[Page under development]
Spring Cottage also once known as Gatley’s House, and today known as Spring House, is on Oak Lane in Kerridge and was the birthplace of sculptor Alfred Gatley 1816-1863. See Bollington Live 2016 pages 18 and 19 for more information on Alfred Gatley.
Census
1841: William Gatley was fifty seven years old and was a stone mason. His wife Betty (Henshaw) who he had married in 1803 had died in 1822.They were the parents of Alfred Gatley. William lived with four of his grown up children. They were Martha aged thirty years, Eliza aged twenty five years and Lavenia and Elizabeth.
1851: William Gatley was still at Spring Cottage now a farmer of fourteen acres, with his daughters Martha and Frances.
As the ages of some of William`s children differ on some parish records as opposed to the census, below is a list of the children from William and Betty Gatley.
1804 Matilda
1805-1917 Harriet
1807-1870 Martha Henshaw
1809-1887 Mary Brooster
1810-1854 Frances
1812 Eliza
1814-1878 Francis
1816-1863 Alfred
1818-1901 Lavinia
1820-1851 Elizabeth Harriet
1861: Francis Gatley aged forty seven years was head of house in this year as his father William had died in 1855. Francis was a farmer of twenty seven acres and employer of nine quarry men and four boys. His wife Susannah (née Moreton) was forty eight years old. They had two sons and four daughters. Sons Walter and William were scholars aged fourteen and eleven years. The eldest daughter was twenty year old Mary, she was a dairy maid. Eighteen year old Sarah was a dressmaker. Harriet at the age of sixteen years was a Wesleyan pupil teacher. And finally Elizabeth aged eight years was a scholar.
1871: Ten years later the cottage was named Gatley`s House on the census at least, presumably as the Gatley family had lived there for so long. Francis Gatley at the age of fifty seven years was still married but there was no mention of his wife on this day. Francis was just a stone merchant now rather then a farmer too. His son Walter aged twenty four was a stone mason as was William who was now twenty one years old. The only daughter still living in the house was Elizabeth, and at the age of eighteen she was still described as a scholar.
1881: Susannah was living at the house but she was a widow as her husband Francis had died in 1878. Walter, Susannah and Francis`s son, was still living with his mother and was still a stone mason. Also living with them was thirteen year old Louisa M Arnold, a granddaughter, she was employed as a cotton reeler.
1891: Susannah was still at Gatley’s House and was now aged seventy seven years and living on own means. Her daughter Elizabeth was living with her, she was thirty eight years old and was employed as a general servant. Suzannah died in 1897.
1901: Harriett Gatley was aged fifty six years and lived at Spring Cottage (Changed back from Gatley’s House) and she was also there during the 1890-99 directories. Harriett was Susannah`s daughter and had appeared on the 1861 census. She was a retired school mistress and was born in Kerridge. Harriet died six years later. Harriet also appears on a census the same year living in Hyde Cheshire and also dying there in 1903! Also living in Spring Cottage was a boarder named Edward Bennett, he was fifty nine years old and was a retired warehouse man in a cotton mill. He was born in Kerridge.
1901-1903: According to Kelly`s Directory Lavinia, Harriet`s sister, was also at Spring Cottage, she died between 1901 and 1903.
1911: Sadly no Gatleys lived at Spring Cottage anymore. The Broome family now occupied it having moved from a few doors away. Fred Broome was the head of the large household. Fred was forty five years old and worked as a mill mechanic. He was born in Jackson Lane Kerridge and appears to have lived in Kerridge all his life. He died in Lymncroft on Jacksons Lane at the age of ninety in 1956. His large family in 1911 consisted of his wife Fanny (née Cooke) who was two years younger than her husband. They had nine children, four daughters and five sons ranging in ages from twenty three years to six years. Their names were Annie, Hilda, William, Nellie, John, Harry, Fred, Ida and Frank. All were involved in the cotton industry apart from William who was a mill mechanic like his father. The youngest two children were still at school of course. The whole family was born in Kerridge apart from Fred`s wife Fanny who was born in Adlington, Cheshire.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks go specifically to Linda Stewart who has researched census and other information to present an interesting history of local people and properties.
Our thanks go to all those who researched and discovered the history that is presented in these pages. Please read the full acknowledgement of their remarkable achievement.
Your Historic Documents
Please don't chuck out those historic documents and pictures! Find out why here.