Another Post About the Cowin' Calf.
I'm back in sunny Derbyshire – and it is sunny, just not quite as warm as southern Spain – but still no pedalling. Or too much walking either, for that matter.
If you've read my last post on Cambridge's lost Cow and Calf you will be aware that I've had an issue with my own cowin' calf and that the twenty stitches were removed last week. It's healing well, but there's still some serous seepage two weeks after the event, especially if I walk around, and pedalling is certainly off the cards for another fortnight, at least.
So, with no pedalling, just limited walking and having watched all five of last weekend's Gallagher Prem rugby matches, what else is there to do but tap out some more trivial tales about bygone boozers? As suggested in the previous post, here's another cowin' Cow and Calf.
This Cow and Calf was a beerhouse which used to be in Chadderton in Lancashire. Once a village in its own right, it is now really a part of Oldham, whose town centre lies about a mile to the east. Originally called the Punch Bowl, it was located on the east bank of the Rochdale Canal, in an area known as Hillock.
This bygone boozer was operated for seventy years by various members of the Whitehead family and the earliest reference to it that I have been able to find is in a piece which appeared in the Manchester Courier on the 19th December 1835.
Even though I'm viewing this through twenty-first century eyes, I'm glad to read that Old Pooley did not escape unscathed and that, even in pre-Victorian days, others found it unacceptable too.
James was still there in 1841 when he appeared in that year's Pigot and Salter's directory...
...and was there until his death in 1867 when his widow, Hannah took over the reins. By then the Punch Bowl had become the Cow and Calf and is recorded as such in the 1871 census.
Just like Cambridge's Cow and Calf, its Chadderton namesake's address altered a bit through the years, sometimes simply as Hillock or Foxdenton and in later documents as either Foxdenton Lane or Grimshaw Lane, one being an extension of the other as the Ordnance Survey's 1915 25-inch mapping shows.
Hannah Whitehead was still at the Cow and Calf in 1881...
...but had gone to pull pints in the great saloon bar in the sky by 1891 and her stepson, James Whitehead's son, was in charge of the Cow and Calf.
John Whitehead was still there a decade later...
...and after he died in 1903, his widow, Ellen, stepped up to ensure that there were at least seventy continuous years of Whitehead involvement with the Cow and Calf.
By 1911, the family's involvement was over. The census of that year places a Thomas Livesey at the pub...
...and ten years later it was Jane Whitworth.
Jane's son Robert was listed as being there in Kelly's directory of 1924...
...and it was in that year that brewers J W Lees, who had acquired the property in 1892, spent £446 to update the plumbing and landlord's living accommodation.
The Whitworths didn't start a new family dynasty at the Cow and Calf and the refurbishment wasn't enough to protect against closure on the grounds of redundancy. The brewery argued against it, but the pub closed with compensation in 1933, with the final licensee being widow Clara Haigh, who'd run a few other pubs in the area with her late husband, John. Here she is, surrounded by her admirers, sitting outside the Cow and Calf.
The building remained empty for at least twenty years before being demolished. Its site, by the swing bridge over the Rochdale Canal, is now occupied by a branch of Amari Plastics.
There we have the sad story of Chadderton's Cow and Calf. The story of my cowin' calf looks like it will have a happier ending. Next week I'm off on one of my quarterly explorations with former workmate Eric, so hopefully I'll be walking OK by then. If so, the next post is unlikely to feature a cowin' Cow and Calf as our proposed venue never had one to my knowledge.
The newspaper image is courtesy of the British Library Board/British Newspaper Archive.
The Ordnance Survey map extracts are copyright and have been reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland under the terms of this CC BY licence.
If you've read this far, then thank you. Possibly, like me, you may have some sort of interest in bygone boozers. Clicking here will take you to a searchable/sortable index which you can use to see if I've already featured any lost locals from your locality. You can also subscribe to ensure that you don't miss any future posts. Simply click here to return to the home page (opens in a new tab), follow the 'Subscribe' link and complete the form to receive an email notification of any future post. Or you could simply follow the link at the top of this page.
©2026 www.bygoneboozers.co.uk
Comments