Laneside School
Known as BROCKS

Image produced from the www.old-maps.co.uk service with permission of Landmark Information Group Ltd and Ordnance Survey
John Mitchell's School, Top of Brocks, was located through Boulderclough at the right turn leading to Blackwall and Luddenden Foot. At the gateway on the right hand side at the top of the lane in the field there is a stone, a little larger than a head stone it is thought to be a grave.

It was a small privately owned school, with one schoolmaster teaching a few children who would each pay a fee. This may have come about due to the 1844 Factory Act when children were required to spend half their day at school. Children working at John Murgatroyd and Sons attended the school from 1857 - 1860.

In 1851 John Mitchell was living at Laneside, described as Schoolmaster, born at Sowerby in 1798. In late 1854 at the age of 56 he married Priscilla Teal, some 27 years younger than him; she was a factory worker living at Milner Place. Laneside appears to have been a row of three cottages, with John Mitchell occupying numbers 1 and 2, presumably using one as living accommodation and the other as the school. By 1871 it appears that the school has become more successful as John occupies all three cottages, his wife describes herself as a schoolmistress and her daughter as assistant teacher. It is likely that the school closed at the time of John's death later that year, or shortly after. John Mitchell was buried at Sowerby St Peter's Church, 30th December 1871, aged 74.

By the census of 1881 Priscilla is living with her daughter Ellen at Raw End, Ellen having married Wright Haigh in 1877. Laneside is now 2 cottages, one of which is empty and the other the home of John & Elizabeth Thorpe and family. Of John & Priscilla's other children, Joe (born 1856) married Susy Haigh Speak in 1877 and has a job as Stationmaster, although at which station is not known. Albert (born 1857) married Tabitha Nicholl of Sowerby Green in 1877 and is living at Peel Lodge, Warley; though having started on the railway with his brother he is now a Cashier in a mill.

It seems likely that John Mitchell made two cottages at Laneside into one for the school, as after 1881 only two cottages are mentioned in the census. In 1881 John Thorp & family occupy one while the other is uninhabited. and by 1891 both cottages are recorded as being empty. In the 1901 and 1911 census Laneside has disappeared.

The Sowerby poet and postman, Levi Haigh wrote about John Mitchell's School, or Academy in his "Sowerby District: Reminiscences and Associations" Poems Booklet No 2, and has 43 verses. The school lay in ruins as Levi walked by on his postal round, the first and last few verses selected from his poem read:

Begins...   And Ends...
What means these stones in various heaps.
And scattered fragments which I see?
Does not their presence here, to-day,
Remind me of what used to be?

Though most uneven is the ground,
And growing rank is every weed;
'Tis not a quarry I behold,
Supplying builders' present need.

Each stone, among these several piles,
Hath served its time and purpose well,
In that old building, low and long,
The Mitchell family used to dwell.

Three cottages it long had been.
But used a while, as house and school,
Where Mitchell taught, both boys and girls,
With full authority to rule. 		  Men soon may these rough heaps remove,
And add this portion to the field;
Then stones and weeds would disappear
That this plot also grass might yield.

Then all reminders of the past,
The past of this historic spot,
Will be removed from every eye
Of those who care or careth not.

All outward evidence may go,
Yet, mental vision will retain
That long, old building, rude and low -
John Mitchell's School beside the lane.


Levi Haigh


By Jean Illingworth & Malcolm Street


Census Data

Year Address Name Relation Condition Age Born Occupation
1851 Laneside MITCHELL, John Head Unmarried 53 Sowerby School Master
 
1851 Laneside BANCROFT, Thomas Head Married 35 Wadsworth Weaver
1851 Laneside BANCROFT, Ann Wife Married 33 Erringden
1851 Laneside BANCROFT, John Son 5 Sowerby Scholar
1851 Laneside BANCROFT, William Son 2 Sowerby
1851 Laneside BANCROFT, Joseph Son 0 (4 Months) Sowerby
1851 Laneside SUTCLIFFE, Henry Lodger Unmarried 29 Warley Weaver
 
1861 1-2 Laneside MITCHELL, John Head Married 63 Sowerby Schoolmaster
1861 1-2 Laneside MITCHELL, Priscilla Wife Married 36 Sowerby Schoolmasters Wife
1861 1-2 Laneside MITCHELL, Joe Son 5 Sowerby Scholar
1861 1-2 Laneside MITCHELL, Albert Son 4 Sowerby Scholar
1861 1-2 Laneside MITCHELL, Ellen Daughter 2 Sowerby
 
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Thomas Head Married 45 Wadsworth Carpet Weaver
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Ann Wife Married 43 Weavers Wife
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, John Son Unmarried 14 Sowerby Cotton Weaver
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, William Son Unmarried 12 Sowerby Worsted Factory Hand
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Joseph Son 10 Sowerby Worsted Factory Hand
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Betty Daughter 8 Sowerby Worsted Factory Hand
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Sarah Jane Daughter 6 Sowerby Scholar
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Wright Son 4 Sowerby Scholar
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Mary H Daughter 2 Sowerby
1861 3 Laneside BANCROFT, Fred Son 0 (5M) Sowerby
 
1871 Laneside MITCHELL, John Head 73 Halifax Schoolmaster
1871 Laneside MITCHELL, Priscilla Wife 46 Halifax Schoolmistress
1871 Laneside MITCHELL, Joe Son 15 Halifax Railway Office Clerk
1871 Laneside MITCHELL, Albert Son 14 Halifax Railway Office Clerk
1871 Laneside MITCHELL, Ellen Daughter 12 Halifax Assistant Teacher
 
1881 Laneside 1 Uninhabited
 
1881 Laneside THORP, John Head Married 41 Sowerby Carter
1881 Laneside THORP, Elizabeth Wife Married 41 Charlestown
1881 Laneside THORP, Mary Jane Daughter Single 18 Hoyle Bank Woollen Weaver
1881 Laneside THORP, Emma Daughter Single 17 Sowerby Woollen Weaver
1881 Laneside THORP, Hannah Daughter Single 16 Sowerby Worsted Spinner
1881 Laneside THORP, Sarah Daughter Single 12 Sowerby Worsted Spinner
1881 Laneside THORP, Druicella Daughter Single 8 Sowerby Worsted Spinner
1881 Laneside THORP, Matilda Daughter Single 2 Sowerby Worsted Spinner
1881 Laneside THORP, Ann E Daughter Single 0 Sowerby
 
1891 Laneside 2 Uninhabited