Harold Duxbury told me that the Model Lodging House now used by Briggs and Duxbury was built about 1911 by Bill Taylor and his brother Harry. They also built the houses on Hollins Road and most of Taylor Street, both in the same area. William Duxbury, Harold's father, went into partnership with Jack Briggs as builders and they bought William Holdsworth's Joinery and building business in Commercial Street just behind Butts. They prospered and extended and in 1936 bought the Model when it ceased to be a lodging house because of the fall in demand for labour in the mills and it became what it still is today, Briggs and Duxbury's Model Joinery works. Notice that the lodging house is built with Accrington brick.
What is today the Central Garage is nearer the town and is stone built which implies a different builder, date of build and possible role. Harold told me that it was still in use until at least 1936 when B&D moved into Butts but crucially he never said what for. I always assumed it was another lodging house. A further fact that could be pertinent is that this building is adjoining what used to be the Pound and later the Town Mortuary which signals community ownership of that land. So, taking these facts into consideration, the garage was my guess as the Home. It all fitted and is reinforced by that fact I can think of no other site that could be a candidate. Problem was that I had no evidence. This where Wendy Faulkner and Ken Ranson stepped in to help.
Wendy looked at the 1951 Register of Electors and there is a listing for Craven Working Men's Homes with about 70 men listed. Ken Ranson pitched in to confirm that the garage was the Home. It used to have another floor and a pitched roof (the south wall is buttressed, weakness?). Some other references appeared. The Craven Working Men's Homes Ltd was registered in April 1908 with a capital of £4000 in £1 shares. The subscribers were all from Barnoldswick. Then Wendy found a reference in the Burnley Express which said it had been built by M Hartley who built the Majestic cinema and other buildings in the town. She later checked the obituary in the Burnley Express on the death of Matthew Hartley in 1925 and it confirms that he built the Craven Working Men's Home. A report in the Burnley Express in 1917 stated that the home had accommodation for 168 tramp weavers. Wendy also found a Public Health Committee report in the Barlick & Earby Times from the early 1950's talking about poor conditions in the home and how the majority of men living there were elderly and infirm which wasn't the original intention. It was supposed to be a lodging for working men either passing through or new to the area.
So there you are, we finally answered the question and in the process learned something we didn’t know. Thanks to Wendy and Ken.
The Central Garage as it is today.
