Belle Vue Inn, Cinder Hills, Wooldale

Details

• also known as: Butchers Arms (original name), Field House (residential property name)
• location: Cinder Hills Road, Wooldale
• status: still exists but now in different use
• category: public house, beerhouse, inn, etc.

Historic newspaper articles strongly indicate that the property later known as Field House was originally opened as a beerhouse by butcher William Bray, and was called the Butchers Arms.

Bray unsuccessfully applied to the Brewster Sessions of 1862 for a full innkeepers licence, but then succeeded the following year. The beerhouse was described as being on the "road leading from Holmfirth to Scholes and Hepworth", with extensive traffic to and from the Hepworth Ironworks. The premises had stabling for eight horses and the adjoining field was used as a drill ground by the Holmfirth Rifle Corps. The 1863 application was supported by Superintendent Heaton and also the Superintendent of the Holmfirth Police. Although the final decision was held over to the Adjourned Sessions, the chair of the magistrates "expressed himself quite satisfied both with the character of the applicant, and the extent of the accommodation afforded by the premises".

Unfortunately Bray was soon declared bankrupt and the Butchers Arms was placed up for auction in March 1864:

IN THE COURT OF BANKRUPTCY FOR THE LEEDS DISTRICT, COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS, LEEDS.

IN the matter of WILLIAM BRAY, of Cinder-hills, near Holmfirth, in the county of York, butcher and innkeeper, by whom a petition for adjudication of bankruptcy has been duly filed, under which he has been adjudged a bankrupt.

First Meeting at the said Court on Monday, the twenty-ninth day of February, 1864, at eleven o'clock in the Forenoon. Second meeting will be duly advertised. At the first meeting the creditors may choose trade assignees. At the second meeting the bankrupt is to finish his examination. At both meetings the bankrupt is required to surrender, and proofs of debt will be received.

THEOPHILUS CARRICK, Official Assignee.
H. and S. S. BOOTH, Holmfirth, Solicitors.
BOND and BARWICK, Leeds, Agents.

VALUABLE COPYHOLD PROPERTY AT CINDER-HILLS, NEAR HOLMFIRTH.

TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, by Messrs. GEORGE TINKER and SON, at the Victoria Hotel, in Holmfirth, in the county of York, on Thursday, the 3rd day of March, 1864, at Seven o’clock in the evening, in one or several Lots as may be agreed upon at the time of Sale, and subject to such conditions as will be then produced, ALL that Commodious and newly-erected MESSUAGE or DWELLING-HOUSE, used as an Inn or Public House, called or known by the name of the "Butcher's Arms Inn," within the Butcher's Shop, Brew-house and Outbuildings thereto belonging, situate at Cinderhills in Wooldale, in the parish of Kirkburton and county of York, and on the road leading from Holmfirth to Hepworth, now in the occupation of William Bray. Also, all that Close of LAND called the Field, adjoining the said Messuage, and containing with the site of the said buildings 4a. 3r. 24p. (more or less), and now also in the occupation of the said William Bray. The house is pleasantly situated and well supplied with water.

The property is Copyhold of Inheritance of the Manor of Wakefield, and compounded for.

The tenant will shew the premises, and further particulars may be had on application to the Auctioneers; at the offices of Messrs. H. and S. S. Booth, Solicitors, Holmfirth; or of Messrs. IVESON and MELLER, Solicitors, Holmfirth.

It seems likely the purchaser was a local brewery and the next recorded licensees were George Beaumont, Thomas Beaumont, and Charles Cormack. Seemingly shortly after the auction, the inn was renamed "Belle Vue" and the large adjoining field was advertised in the local press as Belle Vue Grounds, which were described as having "an enchanting view of the adjacent romantic landscape scenery". Sports such as pigeon shooting and rabbit coursing are known to have taken place there, and, by 1872, cricket matches were also being played on the Belle Vue Grounds.

On 10 July 1872, the inn and field were placed up for auction:

AT CINDER HILLS. NEAR HOLMFIRTH.

Lot 3 - All that INN or PUBLIC-HOUSE, called or known by the name of the Belle Vue Inn, situate at Cinder Hills, near Holmfirth, on the road from Holmfirth to Hepworth, with the stable and conveniences to the same belonging.

Also the Close of LAND called the Field Close, adjoining the said public-house, now used as a race course and ground for recreation, and containing 4a. 3r. 24p. Tenant Mr. Robert Turdoff.

By 1880, brewery manager Emanuel Duxbury (listed as a brewer's agent in the 1881 Census) was residing at the property — it seems likely that he had purchased the former inn and converted it for residential use. By the time the O.S. surveyed the area in the late 1880s, the property was known as Field House.