The Plough Inn - the beginnings

The building, which is now The Plough Inn was built in the early 1700s as one of several farms on the Wigglesworth Estate. The enterprising farmer’s wife began to sell ale from her kitchen in 1750 and The Plough Inn was established. As the farming declined, the buildings were fully converted to a delightful Country Inn. The Inn has continued to evolve over the years, each improvement serving to enhance the charm and character of the original farm buildings.

Steve and Sue have researched the interesting history of The Plough Inn and enjoy talking to their guests about it’s fascinating history. Various artefacts are displayed on the walls of the Pickles Tap Room and Oak-panelled Dining Room. Displayed within the Settle Down are a series of water colours which were commissioned from local artist, Geoff Flitton. The three paintings show how The Plough Inn has evolved over two hundred years from the 1800’s to the 1920’s and through to 2005. Steve researched the buildings from old photographs and documents and Geoff created these delightful scenes which are typical of the times.

PICKLES BAR
Pickles Bar is named after Pickles Wolfenden, a previous landlord and farmer at The Plough Inn from 1869 until his tragic death in 1879. His parents were married at Haworth by the Reverend Patrick Bronte (father of the famous Bronte sisters). Pickles was his real name not a nickname. He married Mary Clark who lived and farmed at The Plough Inn.

Tragically Pickles had an accident in early 1879 when he was thrown from his dog cart and consequently died from his injuries aged 45 years. Mary was left with four young children was pregnant with another, whom she named Pickles Hartley Wolfenden; Hartley being his grandmother’s maiden name and part of the Hartley’s Jam empire. Mary carried on running The Plough Inn until 1892, when she moved to Preston.

WIGGLESWORTH – it’s a funny old name which is believed to have originated in Saxon Times. The first part of the name is derived from ‘Wincel’, the name of a person, and the latter part from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Wory’, (pronounced ‘worth’), meaning ‘enclosure’. So Wigglesworth means ‘Wincel’s Enclosure’.

Wigglesworth village is mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) when it is shown as lying in the manors of Long Preston and Rathmell. At this time, Wigglesworth and the surrounding lands were owned by William, Visconte de Arques, a Norman nobleman, who was granted the land as reward for his son’s efforts in the Battle of Hastings.

We have had many visitors to The Plough Inn from all over the world who have the surname ‘Wigglesworth’ and who are likely to be descended from someone who came from the village. A special visitor’s book in the Inn records their names and origins.

FIRE TRAGEDY 1945
Two lives were lost in a disastrous fire at The Plough Inn in the early hours of Sunday 4th March 1945. The victims were Gladys Saxton, the landlady, and Mary Harrison, a domestic servant. The central part of the inn was badly damaged by the fire and charred roof timbers in the attic serve as a constant reminder of the tragedy.