Greetings From Alabama

[bambam]

Hello. Thank you for having me.

I found this forum searching for Salterforth.
My 8x Great Grandfather, Gulielmus f. Thomae Bracken de Salter was reportedly born here. He married at Slaidburn, in Yorkshire. He sailed from Liverpool aboard the Quaker ship, Britannia, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1699. As of 1978, he's responsible (with much due his wife, Hannah Devers Booker) for over 5,000 descendants spread to every corner of the USA - of which I am one. His family owned an inn called the "Peace and Plenty" for about 50 years. William died at the Mill Creek Hundred in New Castle County, Delaware in 1749.
There is a little bit of confusion over his parents, but it seems his father was Thomae Gulielmus and mother was Mary Bleadsdale.

So, I want to learn as much as I can about Salterforth and many other areas in Lancashire in hopes one day I can travel to all the locations I have researched.

[PanBiker]

Welcome to the site Bambam. Work your way through these articles from Stanley, you can find a bunch of them here all related to Salterforth:

Salerterforth articles in Stanleys View Forum

[bambam]

Thank you for the information.
I see Yorkshire in your signature. I'm curious how Lancashire came to claim Salterforth and its surrounding places. I've tried to read the Wiki but it's confusing. Is there a more succinct explanation?

[PanBiker]

Constituency boundary changes in 1974. Supposedly to rebalance the numbers of electors in each Parliamentary Constituency. Net result for Barnoldswick and the rest of West Craven is that it was moved into a new constituency called Pendle and the border was moved to encompass the area into Lancashire. The Norsemen (Vikings) established the original Ridings system over a thousand years ago which created the North, West and East Ridings of Yorkshire. The boundary changes were country wide, some entire counties ceased to exist and were assimilated into newly created authority areas. Cumberland, Westmorland and parts of Lancashire disappeared completely and were replaced by Cumbria. Net result was that the incumbent Conservative government of the day retained control after all the changes.

Officially the changes are for administrative purposes only, the official statute books still recognise and record the historical boundaries. Locally, markers for the historical boundaries have been replaced by private initiative.

Like my byline says, I know where I am and that is in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

[David Whipp]

Panbiker is almost right...

It was actually local government reorganisation in 1974 that created new councils (local authorities) which replaced the smaller bodies that preceded them. In Salterforth's case (together with the former neighbouring Urban Districts of Barnoldswick and Earby), the village was included in a new Pendle Council area, with Lancashire County Council as the 'upper tier' authority. Previously, it had been administered by Skipton Rural District Council and West Riding County Council. It was during the 1980s that the parliamentary constituency boundaries changed to coincide with the local authority boundaries.

As Panbiker says, many people consider themselves live in Yorkshire, whatever the administrative boundaries are.

Salterforth is very much 'border country', virtually on the watershed with rainwater going into rivers that flow to the seas on the East and West coasts of the country. Our electric and water come from Yorkshire and there are many links through work, leisure and transport with the 'White Rose' county. (In Barnoldswick, I always say we get the best of both worlds, with fresh water from Yorkshire and sewage sent down the river Ribble into Lancashire.... Salterforth is different in that the sewage flows into Yorkshire...).

[bambam]

Ahh. We are unbelievably familiar with that concept in the states: Gerrymandering.
Thank you for clearing that up PanBiker. Learning a lot about Salterforth here. Fantastic resource.

** edit ** ...and thank you too, David.

[PanBiker]

Upshot of all this of course for you is that you need to check for historical resources held for Sallterforth in both the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

[Stanley]

Welcome to the site Bam. Lots of stuff on the site on Salterforth. Try using 'salterforth oneguyfrombarlick' as a search term in google and 'salterforth' in the site search on the banner. That'll keep you busy for a while! [Many images on the site are larger than in the topic. Click on them to enlarge]

[Nolic]

Welcome Bammy, if you are on Facebook search for Salterforth ( known to us kids in the 1950's and 60's as Sodom for some reason)a couple of sites with some good pictures. Nolic

[Stanley]

Nick Livesey is the local expert.....

[David Whipp]

Nick is in correspondence with me about a Salterforth matter... if you send me your email address by private message Bam, I can forward it on to Nick...

[Bruff]

''...known to us kids in the 1950's and 60's as Sodom for some reason..''

Well I never. My dad always referred to the 'Drag' as 'Sodom Drag' (he used to be friendly with quite a few Salterforth kids as a child, including I think another set of Broughtons); I assumed it was a foible of his.

For info bambam, the 'Drag' is a steep road up out of Salterforth to the 'top road' into Lancashire.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

Click to enlarge. Salterforth in 1914.

[plaques]

I may be drifting off the original intent but I came across a 'Salterforth Terrace' in Nelson. Its the only one I've ever seen. I wondered at the time if the builder was from Salterforth?

[Stanley]

There will be a link for sure....

[Stanley]

No. Sodom used to be the common name for Salterforth, still in use by the older end (including me!). I've never seen any convincing explanation of where it originates.

[Stanley]

I was fooled completely! That poster was a spammer and has been banned. However, the information is accurate.

[PanBiker]

Just copied from Bruffs post above Stanley.

[Moh]

What is the point - must be stuck for something to do!!

[Stanley]

Quite......

[Whyperion]

If Salterforth means 'Salter's Ford

A pillar of salt named "Lot's wife" is located near the Dead Sea at Mount Sodom in Israel. The Mishnah states that a blessing should be said at the place where the pillar of salt is (wikipedia and Bible - Genesis 19, there is a thought that the word for ' "Looking" Back' could be almost rendered as 'Gazing With Regret' (my supposition).


So by reverse logic if the Salter's (presumably rock salt from Cheshire en route across the Pennines), were referenced at this area, then this could give rise to a nick-name from the biblical place.

[ZigiZagi]

Oh, Alabama Sweet Home Alabama. I love this state!

[chinatyke]

I was told as a kid it came from Sodom and gonorhhea (play on Gomorrow) because Salterforth was a den of iniquity due to it being isolated and the canal bringing punters for the wayward women. Another "fact" about Salterforth was that everyone lived over the brush.

[Stanley]

That applied to Barlick as well China, the saying was that everyone who was married in Barlick had there marriage lines stuck in the front window.... "Are you married or do you come from Barlick?" was another. If you look in the census you'll see that a lot of men lived with their 'niece' and I have always wondered whether this was a reflection of the fact that if you were blacked by the union for infidelity in Lancashire you could flit across the border , enrol in a Yorkshire based union and carry on regardless.

[Tripps]

" if you were blacked by the union for infidelity in Lancashire you could flit across the border"

Could they really do that? Might the practice return under Comrade Corbyn?