42, 44 and 46 Wharf Street

History

This row was probably built around the time of the improvements to the turnpike road through Sowerby Bridge, completed 1792, now named Wharf Street. The route was realigned slightly northwards from the old packhorse route of Old Cawsey to avoid the growing number of mills along the river and the canal basin. The footprint of these houses may appear on the 1792 map of the Rochdale Canal, but the scale and detail of the map is not sufficient to be certain. They are thought to have been built as back-to-back cottages, the multi-light windows on the southern elevation (which has an extra storey because of the lower ground level to the south) indicating that they were probably intended for weavers. The row thus represents an interesting moment in the history of Sowerby Bridge and more widely in Yorkshire, when integrated mills were just emerging, but where traditional domestic-based weaving of cloth continued. The 1888 Ordnance Survey Town Plan shows the buildings as through-properties rather than back-to-backs but depicts external staircases to the two now blocked first floor doors on the southern elevation, suggesting that the lower ground floor may have been in separate occupation. In 1905, number 42 Wharf Street was occupied by F Rawnsley, bootmaker and clogger; number 44 by W Hamer, a glass, china and earthenware dealer and number 46 by W Walker, a watchmaker and jeweller.

Details

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement 11 June 2024 to amend details in the description, add Historical Note and Sources and reformat Name and Address

SE 0623-0723
1330-/13/300

SOWERBY BRIDGE
WHARF STREET (south side)
Nos 42, 44 & 46

(Formerly listed as Nos 40 (Guys Boutique) and 42 and 44 (Khangura Bros, Supermarket))

10.7.1988

GV
II

Row of three shops, probably originally built late C18 or early C19 as back-to-back dwellings.

The row is built of coursed, squared stone with ashlar dressings covered with a stone slate roof with three stone chimney stacks.

The Wharf Street (north) elevation is of two storeys and three bays. The first floor of each bay has a two-light window with a flush-faced central mullion, the lights fitted with plain sashes. There is a moulded table supporting shaped gutter brackets forming the eaves. To the ground floor, the eastern bay (46 Wharf Street) retains a doorway to the left (east) which has an ashlar surround that is painted, the shop front to the right being timber with pilasters supporting a fascia board, the western two shopfronts being later.

St Anns Square (south) elevation. This is of three bays and three storeys. All of the openings have flush ashlar surrounds, and all of the windows have flush-faced mullions.The ground floor has three doorways, that to the western bay (42 Wharf Street) being blocked. There is a three-light window to each bay on the first floor, that to the east (46 Wharf Street) still open. The central and western bays have blocked doorways to the right of their windows. The second floor has a five-light window to 42 Wharf Street, and three-light windows to the other two bays, that to the east (46 Wharf Street) missing one of its stone mullions.

Listing NGR: SE0620223662

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

339439

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire Historic Area Assessment (2024) Historic England Research Report 23/2024, 117

End of official list entry

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