THE descendant of an old-time brewery owner is hoping that our readers can assist him to build up his family history - by identifying three grand houses which he suspects have by now been demolished.

Steve Copple, great-great grandson of one of the Copple brothers who owned the long-gone Eccleston Brewery, has been researching the history of that pint-producing business for the past 10 years.

During this, he traced the sad decline of the brewery, hastened by a spendthrift grandson who inherited control of the business. A classic 'riches-to-rags' tale.

"If anyone had relatives who worked at the brewery or has documents about it, I would be very grateful to hear from them," says 49-year-old Steve, from Broadway, Grange Park.

Meanwhile, he's now acquired pictures of two of the 'mystery' houses, via a distant relative from Eccleston Lane Ends. A for-sale poster, describing the third dwelling, has been given to him by a relative of the people who bought the brewery land when the firm shut down in 1927.

All three abodes stood in the Eccleston Park area of St Helens.

"I am fairly sure," says Steve, "that the dwelling set behind trees is the brewery house in Portico Lane, which was demolished about 1977. The other house, decorated with a banner (I suspect for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897) could be a place belonging to the Copples which was called Esmere."

The first three letters were chosen to match the initials of the Copple daughters Elizabeth, Susanna and Mary; and there was a fourth one named Alice. The dwelling stood in Elm Grove.

The third house - a semi-detached called Holywood, as distinct from Hollywood - stood somewhere on St Helens Road, possibly close to Central Avenue.

Some of our more veteran readers might be able to supply confirmation or additional details about the three 'mystery' dwellings.

For dedicated froth-blowers, Steve supplies some interesting historical details about Copple's Eccleston Brewery.

He unearthed a local newspaper advert for 1869 showing that Copple's sparkling ales and prime porter were being sold at the Telegraph Vaults in Salisbury Street, St Helens. This is Steve's earliest date of reference.

Business apparently prospered between 1883 and 1887, when owner John Copple bought several plots of land surrounding the brewery.

When John died in 1891, aged 76, his sons, William, Edward and Joseph, took over, selling their beer through pubs, beer houses, clubs and shops in Eccleston, Huyton, Parr, Prescot, Rainhill, St Helens, Sutton, Whiston and Widnes.

The last of the brothers to die was Joseph, in 1925, when his estate was divided equally between his four daughters and a son, Joseph Edward.

This brought about a classic fall from grace. For Joseph Edward, far from being a stabilising brotherly figure, was by all accounts, a spendthrift.

Business quickly declined and just two years after their father's death the brewery shut down in 1927 with the land, buildings and several of the firm's public houses sold off.

The plight was not helped by the fact that, in common with many small breweries of the time, they could not compete with the larger companies such as Greenalls.

After its closure, the Copple's site was used for a time as a builders' merchants business. Then, around 1957, Ochard Close was built on part of the site, with Middlehurst Close occupying the remainder of it a few years later.

ANYONE able to supply further bits of info about the Copple family and their brewery is invited to give Steve a ring on St Helens 20584.

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