A House Through Time. Miller Mansion, 5 Winckley Square, Preston:  Trilogy of Talks by Susan Douglass

I am a volunteer, Friend of Winckley Square and lead guided walks and regularly give talks about local history. My research on ‘A House Through Time: 5 Winckley Square’ was inspired by the BBC series by the same name. The end result is a series of three talks, the first on June 6. Number 5, known as the 'Miller Mansion' is one of the best known properties on the Square.

The popular BBC TV series ‘A House Through Time’ tells the story of an historic house and those who lived in it, from when it was built to the present day. I was fascinated with the series, and I know many of the people who come along to the talk will also have enjoyed it.

I have a personal connection to 5, Winckley Square. Although it was built as a home it went on to have many different uses. That’s one of the reasons that many of the original houses have survived in Winckley Square - they were capable of adaptation and their users valued the heritage of the buildings and the setting.

I first came to know 5, Winckley Square when the building was used as a school and latterly a college for most of the 20th Century. I was a ‘Winckle’, the term used for 1st Year pupils of the Park School who were educated there when the rest of the school’s pupils were housed in the new school on Moor Park. Later, I would return to study there when in the sixth form. If these walls had ears they would tell some interesting stories of what the Winckles got up to in their formative years.

The house remained largely unaltered from the days when it had been the grand town house of one of Preston’s wealthiest gentlemen mill-owners, Thomas Miller Junior. The company name Horrocks was world famous but what is less well known is that Thomas Miller Jnr became the principal shareholder of the Horrocks empire.

RESEARCH QUESTIONSWho lived in it?What were they like?How many servants did they have?What was their lifestyle?Why did they behave as they did?Why and when did the house become a school?

I was delighted to find the original plans Thomas Miller commissioned for his new home at Lancashire Archives. The layout highlights the sharp contrast between the huge, ornately decorated reception rooms and the much smaller, plain and gloomy servants’ quarters.

We are fortunate in Preston to have excellent local history resources on our doorstep. I spent time in the Lancashire Archives (Bow Lane) examining records. Hours on the internet, investigating genealogy websites, parish records and newspaper archives all of which yielded the house’s stories and secrets. Far too many to squeeze into one talk, hence the series of three. I was able to gain a picture of the history of number 5 from the laying of the foundation stone, through its ‘topping out’ ceremony, its intended life as a family home and its transformations into a school, then college and finally modern apartments.

A golden nugget of information in a 150-year-old newspaper article after a frustratingly long search; a chance discovery of an unknown document in Lancashire Archives; one sentence in an obscure e-book; a family photograph album viewed in a dusty ante-room in the Harris Library. These are the sources which helped to reveal the stories of long-dead occupants of those rooms. However, It's the stories of the inhabitants, stories of real people, their trials and tribulations which bring the building to life. All will be revealed across the three talks.

THE STEAMBOAT LADIESThe house was home to not one, but two steamboat Ladies: headmistresses dedicated to the education of young Preston women.

Find out about the action they had to take to claim their qualifications and the ‘steamboat’ connection………

THE MILLER – HORROCKS – PITT CONNECTIONHorrocks and Miller were much more than the names of the major partners in the Cotton textile company Horrockses, Miller & Co.

In the mid 19th century the two families were entwined together through intermarriage to protect their power base in the company, yet by 1865, neither a Horrocks nor a Miller remained in the firm. What caused the break in the family connection?

THE COTTON LORD AND THE ART COLLECTION5, Winckley Square once housed a valuable collection of oil paintings and watercolours.“Mr, Miller has one of the best selected and most valuable collections in the kingdom”. The Art-Journal.

How did Thomas Miller amass this collection and what happened to it?

HENRIETTA MILLER: The rich heiress entered an abusive marital relationship at the age of 19. She suffered greatly but still fought hard to keep her children and her fortune.Was there a happy ending for her?

THE BUTLER AND THE SILVER SAUCE BOAT. Meet the Butler and find out about his daily duties in what was then the most modern of town houses. Discover how the house layout ensured that the servants stayed well and truly in the background!

THE THREE ILLUSTRATED TALKS provide both an overview of the building through time but also hones in on the stories of real people. You do not need to have attended talk 1 to enjoy talk 2 or 3. Each talk stands alone.VENUE Central Methodist Church, Lune Street PR1 2NL 7pm - 8.15pmTALK 1 June 6TALK 2 June 20TALK 3 July 18

Pay on the door OR book on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--preston/winckley-square/

Article by Susan Douglass