The New Drop today.
The lower end was previously used as farm buildings.
By the end of the 1700s farming had begun to change. In earlier times most people had to be self-sufficient. They grew oats and barley, vegetables and fruit and kept cattle, pigs and poultry.
Later in the 18th century farming increasingly became a part-time occupation as hand loom weaving and working in the new spinning mills down Cowley Brook offered supplementary or alternative employment. in 1821, for example out of 707 families in Ribchester Parish, which included Knowle Green, only 100 were employed full time in farming, 577 were in trade, manufacturing or handicrafts, although many no doubt looked after small holdings as well. The mixed employment pattern also applied to the alehouses of the time. The Dog and Partridge (or High House), the White Cross (now the New Drop), and Grimshaw Pits (Halls Arms) were farms which also sold ale.
Another major change took place about 200 years ago. As a result of increasing demand for food from the growing towns there was pressure to bring more land into use. The land north of the road between the Village Hall and Moor Nook is shown as uncultivated on Yates map drawn in 1786. The names Moor Nook, Moor House Moor Hey and Moor Cock indicate this. After the enclosure Act of 1807, however, this land was enclosed or “taken in” (hence the name “Intacks” for some local farms). The remaining full time farmers increased the amount of land they used to pasture animals, especially dairy cattle for milk, butter and cheese. By 1886 for example there were only 13 acres under plough in Ribchester Parish and no doubt the other parts of Knowle Green were similar.
There was also a major change in land ownership in the area. In 1831 Joseph Fenton of Rochdale, who had made enormous profits from textiles and banking, bought estates in Dutton and Ribchester from the Weld family who had inherited from the Shireburns. As a result he became Lord of the manor. He built Dutton Manor, using it first as a shooting lodge and then as a family home. The Fenton family subsequently sold the estate in 1919 to Mr A.N. Dugdale