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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: Fibrokitty on Wednesday 26 March 14 16:18 GMT (UK)
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I am just wondering does anybody have any info or any informative site links to find the Gorringe familys Shoe makers shop in Westhoughton. That wasn't the name of the shop, im not sure of the name but they were shoe makers for a couple of generations in the area but i cannot find any information or stories of the shop or them doing the trade (apart from army listing from the younger ones) which i presumed there should be something somewhere :/ I have looked in Westhoughton/Bolton history books that i have found and have looked through the internet, but i dont know where any info will be, can anybody help please? thankyou :)
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Do they appear on the 1911 - if so there is a question that asks whether they work at home.
A lot of shoemakers did work from home.
Rosie
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You might be able to check entries in trade directories against known addresses at the time for the family? That is, if you are sure they were working on a large enough scale. One or two who were "shoe menders" in fact, working from home, put "shoe makers" onto forms - it sounded a bit better! Might the "Wiganworld" site with its various directories, cover Westhoughton, and be of some help to you?
Is it the ones on 3 Chorley road in 1911?
Ooops, rosie99 has posted while I was trawling online directories
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Thanks for your help :) i didn't realise they worked from home sometimes, i know 3 Chorley road is a hairdressers now so maybe it was a home/shop at the time, id love to find some pictures if there is any...but if it was a business from home then there probably wont be :(.
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I will check trade directories i didn't even think of that thanks :)
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Hi,
The trade directory for Westhoughton (1902-4) is listed on the Lancashire OPC site. It shows a
Robert John Rigby, Boot Shoe & Clog Maker of 1 & 3 Chorley Road.
from
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Westhoughton/directory1902-1904.html
In 1901 Robert John Rigby, a 40 year-old born Liverpool was living at 1-3 Chorley Rd., Wingates, Westhoughton working from home as a boot, shoe and clog manufacturer and employer. It would seem that the boot and shoe business was already established on the Chorley Road premises before the Gorringe family moved to Wingates.
In 1891, 1 Chorley Road was home and business for William Marsh, a grocer whilst 3 Chorley Road was just a dwelling house for James Clarke and his family.
Westhoughton Library may have some old photos.
Contact details are on the site below.
http://www.bolton.gov.uk/website/Pages/WesthoughtonLibrary.aspx