I have been told that my Gt.Grandfather and Gt.Grandmother ran The Lion at Blakey about 1884. Their names were Robert and Rachel Harrison. Her nick name I have been told was "Fat Rachel" My Grandmother Elsie Cansfield nee Harrison was married from Blakey in 1910. Do you know of anyone who could confirm this for me? I would appreciate any help that you can give me.
Thank you
Judi Wright
PS The Lion is one of my favourite places to visit as I now live in the USA.
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my email. I had concentrated on Rosedale trying to get information I will check out the other web site. They had my GT.Grandfather listed as been born at Fryup in 1868 and marrying Rachel Spenceley in 1885 in Rosedale. The problem that we are having we can not find any record of Robert Harrisons father. It was one of my aunts who told us about the connection to Blakey.
I appreciate you putting my e-mail on your message board, who knows someone might have some information. My cousin met an historian in Rosedale many years ago and told us about "Fat Rachel" getting stuck in the chimney at Blakey trying to clear the snow from it and the men who had been trying to clear the snow from the railway lines for the mines had to come and get Fat Rachel out.
I have been using census data to trace the history of the Lion Inn having discovered that my Gt-Gt-Gt Grandfather, Thomas Mead, was innkeeper at 'Blakey House' as it's listed in 1881. Perhaps Robert & Rachel Harrison took over the pub from the Mead family (who, by the 1891 census were living in Margrove Park, Skelton - he now an ironstone miner). However there's no documented record of this, and the Harrisons were certainly not there by 1891, as the innkeeper is given as George Henry Jackson (it is called the 'Lion Inn' in that census). By 1901, Elizabeth Watson (a widow) and her neice Mary Barwick are running the pub (listed as 'Little Blakey Public House').
Going further back, Thomas & Hannah Lumsden were the elderly innkeepers at 'Blakey House' in 1841. One of the Porteus family, William, lives close by, his occupation given as 'Tailor'.
In 1851 the pub is listed as 'High Blakey' and the innkeeper as John Atkinson (a widower) who may have had connections with the previous owners, the Lumsdens, as his eldest daughter is listed as Abigail Lumsden.
By 1861, widower John Maw is innkeeper at 'Blakey House Lion Inn'. By 1871 William and Ann Potter and their family are there, though he subsequently died and she re-married mining inspector George Morgan and moved to Skelton.
I hope this info helps someone. I'm very excited by my own family connection to the pub and can't wait to pay my first visit soon!
Hi, like Judi Wright, I am a great granddaughter of Robert and Rachel Harrison. My grandmother was their daughter Martha Lillian. I know the name Elsie Cansfield from the information left by my aunt Rose Lythe. Martha married Enos Butler Lythe probably in 1918 after he returned from the war. I have a document which refers to Rachel Harrison as Innkeeper and the family address as The Lion Inn at Blakey - this is why I have always assumed that she ran the pub. Robert Harrison is listed as an Ironstone Miner and a Hind (Labourer) at High House Farm