Sutton-in-Craven Village Website

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From	Subject/message
Denis Marshall Pickles Norfolk Thursday, July 11, 2019 06:41	Quarries The old village was built of stone. The mills were built of stone and there were working quarries within the village which supplied the raw material for these building projects - one at the Pinnacle and another at Ravenstones. The only local quarry I can remember being operational was that at Eastburn. The occupation of stonemason was common until relatively recently. My dad was a stonemason, his father before him as was my great grandfather, Heaton Pickles who was one of the men who worked on the construction of the Pinnacle. Back in the early 19th cent. another ancestor who lived at the Brush is listed as being a quarryman. Obviously millstone grit played a big part in village life but I am seriously lacking any knowledge about the quarries. Who owned them, when did they operate, when did they close down? etc.. Were they commercial businesses or did anyone who wanted a bit of stone to build a barn just nip up to the Pinnacle with a stick of dynamite, a pick and shovel and a hoss and cart, get what they wanted and set about building?
Terry Longbottom Valley Friday, July 12, 2019 06:29	When the first structures in sutton were built Some of the farms had quarries or areas that they delved into on their land, but most of the land was common land, land owned by the lord of the manor. Delf house was built in one of the quarries. the road to valley farm circumvents another one. Brig gate farm has one. crag nook delf another one. Another one at the base of Cate Moss opposite America lane. The house now called strikes was once named Slaters Hall. Now we know how strikes lane got its name, with the noise of all the hammers and picks.
Robin Longbottom Oakworth Sunday, July 21, 2019 10:30	Just to add to what Terry has said - up to the early 17th century stone could not be removed or quarried without leave of the lord of the manor. In 1618 a number of men were fined 4d each for taking stone from the Common without leave. After the Copley's, who held the lordship, sold off their lands in the village the commons were managed collectively by the new freeholders. Any person removing or quarrying stone had then to get leave from the freeholders - in 1729 Stephen Barrett was given leave to get two millstones from the Common, the price paid was 5 shillings then went into the village purse. After the Inclosure Act of 1815 the Common land, with the exception of Soft Delph, just below Sutton Stoop and Crag Nook Delph at the top of West Lane (both were retained to provide stone for highway maintenance), passed into private ownership. The land at Sutton Pinnacle was allotted to William Spencer of Malsis Hall and he opened Hanging Stone Quarry at the Pinnacle. Spencers eventually moved to Lothersdale and ran the Raygill Quarries. Hanging Stone Quarry was later owned by James Lund who married Spencer's daughter, he rebuilt Malsis Hall and also built Sutton Pinnacle. Strikes Quarry at the Ravenstones was also privately owned having been allotted to a family called Shackleton.
Denis Marshall Pickles Norfolk Monday, July 22, 2019 06:25	I was hoping that the Longbottom lads would see my query and provide some answers. I wasn’t wrong! Thanks for being so helpful!
Robin Longbottom Oakworth Thursday, July 25, 2019 01:06	No problem, Denis. Just a note on the 'Longbottom lads'. Despite having a surname in common and the fact that we both grew up in the village we are not actually related. My family were originally from Halifax and came into the village, via Steeton, in the early 1800's. They opened the King's Arms in King's Court about 1830 and later moved it to the present site. I believe Terry's family came to Sutton towards the end of the 19th C from Silsden, where Longbottoms had settled back in the 17th C. Over to you, Terry!
Terry Longbottom Valley Friday, July 26, 2019 08:44	You are right Robin just another offcumeden.
Robin Longbottom Oakworth Saturday, July 27, 2019 16:45	The reference to people living in the village as 'off cummed uns' dates back to the days of the Poor Laws when a parish, or township, was responsible for looking after and maintaining its own paupers. If you were a male you were only entitled to poor relief in the village of your birth, once married a wife could only claim poor relief from her husband's village, as could their children. However, if a husband moved to his wife's village he would become an 'off cummed un' and would not be entitled to poor relief and would have to claim it from his village of birth. If an 'off cummed un' became a burden to his adopted village he and his family could be forcibly removed to his home village for support. Towards the end of the 18th C my forebear, Robert Bottomley, a stone mason born in Sutton, married and settled in his wife's home village of Haworth. Following an injury, after which he was unable to work and support his family, Haworth refused poor relief and referred him to Sutton. The Sutton guardians visited him to check his circumstances and rather than going to the expense of removing him they paid for his rent and supported him in Haworth until he was able to return to work. Everything changed with the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 and a family that fell on hard times now found themselves committed to the Union Workhouse, 'off cummed uns' or not!

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