52 residents #8 'Prosperity'

One of the great things about researching Springhill is the diversity of the community. In many places the great and the good live in large houses apart from the hot polloi. In Springhill however there is money and relative poverty in close proximity.

Springhill House was build c 1830 by Richard Ashworth, woollen merchant, and his son John who later diversified into coal as the demand for the latter increased to support the developing industrialisation of the area. Next to Springhill House was another sizeable dwelling inhabited in 1841 by a 'merchant', probably either woollen or coal and another Ashworth, probably a relative. So some money about then.

However just round the corner, less than 20 yards away, was a tiny cottage inhabited by Alice Nuttall, laundress (and a direct ancestor of mine!). Life would not be over-prosperous for her.

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