THIS TAPE HAS BEEN RECORDED ON THE 7TH OF SEPTEMBER 1978 AT 14 STONEYBANK ROAD, EARBY. THE INFORMANT IS FRED INMAN, TACKLER AND THE INTERVIEWER IS STANLEY GRAHAM.
Right what I'm going to do Fred is ask you some questions and as I say some of these questions will seem a bit, you know it'll seem to be very simple, but the thing is that when we've done these tapes everything will be very clear.
And also, it's funny how, when you ask the simple questions, you get on to something entirely different if you feel like digressing. If I say something to you and it triggers you off and you think of something, you feel free, because that's what it's about. It's a conversation not an interview. It always takes a while just to break that feeling down but it's just a conversation, because I’m interested, I want to know. 1 want to know about childhood and how things were because I often think there's a lot of people having it far to easy nowadays and they want reminding about the old days. Things like people, well since talking to Ernie, every time I see somebody with bow legs about Ernie's age…
R - Malnutrition eh..
That's it, that's just it, but before I started doing this I never thought about that.
R – No.
Well there you are you see, you’re learning.
R - Aye you learn all time, don't you.
Yes. Anyway how old are you Fred?
R- 69 (Sixty nine).
And where were you born?
R- Earby.
Whereabouts, what street, do you know the address?
R- Well Albion Street, Earby. That ‘ud be it.
Aye. Which is Albion Street?
R - It's at the back of Albion Mill.
That's it.
R- That were Booth & Speak’s.
That's it yes. And how many years did you live in the house you were born in?
R- Oh, happen only about four.
Yes. So your parents moved when you were about four year old?
R - That's it. I can’t remember flitting but they were building some new houses and me father and mother they bought one of these new houses. Well they fastened one and that were the first house I can really remember living in properly.
Aye. Whereabouts was that Fred?
R - That was up Lincoln Road just across from Albion Street.
Aye, that's it.
R- And we lived there oh, quite a while.
That ‘ud be just afore the first world war, that ‘ud be 1913 if you were four.
R- Aye it would be something like that, yes.
(50)
Yes, you were born in 1909..
R- Eight.
Oh, you’re seventy this year, you’re sixty nine now.
R- Seventy this time.
When’s your birthday Fred?
R- December the nineteenth.
Oh we'll know then to come and start pulling your hair!
R – Aye, I’ll get it cut then. I’ll get it cut off. [laughs]
Well, they made that move because they wanted to move into a better house, obviously.
R- Oh yes.
That's it. And where was your father born?
R- He had a lot of bother finding out, when he were sixty five. [This would be in connection with him proving his age in order to draw his state pension. My father had a similar problem when he had to prove he was born in Australia when he applied for British citizenship. There were no birth certificates in 1896 in Australia and eventually he satisfied the government by getting an affidavit from the minister at the church where his birth was registered.{ Civil Registration of births, marriages and deaths started on 1 July 1837 in England and Wales. This was later expanded in 1927 to also include still births, and adoptions.}]
His father were one of them like they used to be in them days, a journeyman. Working round reservoirs then coming home, you know. After he’d left, his wife would be having another youngster.
That’s it.
R- And I think me father were born somewhere around Pateley Bridge way.
Aye, so was he a navvy?
R- Me grandfather were, and builder.
Yes.
R- In his later years when he settled down a bit he got on house building then.
(5 min)
Aye.
R- And in fact he built some houses just across there, not these mills, them just across at t’back.
Aye, going down to t’back of Red Lion Street there.
R- Aye, Red Lion Street, Alder Hill View they called it and they had a rough time. Like me father had a rough time when he were a youngster, sommat like Ernest would have.
Aye.
R- Aye me father would be one of about eleven. His mother and the biggest part of family lived in Keighley then. They were allus moving about and of course me grandfather beggared off and started living with another woman.
Aye.
R - Left them. Well when, as children came on and old enough, they'd to get away.
Yes.
R- Well when me father were about fifteen his older sister would be about seventeen she came to Earby. He’d to get out, away you know.
Yes.
R - Then when me father were old enough he came to Barlick.
Aye.
R- And then he came from Barlick to live with his sister in Earby and I don't know, they'd live in a cottage or sommat and then me auntie got wed and me father got wed. and they both stopped in Earby till they died.
Aye. What was your fathers name Fred?
R- Parkinson Inman.
Aye.
R- And that's an old name in the Inman family is that.
My God, it's a fine name isn’t it.
R- Aye you'll find it a lot in the Dales, Parkinson Inman.
Yes aye. Where does, Inman always strikes me as an Earby name, I don’t know why. Where does it originate from? Do you know?
[[The Oxford Dictionary of surnames says that it is Old English, ‘inn-mann’, a publican or lodging house keeper.]
R - Yorkshire. Well there's a few of 'em round, there were, round Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Appletreewick.
(100)
Aye.
R- There were a few Inmans. And then there were a few Inmans in Skipton. I suppose going back a long while they'd be all from one family.
Like Dales families aye. That's it aye,
R- There were some Inmans you know, further up the Dales.
And so your mother were born at Keighley?
R- No me mother were born at Earby me father were born at Keighley.
That's it aye. Sorry, that's it. I were thinking about your grandmother there. And what was your mothers full name? What was your mothers name?
R - Elizabeth Turner, they were a very old Earby family were them.
Aye, there's still a lot of Turners in Earby isn't there.
R- Yes. And they had a butchers shop on Water Street. I’ve heard me mother tell, they killed in the shop, part of the shop.
Aye.
R - And she'd only be about seven or eight when her father died, so she had a brother older than her and him and his mother they carried on and run butchers shop and me uncle had it until during and finishing up of this war.
Aye.
R- The second world war. He stuck it, he were a well known character.
Aye.
R- They were hard times were them like. I've heard me mother talk about going to Thornton wi’ a basket full of meat and then coming back and going to school.
Yes.
R- When they had to take their slate pencils and that.
Aye, that's it. How many brothers and sisters did you have?
R- I only had one brother.
Oh, there were just two of you. How many confinements did your mother have, did she just have two?
R- Two.
Yes. No, the reason I ask that, I never used to ask people that question and then it turned out Ernie Robert’s mother had eleven confinements and four survived, that were all.
R- Aye.
Now that's rough isn't it.
R- It is aye.
When you think.
R- Yes.
And of course you live and learn you see. So now I ask how many there were in the family and I ask how many confinements there were because there can be a vast difference.
R - Oh yes.
Yes. And were you the eldest of the two?
R – No, I were the youngest. Me brother were a year and nine month older than me.
Is he still alive Fred?
(10 min)
R- No. He were a gardener for the council and I think he must have swallowed some poison of some description. He’d be off and on for nine year bedfast and walking about and bedfast and walking about.
When you say swallowed some poison you mean, poison accident or..
R - Weed killer. Accident aye, weed killer. Aye well that's what I think and he thought the same.
(150)
Aye.
R - You know you could have had some on your finger and…
Yes.
R- ..and put it on your lip or sommat like that. 'Cause it were like a fever what he started with and he started rambling and he had several doctors and nobody had seen owt like it before. And he were lucky in one way, he got all his blood changed. They changed all his blood and they had specialists from down Bradford and further afield to come and look at him at Skipton.
Aye.
R- And he used to blow up like a balloon. He’d be about sixteen stone at some times and then they'd take him down to Skipton and diet him down to about twelve.
Aye.
R- And then they'd send him home again then and once he’d got a lot of this weight up he couldn't walk then so they used to diet him and fetch him down and then he could walk.
It sounds like a rotten do Fred.
R- Oh aye it were a rotten do. His wife had a rough do.
Aye
R- Like, you know, if he weren’t at home he were at hospital at Skipton.
Yes.
R- She had a rough do.
And of course nothing would ever be put down. You know, I mean when I say put down, you know, it would never be actually proved that it was anything like that.
R- No, there were nowt ever proved.
No, there’d have been a big compensation case if there had wouldn't there.
R- Mmm. But he finished up wi’ gangrene, that finished him off.
Aye, well it sounds like a bad do anyway. When you were young can you ever remember any relations living with you, you know, for any period of time?
R - Only had an aunty live wi’ us a bit.
Aye.
R- Aye. A few year. Well I'm saying, happen eighteen months.
Was there a reason for that?
R- Well, she had never been married and I think if I remember reight, it were in them days when they rented houses and your landlord could get you out, make it awkward for you.
Aye.
R- I think that were one reason why she came. She lived with us a bit and then she went to live wi’ another sister at Brierfield. Then she lived with me uncle a bit. Then eventually she finished up at Keighley in some kind of a home. She weren’t mental or owt of that sort.
Aye.
R - She lived there.
Aye like an old folks home.
R- Aye. And she come to a sad end. Went out for a walk one night and a storm came and it blew her into a dam and she drownded.
In Keighley.
(200)
R- Aye, just going up out of Keighley there were a dam. She must have had her umbrella up and gone plodding on or sommat, and not been looking were she were going and gone into where this dam were. Walked into it, there were no railings round and she drowned herself before anybody could get her out.
How long ago were that Fred?
R- Twenty year.
Aye, about fifty eight?
R- Mmm.
It's a sad job. Aye. Did you ever have any lodgers?
R- Before I were born.
Before you were born aye.
R- Aye, they called him Fred, that’s who I were called after.
Is that right?
R – Aye.
Aye.
R- And he were a joiner when they built Earby church. He worked for Charlie Watson.
Aye.
R- And Charlie Watson's did all the joinery work at Earby Church and he worked for them.
When was that church built Fred? Do you know the date?
R - 1906 happen.
Yes. And when you were born what was your fathers job, what was his job?
R - Overlooker. Tackler.
Tackler, he was a tackler.
R- He were a tackler yes.
And where was he working at Fred?
R- Oh, when I were born, happen at Shuttleworth’s. He’d worked at Shuttleworth’s and what they called Hugh Currer’s. Aye it would be Shuttleworth’s.
Where were Shuttleworth’s weaving, which mill were they in?
R- In Big Mill,
Big Mill aye. Tell me something, is Big Mill the same as Victoria?
(15 min)
R - Well they do call it Victoria mill.
Aye.
R- But one's on Albert Street and the other, they just call it Big Mill. Victoria Mill, that were where the big engine were and all that.
Yes.
R- That's Victoria.
Aye.
R- Although they called the other the Dock Yard as we said. Johnsons, Victoria Mill. That were the address of it.
Aye, that's it, like you go into it from the other end now. Like that big shed.
R - Aye.
Aye. I think I've heard some of them call it the Ballroom, haven't I.
R- Oh, that's the middle room in the big mill, the Ballroom. You know, there's a ground floor in the warehouse. And then there's a floor that one half had looms in and the other half was a warehouse and tapes and then above that there were twisting rooms and tape rooms belonging other firms.
Aye, that's it. Aye three storeys there.
R- Three storeys, aye.
Did your father have any other jobs, held be a tackler till he died, would he?
(250)
R- No, he were a tackler till 1932 and he bought some land and he built a house on it and started a poultry farm.
Where were that at Fred?
R- Up Stoneybank here, top of Stoneybank.
Aye.
R- And he were on that while me mother started being poorly and they had a good do, enjoyed their selves up there, me mother did an all. And then they came back, he sold it and went to Foulridge. A fellow that lived at Foulridge what bought that, poultry farm, so they swapped, they went into his house at Foulridge did me father until he got this empty, he belonged this, and it came empty did this so he came back into it.
Aye, that's this house is it?
R- This house aye.
Aye.
R- Aye, like he flit from Lincoln Road here in 1927.
Aye. We might as well get it down what's the address of this house.
R- 14 Stoneybank Road.
Aye.
R- But it used to be 14 Spring Terrace.
Aye, Spring Mill.
R- Until they made this on here.
Aye.
R- Aye and when they built a row on here and called It Spring Mount and then they built a row further up and called it Spring Field.
Aye Spring Field school.
R- The school, well they were getting mixed up you know, [mail for]14 Spring Terrace were going to 14 Spring Mount or 14 Spring Field so they changed the address to 14 Stoneybank Road then.
Aye, all Stoneybank, aye. Oh there's happen a bit of sense in it.
And before he was a tackler obviously, well I say obviously, he’d be a weaver would he, your father?
R- Yes. When he left school at first he worked in engineering. He did a bit of engineering like labouring, apprentice and mugging about,
Yes. Now your father, when he left school where would he be living. Would he be living in Earby?
A - No Keighley.
Ah, that's It. That's what I was thinking about engineering. About what age would he be when he moved to Barlick. You said he went to Barlick didn't you?
R- He’d only be about fifteen or sixteen.
Aye, and when he went to Barlick what did he do then do you know?
R- Weaving.
Weaving aye, no idea where?
R- No, I’ve no idea. And when he came to Earby he’d be weaving when he came to Earby. And he were one of lucky ‘uns that got to learn to tackle. It were a thing what were handed down from father to son weren’t it. Relation to relation were tackling. Well he must have been a lucky fellow to get to..
(300)
Either that or ‘cause he was a good man,
R – Aye. to get to learn.
That's as likely a thing as any because it was the good ‘uns that got to be tacklers wasn't it.
R- Mmm. And they used to have to be what they call strong in t’back and weak in th’head hadn't they. They'd to be able to carry these warps and that carry on.
Aye.
R- Well he were never really a big fellow, but he weren’t any dummy like, he could tackle.
Yes because that’s something a lot of people won't realise, that in your father’s day when he were tackling, the tacklers used to carry the warps in didn't they.
R- Yes, oh aye.
(15 min)
They didn't have trolley's, they carried 'em on their shoulder.
R - biggest part of 'em were to carry. Well a good half of them were to carry.
Yes, aye.
R- There were pillars in every other alley, weren’t there.
Yes, aye.
R- But I think in them days they could have lifted a lot more in, you know, two’d 'em.
Yes.
R- But they were that jealous and envious of one another you know, you couldn't do with waiting at the alley end of the other tackler coming [to help you] 'cause he’d make you wait as long as he could because that loom were stopped and every pick counted in them days. [Competition between tacklers to get most wages which relied on the weaver’s production]
Yes.
R- So they used to hoist 'em up on their shoulder and away.
Aye. How old was your dad when he died?
R - Seventy eight.
Oh. well carrying warps didn't do him a lot of harm then did it.
R - No, no. He were allus a fresh air fellow.
Yes, well you are aren’t you.
Aye. And what year were that Fred?
R - When he died ... nineteen fifty four.
Fifty four.
R - I think that ‘ud be it. Me mother died in fifty two and he died in fifty four.
How old were your mother when she died?
R- About seventy ... seventy four I think.
Aye, well they were both a good age then weren’t they.
R- Aye.
How long had they been married, do you know? It would be a fair while wouldn't it.
R- I couldn't say.
It could be fifty year, couldn’t it.
R- Mm. No they hadn't their Golden wedding. I wouldn’t like to say Stanley.
No. It wouldn't be so far off though, anyway, would it.
R- No, it ‘ud be getting on.
So before your mother married your father he’d be living in Earby. They'd meet in Earby would they?
R- Yes.
Yes. And what would she be doing, she'd be working?
R - Aye. She'd be weaving and helping in the butchers shop and that carry on.
That’s it aye. Yes, the butchers shop. And have you any idea where she wove?
R - No I haven't, I haven't any idea.
It doesn’t matter if you don't know.
R- I only know she could weave.
Yes. Where was your father’s last job?
(350)
R- Working. A.J. Birley’s.
Birley’s.
R- Albion Mill.
Albion, yes.
R- Yes, that was his last job inside.
Aye and then he took to poultry farming.
R - Poultry farming mm...
Aye the out door man, aye. Yes, well I'll turn my little bit of paper over. After she were married did your mother still work In the mill, did she carry on working in the mill.
R – No.
Why was that Fred?
R- As far as I know she finished work and she'd to look after me father. You know what they were in them days.
That's right, yes. No, I understand, I’m a bit that way meself Fred.
R- Aye.
My wife's never worked full time and that's one of the reasons I think.
R- So she never worked full time.
Yes, but that was fairly, it wasn't really common that was it.
R- No it weren’t no.
It wasn’t really common in those days. And so she gave up weaving and looked after the house and obviously when you and your brother come along, the two children. What was your brothers name Fred?
R- Melbourne. Melbourne.
What a good name.
R- After billiard player.
[July 15th 1878. Birth of Melbourne Inman. Four times Professional Champion of English Billiards, 1912 - 1919; and winner of the first ever match to be played in the World Snooker Championships. He beat Tom Newman 8 - 5 in a match which began on 29th November, 1926, and finished on 6th December.]
I think you come out wi’ the sticky end wi’ your name I’ll tell you. Now wait a minute what did you say then? After a billiard player?
R- There were a billiard player weren’t there, a professional billiard player called Melbourne Inman.
I didn't know that.
R- Mm. I think he’d be an Australian. Yes he were up Davis’s street and all that.
[Fred Davis]
Aye.
R- I can remember when I were a kid they used to talk about him.
And was your dad keen on billiards or something then?
R – No, I've no idea.
It just tickled his fancy?
R- It happen just struck him you know.
Aye that's it. It's a fine name anyway isn't it. Parkinson Inman and Melbourne Inman.
R- Aye.
I’ll tell you a funny thing about names like that, there's the foreman at Gisburn auction, a fellow called Clarkson and his name was Pliny Clarkson.
R - Aye.
And I said to him one day I said Pliny, “How did you get that name?” He said “Well you know who Pliny was, don't you?” I said “Aye, he were either a Greek or a Roman philosopher.” “Well” he says “It were me grandad. He were mad, on classics.
(400)
And all of us have silly bloody names like that. I'm called Pliny and one of ‘em’s called Aristotle.” I told him he hadn’t come out too badly, at least it was a short name! It makes you wonder sometimes, it's as bad, they always used to say that one of Cramp Hoyle's daughter's was called Olive but I don't know whether to believe that or not.
R - Does that Clarkson live in Earby now?
You know he could do because he had to give up, he had a bit of a bad heart..
R- That's it aye...
(25 min)
And he does some car dealing.
R- That’s it and he has all the land at the back of Spring Mill. He’s fenced it all off and he has a cow and a couple of calves on and sheep and hens, pigs.
Well that'll be Pliny.
R- Aye he's a reight grand fellow to talk to.
Oh aye he's a nice bloke, big fellow, round face aye.
R- Very nice, good looking fellow.
Anyway, so your mother didn't need anybody to look after the children because she was at home looking after them. And would that, no, you've told me it was in Lincoln Street wasn't it.
R - Lincoln Road. aye.
Lincoln Road, that's it aye. And your brother stayed in the town as well, he didn’t leave the town.
R- No.
No. Did any of the family, you know, that were fairly close to you, that were living in Earby, there would be others of your family, of course there were. Did any of them leave the town in about 1930? You know, when times were bad.
R- No.
You know, leave because they were short of work?
R- No.
No, quite a few left Barlick then and went to places like Earby and what not.
R- No, I'd just one relation and he went in 1920.. 1925 sommat like that. To Whitefield near Manchester and he finished up there. But I mean trade weren’t reight good when he left but it weren’t in the 1930’s or owt of that.
Aye that's it. Now then I’m going to ask you some questions now and they'll take you right back to your childhood. You’ll start remembering things you thought you’d forgotten. Now the house you'll remember best is Lincoln Road.
R- Yes.
And how long did you live in that house Fred? You went when you were four year old so...
R- Let's see I’d happen be about eleven.
(450)
Aye. Good for the brain is this you know Fred!
R - Aye.
I can hear the wheels squeaking here!
R- {Stanley and Fred laugh] Aye well actually he sold that house in Lincoln Road and he bought one what were in Stoneybank at the other side of road and then me brother would be twelve when we went up there. Nearly thirteen 'cause I know he started work, he got two looms while we lived in that other house.
Yes.
R- And then he were allus after a bit of land for some hens and he couldn't get any up here so he went back next door in Lincoln Road to where we’d lived before.
Oh.
R- And it were where we lived first time. It were just two up and two down. Well the next house, it were three bedrooms, there were a little kitchen, living room and a front room and three bedrooms.
Aye.
R- Then that got a bath in then you know, we had a bathroom.
That's it.
R- We had a wash basin upstairs, well we thought we were sommat then.
Oh aye, you'd be living like Kings. Aye well, we'll talk about, what we'll talk about is the first house in Lincoln Road, the two up and two down one. So well, there you are, how many bedrooms did it have, two. Aye, so your mother and father would be in one bedroom and you and your brother would be in the other. What other rooms were there Fred?
R - Well a kitchen, you could have lived in it if you'd have wanted, but there were no fireplace in.
Aye.
R- And then a decent living room.
Aye.
R- With an old fire range in and that.
Yes. So there wasn't like a front room as such.
R - No,
No, no that's it, aye. And so this living room, that had the fireplace in.
R- Yes.
What sort of a range were there In there Fred, was it a..
R- The old timer, iron, side boiler and...
Oven?
R - Oven and boiler.
Aye, black lead and silver sand. Aye. Can you remember any of the furniture in the house, does anything stick out in your mind?
R - Aye, we had one of them old time three piece suites. You know sofa and...
Leather?
R - Aye. Horse hair sticking out and prickling the back of your legs.
Is that right? [laughs]
(500)
R - And then there were two chairs, one were a bit bigger. That were father’s chair and t’other were a bit less that were a ladies chair and happen a couple of side chairs.
Aye.
R - And happen a couple of buffets for me and me brother to sit on.
(30 min)
R- Or if there were nobody about in winter time you sat on the carpet up to the fire.
Aye. When you say carpet up to fire, were it a carpet...
R- Th’old peg rug.
Peg rug. Everybody had a peg rug Fred. What were the floor? Were it wood or stone?
R- Wood. Wood in the house, stone in the kitchen.
Yes.
R - It used to be scoured round. There were no oilcloth on..
No.
R- Not in the kitchen, there were oilcloth in the house.
In the kitchen, ever put sand on it?
R- No, me mother used to scour it.
Aye. When you say scour it, scrub it out?
R- With a scouring stone.
Aye. So she’d donkey stone it?
R- Donkey stone.
Aye, aye Lion.
R - It were allus white she didn't use ginger.
I’ll tell you something you won't believe, I bought a box full of donkey stones.
R- Aye, you've done well.
I went into a shop in Manchester and they were clearing a lot of stuff out. There's a box there on floor. I says How much are the donkey stones? This fellow says “You're joking.” I says “How much are they?” He says two and half pence each. I says I’ll take the box full.
R - Aye.
And do you know what there were as well? A copper posser.
R- Aye.
I says “How much is that?” He says £1.28. I says “I'll take that and all.” Brand new. Anyway that's besides the point. But I got some donkey stones, Lion Brand donkey stone and there were hard and soft and there ware white and ginger an all. And there were some of ‘em reight old ‘uns you know, that weren’t cast, that were chopped out of the lump, aye. Anyway that's besides the point, we shouldn't be talking about things like that. Well you didn't have a parlour?
R- No.
So, the furniture was in the living room and which room did you have your meals in?
R- Oh we had 'em in house part.
(550)
Yes, that's it, not in the kitchen like.
R- No.
When you say the kitchen Fred, if the fireplace was in the living room, I assume your mother had a gas cooker.
R - Later on, yes.
Yes. Well what I'm trying to get at Fred is how could it be the kitchen if there wasn’t a fire in. You know if there were no gas cooker. You’d have to have something to cook on.
R- Well we used to call 'em kitchens. I don't know why. There were a sink and probably she used to do all her...
And she'd do her washing in there would she?
R- Aye, washing in the kitchen and I rather think she did all her kneading and that in kitchen.
Aye that's it.
R- And then fetched it in front of the fire when she'd kneaded it.
Aye that's it and so really, before she got her gas cooker, the cooking would be split like between kitchen and front room. Like actual preparation would be done in the kitchen and cooking in the front room.
R - Aye and then fetched in and put in the side oven.
Aye. Did you ever have a rack on pulley's.
R - Yes aye.
Aye.
R- That were in house part an all where fire were.
That's it, over the fire. Ever had any oat-cakes drying on it?
R – Aye, oat-cakes on it.
Aye.
R - Aye, they were popular were them.
Anyway we'll get on to food in a bit. Now that house in Lincoln Road, obviously you didn't have a bathroom. When you wanted a bath, what were it.
R - There were a bath in the kitchen. But when we’d had a bath, me mother used to have to ladle all the water out of it. It were a proper old iron bath you know, but she used to have to ladle the water out.
Aye.
R- It weren’t connected up to go into drain.
Aye, I see.
R - There must have been sommat about it when they built these houses and they put a bath in and I suppose it was, well you'll have to pay rates or sommat, water rates for a bath in. If it weren’t connected up to the sewer they didn't know you were using it. We used to put a hose pipe on to the tap.
(600)
Aye.
R- And put water into the bath with a hose pipe and then she used to have to ladle it out.
And when you say, did you have a back boiler? Was there a hot water system?
R- Aye we had a back boiler.
Oh well that were alright then weren’t it.
R- It were one of them tanks, it weren’t a copper tank, it were just straight up and into this here, like a cast iron square boiler.
Aye, aye upstairs.
R- No, it were in the kitchen.
Aye.
R- It were fairly well up to the roof.
That's it aye.
R- And there were no copper boiler down here.
What were it like, on a bracket, or let into the wall or..
R- No. It were built on some woods what came out and some woods down and then me father boarded it in and made like a cistern cupboard.
Aye.
But they didn't keep any clothes in there of course because it used to steam up. When the water got too hot it steamed up and you'd to run it off.
I’ve never heard or seen of one of them before Fred.
R- Aye it were an old timer but it did the job.
Yes, aye. And I always laugh when I ask this question. What night were bath night Fred?
(35 min)
R- Friday.
Do you know everybody's bath night were Friday.
R- Aye.
Everybody, and it was a job filling that bath and it was a job emptying it.
R - Aye.
Who got in first?
R- We both got in together when we were kids.
That's it. And then did that water get chucked out or did your mother use it or did your father use it?
R - No it were chucked out because, in fact I think me father would have a bath when we were playing out sometime..
Aye.
R- It weren’t a popular do like for me father and me mother having 'em at Friday, they'd have ‘em when we were out.
Aye, that's it aye.
R - 'Cause there were no privacy.
No that's it. Aye and people were more, you know, I mean…
R- More Victorian in them days.
Well more reticent, aye yes in some ways yes. And did you have a closet, was it inside our outside.
(650)
R - Outside, tippler.
It were a tippler aye, were it a deep one?
R - No it weren’t reight deep up there.
Aye. Ever any trouble with the tippler box?
R- No, me father used to keep it well oiled and lift the flag up and put some oil on.
I always said, we used to have a tippler at Sough, not so long since, about 1956, and I always used to say that there were nowt wrong with tipplers as long as you kept ‘em clean and you looked after them. I think they were a good idea and it were grand in winter if some reight hot water come down, if somebody were having a bath.
R- Aye.
Aye 'cause it could warm it up couldn't it!
R - It could! [Laughs]
I'll tell you where the best tippler were for that. I've heard Newton Pickles talk about it. There were two tipplers in the yard at Wellhouse mill and the drain that they went into must have been a common drain with some water that were coming out of the engine house and he said in winter it were lovely. He said it was a two seater and he said if you sat on one all steam come up through the other. [Laughs] And he said if two of you sat down, bye god he said you could get warmed up!
R- Aye.
Aye, and he said you could see steam puffing with the engine. You could see it, you know there must have been a drain running into it.
R- Aye, that's it.
You know, out of the engine.
R- Oh they were alright weren’t they, they did a job with all the waste water didn't they.
Yes.
R- Swilled it away.
And as you say, they didn’t waste any water.
R- No.
No, like anything else, as long as they were looked after and kept clean. Would you say that tipplers then were a common thing or would there be some dry closets an all?
(700)
Well in Earby biggest part would be tipplers, there’d happen be an odd dry one here and there that’s all.
We're talking now like during the first world war aren’t we.
R- No Earby, they'd had new sewerage and same as Kelbrook there were a lot of night soil closets up there as they called 'em.
That’s it, night soil men, aye.
R- Thornton and ...
Can you, let's see 1909, you'd be five years old when the Great War started. Well the First war. Can you remember anything about it at all?
R- I can remember it starting, that's one thing that stuck in your memory. When you ware going to school you know, they talked about war and may be the Territorials would come marching through and there’d be a camp put up on what we call Lina fields, on be the Punch Bowl.
What’s that name Fred?
R- Punch Bowl..
Yes but…
R- Lina, Lina field we allus called it.
[What is now the Punch Bowl Inn, just over the crossings at Earby, used to be Lina Laithe and Farm.]
Aye.
R- They used to, that seemed to be a half way do for a lot of soldiers. They’d come marching through Earby and then they'd put up there all night and we used to go on after school and they'd happen give you a plate full of broth or sommat like that.
Aye, that's it.
R- It were, we were really interested you know in 'em. Some on 'em would happen give you a drink of tea out of their mucky old enamel mug and that. You were really, though you were sommat when you’re stood there you know, and they were coming marching down and band playing you were going yourself you know, your feet were going. Many a time they were
(750)
(40 min)
coming down when we were going to school and eh, I wish we could walk at back of ‘em instead of going to school. We daren’t, we'd to go to school. And I can remember a lot of that you know, when it had been on a bit, you'd be going to school, one of the lads says “Me dads got killed”, you know. And another would happen say “Me mothers got a telegram, me dad's missing.” And it were every week there were sommat like that as you went to school but me father never had to go. There were three of 'em working at this mill where he worked during war, B. A. Hartley's and there were only three tacklers and two got called up and it left me father then. And they put a lad, somebody on mugging about and they stopped a set of looms. So me father and this mug about had to run all the mill then. But one set were stopped. As time went on I can remember going down to the mill when school loosed. Some mornings, eight o'clock, I used to have to run to the mill. Me mother had fried bin some bacon and egg or sommat like that and I'd to run to the mill wi’ it afore it got cold. But I were fairly lucky that way, he never used to say owt didn't boss about me going in and many a time a weaver 'ud happen want a bit of an errand running, and they daren’t go out and I’d happen go to shop for 'em. They'd give me an ha’penny for going. It were a real do were that,
(800)
Aye, which were a good do then.
R- It were a good do.
Aye.
R- And then as I got a bit older, happen about eight, if there were any things to go to the blacksmith, Mr Hartley used to say will you take these to the blacksmith. Well with me going to the blacksmith with this here, I got to stop there and watch the blacksmith mend 'em.
Were that in the same shop. Well, it was.
R- Where Stanley Whitakers is now.
Aye? Stanley Whitakers garage?
R- Yes that were the main,
Oh that were the blacksmiths were it?
That were the main blacksmith, Dodgson’s smithy.
Dodgson’s?
R- Yes.
Aye.
R – Aye, you felt you were a man when you were getting to do them things.
Aye. Can you, now wait a minute, no you'll not be able to. You wouldn't remember Henry Brown's having their workshop at…
R- Albion Road...
Albion Road would you?
R - Albion Street, yes.
Aye. 'cause that would be there when you were a lad.
R- Yes.
Henry Brown would start up there, wouldn't he?
R- That's it aye.
R- Aye it were at the bottom end of Albion Street and it were up to Albion Mill and shafting came through out of mill.
That's it.
R- To run it in there.
Yes, aye.
R- Aye I can remember that.
Anyway, you had piped water. And did you have a stair carpet?
R - Yes.
How was it held down Fred?
R- Them brass stair rods.
Aye, everybody had brass stair rods.
(850)
R- Aye and they used to polish 'em at spring cleaning day.
Aye. Who polished 'em, your mother?
R- Me mother aye.
And did the neighbours have a stair carpet an all? Did everybody have a stair carpet?
R- They had, they had up there up Lincoln Road. They were all just, you know, reasonably well off.
Yes, that's it.
There were nobody out and out poor.
How about curtains Fred?
R- Aye we had th’old lace curtains and paper blinds.
Aye, they were popular then weren’t they. Very popular, spring blinds, weren’t they aye.
R – Yes.
Can you remember any families not having curtains, you know, not having what we call proper curtains?
R- Well I could in Earby but not up Lincoln Road where we were.
Aye.
R - But you got, not belittling the place, but they used to talk about Dock Yard and up Muck Street, well they were same..
When you talk about Dock Yard and Muck Street what did you call them. I’ve heard old Earby folk.
R- Dock Yard..
Yes.
R- It were Albion Street. Facing what were Johnsons mill.
Yes.
(900)
R- It's pulled down now. Well there were some big families on there and I know there were one family, and they’re all grown up and all decent respectable people and I said to one of 'em “How did you used to sleep at your house?” He said “North, South, East and West in one bed.” [Laughs]
You can work that one out for yourself can’t you.
R- Aye.
(45 min)
And did the women in the street donkey stone door steps?
R - Aye.
All of em?
R- Yes.
Any of 'em do the kerb stones?
R - No, no.
Some people used to like. I tell nearly everybody this when we get to this question. I was once told, I can’t say whether it's true or not, that there was one street in Dukinfield that used to be famous, they used to blacklead the tram lines. They used to donkey stone the kerb edge and blacklead the tram lines. Now whether that’s right or not I don't know but I can imagine it you know.
R - Oh yes.
And how was the house lit Fred?
R - Gas.
Yes, were they fantails or mantles.
R – Mantles in the house and them like fantails in the kitchen.
Aye.
R- There were nowt upstairs. They were only in kitchen and..
So upstairs were candles?
R- Candles.
Aye. And not so often.
R- Oh now candle had to be blow out when you got into bed.,
That's it.
R- There were no wasting candles.
The ones with the mantles, were they incandescent?
R – Incandescent mantles.
Was there any covering over them or were they just bare mantles.
R- Well you used to get a globe now and again and they just, you know, they seemed to crack..
(950)
Aye.
R- Break and then you'd be ‘bout globe for a while.
Aye.
R- And then eventually they'd have happen saved a bob up and buy another globe.
Aye. How about moths coming in and breaking mantles, can you ever remember that happening?
R- Aye, they used to come in.
Aye flying in.
R- It were a tragedy were that!
Aye fluttering round the mantles.
R - Yes.
Aye. Can you remember anybody ever fitting a new mantle? You know when you fitted a new mantle? Did you like to watch it go black and then come up white?
R- That's it, aye and then it used to come up white.
Aye.
R- They were like woven weren’t they.
Yes they were, yes. Tilley mantles are exactly samey you know, for Tilley lamps now.
R- They were soft and, aren’t they.
Yes there like silica or sommat like that.
R- Silk, yes.
Did you ever have electric light in that house at Lincoln Road?
R- No, no.
Not while you were there.
R- No.
How did you get rid of the household rubbish Fred?
R- With the old ash pit. They used to put it in the ash pit and they used to come round and shovel it into a box cart.
Now, ash pits, there's a lot of people won't understand that nowadays. But the ash pit was like next door to the closet wasn't it, outside.
R- Yes, aye.
And everything that wouldn't burn got chucked in there didn't it.
R- Got chucked in there.
(1000)
But am I right in saying that you didn’t used to chuck stuff in there that would burn?
R - Oh no.
Because it would get to smell wouldn’t it.
R- That's it aye, all t’salmon tins and that, they were all burnt before they put 'em in. Well we did before we put ‘em in the ash pit.
Yes.
R - Any potato peelings, tea leaves, it all went on the fire. You'd to economise that way, damp fire down a bit.
Yes, not only that, but it destroyed a lot of stuff that wouldn’t be on the tip attracting rats and what not.
R- That's it.
Because that's biggest thing there is nowadays you know with central heating.
R- Yes aye.
These tips are full of stuff that attracts rats.
R- That's it aye.
(48 min)
SCG/09 April 2003
7,994 words.