The fascinating history of Smithills’ Dean Gate Farm

Dean Gate Farm sits off Smithills Dean Road, near the historic Smithills Hall and the popular Smithills Open Farm.

While the boarded-up old building may look forgotten now, archives show its story stretches back to the 1840s.

Newspaper archives tell us the farm appeared in The Bolton Chronicle as early as 1851. In October 1862, an advert described “all the desirable MILK FARM, called ‘Dean Gate Farm’, situate in Smithills Dean, near Bolton, comprising the usual farm buildings, which are in very good condition, and about 21 acres of land.”

Today the 20 acres there don’t belong to the farm anymore.

The old cowshed

They remain behind the roadside view, including a farmhouse and outbuildings that are currently disused and private.

The property has been in the Parker family since the late 1950s or early 1960s, with Wilson Parker now the latest member of the Boltonian bloodline.

Mr Parker said: “It’s been in my family since the late 1950s, early 1960s, so from then up until now, I know quite a bit of the history.”

The building hasn’t been touched for some time, meaning it will take a lot to repair using Mr Parker’s own company Bulldog Property Group.

He said there have been a few paranormal investigators who come by the farm with high interest in its history and suspected supernatural occurrences.

The paranormal side to the building is a myth from what Mr Parker has seen, with him saying it’s just a building and he’s never once seen any occult activity inside the farm, which is now earmarked to turned into a luxury home.

Break-ins from urban explorers and troublesome children have caused Mr Parker to tighten up the security, with him now having CCTV.

Going back in time, long before the Parker family, Dean Gate Farm was home to generations of Bolton families.

In 1861, farmer John Holt lived there with his wife and son, before James Maxfield who came in 1864. At some point in the following years, Isaac Taylor also lived at the farm, with archives recording the death of his son.

Throughout the late 1800s, the farm continued operating as a milk farm. Newspaper adverts regularly appeared for the sale of cows, lettings and staff.

By the early 1900s, the Hodgkinson family were living at the farm, while later archives show the property having little publicity in the Bolton Evening News. One 1930 advert even listed a classic now- the “Ner-a-car” motorcycle for sale.

Thomas Shaw became the next recorded resident in 1941.

An archive noted he had worked at the farm for 24 years during a dispute over milk quality, suggesting he had lived there since around 1917. He died in the 1950s, and the Shaw family continued on not long after.

Newspaper adverts from the decade asked for “a man or youth for farm work” with dairy farming knowledge. In June 1957, John Shaw died while his mother Margaret was still alive.

After the Parker family bought Dean Gate Farm, it began a new chapter in its long history.

Dean Gate Farm

Renovation plans soon followed, with late-1960s adverts seeking someone to convert the barn house into a liveable space. By the 1980s, restoration work had taken place, with a newspaper walk describing visitors turning “left by the drive at the restored stone house at Dean Gate Farm.”

Despite that work, the building has remained largely untouched for decades, something Mr Parker says often sparks curiosity from passers-by.

Mr Parker said: “It’s been as it is now for the past 50 years. There’s a bit of work being done in the 80s, but since then no one’s touched it. I think it just intrigues people that walk past.”

He explained the farm’s prominent position and surrounding greenbelt land adds to the mystery.

Mr Parker said: “You can see it from the road. It’s a greenbelt area, there’s been no properties built nearby. I think it’s just generated a bit of intrigue over the past few years, so people have been asking me what’s been going on with it.

“It’s got a double apex roof, which some people don’t know, so it’s twice as big in terms of depth as what a lot of people think it is. The sheer size, plus having to rectify what was done back then, will just cost a lot in terms of how much it needs and the work that’s required.”

Although the property is currently unused, it has still hosted family celebrations.

Inside the farm building. Pictures by Phil Taylor

Mr Parker said: “It was my mum’s 70th back in August, so we thought we might as well just have a big party since there’s been no use for it.

“Just have a few drinks, DJ, bar on, have a good time and make use of the building itself with its big dance floor.”

For now, the historic farm remains a private site, quietly holding nearly two centuries of Bolton history behind its boarded-up exterior.

Pictures by Phil Taylor