FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

The media have remembered the Arndale bomb even if Mr Leese didn't. Here's a forgotten corner from 1940. Manchester Piccadilly.

[Stanley]

William Holdsworth in around 1895, he is the man standing. He's of interest because it was his furniture and joinery business that was taken over by William Briggs and Harold Duxbury's father when they moved into business on their own account.



This is the site of William's workshop and behind you can see the fascia of his house and shop. Harold was brought up in the shop. The workshop was burned out sometime after 1935. B&D moved into the old Artisan's Model Lodging House in Butts in 1930. This is why it is still called The Model Joinery Works.

[Stanley]

Seven Stars Yard in 1982. Gain's the joiner was still working out of there. In earlier times what used to be the stables was filled with small businesses including a tinsmith and even a dwelling house at the nearest end.

[Stanley]

Looked at from Butts the building in the yard is much bigger than at first sight, in fact bigger than the pub. You can clearly see from this angle that the end was a dwelling house.

[Stanley]

Church Street in about 1900. It's the detail in these old pics that fascinates me. Look at the blinds and curtains in the windows of the Seven Stars.... The old shops and of course the dress of the kids in the picture. I always wonder what became of them. St James was still there of course and this was before the street was paved. It was a different world.......

[Stanley]

Young Charlie Watson who got the job of engineer at Butts Mill because of the influence of his father who was a shareholder in the CHSC as well as being the engineer at Wellhouse. He's seen in the picture with the new HP cylinder on the right (with the plain cover) installed by Burnley Ironworks after the original failed under increased boiler pressure. Not young Charlie's fault but two years after he slipped up and got water in the LP which split the piston. That was his fault and he suffered the consequences. If you want to learn more, go and look at the CHSC Minute books for 1923.......

[Stanley]

The new low pressure piston for Butts in 1923. It weighed about 2 tons and was cast at Havre Park and machined at Wellhouse under the supervision of Johnny Pickles. Big repair jobs like this were well within the capacity of the town's engineers in those days..... A forgotten corner!

[Stanley]

This very rare picture posted by Wendy is Old Shed at Earby. The first steam driven shed in Earby built by Bracewells. I love the cricket match and the way the players are dressed!

[Stanley]

Worth remembering that until Earby got the railway in the mid-19th century all coal had to be hauled from Salterforth through the village and down what is now a back road through the Ranch. All of it by horses in two ton tipping carts. That must have been a busy road!

[Stanley]

I may be a bit peculiar but during my adult life I have always enjoyed talking to the older end and when I first came to Barlick I realised there was a rich seam! Two in particular were Old Sid Demaine and Mr Robinson who farmed at Standridge. They had known each other all their lives and were boozing mates, it was amazing how much bitter they could shift in gill glasses! Robinson was famous among his mates for his 'magic pocket'. Late at night when funds were running low he would dip into the top left hand pocket of his waistcoat and produce a fiver. I think they were what we would call characters and were well worth listening to.

[Stanley]

I remember Old Sid giving me advice on choosing a wife.... He said what I needed was a "Gurt thick-legged heifer fit for some hard work". (These old-timers were fairly direct!) I'm not sure whether my wife Vera qualified or not....

[Stanley]

I bought the house on the left opposite mine in King Street so I could install my mother and keep an eye on her. (She saw it as keeping an eye on me!) When I bought it I got John Northage to Snowcem it. In those days I was a big fan of Snowcem for waterproofing walls but later realised I was wrong. When John did it he told me that the funny thing was that Snowcem spread like a rash when one house in a street was done. He was right, several suddenly got a coat. Today the fashion is to clean back to the stone and re-point and I know now that this is the right way in most cases. In some cases gable ends can be a problem if they face the weather but my favourite now is to re-point them and then put a skin of slate on them to shed the weather. That way the wall can still breathe.

[Stanley]

John was right! By 1986 it was spreading like a disease!

[Stanley]

Hey Farm in 1969. You can see that I was a fan of Snowcem then. In my defence it always looked tidy!

[Stanley]

The latest owners of Hey Farm have stripped all the render and Snowcem off and re-pointed and I like it, looks much better! I see a similar trend in King Street and other parts of the town and I am all in favour of it as long as it is done well and properly re-pointed.
By the way, Me and my dad planted that Conference Pear tree in 1960. It must be 60 years old now. That brings your life into perspective!

[Cathy]

Just wondering...
Does anyone know what the new owners of Moor Close Farm are doing with the property?

[PanBiker]

Last time I walked past (about 3 or 4 weeks ago) there was building works going on Cathy. I'll report again next time I'm up that way.

[Stanley]

Cathy, that question reminded me of Amen Corner above Salterforth. I think that was refurbished as well the last time we looked at it. It's a forgotten corner, not many Barlickers could tell you where it is.

[Cathy]

Thanks Panbiker, that would be great.

[Stanley]

Every now and then it's a good idea to go back and look at what things looked like 35 years or more ago. This was my pic of the Old Sidings in 1982. Now it is firmly established as The Green and the tree planting has matured. It looks much different now.....
I did these two pics this morning to illustrate the change. The original pic was done with my old Nikon camera with a very wide angle lens. It took two pics to get the coverage.

[Cathy]

Amazing what a colour pic can do too.

[Stanley]

Funnily enough, for information, I prefer B&W Cathy.



The sidings in 1892 before they were extended and before Gisburn Road CP school was built and Gisburn Road development started. Everything was going to change in 20 years.

[Stanley]

One of the things that has always fascinated me about our small towns is that their modern shape is totally dominated by very ancient routes and features.



Castle View is a case in point. For years I puzzled as to why Castle View had its name. John Clayton's work on the LIDAR data raised a possible explanation, the ground features strongly suggest a Roman fort across the way on the area bounded by Back Lane, Park Road, Park Avenue and Cobden Street. If this is true, the name Castle View must have deeper roots than the date of build of the houses on the site. This is a forgotten corner we might never solve!

[Stanley]

The junction of Park Avenue with Park Road. If you look at the first edition of the 6" OS map Park Avenue is marked as Blue Pot Lane and took a right angled turn left towards the centre of the town.



You can see it on the right of this map. I could never understand why and John's suggestion of the fort made sense of it because it was following the perimeter of it. Notice also on this map that there was a lane up to join the back lane behind Hill Top Farm and onwards to Letcliffe. I can remember the right of way being extinguished on this route and you have to go up Manchester Road now to access it.

[Stanley]

Looking at that map again.... (old maps are so interesting!) I note something I have puzzled about before, if you look at the space between Crowfoot Row and the Dog pub you'll see that there is marked 'ruin'. This survey was remarkably accurate even down to the outlines of existing buildings so we can trust the notation I think. Question is, what was it a ruin of? It must have been very early, I'd guess 17th century at least. What could it have been?
One thing I have noticed is that at the time of the first census in 1801 and many subsequent ones, the area was known as 'Hey' (at first I thought a lot of people were living at Hey Farm!) and was treated like a small hamlet. I suppose the most likely candidate for the ruin is old cottages.....