The sites of the Pheasant Inn and 'Beardshall's Pop Factory' etc. - what do you know?

This is a bit late I know BUT do you have anything to share about these sites on the High Street in the middle of the village?

I know that Sykes has something to say about them in his work in Dodworth Library (it is referenced elsewhere in this blog) including that in the vicinity was a place named Delf Garth which may have been the original site of the settlement that became the village. The site was apparently investigated by archaeologists soon after the Pheasant Inn was demolished but they found little of interest - their report was presented at the annual South Yorkshire Archaeology day (open to the public) the year following the investigation.

Delf Garth was long ago but perhaps you know something about more recent events at the Pop Factory that would interest others. Was it for instance associated with the impressive house adjacent, perhaps a stables or home farm of some sort?

I recall that as a small child I was on a bus that stopped at the scene of a fatal motorcycle crash just below the Pheasant Inn. I remember getting off the bus, seeing someone lying and not moving some distance away (probably covered up); that a local man who survived with serious injuries was involved; that adults stood talking asking each other what had happened and who were those involved; and that no (what we now call) emergency services had yet arrived.

There were cottages on the bend just above Pheasant Inn.

Opposite the Pheasant Inn was a farm - just above the footpath to the Keresforth area - and at some point a child was accidentally drowned there in a well. Also there was talk of a death possibly there due to a shotgun shooting - was this the incident involving a man from somewhere near the golf course shooting another in 'a dispute about a beast'?

The High Street was apparently at one time notable for the number of public houses on it. They included:

The Horse and Jockey; The Thornley Arms (Fortunes of War); Smiths Arms; The Sun; The Fountain; The Pheasant Inn. Were there others?

Opposite the Pop Factory was Pashley's Farm, and a little lower down the home of the village 'bookie' when such was legalised ...

And - there is an interesting house with the initials T.T.T. prominently displayed on it almost opposite the Pheasant Inn site and just below it.


The Editor