The Royal Toby A Home at the heart of the Industrial Revolution The popular Royal Toby Hotel & Restaurant, in Castleton, has recently undergone a dramatic refrurbishment. Style readers may be intrigued to know the history behind this impressive building. The Hotel was originally a manor house known as the Rhyddings, built at the turn of the 20th Century by Ernest Tweedale. Ernest was the son of Samuel Tweedale, one of the founders of engineering giants Tweedales & Smalley. Founded in 1891, the three founding partners worked together previously at Accrington’s Howard & Bollough. They moved to Castleton and set up the Globe Works. This huge manufacturing business in Castleton employed 2600 workers at the height of its success on a site of 14 acres. Originally building machinery for the textiles industry, Tweedales & Smalley diversified from carding machines and ring frames to make armaments for the British troops during the 1st World War. The shortage of shells caused many manufacturing plants to retool to support the war effort. Ernest built the original Rhyddings house and subsequently added the luxurious ball room which we now know as the Royal Toby Restaurant. This is why the Banqueting Suite is now known as the Rhyddings.
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The Tweedales were popular figures in Castleton, although they preferred to keep themselves out of the public eye. They remained away from public office despite being keen Liberal Party supporters. Their focus was always on building their business not their profiles, which they successfully did until the 1920’s when the partners handed over control of the Globe Works to a syndicate who drove exports to India and Russia in the difficult interwar years. A keen sporting family, they supported both the Castleton Moor and Thornham Cricket Clubs, as well Samuel being made a life member of Lancashire County Cricket Club. The Tweedale family clearly played a big part in the Industrial Revolution and everyday Castleton life. They were entrepreneurial engineers who believed in free trade and hard work. They employed more workers than Castleton had houses, and were an essential force in growing the local economy. The Royal Toby Bar and Restaurant now offers an appropriate nod of appreciation to the people and era in which the building was built.
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