Newchurch Girls Home

Holly House, 22 Church Street, Newchurch.

The Rossendale Cottage Home for Girls was established in around 1890 and occupied premises at Tunstead, Stacksteads, near Bacup. It was an independently run home for orphan and poor law girls, with a payment of five shillings a week required for each child in residence. The home accommodated 18 girls aged from 3 to 13 who were trained in laundry work.

In 1905, the Waifs and Strays Society took over the running of the home and relocated it to 22 Church Street, Newchurch in Rossendale when the minimum age of admission was raised to 6 years.

The Home's first Honorary Secretary after the Waifs and Strays Society took over was Mrs Mitchell Brooks who held the post until 1908 when she was replaced by Miss Jackson, who stayed until 1912.

Christmas was always a very special time for children in the Society's care. The small village became very loud indeed at Christmas time, when it was customary for everyone to line the streets and sing carols. No one was left out at Christmas, even Paddy, the Home's dog, whose present one year was a teddy bear with only one arm!

The Home closed in 1915 and the girls transferred to the new St Deny's Home at Clitheroe. The Church Street property is now in private residential use.