Nightingale House

Nightingale House (also known as the Nightingales) was located near where the canal runs through Rawlinson Lane in Heath Charnock. In 1705, Richard and Tabitha Nightingale, built the barn (still standing today). Richard's will states that he bought the messuage (house) and nine acres from Alexander Ford, a gentleman, so a dwelling may have existed on the site even earlier than that.When Richard Nightingale died in February 1724/1725, his eldest son was deceased, so he settled his estate on his grandson, another Richard Nightingale, who was a minor. He also stipulated that his widow Tabitha was to have part of the house as long as she remained unmarried, including "the flagged parlour, the two parlour chambers, the garrett above them, the little cellar, the parlour garden, and use of the brewhouse and clothesliedge."

His wife Tabitha died just a few years later in December 1727. At this point, the house would have belonged to their grandson Richard Nightingale, then aged about 13 years old. I think that this is quite likely to be what prompted the sale of the property from the hands of the Nightingale family.

Nightingale House c1900

After this, it spent a period of time (definitely in 1764 and 1778) known as Rollison/Rawlinson House while it was held by the Rawlinson family, which may well have led to the naming of Rawlinson Lane (see further blog post). In the 1764 census of Adlington, we can see a widowed William Rawlinson living in Heath Charnock, with one child and two servants. I expect  that he is living at Nightingale/Rawlinson House.

In 1836 in History of the County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster by Edward Baines, it is still referred to as Rollison House, and it is stated that it had been rebuilt. In 1796, when the nearby canal was in the process of being built, Richard Rawlinson decided to sell up. It is described as being: "three stories high, with 6 rooms on each floor, besides closets, and two good cellars, with a good barn, stables shippens, and other necessary outbuildings."

Labelled on here as 'Nightingales' at the intersection between Rawlinson Lane, and the bottom road  (Yates 1786)

In 1804 it was purchased by John Hodgson, who was Member of Parliament for Wigan from 1802 – 1820. Hey may well have let the property out as the tenant there in 1824 was Elizabeth Fielding, gentlewoman. John Hodgson died 11 Mar. 1828, leaving the Ellerbeck estate including Nightingale House, to his nephew Richard Cardwell, son of his sister Jane, who had married into the Cardwell family. His personal estate and effects were sworn under £35,000.

In 1832, Nightingale House for put up for let and was listed in the Preston Chronicle. It is described as having 'three large Parlours, and seven Bedchambers, with all convenient Outbuilding', and has 'seven Cheshire acres of land'. It is listed again in 1835, where it is again to let but minus one an acre of land!

Preston Chronicle (Preston, England), Saturday, October 17, 1835; Issue 1207

For the rest of the century, Nightingale House appears in some censuses, although I have been unable as of yet to find all of them. At a certain point, when Nightingale House was owned by Viscount Cardwell, it is stated that he 'used to alight at White Bear Station and drive to Nightingale House with some pomp.'

A Chorley Guardian article (1933) reports that in 1875, Nightingale House was called the Dower House and was occupied by Mr George Hampson, bailiff of the estates. In 1881, there is one sole occupier, 57 year old widow Helen Stevenson, from Scotland, listed as as domestic servant. Whether or not she is a servant to the main house at Ellerbeck Hall is unclear.

In 1891, 57 year old land estate agent George Ewan, also from Scotland, and his wife Michel (?) are the occupants there. He would have been responsible for the managing of the estate, presumably that of Ellerbeck.

In 1909 it was put up for sale as a part of the Ellerbeck estate.

Annotated version of the 1894 OS map. The upper building in red is
Nightingale House, now demolished. The lower building in red is the 
barn, now converted into a dwelling. (Click for larger picture)

It was in the ownership of the Thorn family for a time, who developed the Birkacre Colliery and Print Works, followed by Edwin Robert Walker, an ironmaker of Wigan. Mr Richmond Lee, solicitor of Chorley occupied the house for a short time, attempting to convert it into flats. Mr Elijah Sandham was the last occupier before he became M.P. for Kirkdale. 

After this, it operated from October 1933 to September 1935 as a youth hostel run by the Manchester and District Youth Hostel. It was stated that the hostel had proved very popular, but it had become evident that the running costs of running such a large establishment were not being met. Later, during the Second World War, it was used to house Liverpool evacuees.

After the war, the Masons, family of my Grandmother's were one of several families who lived in the house from the 1940s, until the late sixties when it was demolished. The barn was left standing, and was converted into a house in the mid eighties. It is now known as Nightingales Farm. The date stone on the barn shows it was built in 1705, and the initials stand for Richard and Tabitha Nightingale.

Datestone on Nightingale Barn (now Nightingales Farm) while derelict  in 1982 - the initial signify Richard and Tabitha Nightingale (Credit to Bill Martindale)

The barn at the Nightingales 1982 (now renovated and named Nightingales Farm) (Credit to Bill Martindale)