Material contained in this website relates to actual events and memories and no misrepresentation of any persons alive or dead is intended. The website will be updated as and when new information is received. Scroll down this page for the latest updates (which have yet to be incorporated into the main text).
Email: info@langthornevillage.com
Email: info@langthornevillage.com
UPDATES
7 December 2023 - Information about Langthorne Village Green has been added to the "Buildings and Other Items of Interest" section.
4 November 2023 - Every so often we are contacted by someone who has come across this site and is either looking for some information about long lost relatives or keen to provide information about their ancestors who lived in the village. Such was the case with Gordon Phillips from Vancouver and his relative John Thomas Pearson who appears in the censuses of 1871 and 1881 as living in Langthorne. Gordon has provided some really interesting information about John Thomas's life after he emigrated to Canada. I have added it to the "People" section of the website.
8 September 2023 - A new page has been added following the discovery of a Langthorne Parish Meeting Minute book amongst the archived files of Crakehall with Langthorne Parish Council. It covers the period from 1910 to 1967 but there a many gaps where no meetings appear to have taken place.
9 May 2023 - Information about Brown's Motors, Ingledene and The Bungalow has been removed at the request of the owner of those properties.
5 February 2023 - The 1921 census page remains unfinished but I have transferred most of the additional information received since first publication in 2021 into the relevant pages of this website. Where it supplements previous information it is in red italic text. The information remaining below will be relocated in due course and any remaining text disturbance sorted!
19 January 2023 - I have added a page about the 1921 Census but it is, as yet, unfinished so beware! I also seem to have managed to disturb the text on other pages so I'll try to put that right asap!
19 January 2023 - I have added a page about the 1921 Census but it is, as yet, unfinished so beware! I also seem to have managed to disturb the text on other pages so I'll try to put that right asap!
14 May 2021 - Following the publication of the booklet and the website, a lovely article appeared in the Darlington and Stockton Times.
A Cautionary Tale!
On 2 May 2021, I came across some information that suggested that John Hobson might have had an interest in Crakehall Water Mill. From http://glenlodge.me.uk/crakehall/contents/trade.html#topic%202
"In 1806 the Dodsworths sold the mill, the millers house a d the field above it called Mill Hill to James Robson of Crakehall House, and Mathew Musgrave became tenant. The Musgraves had been millers for several generations and had, in the last 50 years, been tenants of the High Mill in Little Crakehall and of "Langthorne Mill" (which was almost certainly Kirkbridge Mill). They also built an additional storey to provide extra storage space. Outbuildings were added to the house, which was also modernised. In the late 1830s, Mathew Musgrave died and for a few years, until their son Leonard was old enough to take over, Mathew's widow Elizabeth employed first Thomas Clarkson, then John White to run the mill. However, by 1851 Leonard Musgrave was in charge. During the 1860s and 1870s the Musgraves seem to have worked in partnership with the Hobsons - John and his son William - who were also running Kirkbridge Mill in 1881. By 1881 Leonard Musgrave had retired and the Hobsons soon afterwards took over as tenants, leaving Kirkbridge. Bulmer's Directory of 1890 shows John Hobson, "corn miller and steam threshing machine owner" at the Low Mill. During the Hobsons' time the old wheel was replaced with a new iron wheel built by J. Mattison and Co. of Bedale (Leeming Bar) which still survives. It is dated 1897. On the break up of the Robson estate, William Hobson bought the mill and mill farm, and the family remained at the mill house until Miss Hobson died in 1977, by which time the mill itself was unused and partly derelict. "
So there's a reference to John Hobson and his son William - is it the same John and William from Langthorne.? Further research discovers a brother called Matthew - so far so good - then the dates don't add up and you find other family members that you've never come across before! So, the Hobsons of Crakehall and Kirkbridge Mills are different to the Hobsons of Langthorne! in the absence of definitive records, the balance of probabilities leads me to the conclusion that John Hobson, "the tallest man in the village" and John Hobson, the miller referred to above, were uncle and nephew! In 1851, "tall" John Hobson was 49 years of age and John Hobson (miller) was 19 years of age. The latter was living with his parents Thomas (53) and Eden (nee Carter aged 60). Both "tall" John Hobson and Thomas Hobson were born in Langthorne (just four years apart) so I'd speculate that they were brothers. According to another ancestry.com family tree Thomas' parents (and presumably "tall" John Hobson's) were Matthew Hobson and Jane (nee Simpson). Thanks to information provided by Pauline Elsworth, I can confirm that my speculation was correct! John and Thomas Hobson were indeed brothers!
On 2 May 2021, I came across some information that suggested that John Hobson might have had an interest in Crakehall Water Mill. From http://glenlodge.me.uk/crakehall/contents/trade.html#topic%202
"In 1806 the Dodsworths sold the mill, the millers house a d the field above it called Mill Hill to James Robson of Crakehall House, and Mathew Musgrave became tenant. The Musgraves had been millers for several generations and had, in the last 50 years, been tenants of the High Mill in Little Crakehall and of "Langthorne Mill" (which was almost certainly Kirkbridge Mill). They also built an additional storey to provide extra storage space. Outbuildings were added to the house, which was also modernised. In the late 1830s, Mathew Musgrave died and for a few years, until their son Leonard was old enough to take over, Mathew's widow Elizabeth employed first Thomas Clarkson, then John White to run the mill. However, by 1851 Leonard Musgrave was in charge. During the 1860s and 1870s the Musgraves seem to have worked in partnership with the Hobsons - John and his son William - who were also running Kirkbridge Mill in 1881. By 1881 Leonard Musgrave had retired and the Hobsons soon afterwards took over as tenants, leaving Kirkbridge. Bulmer's Directory of 1890 shows John Hobson, "corn miller and steam threshing machine owner" at the Low Mill. During the Hobsons' time the old wheel was replaced with a new iron wheel built by J. Mattison and Co. of Bedale (Leeming Bar) which still survives. It is dated 1897. On the break up of the Robson estate, William Hobson bought the mill and mill farm, and the family remained at the mill house until Miss Hobson died in 1977, by which time the mill itself was unused and partly derelict. "
So there's a reference to John Hobson and his son William - is it the same John and William from Langthorne.? Further research discovers a brother called Matthew - so far so good - then the dates don't add up and you find other family members that you've never come across before! So, the Hobsons of Crakehall and Kirkbridge Mills are different to the Hobsons of Langthorne! in the absence of definitive records, the balance of probabilities leads me to the conclusion that John Hobson, "the tallest man in the village" and John Hobson, the miller referred to above, were uncle and nephew! In 1851, "tall" John Hobson was 49 years of age and John Hobson (miller) was 19 years of age. The latter was living with his parents Thomas (53) and Eden (nee Carter aged 60). Both "tall" John Hobson and Thomas Hobson were born in Langthorne (just four years apart) so I'd speculate that they were brothers. According to another ancestry.com family tree Thomas' parents (and presumably "tall" John Hobson's) were Matthew Hobson and Jane (nee Simpson). Thanks to information provided by Pauline Elsworth, I can confirm that my speculation was correct! John and Thomas Hobson were indeed brothers!