My Stansfield Ancestors
This web page is intended to illustrate the many branches of my Grandmother's Stansfield ancestors, who lived in and around Waterfoot, in Rossendale, Lancashire.
The pages on this site are best read on a Tablet, Laptop or Desktop. They don't work well on a mobile. I'm afraid. I don't have the skills or the nouse to adapt or structure the content to work on a mobile, so for that I apologise.
In 1841, my Stansfield ancestors were living at a farm called Clay Roads in Cowpe, later at Holden and then a few hundred yards North at Lowerfold Farm just west of Cowpe Mill. Gradually over the years various members lived in Newchurch, Edgeside, Waterfoot, etc., all peripheral settlements to the valley clutching the sides of the hills between Rawtenstall and Bacup in Rossendale.
In years past, the main industry was wool related (though some cotton) and later, slipper making. Felt was the result of waste products of the cloth industry and this proved an ideal material for slippers and there were many manufacturers in the area. You will see below that a few members of the family worked in the Slipper Industry.
In 2002, the last Mill closed that was working on cloth related processes in the area, (in this case, the dyeing of cloth). This was Cowpe Mill, now demolished, which has a relevance to our story.
A quick note about place names - In Victorian times, especially after the coming of the railway between 1848 and 1852, the whole conurbation was becoming known as Waterfoot, which included the old township of Newchurch to the North West of it, Edgeside to the East and between them Booth Fold. Waterfoot stretched South to the River Irwell and the Rawtenstall to Bacup railway. Confusingly, both Newchurch and Waterfoot tend to be used for the same place.
According to the 1841 Census returns, my ancestors John Stansfield (c.1792-1853) and Alice (nee Ashworth) (born c.1790) and 7 children were living at Clay Roads, a farm which is on the high ground just North-East of the Cowpe valley and just South of the Irwell Valley.
One of their sons, Giles (1825-1890) appears to have taken on Clay Roads after his Father died in 1853. He married Jane Atkinson (1834-1900) in 1860.
They had sired five sons, (one of whom, James, died as an infant) and three daughters, (all of whom died in infancy). The remaining sons all emigrated to Blue Hill, Maine in the USA. These were Samuel (1862-1910), Joseph (1867-1902), Ellis (1870-1956) and John (1875-1940). Joseph & Ellis emigrated in 1889. Their Father died in 1890, Samuel & John emigrated in 1894 and their Mother, Jane, followed in 1896.
After the death of Ellis Stansfield, handwritten notes were found in which he had described his life at Clay Roads. Use the link for more details on Ellis Stansfield and his brothers in the USA and Ellis' recollections.
But to return to John and Alice Stansfield.
Another son, Richard, married Elizabeth Jane Ashworth in 1850 and were at Coupe [sic] in 1851, Holden Farm in 1861 and 1871 then by 1881, Lower Fold Farm, Cowpe, see the photo, (below), and the sketch map (above).
Richard Stansfield had died in 1878 so for the 1881 Census, the head of the household was his widow, Elizabeth Jane Stansfield (nee Ashworth).
Above is a photo of the Lower Fold Farm complex in 2007. The delapidated buildings have since been adapted into a number of very smart homes.
At the centre of the picture you can just see the green horizontal edge of the Cowpe Reservoir's dam. Holden Farm was behind the trees, off to the right.
Here is the information with my ancestral line from the Census' previously mentioned.
In the 1851 Census:
Richard (a Labourer, aged 22 born Tottington Higher).
(Note: Although Tottington is now a village North of Bury, the area then known by that name covered a large area. That known as Tottington Higher End Moor ended only a mile South of Holden.)
His wife, Elizabeth Jane (aged 18 born Coupe Lench) are at Coupe [sic] with just the one child, Jane aged 8 months born in Coupe Lench.
In the 1861 Census:
The family are living at Holden, just South of Lowerfold, a smallholding that has now disappeared, a small building is now there, a few yards to the West of the old homestead.
Richard Stansfield is 30, a Farmer and Quarryman, born at Tottington.
His wife, Elizabeth Jane, 28, is down as being born in Coupe [sic]. The children are:
Jane (10), Woollen Piecer and Scholar, born Coupe
John (9) Woollen Throstle Spinner born Coupe
Joseph (5) Scholar born Coupe
Giles (3). Scholar born Coupe
Margaret Ann (10 months) born Coupe.
In the 1871 Census:
Still at Holden Farm.
Richard now says he was born at Brown/Crown? Hill Lane.
Elizabeth Jane says she was born at Cagemill Lane.
(Cage Mill was at OS Grid Ref. SD833214 and appears to have been absorbed into an enlarged Green Bridge Print Works).
The children's details are as follows:
Jane (20) Woollen Weaver, born Lower Tipet [sic] Lane.
(Lower Tippett is about half a mile North of Holden at SD832210)
John (19) Quarryman, born Lower Tipet Lane
Joseph (15) Quarryman, born Holden
Giles (13) Joiner, born Holden
Margaret Ann (10) Scholar, born Holden
James (9) Tearer for Woollen printer, born Holden
Betsy (4) Scholar born Holden and finally
George (2) born Holden.
(There had also been another daughter, Rachel, who was born Feb 1864 and died Mar 1865).
In the 1881 Census:
As stated above, the family were then living at Lower Fold Farm, (SD836205), which is 400 metres, (a quarter of a mile), west of Cowpe Mill and a few hundred yards North of Holden. Elizabeth Jane is described as a Widow and a Farmer of 14 acres. So on Census day, 3rd April 1881, all the children, apart from Jane and John, are living there and are unmarried.
Joseph (aged 25), is a Stone Quarryman.
(There is a quarry called Cragg Quarry on top of the moor above them).
Giles (23) is a Carpenter,
Margaret Ann (20) a Woollen Weaver,
James (18) a Dyer,
Betsy (15) a Farm Servant (Ag Lab) and finally
George (aged 12), a Scholar.
Later in 1881, Giles married Sarah Alice Buckley.
She was the daughter of the then Night Watchman of Cowpe Mill, Edmund Buckley and his wife Anne (nee Whitaker).
Edmund was born in 1826 in Saddleworth, East of Oldham and over the county boundary in Yorkshire.
Ann was born in Cowpe.
(I have noticed that a lot of people have recorded the wrong maiden name for Ann Whitaker; names like Ashworth, etc. I found her maiden name, for sure, from Sarah Alice Buckley's Birth Certificate). Ann was born c.1836 before her Mother, Margaret Whitaker married John Collinge in 1838.
Back to Giles and Sarah, who had eight children:
Richard (Dick) 1882 -1948 m. Hannah Riley in 1908. Four children.
Edmund 1883 - 1950 m. Ellen Taylor in 1912, three children.
East Lancs. Regt. 1916-20, serving in Bangalore and Basra.
Bertha 1885 - 1960 born at 469 Newchurch Road, Stacksteads.
m. John Platt in 1913, just one child, my Mum - Joan.
Harold 1886 - 1967 m. Harriet Pickup in 1911, they had (we think) 9 children.
Marshall 1888 - 1953 m. Amy Coupe in 1917, she died in 1920.
m. Alma Braithwaite in 1924, they had three children.
Roland 1889 - 1863 m. Ann Tattershall in 1915. Their youngest daughter Patricia,
died 31 Mar 2020, the last of her generation of Stansfields.
Joseph 1892 - 1960 m. Florence Howarth in 1916, she died 1920, they had eight children together.
He married Ivy Mews in 1937.
Dora 1894 - 1924 m. Arthur Birtwistle in 1916, they had two children.
A Contralto, she was due to audition for the BBC radio the day she died.
St Anne's School, Edgeside, Waterfoot, c.1898.
Top Row
Far right: Marshall, 2nd right - Harold
2nd Row,
2nd left: Bertha
3rd Row,
1st left: Roland, middle with board - Edmund
4th Row,
1st left: Joseph, middle front - Dora.
Madge Taylor, the daughter of Marshall Stansfield, was kind enough to send me the school picture, showing seven of the eight children of Giles and Sarah Stansfield. (Sadly, Madge died in 2019).
They may well have been living in Stacksteads in 1885, that's where my Grandma, Bertha, was born.
1891 Census,
Here they are living at Barn Fold, (by Wales Top and Edgeside Hall). Giles describes himself as a Farmer and Joiner.
1901 Census,
Here, the address is 171 Edgeside Lane. (Perhaps the same place as in 1891). Giles describes himself as a Farmer.
1911 Census,
Now the address is 202 Crescent Bank, Burnley Road. Giles was then a Joiner as was Harold and Roland. Joe was a stone mason. Edmund and Marshall were finishers at a Slipper Works. Bertha and Dora were sewing machinists.
Two years later, my Grandma Bertha Stansfield married John (Jack) Platt, (see my Platt page for my Grandad's ancestry). They lived at No.2 Bridleway House, down the Bridleway road to the South of Crescent Bank, in what is now Newbigging Avenue. There, my Mother, Joan Platt was born on the 10th of August, 1920.
Sarah Alice Stansfield, died in 1912 aged 55 and Giles Stansfield died aged 63 in 1920.
Here is a recently discovered photo (c.1910?) of the Stansfield family, a great find, as this has the only picture that I have ever seen of Giles Stansfield, my Great Grandfather. He is on the far right, middle row.
I think the top row is (L-R); Harold, Edmund and Joseph. Middle row is Sarah Alice, Bertha (my Grandma), Dick, Dora and Giles. Bottom row is, I reckon, Roland and Marshall.
The Waterfoot Wood Heel Company
This was the family firm. As far as I can tell, the brothers Edmund and his daughter Mary, Marshall, Harold and Joe Stansfield worked there, (and possibly, their Father, Giles). According to Kelly's Directory of 1918, the Waterfoot Wood Heel Co. was at Albion shed, Burnley Road.
(I put in a query about the firm on 'Rossendale Online', (a useful site which sadly has now disappeared). A correspondent called "Flungy" described where Albion Shed was. I interpreted his description to locate the site at Grid Ref. SD839253, on the B6238, by what is now the Isle of Man Lodge fishing pond, between Lumb and Water).
Later, it was situated at Bridge End Mill in Waterfoot, Lancashire. The Mill has now been demolished. It was just South West of Waterfoot Railway Station, (also now demolished).
In 2001, Marshall's daughter, Madge Taylor wrote to me and recalled a lot of things about the firm. She began by talking of Giles:
"It says on your paper, [info in a letter I had sent to her], that Giles was a Joiner, but not just that. I saw one of the [letter?] headings and it said he was a wheelwright, bespoke furniture [maker?], undertaker and all other repairs etc. But I suppose it could have been after World War I, maybe before, they decided to go along with the rest of the valley's factories which concentrated on shoes and slippers."
She described where the business was:
"When you went to Cowpe, (mentioning a visit I had made there), you would have left the (main) road and turned right. The Waterfoot Railway Station was there, there used to be a railway bridge, now pulled down that we would go under and still to the right was the family business, the Waterfoot Wood Heel Co., with it's own factory chimney, but I understand that has gone now. The river from Cowpe joined the Irwell, the river bridge and I presume it must still be there. In later years the river water was used to steam (wartime) wood."
She went on to recall:
"In the holidays, I would sometimes take Father his lunch box. There was a boiler man in the coke hole, feeding the massive great steam engine that made the machines go round. The wood used was Scandinavian beech. It came in lengths which were cut on a big plane and then put in lightweight wooden barrels. Then shaped to the right, then the left and down the line to the cuppers - where the heel meets the shoe. There was also a very dangerous wheel that cuts the bottoms off where the leather sole goes. There was either the spray room, where the heels were made blue, pink or white, or they went upstairs where they were covered in sheet cellophane to match the shiny black stilettos. Father used to hate setting up the machines for those. I understand that these days a long nail is put through. ..... and when the wedge heels came along, that always put him in a bad mood, although he was fairly even tempered."
Sadly, Madge Taylor, (nee Stansfield), died in September 2019, aged 94.
"If you don't know where you are going, know where you come from."
Krio proverb.
I hope you find this web site of interest. I am always open to suggestions as to how to improve these pages. You may have information to add, or to clarify that given on the site. Also, I hate to admit it, there may well be errors! Whatever the case, please let me know.
Please note my new E Mail address, which is:
s y l v j a c k 1 @ g m a i l . c o m
(I've added spaces in between each letter of the E Mail address as a form of "address munging", (if you'll pardon the expression).