STEEPLEJACK'S CORNER 2012

[Stanley]

Could be Tiz....



Some jacks with a regular contact used to leave dogs in place on stacks. This one off Newtown Mill at Burnley shows what the danger is.

[Stanley]

Worth pointing out that the corroded dog above is an old blacksmith made one, wrought iron and more corrosion resistant than modern fabricated and welded dogs.

[Stanley]

Moss Shed chimney in 1978.

[Stanley]

Barnsey and Moss Sheds in 1978. Both stacks and Barnsey shed itself have gone.

[Stanley]

One of the last, and most elusive, chimneys in Barlick was the square brick one at Barrett's Steam Laundry. You can just see it above hiding behind the frame of the gasholder.

[Stanley]

Burnley chimneys.

[plaques]

It looks like a view taken from Healey Wood Rd towards Yorkshire St. Would you believe it if I said the street behind the first two square chimneys is STANLEY St. Of course you knew that all along.

[Stanley]

No P! I didn't know that... I am always looking for images that fit in Steeplejack's Corner. Most of the comment from the jacks has dried up after the great success the topic had in the past but I still think it's worth keeping it going. The page views show that it is being accessed still.

[Stanley]

John Burlison sent me this. Laurel and Bay Tree Mills at Middleton Junction in 1910.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
Re your comment trying to keep SJC going
Well said & Well played.

[Stanley]

Thanks Robert, you never know it could take off again and anyway it's a good place to post these images.... Here's another one I got from John. The same mills under demolition...

[Stanley]

John Burlison's pic of Albany Mill at Middleton in February 1975.

[Stanley]

Albany Mill at Middleton in November 1975. John Burlison's pic and he says it stayed in this condition for a long time before being cleared.

[Stanley]

John Burlison sent me this pic he did on Sunday in Preston. It's Centenary Mill and what caught his attention was the fresh pointing on the stack.

[Stanley]

Have you ever noticed that chimneys round Preston seemed to have more batter than was usual in the rest of the North?

[Stanley]

The original electricity works at Stockport. Bit of a puther on! They must have been hard pressed.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Clock Tower Mill at Burnley. It was destroyed by fore in 1987 and Norman Sutcliffe got the job of making the building safe and eventually demolishing it. One of the last jobs Norman did and he told me probably the most dangerous. N&R were often called in to jobs like this, often where explosive demolition had failed. Nasty jobs.....

[plaques]

The clock in 'Clock Tower' mill was installed in 1863 by George Slater son of William Slater Barnoldswick. It was considered the first public time piece in Burnley. Slater Terrace running parallel to the canal on the opposite side has now been completely refurbished as part of the 'Weavers Triangle'.

[Stanley]

You're right of course P. We had quite a lot about it on the old site....

[Stanley]

Construction rather than demolition but an interesting pic I think. This is in New York in 1980. The workers were putting in the foundations for a new skyscraper. The bulging chain mesh is covering a controlled blast at the moment of detonation to break up the hard Manhattan Schist which is the reason why so many high building were built in the city. They had this down to a fine art. Behind the wall on the left is a crowded restaurant and all the diners could feel was a dull thud. I know because we went in and had lunch there. People think of explosions as loud noises and bits flying all over the place. This was very controlled, small charges and three layers of very heavy iron chain woven into heavy mats which contained the blast.

[Stanley]

One of the images we lost when the old SC went down. What does a jack do if he is taken short when he's working at height? We asked the question and got this pic as the reply. We shy away from subjects like this but it happens and SC recorded the solution. Truly a historic pic and well worth giving space to it! (I'll bet you'd have a job finding another....)

[Stanley]

One of the problems that jacks were given occasionally was straightening a bent chimney. Stacks took a bend, as opposed to a lean caused by failure of the foundation, for a variety of reasons. One was bad practice when building, the dairy chimney at West Marton was built bent because of a mistake with the batter board and had to be pulled back and rebuilt, the other was attrition of the mortar on the weather side. The cure was to cut into the chimney opposite the bend and reduce the courses while the weight was supported by steel wedges. This could be very successful but occasionally the job went wrong.



Here's a picture I found in an insurance archive of an unknown stack that collapsed while being straightened. I wonder if the jack's bill was paid!

[Tizer]

That stack on the previous page with the very ornamented brickwork design that I thought looked like Central or South American design but built by Cornish miners...I've not seen anything that ornamental in Cornwall but here's a pic I found of the remaining stack at Wheal Metal near Helston, Cornwall. It's in an excellent book titled `Cornish Mines: St Just to Redruth' by Barry Gamble who played a major part in getting Cornwall and Devon mines set up as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has lots of colour photos of engine houses and stacks.

[Stanley]

Why do so many Cornish mines have names that start with 'wheal'?