Jackson's Boat

Jackson's Boat is situated on the banks of the River Mersey which is the traditional boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire. It's been a meeting place for many centuries and it's recorded that the local Jacobean Club used to meet here in the 1730s and drink to the King's health over a bowl of punch.

Construction of the present brick building was originally started at the end of the eighteenth century; replacing an old wood and planter house that stood on the site. A prominent local farmer named Jackson cultivated land in the area around this era and regularly ferried people across the river by boat, charging them a small fee. In 1814 the land came up for sale as 'Jackson's of the Boat' or the 'Boat House' and it is around this time that the house passed into the hands of a James Lawton Richardson. His widow Margaret can be found in the 1871 Census as a 'beer seller'.

In 1816 a footbridge was built over the river and a halfpenny toll charged to cross it on foot or one penny with a bicycle and for many years the pub was known as the Bridge Inn. This bridge was washed away in a storm and was rebuilt in 1881 as an iron girder bridge which still stands today. It wasn't until the 1940s when Manchester Corporation bought the bridge that the toll was finally abolished.

The 35th in my Manchester Pubs collection.