The Porters
Wap Lodge, Whittle Springs.
To celebrate our 25th anniversary
in 2010, Peck Properties commissioned local bespoke construction specialist Primrose,
to restore an historic building in to our satellite office.
Built as the Entrance Lodge
to visitors of the celebrated alkaline and chalybeate Spring in the 1840s, within
the magnificent 5 acre gardens of the Howard Arms Hotel, the property had fallen
into complete dereliction before achieving planning approval to be refurbished.
The hotel, erected by proprietor H. Heys Esq. in 1847, also closed in the 1980's
and is now a select apartment development, Heys Lodge. The Spring itself was
discovered in 1836 and opened to the public in 1841.
According to archivists,
in Jackson's history of the Whittle Springs Brewery, "drinks of all
kinds were available at the Porters Lodge for those passing by" and in the
days when the canal was busy with commercial traffic serving the many nearby
thriving Mills of the industrial revolution, the bargees became accustomed to
buying a drink there with their boats waiting to clear in the neighbouring Jackson
Locks. Hence "just wap up for a drink" was the colloquial cry and so
the Porters Lodge got its nickname of the Wap, which has stuck to this day. When
it's finished, Wap up and see us anytime for a coffee or something stronger!
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