Park View, (Dug Un Kennel), Tonge Fold Road

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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 13^th of that month said that at 10.15pm on Saturday 30^th 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-19^th 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.