Littonslack

‘The Slack’ not far from Cressbrook … is a small row of cottages, standing on a bleak and wild looking moor-like prominence, as if the buildings had been lifted out of the adjoining valley to look about them.

Thomas Brushfield, 1865

Image of Littonslack circa 1860?

Littonslack is a small hamlet lying roughly halfway between the villages of Litton and Cressbrook and just North of Litton Mill. Originally it comprised just 10 terraced cottages.

The postcard here, date unknown, shows the front (south facing view) of the ten cottages. In the early 1900s a further house was built at the easterly end of the row and in the 1980s a farm was built nearby. “Littonslack” is sometimes two words “Litton Slack” and is locally known as “The Slack”.

Over the last few years I have been researching the history of Littonslack … when were the cottages built? … who were they built for? … who built them?  And whereas there are no absolute answers to those questions the research has moved slowly closer to some conclusions … and at the same time thrown up many secondary, but remarkable, facts (and more questions.)