History of the house

The house was originally built to house the younger pauper apprentices' for Cressbrook Mill in 1817. The gothic extension was added in 1823 to create more space and the house itself was made larger. Young orphans were sent from the workhouses of London to learn a trade. Their indenture lasted until they were 21. The mortality rate was high and health was poor. The idea was to save these children from a life of crime and poverty on the streets of London. In reality many mill owners exploited their young workforce with long hours, hard labour and poor living conditions. Over time efforts were made to improve conditions for the apprentice workers however this had the knock on effect of increasing costs for mill owners. Eventually this made the apprentice scheme non-viable however at its peak there were up to 300 apprentices living in the Old Apprentice House.

By the 1870s the property was converted to living accommodation for workers and divided into 3 cottages. The mill itself continued to run well into the 20th century when it became a stonemasons yard before finally being converted into luxury apartments.

The area behind the apprentice house came known as apprentice row and then pancake row. It is now known as Dale Terrace though personally we feel the name "pancake row" reflects the eclectic nature of the community.

The Old Apprentice house is now a listed building.