Description
Tockholes Victoria Hotel c. 1910
This watercolour recreates the Victoria Hotel as it stood around 1910, at the heart of the village of Tockholes. The old stone inn, with its red hanging sign and tall chimneys, looks out over the village road. Though the Victoria closed 1918, the painting preserves a time when it was a gathering place for the community.
The scene shows how rural the village was a century ago. The road is little more than an unmade track of pale, sandy earth, edged with grass verges and old dry-stone walls. Whitewashed cottages with red chimney pots sit further along the lane, and stone buildings with green-painted doors and window frames stand close on either side. Above it all is a soft, open sky of pale blue washes.
Painted in gentle, muted tones, the work captures the quiet character of a Lancashire moorland village and a way of life that has since passed.
