton) at the door. |
The Park View, situated
on Tonge Fold Road, existed as a pub for at least a hundred years. We
don't have an exact start date for when it was licensed although the
building is thought to date back to the early-eighteenth century.
In the nineteenth
century, the Park View was the centre of celebrations in Tonge Fold for Oak Apple
Day. This national holiday, first instituted in 1664 and celebrated
on 29 May each year, commemorated the restoration of the monarchy
four years earlier. The name comes from King Charles II hiding in an apple tree for a full
day in 1651 following his defeat by Cromwell's forces at the Battle
of Worcester. (Pubs are named the Royal Oak in honour of the event).
He later offered sanctuary to French Huegenots and a number of them
settled in the Tonge Fold area. The local celebrations are thought to
have been instigated buy Huegenots as a mark of loyalty to the king.
For many years a week-long fair took place but by the early part of
the nineteenth century the fairs had ended and the day was celebrated
at the Park View. The Tonge Trail website
tells us that a statue of the king would be hidden in a nearby oak
tree. When found it would then be taken inside the pub to be kissed
by locals. Those who had come from further afield could buy the right
to kiss the statue with a gallon of beer and the oldest participant
would then keep the statue until the following year. Oak Apple Day
was abolished by Parliament in 1859 in attempt to get rid of national holidays associated with drinking. However, celebrations continued at the Park View.
The statue is now in Bolton Museum having been found in the attic of
the former pub in 1959,
The Park View was also
known for the connection with the Lancashire dialect writer Allen
Clarke (1863-1935). Using the pen name Teddy Ashton, Clarke composed
his Tum Fowt Sketches – 'Tum Fowt' being the dialect word for Tonge
Fold – in 1922. However, there is a photograph of Clarke – or
Ashton as per the caption – from 1905 standing outside the pub.
Clarke was born a mile-and-a-half away from Tonge Fold in Parrott
Street, off Derby Street. He was a teacher before joining the Bolton
Evening News but he became a left-wing writer and activist. Clarke
was better known under the Teddy Ashton pseudonym for his newspapers
the Bolton Trotter (1891-1893) and Teddy Ashton's Journal which he
edited for 14 years from 1896 to 1910 and which at one time claimed a readership of over 50,000. One of Ashton's fictional characters was Bill Spriggs. Along with his wife Bet and supporting characters Joe Lung, Patsy Filligan, Ben Roke and
other characters from ‘The Dug an’ Kennel’, Bill would poke fun at
authority and affirm a strong sense of pride in being part of the
Lancashire working class. A postcard of the pub from that time gave the Park View another nickname: "the Bill Spriggs committee rooms". By the time Tum Fowt
Sketches were written Clarke had been living in Blackpool for 16
years. Paul Salveson's article on Clarke for The Big Issue is here and gives more details about Clarke's life.
In January 1866, the
Park View's landlord Samuel Royle was charged with allowing gaming in
his pub. The Bolton Chronicle of the 13th of that month
said that at 10.15pm on Saturday 30th December 1865,
Police Constable Kay visited the house. On passing the tap room
window he heard gaming going on and a voice say “play for another
quart.” The door was shut and the officer was unable to open it. A
woman opened the door and tried to close it in his face again when
she saw that it was a policeman, but he managed to force his way in.
Four men were in the tap room along with the woman and the landlord.
One of the men said: “put Jack down” but before PC Kay could get
to the table the landlord picked up the cards and Kay could hear the
jingling of coins. However, the case swung on the evidence of two
people: Henry Nuttall and Betty Leach. They said that although the
men had been talking about playing cards there had been no card
playing and the case was dismissed. Gambling in pubs was a serious
offence and could cost the landlord his licence.
A few years later, in
1873, Royle's licence was again under threat. This time, magistrates
argued that the pub did not meet the minimum rateable value of £15
per year. Beerhouses had to meet this level in order to gain a
licence. Too low a rateable value meant the house wasn't large enough
to be open to the general public. Royle appeared at the annual
licensing hearing, known as the Brewster Sessions, but he could not
speak as to the rateable value. Magistrates were trying to de-licence
pubs by any means they could in order to reduce the number of
licenced premises in the town. On this occasion they failed as
Royle's rateable value was found to have reached the £15 threshold.
Samuel Royle died in
1877 and the Park View was run by his widow Mary for a short time
before she left and John Bromley took over.
In February 1880,
Richard Chadburn succeeded John Bromley as licensee of the Park View.
Plans were passed the following year for additions to the pub.
(Bolton Evening News, 23 August 1881).
The Chadburns and the
Royles were shortly to become related through marriage as Richard
Chadburn's daughter Margaret married Samuel Royle's son William
around 1882.
Members of the Chadburn
family were to run the Park View until it closed in 1949. Richard
Chadburn died in 1895 and he was initially succeeded as licensee by
his widow Ann. However, she soon passed it to their eldest son, John
Richard Chadburn (1869-1952). He had married Betsy Davies in 1904
and when their daughter Ann (1905-79) was baptised the following year
he was a farmer living at 61 Tonge Fold Road – next door to the
pub. John Richard Chadburn also had an eye for the high-brow. In
December 1907 he organised an exhibition of fine art at the pub.
The Park View had a
bowling green situated across the road from the front of the pub.
This may have been the 'park' the 'view' of which gave it its name.
The bowling green remained in use until the pub closed. Maps from the
sixties and seventies show allotments where the green used to stand
although the site is now overgrown.
The green meant the pub
was attractive to visitors from all over town who would organise days
out for a game of bowls. An example is this report from the Bolton
Evening News of 8 May 1906:
“The members of
Lodges 6 and 253 of the Ancient Noble Order of United Oddfellows,
Bolton Unity, Bolton District, met to have a friendly game of bowls
on the Park View Bowling Green, Tonge Fold, on Saturday. A capital
game ended in Lodge 6 beating Lodge 253. Afterwards, the teams
settled down to an excellent repast to which full justice was done.
Owing to the weather being unfavourable for further outdoor sport, a
concert was arranged. Bro. Jos. Greenhalgh D.C.P presided, and the
following brothers contributed towards the evening's entertainment: -
Bros. Kershaw, Cubbage, Cooper, Watson, Frangleton, Hurst, Entwistle
and Yates. The usual votes of thanks brought a very pleasant evening
to a close.”
The end for the Park
View came rather suddenly in 1949. Police announced they would object
to the licence's annual renewal on the grounds of “redundancy” -
that it was no longer needed. At the Brewster Sessions hearing that
February, Superintendent Hodgson said that the inn stood in a
derelict area. He claimed the building was damp, the woodwork was
decayed and there was nothing to recommend it other than sentimental
arguments. Although the immediate area is now built up those housing
developments didn't commence until the 1970s and Tonge Fold was quite
rural in 1949. The pub was being run by John Richard Chadbond's
daughter, Mrs Annie Riley. She stated that repairs were schedule to
take place later in the year and she presented a 500-name petition in
a bid to try and keep the Park View open. Press reports before the
hearing claimed the Park View was 250 years old. (See Manchester
Evening News 8 February 1949 and 10 February 1949). But the pleas
were all in vain. The pub was referred to the compensation board
which was set up in the late-19th century and which
oversaw the closure of many a Bolton pub.
The Park View became a
private residence and remains so to this day. John Richard Chadburn
was living there when he died in March 1952. Annie Riley remained at
the house until her death in April 1969.
