JOHN SUGDEN. SALTERFORTH LANE HEAD

[Stanley]

I got interesting mail this morning and post it below. If anyone can help please post here. I've informed Edwin and advised him to register so he can respond.

Dear Stanley (if may!)

I have recently been given a manuscript music book once owned by John
Sugden, with the book label printed as above and stuck to the inside
front cover. The book contains music once sung in a church or chapel in
the area, some of it with apparently a strong Baptist content, although
this type of music was also used to a great extent in Anglican churches.

There is one particular composer whose music appears in the MS, this
being David Ellis of Morley. His music is quite ornate, written for
violins, bass (quite often an organ, but only on the bass line),
trumpet, and four-part singing.

Using Ancestry.co.uk I ave found various references to several John
Sugdens in the Barnoldswick area, but needless to say I cannot exactly
pin down which one was the owner of the book. Because of the printed
book plate, I suspect this may have been someone of greater substance
than a cotton weaver, possibly a farmer, and this description could fit
someone in the Lane End area.

About 12 months ago I did find on the web a long and fascinating article
about church and other music in the area, Earby I think was mentioned,
but dealing with the topic generally, but this seems to have evaporated,
and I failed to copy it first time around.

I have searched your excellent website, but don't seem to have come up
with anything which directly relates to any of this - apart from
articles on the Baptist history - and wondered if you might be able to
point me in any particular direction?

My wife and I run a west gallery quire up in Warwick (we live in
Oxford), so this music is of great interest to us, as we can perform it
from transcriptions made from the MS. There is a deal of social history
to unearth from this book, but I need to find a place from which to
start! Any information about these two men, and possible locations for
the performance of such music would be the greatest help.

Sincerely,

Edwin Macadam
http://www.immanuelsground.com
http://www.oxfordsacredharp.org

[Wendyf]

I think the article referred to could be this one:-
Earby as a Musical Neighbourhood.

[Wendyf]

I think I have found a likely John Sugden in Salterforth.
The 1871 census shows a Sugden family farming at Lower Close, Salterforth.
Whitaker Sugden 46 Farmer (13 acres)
Jane Sugden 47
Mary Alice 11
John 10

By 1881 Jane is a widow but is still farming at Lower Close
John 20 is described as a Farmer's son.

1891 Jane and John have moved to 9 Smith Street in Barnoldswick. John is a steam crane driver.
1901 John 40 has married Emma 35 and is described as a quarry labourer. They are still in Smith Street but mother Jane isn't there.

[rossylass]

How exciting...resurrection of old music! When was it composed do you think? I have made notes of some books about music around victorian lancashire if you would like me to dig them out.

[Tripps]

You never know where this site will take you next. I've been listening to Sacred Harp / Shape note singing for years, and the church in one of the links above is remarkably similar to our local United Reform Chapel, which has the same cupola in the roof. It dates to 1717.
Here's a taste of Sacred Harp - appropriately (?) called.Davids Lamentation

[musicioner]

Firstly, thanks to Stanley who has posted my queries here . . .

. . . and to Wendyf. I believe you are probably correct; the father, John, was the man I had picked out as a more likely possibility than most. 13 acres seems an incredibly small acreage to be farming in the late 19th C., my ancestors in Kent were farming 15 acres in the mid 16th C, and this was considered to be a fair-sized holding.

I suppose this begs the next question as to exactly where his land and house were. Salterforth Lane now seems divided on both sides of the main road and village, with different names being used close to the village, and before the Lane's name is re-established further away. Exactly where is Lane Head and Lower Close? Is there anything to go and see?

I think you may be right that the article you found was the same as I saw before, but so far as I can remember it also included reference to music a greater distance away than just the next door town (?) of Earby.

The reference to David Ellis at Morely is also an important lead, as he is someone whose name crops up regularly in the MS as a local composer. It is interesting to note that there was also a Sugden family in Morely at about the same time, so there may have been some connection.

More to follow . . .

EM

[Stanley]

Lower Close Farm is on the East side of Higher Lane at OS ref. SD 881448. In the 1950s it was farmed by the Robinson Brothers. It's only 50 yards North from Salterforth Lane Head.

I looked in the index. There is a Whittaker Sugden in the 1851 census living at Folly Cottages. Aged 26, power loom weaver. Wife Jane, 28, HLW and son Frederick, i year. In the Lancashire Textile Project tapes, 78AB/04 Billy Brooks talks about sett-making in Sagar's quarries and mentions a Peter Sugden being a sett-maker. In the 1871 census Whittaker Sugden is noted at Lower Close Farm, 46, farmer of 13 acres.

[Chrissyp]

A Jo (thats how it was written) Sugden lived at Lower Close in 1851 aged 57 (10 acres) and 1861 aged 68 (14 acres) if thats any help.

[Stanley]

Same date as the email this morning. The mail delivery system must have had a brain fart......