History of Ellis Howe

We have not found out exactly when Ellis Howe was built, but it was originally a farm or part of a farm.

In the nineteenth century it became a shop and post office. The main living room was then two separate rooms. The front room had a wooden counter and shelves. The study held sacks of flour and sugar, and more recently sweets and toys were sold from there.

Ellis Howe in the 1960′s. You can see some of the goods for sale in the downstairs window.

The back part of the living room had built in cupboards, chairs and a table – the living area for the whole family!

The stairs, now at the back of the living room, were originally in the kitchen, rising almost vertically against the wall. A fire or a paraffin stove was used for cooking, and the ceiling hooks were used to store pots and pans.

Water was obtained from the pump still to be found  in the garden. The pump is fed from Torver Common into a large stone cistern under the pump. Unfortunately the leather pump valve has rotted so the pump does not work at present. Apparently overzealous use of the pump caused water to flood into the cottage!

The following information comes from an article by Pat Barr, in the local magazine ‘Nobbut Torver’, edited by David Rogers, and the old  pictures are from Richard Prickett, our neighbour,  who was born in Ellis Howe.

Ellis Howe became the shop in Torver early in the nineteenth century. The proprietor was Miss Mary Coulthard.

Additional information was given to us by Sue Charlesworth. Mary Coulthard was Sue’s great grandfather’s half sister!

When the shop sign was taken down from the gable end, it was discovered that on the reverse  was the original sign from when Mary Coulthard was the owner. The fixing brackets can still be seen on the side of the house.

Despite being unmarried, Mary had a daughter, Ann Penny Coulthard, who later married George Shuttleworth and was Agnes Evelyn’s mother. Agnes lived at Ellis Howe with her grandmother – her job was listed as grocery assistant.

Mr. Richard Wilson Prickett (b.1869) from Ellis Howe, married Miss Agnes Evelyn Shuttleworth (b.1875) from Undercrag. They had two children: Bessie Agnes (b.1895) and John (Jack) (b.1896) who were brought up at Ellis Howe.

Agnes died at the young age of 28 years in 1903, her children being only seven and eight years old. When Bessie was old enough, she took charge of the family shop, while father Richard and brother Jack worked as carters until the start of the First World War.

They carted stone from the local quarries, which at the time were Eddyscale, Bannishead and Broughton Moor, to the railway sidings at Torver. To cart from Broughton Moor to Torver, they used one horse and cart and one sledge to come down Broughton Moor hill, the sledge being the anchor weight. The pay at that time was, “one man with two horses and two carts: 2/6d per day”.

When the First World War was declared, Jack joined the army and spent the duration of the war in North Africa and Europe. After he returned, he met Miss Rachel Elizabeth Atkinson, formerly of Cleator Moor, who was in lodgings with Tom and Ganny Coward, then living at Dalton Road Crossings, Torver. Rachel worked in service at Eccle Riggs, in Broughton until she was dismissed after agreeing with her employers that the mirror above the grand fireplace was dusty. They wrote in the dust, “This mirror is dusty.” Unfortunately she replied in writing, again on the mirror, saying “I know”, a sackable offence in those days!

When Jack and Rachel married, Rachel took over the running of the shop leaving Bessie free to pursue her career as a confinement nurse and housekeeper to expectant mothers, which took her all over the county. Jack was by this time working for the County Council as Torver’s lengthsman, keeping the roadsides tidy between Town End and Little Arrow, and from there to Sunny Bank. Rachel Prickett ran the shop until it closed in 1979.

Jack and Rachel had two children, Richard and Mary. Richard Prickett now lives at  Hollace, the house just above Ellis Howe. Richard is Mary Coulthard’s great great grandson! Mary married Tony Young from Souterstead and their children, John and Barbara, with her husband Sam, still farm in the village today.

Young Richard Prickett (in short trousers) and his family