Bruntcliffe, the Old Angel and the Bilbrough Family

Bruntcliffe, the Old Angel and the Bilbrough Family
By Charles Soderlund © 01/2024

What follows is mostly a collection of remembrances by two second cousins who were both born in the same year, 1839. One cousin, left, is William Radford Bilbrough, who was born in Leeds to an extremely wealthy family. His father, born in Bruntcliffe, was for a time pastor at the Gildersome Baptist Church. Radford, as we shall call him, possessed a large collection of deeds, records and writings regarding the Bilbrough family, that are now kept at the Leeds Branch of the West Yorkshire Archives. He wrote extensively about his family in Gildersome, Leeds and Bruntcliffe.

The other cousin, right, is William Booth Bilbrough, who, like Radford, also kept diaries and journals of the Bilbrough family. His work was graciously shared with me by his great grand-daughter, Judith Burton nee Bilbrough. William Booth was born in Bruntcliffe, lived in the "old thatched cottage" and worked for his grandfather who managed the Bilbrough's malt business and the forty acres of farmland there. In their later years both cousins corresponded with one another discussing and sharing information about their respective families.

According to most experts, the name Bruntcliffe is derived from Old Norse brunnr, meaning a spring or well, and klif, a cliff. From Bruntcliffe the land falls steeply into Howden Clough which may have been the inspiration for the name.

During the Early Modern Era and up until the 1950s, Bruntcliffe Lane was part of the highroad from Leeds to Huddersfield and then beyond to Manchester. Earlier, during the Middle Ages, the grade uphill from Morley Hole along Bruntcliffe Lane, and on the other side, the steeper grade uphill along Howden Clough Road was too demanding for the modes of transport back then, especially when wet. Because of this, the highroad made a detour around Howden Clough. Norrison Scatcherd (1780 - 1853), who wrote A History of Morley said this about the highroad in medieval times:

.....I would just state that the road from Leeds to Manchester in these times, was as follows : First, through Beeston to "Morley Hole." and up Neepshaw lane to the "Street," or Roman road (extending from about Bradford to Castleford); next, along this road, till it reached Adwalton. It then was left, and the way was over Adwalton-moor, down "Warren's lane," past "Oakwell," and up to Gomersal.

It's safe to say then, that the village of Bruntcliffe as we know it today, grew because of the intersection of the Street and Bruntcliffe Lane and did not exist in the Middle Ages. If there were any small cluster of buildings nearby, they would have been situated at the Nipshaw Lane junction. Having said that, the Bruntcliffe crossing and the top of Nipshaw being so close to one another, it was probably hard to tell where one began and the other ended. I believe that it was improvements in conveyances and road construction during the Middle Tudor Period that allowed the Leeds to Manchester highroad to abandon the Nipshaw and Warren Lane detour and proceed straight from Morley Hole to Birstall, directly through Howden Clough. It must have been soon after that that Bruntcliffe as a hamlet was born. This is also when records regarding Bruntcliffe begin to appear. One of the earliest is the will of John Brook of Brunclyff in 1545. Another is the 1560 will of Reynold Watson, a smith of Bruntcliffe. Watson's will is significant because of his trade, indicating sufficient traffic at the intersection to justify a blacksmith. Wikipedia states this about Highways in England: The first legislated control in England was introduced under the Highways Act 1555. Road rates were introduced in England and Wales in the 17th century. The first turnpike road, whereby travellers paid tolls to be used for road upkeep, was authorised by the Highways Act 1663.... So the first toll bar in Bruntcliffe must have appeared soon thereafter. George Wood in his The Story of Morley, wrote the following about Bruntcliffe in its early days:

.... near the site of the Old Toll Bar House, there formerly stood a row of straw-thatched cottages, which, according to tradition, had been a noted wayside inn, whose walls in places were two or three feet thick. In a large open space in front of the building stood an old thorn tree of gigantic proportions. Frequenters of the inn took their mugs of ale and sat upon seats beneath the sheltering branches of the old tree; there they learned the news of the day from tinkers, packmen, waggoners, wayfarers, and wandering minstrels, who were the chief carriers of news from one part of the country to another.”

Enter the Bilbrough family into the Narrative. Radford Bilbrough had this to say about Early Bruntcliffe:

Eighteen miles as the crow flies in a SW direction from the Ainsty of York, might be found flourishing once upon a time, the Bruntcliffe Thorn, which grew from a slip off the Gladstonbury Thorn which grew from St Joseph’s hawthorn staff which was then stuck in the earth and it took root and constantly budded around Christmas Day. Bruntcliffe was a hamlet one mile from Gildersome by footpath across fields and the same distance from Morley by road. Bruntcliffe Thorn was rather a bustling place long before railways were thought of and being the spot where two highways crossed and where Toll Gates stood at which fees were collected for the passage of horses and wheel traffic. Coaches and Waggons travelled on high ground from Bradford over the moor along ‘The Street’ an old Roman road which passed Gildersome and through Bruntcliffe on the way to Wakefield. People from Leeds passing through Churwell and Morley climbed the hill to Bruntcliffe Thorn but those who made their way from Batley and the Birstall valley through Holden Clough found indeed that they had a brisk (or steep) cliff to climb before they reached the Thorn in Bruntcliffe. From Wakefield to Bruntcliffe Thorn is seven miles thence along the highroad to Bradford is seven miles. From Leeds to Bruntcliffe Thorn is five miles.

In the first half of the eighteenth century a certain James Bilbrough and Mary his wife brought up their family at Bruntcliffe Thorn. In those days the highroad was bordered with strips of waste land varying in breadth. These uneven lands produced rich grass and horses, cattle and donkeys found their living upon the stray. Several gentlemen’s houses were scattered about the hillsides and it was a pleasant and healthy district from which fine views of the country could be had in clear weather. Such were the inhabitants of Bruntcliffe Thorn when James Bilbrough built upon the unenclosed common near the cross roads a “two storey stone cottage” (Later called Rose Cottage). The upper floor was one large room open to the roof. He was a woollen cloth maker and in this room stood some hand-looms at which he and those he employed sat throwing the shuttle. It was a common thing at that time in this district for both sons and daughters to work at home and if a man provided a house with a weaving chamber his family thought themselves well off. The sons worked with their father at the looms and the daughters with their mother spun the wool on their spinning wheels.

The elder son of James Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe, named James like his father, went to Gildersome at the time of his marriage. John the younger son remained at Bruntcliffe. He was by trade a Cloth finisher. He built the “Angel Inn” at the corner by the crossroads and there coaches and wagons pulled up and men and horses rested and took refreshment. Between the Inn and the two storey stone cottage a space of six or eight yards was left which was afterwards built up by Thomas Helliwell who married Anne the elder daughter of John Bilbrough and who carried on the Inn after John’s death in 1815. A quit rent of small amount was payable annually to the lord of the Manor, but afterwards Helliwell bought the freehold of The Angel, and Mary his last surviving daughter still lives there in 1906. And at the corner next (to) the crossroads there stands today The Old Angel without alteration except what time has made. A rambling one storey stone built and stone roofed building. The front door nearly touches the roof. It has several windows large and small, one of them a bow window. The lanky lamp post close by the corner of the Inn, holds its head high enough to throw light upon the roof. It is nearly ninety years since John Bilbrough died. He spent his days at Bruntcliffe Thorn, and on Sundays he attended the Old Congregational Chapel at Morley, where as one of the choir up in the gallery, he played a fiddle with his left hand by an accident!”

William Smith F.S.A.S. the author of the classic "Morley, Ancient and Modern" published in 1886, wrote the following:

Sauntering along the “Street” in the direction of Stump Cross, we have on our left the residences of the Bilbroughs, the Crowthers, and the Mitchells, whose ancestors have nestled here for more generations than we dare guess at.

And also, on an approach to Bruntcliffe along Bruntcliffe Lane from Morley Hole, he says:

Prospect Mill, Bruntcliffe, stands on the site of the extensive malt-kilns, formerly in the occupation of the Bilboroughs, a name, like Crowther, indigenous to Bruntcliffe. The kilns were converted into a woollen mill about thirty years ago. We now arrive at the Old Angel Inn, which is kept by two members of the Helliwell family, descendants of the landlord of fifty years ago, who, in his day, was spoken of as a “man of singular activity, courage, and sagacity.”

Picture courtesy of the David Atkinson Collection (Morley Archives)

Above, circa 1900: Bilbrough’s Corner at the intersection of the Wakefield/Bradford Road (the Street) and the Birstall/Leeds Road. To the left can be seen the “Old” Angel Inn, which according to family accounts was built by one John Bilbrough (b1745) around 1787. Behind the gentlemen near the centre, the tallest structure was built by Thomas Helliwell who married Anne Bilbrough (b 1781), John Bilbrough's daughter. Lastly, the building on the right is the “Old Two Story Stone Cottage” built by James Bilbrough (b1713 ) around 1740, he was John's father. Mary Helliwell (b 1822), Thomas and Anne's daughter, is standing in the centre of the photo. At the time the photo was taken, about 1900, the cottage on the right was called Rose Cottage and was occupied by Henry Seddon, Confectioner, and his wife Alice, nee Darnbrough, her grandmother was Elizabeth Ann Bilbrough. In the 1700s to mid 1800s, Rose Cottage was the site of a prosperous spinning and weaving business and later became a grocery and baking shop. Bilbroughs occupied Rose Cottage for over 160 years. During most of the 19th century, the Bilbroughs also leased and farmed at least 40 acres behind the Inn and operated a thriving malting business. In the background is Bruntcliffe Mill, situated on the site of their malt kilns. On the extreme right a sliver of a gable end appears, this was the home of the Mitchells.

William Smith recalls an incident at the old Angel Inn in 1822:

Now we arrive at the Old Angel Inn, which is kept by two members of the Helliwell family, descendants of the landlord of fifty years ago, who, in his day, was spoken of as a “man of singular activity, courage,and sagacity.” These traits of character are displayed in a remarkable manner on one occasion, when (about four o'clock in the morning of February 7th, 1822) he and his family were alarmed by the cry of fire, and soon perceived that the stacks in the farmyard were in flames. The fire had burnt a stack of clover and one of corn, and had reached the threshold of a barn and mistal in which were thirteen head of cattle, when the neighbours arrived at this critical moment and saved the property from further destruction. A slight snow had just fallen on the ground, sufficient for tracing the footsteps of a man who appeared to have worn remarkable shoes. One of them had evidently been repaired with a clumsy strip of leather on the sole, and both of them left the impression of their nails so perfect that not only the number but the shape of them was manifest. The incendiary had clearly come up a field on the north -east side, had tried to enter the mistal, and had come into the fold by getting over the fence wall ; no other footsteps were visible. Helliwell noticed all these peculiarities, and, rousing himself to almost superhuman energies, he flew from place to place to restrain the wanderings of those who he feared might obliterate the footmarks ; and, hunting the enemy backward to his house in Neepshaw Lane, and thence to Morley and Beeston, with the fleetness of a bloodhound he overtook and seized him, with the very shoes upon his feet, before eight o'clock on the same morning. John Vickers, the delinquent, was a fellow of the vilest and most dangerous description, and he had committed this atrocious act simply in revenge, because Helliwell had pointed out his dwelling to an officer who was instructed to make a distress for rent. Vickers was transported to Botany Bay, much to the annoyance of our historian, who deemed him worthy of a much more severe punishment.

Contained within William Smith's book "Morley, Ancient and Modern" is this photo of the "old thatched cottage" in Bruntcliffe. William Bilbrough who was born in Gildersome (1771), once lived there with his daughter, Hannah, and her son William Booth Bilbrough. Old William (1771) was the grandson of James Bilbrough who built Rose Cottage next to the Old Angel, mentioned earlier. William married and eventually, when his house in Gildersome grew too small for his large family, he removed to Rose Cottage in Bruntcliffe, his grandfather's home. Later, after most of his family grew and departed, he moved across Bruntcliffe Lane into the "old thatched cottage" (above), occupying both adjoining units. He lived there until his death in 1861. Both Radford and his cousin William Booth Bilbrough had read Smith's book and within their correspondence mutually confirmed that the "old thatched cottage," seen in Smith's book, was the home of William Bilbrough (1771). The Travel Lodge on Bruntcliffe Lane occupies the site today. Smith said this about the old cottage:

Opposite the Old Angel Inn, Bruntcliffe, are two cottages which forcibly remind us of olden days, for these two straw-thatched one storey dwellings form “a bit of old Morley," which seems to have been altogether forgotten in the general march of improvement. They are almost unique at the present day, for though fifty years ago many such homes were dotted about the hillsides of the village, we question whether there are half-a-dozen others left to us at the present time, and these at Bruntcliffe look just as they would do in the good old times when George the Third was King.” We can only conclude that, being out of the village proper, they have escaped destruction; otherwise the mania for improvement and modern utility would have swept them away years ago. But the old cottages, with the dilapidated farm buildings close at hand, all help to carry us back to the country and farm life of half a century ago; and hereabouts, if anywhere in Morley, the conviction forces itself upon us that we have before us one of the few links which bind the past with the present.

Radford Bilbrough knew old William Bilbrough of Bruntcliffe well and visited him often. He wrote the following in his Journals:

“William, eldest son of the above James Bilbrough and uncle to my father, was brought up to the cloth trade but did not stick to it. He lived at Bruntcliffe and was employed by his brother John in his malt-kilns. He was married and his wife afterwards lost her senses and was confined in an asylum (1823 – 29). His hair never lost its’ colour but he had a nice head of brown hair when he died. On his 90th birthday he went to see his daughter Harriet, then Mrs. Jos. Crowther who lived in Gildersome St., this was his last visit. His daughter Harriet’s husband’s funeral was preached and published by Rev. J. Haslam as a tract. He was buried in Morley Chapel yard in the same grave as his father. Edward his 2nd son lived at Bruntcliffe . Thomas, the eldest, went to America in 1821, there he married (he visited this country (in 1874). His (William's) youngest daughter lived with her father in the old straw thatched farm house, with very small windows, till his death.” (To read Thomas' 1822 Letter from Philadelphia to Bruntcliffe click on link.)

Wm. Booth Bilbrough, grandson of old William, was born and lived in Bruntcliffe and worked for his grandfather, he wrote this:

“My grandfather’s brothers lived, one at Harthill House, one at Park House, one at Turton Hall (in Gildersome) and my Grandfather at Bruntcliffe. He was manager for his brother John in the malt kilns and on the farm. Mary Cooper, my Grandfather’s youngest sister, left him one hundred pounds which came in very nicely and paid for his cow being kept for a long time as his brother allowed him interest upon it. When his brother died, Mr. Alfred took it on and it was just exhausted when my Grandfather died. He was a grand man and I was his favorite Grandson. I have worked on the farm with him, in the garden, journeyed with him in search of barley sacks and walked (with him) through Morley Tunnel before it was opened for traffic. I have helped him dig and hoe and mend fences, clean the land of wicks and burn them. Mr. John Bilbrough praised me as a shearer of corn. My Grandfather was loved, honored and respected by all who were thoroughly in touch with him. All John’s sons looked after his tobacco, even William Radford Bilbrough would occasionally empty his tobacco pouch into Grandfather’s iron tobacco box. ........”

"My grandfather left the little house where he led his loving wife and in 1808, went to reside in Bruntcliffe in a more commodious house. His brother John appears to have been the principle director of the business. At that time, my Grandfather was to receive for his services, 21 shillings per week to be rent free and to have a cow kept. These were, at the time, considered to be good terms. My Grandfather looked after the farm that was rented of Lord Dartmouth consisting of eight fields, five of them were pasture lands, and the three lower down were used for growing oats, wheat, turnips and potatoes. In those fields I have spent thousands of hours. I am of the opinion that John Bilbrough perhaps rented the malt kilns of the company and afterwards bought them. If that be so, another farm of about the same size would have to be added to the one I have before described, making a farm of about 80 acres in the malt making process. There were two cisterns in which to steep the barley, two low floors and two drying kilns, a large one and a small one, one with four fires and one with 2 fires. I will describe some of the particulars respecting the large Drying Kiln. Cinders were used of good quality, the furnaces were arched over on each side of the respective fires and the further end from the stoker, there were apertures, 4 on each side and 2 at the end of each of the fires, in order that the heat might radiate in uniformity underneath the perforated plates or tiles upon which the Baptizes Barley, after being three days in the crock, and made a pilgrimage of about 12 stages along the lower ?????? floor, it was pitched by a large wooden shovel into the “torrid zone” and after having taken into its constitution a certain defined quantity of heat, it assumes another name, that of Malt. These remarks are for the uninitiated. My Grandfather once took me to see this larger Drying Place when I was about 5 years old but there were but two fires that I could see, but to our right there was a dark passage, my guardian invited me to follow him which I did. This was to me unexplored geography, having traveled the passage, I found to my surprise, it led to another stoke room, but more comfortable and more retired with arched roof from which there was suspended a lamp to defuse the light. Its fires looked red and inviting and immediately in front and on one side were two seats fixed, here it did seem to me to be a rallying place to spend a few quite hours when the labours of the day were finished and the stoker would be glad of their company and conversation. Perhaps here, Mr. John, the Master and my grandfather, would discuss every conceivable subject relating to the customers, the malt process, the farm, and the cattle.

Customers would try to keep on courteous terms with my Grandsire for he kept the key of the beer cellar in the large house in which I believe John Bilbrough resided for a short time, but his wife I think did not care for Bruntcliffe but wished to be down in Gildersome near to her sister. Now the Beer Cellar approached from the outside, and no doubt they would occasionally get round my Grandfather, who was good natured, and get some of the special Beer. This beer was brewed mainly for customers who came for Malt, as kind of a recommendation, it was made very good, it was not such as they sell in public houses now. My mother used to brew 3 strokes and 1 peck, that was the malt used, and she did not make a large quantity, so you will see it was a treat to those who liked beer.

Let me tell the story of the good dog Peroe. This dog had an excellent reputation, good, kind, quiet but with respect to rats, he knew what was expected of him and he courageously did his duty. I have heard my Grandfather speak of his achievements and I will recount one of his performances; in one of the cisterns when empty of water there were 4 big rats looking out, I suppose, for any barley that might be left. Peroe’s attention was drawn to the scene of operation with alacrity, he did jump in amongst them, pick them up and shake them and break the backbone of each of them, and then he got upon the edge of the cistern, looked at my Grandfather, and if he had known the English language and could have spoken, perhaps he would have said, “That’s the way to polish them off”, and if he got a few pats upon the back and a tender stroke of the head, he considered himself amply rewarded. We must admit that to attack the rats, he put himself into some danger, for rats when they are pinned will combine and make common cause against the enemy. What is wanted in a dog for this work is courage, precision and dispatch. Those who read these writings of mine will observe that I have made a digression, but still some very valuable information has been rendered.

Below is a section taken from the Tithe Map of Morley Parish. Shown is the Bruntcliffe crossroads sometime between 1843 and 1850 before the construction of the railways in the area. Each property is numbered with a terse description of the property kept in a corresponding Apportionment list. Using those descriptions, I have created my own list on the right side of the map which contains properties relevant to the memories written above. The red dots represent Bilbrough land and the blue Helliwell. It's important to mention that most of the properties on the map were leased from Lord Dartmouth.

Click on the map to see a larger version.

Click the photo to expand.

Above, a rare old shot of the Old Angel and Rose Cottage, taken before Bruntcliffe mill was built.

Click the photo to expand.

Above, taken in the 1960s(?). In the foreground, Rose Cottage remains; the Old Angel is no longer there. Across Bruntcliffe Lane, occupying space on the corner is the New Angel Inn, now the Toby Carvery. The "old thatched cottage" stood next to the Carvery; its space today is occupied by the Travelodge.