What are the changes for the hospitality venues?

Halsnead Hall day journal account book

supported a number of industries, with farming the main activity for many years.

The earliest recorded mill in Whiston was owned by Henry Travers, a Tenant Lord of Whiston, in 1190 and the most common crops grown were oats, beans, potatoes and peas.

Cattle were kept for their meat, hides and milk to make butter, cheese and cream and sheep for their meat and wool.

In the 1600s, clay pipes were made in Whiston and pottery making, producing

By 1700, up to 50,000 tons of coal were being produced from coal fields around Whiston, “ distinctive wares was continued Prescot and Sutton ” throughout the 18th and 19th centuries in the Pottery Lane area. Can you say what this form of pottery was known as? 2

The earliest mention of coal mining in Whiston is an entry in Lord Derby’s Estate Books of 1521, where a reference is made to a charge of ‘24 shillings for the lease of coal mines in Whiston’. Records also show that in 1552, a cart load of coal was selling for 6d.

By 1700, up to 50,000 tons of coal were being produced from coal fields around Whiston, Prescot and Sutton.

In 1719, pit owner Jonathan Case had an Atmospheric Engine, invented by Newcomen in 1712, installed at Prescot Colliery, near Cross Lane, to extract water from the mine at a cost of £2000, including installation and building a new road to the pit.

Further road improvements made

through the Turnpike Act meant that coal could be transported more efficiently and in 1765, a new pit, the Carr Colliery – also owned by Jonathan Case – was opened.

James Gildart, a Liverpool salt merchant, opened a mine in the Pottery Lane / Cross Lane area in 1770 and Halsnead and Whiston Collieries opened in 1802.

By the end of the 19th century, Whiston Colliery, Prescot Colliery and Old Carrs Pumping Pit had closed down. Cronton Colliery, which began as the Hulton Colliery, opened in 1913, the first coal being raised in 1915: this pit closed in 1984.

Tushingham’s Metallic Brickworks opened on the Paradise Lane site of Whiston Colliery in 1898 and operated until the 1970s. Clay and shale were excavated and then made into bricks at the Huyton Quarry Brickworks. There was also a brickworks on Dragon Lane at the Royal Oak.

Other industries included tool making for the watch making industry (based in which local town? 3 ) and stone quarrying.

At the start, mention was made of Whiston Hospital, which itself has a fascinating history. In 1841, the land on the corner of Warrington Road was bought by the Board of Guardians of the Poor of Prescot. William Culshaw was appointed architect and building work started the following year.

By 1843, the workhouse building was finished and the smaller workhouses at Prescot, Bold, Sutton, Windle and Much Woolton were closed down. Do you know the address of the institution? 4

In 1851, there were 124 people living at the workhouse – seven staff and 117 inmates. The first hospital wards were built by George Harris in 1865, to house 50 men and 50 women and in 1871, the General Hospital for fever and infectious disease was built by Samuel Warburton.

The Government Act of 1929 gave local authorities responsibility for running hospitals and in 1930, Lancashire County Council took responsibility for

Henry Smith and Thomas Lavelle from Engine House Farm working a field at Paradise Lane

Cronton Colliery

the hospital, which was then called the County Hospital, Whiston.

During World War II, the hospital cared for many ill and wounded casualties, including civilians and prisoners of war.

Internees from Huyton’s Internment Camp were also treated at the hospital. After the war, the National Health Service was set up – do you know what year that was? 5 - and in 1953, the hospital changed its name to Whiston Hospital.

In more recent times, the site was completely redeveloped and the new Whiston Hospital, managed by St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, opened - heralding a new era for the hospital and the communities it serves.

In our next article, we’ll continue our whistle-stop journey around Knowsley.

In the meantime, you can find out more about our heritage by visiting our website http://archives.knowsley.gov.uk/ emailing infoheritage@knowsley.gov.uk or calling 0151 443 4291/4365. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook and find Knowsley Archives on Flickr, WordPress and Soundcloud Answers to the questions… 1. White Stone 2. Blackware 3. Prescot 4. 1 Warrington Road 5. 1948

Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road entrance

Halsnead Hall