You'd be forgiven for getting your bearings skewed on this one, as a lot of this area has been redeveloped over the past two centuries, and I believe some artistic liberties have been taken too. A common misconception is that this is taken from Hollinshead Street.
Take a look at the Ordnance Survey Map below. It's from a later era (1909-10), which helps with working out where you are, as you can see the current town hall at the bottom of the map. This painting is from the perspective of approximately outside the town hall (the yellow star), looking down the hill towards the Swan.
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| Ordnance Survey Map 1909-10 |
The Swan with Two Necks at the bottom of the hill is often the first building people recognise. It wasn’t an inn in the Georgian era, but private residences. Until 1822, when Park Road was opened, Church Brow was the main road towards Preston. It is said that Park Road was constructed by unemployed soldiers who had returned from fighting Napoleon. Can you see the carriage outside the Swan? That’s just come up Hollinshead Street. Those railings are for St Laurence's Church.
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| Top left - Chorley by John Bird, top right from Red Rose Collections, bottom the Swan in around 2011 from Chorley Inns and Taverns. |
Once you recognise the Swan, it’s often incorrectly assumed that the hall behind is Astley Hall. But remember the direction in which you're looking. Astley Hall would actually be much further to the left from this angle, and also looks very different to this hall. This is thought to be the only image of Chorley Hall, which had been built in about 1746, and was then taken down in about 1817.
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| Left - Chorley Hall from the John Bird painting. Right - Astley Hall copyright Nicholas Rougeux |
You can only see the St Laurence's Church railings, the church itself is obscured by the white building - the White Horse Inn. It was demolished prior to World War 2. The name above the door appears to read J GENH. This might be nonsense on the part of the artist, or it could be intended to represent John Gray, who was known to be the landlord there in 1818.
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| Right - image posted to Chorley Now and Then by Zoe Danielle Pendlbury |
To the right of the White Horse Inn was the Old Town Hall, which stood across from the current Town Hall. The road was less wide than the modern day road. If you imagine the space in front of the bingo hall before it was demolished, this stood there.
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| Left - painting by John Bird. Top Centre - The Old Town Hall on the right on a walking day from Jill Maclachlan on Chorley Now and Then. The Old Town Hall by Bev Hardingham on Chorley Now and Then. Right - Bottom - Old Town Hall from Stuart Clewlow on Chorley Now and Then |
Contrary to the fox and grapes hanging outside, the building on the far left was actually the Red Lion, which was a coaching inn.
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| Right - Photo credit to Mike Dootson from Chorley Then and Now |
Further along on the left is St Lawrence's Lodge (later known as Applejacks), and Terrace Mount (the Trustee Savings Bank). Terrace Mount was home to Sir Henry Tate until the road was widened.
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| St Laurence's Lodge and Terrace Mount - image credit to Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society |
Sources
Articles by Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society here and here.