Pub Sign Study Running Pump Catforth Lancashire

Tweet

Catforth is a quaint little village about 4-5 miles from my home city, Preston. It is mostly built on reclaimed marsh land. As the water keeps coming back, the running pump the pub takes its name from, was used to maintain a constant drainage and land preservation struggle. The pub’s old brew house (most pubs brewed their own beer before transport allowed the rise of big commercial breweries) was the nearby Spring Cottage, also drawing its name from the fresh water springs in the area. The pub dates from the start of the 17th century, and it is the only one in the village. The canal, and various ponds in the area used to freeze heavily in Winter, and many people would go out for skating parties on the ice. During World War Two, many children from Manchester were evacuated to Catforth to save them from the threat presented by the Luftwaffe. One child helped rescue several swans that had become trapped in the ice when the ponds froze over very quickly one year. A house close to the pub has a supposed ghost, a local child killed accidentally when she stepped in a vicious animal trap her father had set up intending to kill his adulterous wife with it. The daughter triggered it instead. Early Methodist preachers were active in the area in the 1820’s and before their church house was built, they held their meetings in the open air. The ministers often shouted their sermons aggressively and were known as The Ranters. Arthur Chappell