In a small community nothing sparks a family feud more than the question of paternity of an illegitimate child, especially when it concerns the son of a prosperous well-established Eastby family and the daughter of a less prosperous one.

Sarah Tibbot was 12 when she came to work as a servant at the Mason’s Arms Eastby in 1876. Her parents had recently moved into one of the wooden huts at Black Hill (Halton Height) which were built to accommodate the navvies and other workers employed in building Upper Barden Reservoir. Her father Richard worked as a navvy, whilst her mother Bridget not only had 6 children but also ran a navvy lodging house.