A BIT ABOUT THE VILLAGE.....

The villages roots date right back to the era of William the Conqueror, when he gave some land to the Emmott family, which they still own to this very day. It is thought that the family were given land for their military support and founded a hamlet know as “Eamot” which later became Laneshawbridge, and then for some reason was renamed Laneshaw Bridge before the millenium. The family resided at Emmott Hall, the first of which dated back to 1310, but of course it was to be modified, rebuilt and finally catastrophically demolished in 1967.

Near to where the hall stood there still remains a most interesting building, Emmott House, which was a coach house to the main hall and dates back to 1737. In the nineties, the old boating lake was dug out to create Hullow’n Fishery, and this is run by the Choyce family for sporting purposes.

Next to the lake is Hullow’n Well which has its own history. It is reported that in A.D 926 King Athelstan, one of the bravest Saxon Kings, confirmed a treaty of peace between the Welsh, Scots and Northumbrians.

The Emmott’s owned much of the village, and provided a school, as well as Saint Andrews Church, both of which are residential properties to this day.

It would also appear that the family also had a public house which was probably used as a shooting lodge. The first Emmott Arms is rumoured to be what is today Rye Flatt, which has just been lovingly restored to be the villages only Bed and Breakfast by Marion Turner and James Knowles. It is easy to see why people would want to come and stay in this idyllic village. You can see there B and B at www.rye-flatt.co.uk.

The current Emmott Arms has long been the hub of the village and Th’Emmott as “the briggers” call it, has just been taken over and been given a revamp  to bring it more up to date whilst managing to retain its traditional village pub feel. It’s good to see that they’ve still got four hand pulled ales on too, as well as some good pub grub.

A trip up Emmott Lane will take you past the village park, around which the village is built, to the Alma Inn which seems to be doing very well. It has just been bought by local businessman Lee Duerden and will close for a couple of months on 1^st January to create ten en-suite bedrooms, a large “garden room” to be used as a restaurant or function suite, as well as moving the bar to create a more complete feel. Customers will be pleased to know that and that the traditional features of the pub will be retained, including Peter and Janice, the licensees!

Next year sees a milestone for the Methodist Chapel took. The inconspicuous building, right in the centre of the village, is part of a row of houses, and on 27^th April this year will celebrate 150 years of Methodism in the village.

Laneshaw Bridge Primary School is a typical village school with an excellent reputation and was built in 1912. The building has had some recent alterations to modernise it and increase its size and the school boasts its own before and after school club taking care of children from 7.45am until 5.30pm. The headteacher, Eileen Bleasdale has been at the helmfor many years and has done a sterling job in getting the school to Beacon Status.

Laneshaw Bridge is a typical example of a village which has gone through the changes. Like most villages, you wouldn’t have had to leave from one week to the next in the 60’s with a hairdressers, butchers, tea room, post office, village shop, cobblers and five pubs around the village.

Of course, things don’t stay the same forever, and whilst some might look back at how things were, Laneshaw Bridge residents are trying to look at what they can do to improve things. There is certainly no need to have a high street in Laneshaw Bridge again, those times have passed, but villagers here think that needn’t mean that the traditional village life and community spirit must be lost. The villagers are rallying around to hold more events, and have just set up a Committee to get things off to a start and in true village style, they meet down the local!