Thursday, March 16, 1837

1837

March

Thursday 16

7 3/4

12 3/4

A long pretty good one last night, she coming to me.

Breakfast (with Ann) at 8 1/2, at which hour, Fahrenheit 35°.  Fine morning – cold –

Sat in the little parlour reading the last Foreign Quarterly on steam navigation to India till after 10 – Ann had Mr. Horner before 9 –

Out at 10 1/4 – Robert Mann +4 (the surly man he has had the last 2 days not come – very well.  I had told Robert not to have him about the house) –

Mawson came to me about 11 (Robert  Mann and company began resetting the 2 rocks under the middle pool) at the rocks, to say what he would put the Whiskum road into decent repair for – 7/. per rood – 57 roods from the top to the Cottage – Walked with him to view the road – Ordered it to be done – And he will wall up the wall let down in John Bottomley’s field by getting Whiskum stone for 5/. per rood – about 3 roods – And will make a wall, finding stone and all on the low side of the road in John Bottomley’s meadow field for 7/. per rood – Ordered  –

Then took Mawson down to the meer – Explained – He agreed the bank (where he was at the height too soon there and had 2 feet to raise) was very weak – He had told Mr. Husband ‘it would wash’ – Approved my plan of wearing and backing up with the middle band water drift stuff – 140 yards should be done – Averaging 6 yards from bottom of brook up the Embankment 1/2 yard thick of wear-walling or more – Would do it at 1/. per yard face-measure bringing the stone from the platform, and bringing and getting the stone at Mytholm quarry at 1/3 per yard face-measure he would cart and lay on the drift stuff at 6 pence per yard cube taking the measurement allowed to the Manns –

Then shewed Mawson the cart road I thought of making along the bottom of trough of Bolland wood – He would form it (there would be some stubbing) at 5/. per rood and rubble it 8 feet wide and 1 foot thick for 14/. per rood – 80 yards or about 12 yards would be the length – Would do it with wheel-stone (say 11 pence per yard for the stone) 2 [?] of wheel stone at 14/. per rood and carting 2/. and laying 3/. = 19/. per rood +5/. forming = 24/. per rood –

He said if I had the Godley land to buy now I should have to give twice as much for it – I said I thought I should not do the Godley road drift – The commissioners declined wording the order as I wished, and would give me no help towards the expense, and I thought of getting water of my own –

It was 2 or a little before I got home – found Ann just setting off to Cliff hill – She had been at Halifax in the morning to give her Water Lane mill tenants a copy of the agreement they have to sign –

With Ingham and Robert Mann and John Booth and about till 3 – From then to 6 arranging my books (had Cookson and Susan the housemaid to bring them down from the Library passage) in the newly put-into-a-frame bookshelves standing in the drawing room –

Dressed – Dinner at 6 40/.. – Came into the north parlour and till 8 wrote the above of today – Began at 12 today to ring the dinner bell at 12 and 1 for dinner every day –

Coffee at 8 1/2 – Read the newspaper and the first 20 or 30 pages, Captain Hall’s Schloss Hainfeld till 11 40/.. Fine day – 

I was just ready to get into bed about 12 20/.. when Ann came to say she was sure she had heard someone attempt to open the gallery door into the little anteroom and would have me go downstairs and look about – I went unwillingly, with a pistol in one hand and a candle in the other – Not at all believing there would be anybody – but if there was they must be thieves, a thought that had not till I named it entered Ann’s head – I would not go into the cellars because I had caught my last and late very bad cold that way – but looked into the north parlour and about and nor saw nor heard anything –

WYAS Finding Numbers SH:7/ML/E/20/0034 and SH:7/ML/E/20/0035