THE White House, the famous old pub on the moors above Meltham, that is now waiting conversion into three houses, was built in 1799 by Joseph Holroyd, the great great great great grandfather of Kate England of Honley.

Kate has supplied me with a family history compiled by her father, the late Austin Holroyd, who was a constant and welcome contributor to this column.

The pub was originally known as The Dyers Arms. Joseph’s son, the splendidly named Alcander and his wife Mary, eventually took over the pub and was its most colourful landlord.

At the rear of the premises he had a workshop for his wheelwright’s business. One of his contracts was to supply the wooden wheelbarrows used in building nearby Deer Hill reservoir in the 1870s at a cost of nine shillings each. Which must have been a nice little earner.

Many Irishmen were employed as navvies during the building of the reservoirs, records Austin, and The Dyers Arms became their local.

“Tiny as she was, Grandma Mary ruled them with a rod of iron but they, in turn, respected her. Indeed, she was so petite it is said the navvies could lift her up on to the bar with one hand, where she would sit and read the Leeds Mercury to them as they drank their beer.”

Alcander was obviously a successful businessman. He invented a velocipede, that was a sort of tricycle with wooden wheels, and used the hot water from his workshop to heat the pub. He was also one of the first local people to visit America as a tourist.

“Quite suddenly one evening he announced his intention of going to the States and, placing a change of clothing and two pairs of socks in a bag, he caught the first train in the morning from Marsden to Liverpool.”

He also invented a flying machine.

“Whether his attempt at flying was a stunt to get people to the pub, I don’t know,” wrote Austin, “but the day came when the machine was taken from its closely guarded shed and heaved onto the roof. There were gasps when the ‘pilot’ got on board and it was launched into mid-air. But they turned to guffaws when pilot and machine did a nose dive into the muck heap.”

The pub’s name changed to The White House in the 1960s and it’s a shame that its days as a public house have ended. But if it is converted into housing, the new owners will be living in walls steeped in memories and history.