FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Nolic]

Many thanks Wendy. You're a star. Nolic

[Stanley]

Lovely! Many hands make light work! Just to clarify, the Queen's Hall was at the Con Club, The Albert Hall was under the Liberal Club and the Cooperative Hall was in the old Central building in Cooperative Street, later called the Mayfair School of dancing after being Billy Grace's Squash Club in 1978.

[Stanley]

The whole of the left hand side of Cooperative Street was the Central building of the Coop before the advent of the railway around 1860. The station effectively cut off this side from the main body of the town and this was what led to the 'new' Central Cooperative building on Albert Road. The far end was a later addition, the Cooperative Hall, and this was the part that had the bakery downstairs and what became the Mayfair School of dancing on the top floor. It has since been converted to flats and the whole building is privately owned and occupied. The original line of the railway is still the dividing line between the commercial heart of the town and purely residential property.

[Stanley]

One characteristic of Barlick has always been the survival of family businesses in the town. Even now, we are remarkably free from the big chains whose names have taken over many High Streets. However, just lately I seem to be seeing more instability in the retail promises in the town. Is this a mistaken impression? Not helped of course by the empty Yorkshire bank. What happens if Barclay's closes as well?

[Stanley]

For many years one of the mainstays of the engineering services associated with the textile industry was a viable foundry in the town.



In the early 19th century and as late as the 1930s Ouzledale mill served us well.



Later it was superseded by Henry Brown's new foundry at Havre Park but when they failed in the 1920s it reverted to Ouzledale under the Ashby family.



Clifford Turner tapping the cupola furnace at Long Ing after Ouzledale Foundry relocated there.
As the textile trade failed the foundry found a new market in the Firemaster open grate fire and later by association with Esse stoves. I don't know anything about their operations now, only that they have survived competition from the Far East which has closed most of the industry down and they are still in business. This is something of a miracle and I think qualifies as a forgotten corner.

See THIS for more information about Esse.

[Stanley]

I never tire of looking at these old pics. I think this is 1920s or 30s. You can spend a long time interrogating an image like this. One big forgotten corner!

[Stanley]

A quiet part of the canal tow path at Coates Bridge but a century ago this was a very busy place. It's Coates Wharf and thousands of tons of coal was moved out of the 40 ton capacity canal boats into the yard below and from there carted in 2 ton horse cart loads to the mills. You can still see the base stone of the crane that stood here. Leaving aside employment in the actual mills, how many people had jobs simply shifting the coal to run them and caring for the horses and carts? They were not on the best wages but could support their families and enjoy the dignity of being independent. This is perhaps one of the biggest Forgotten Corners in our world today, the death of these lower echelon jobs that kept our society going. There were other wharves as well, Salterforth and the two main stone wharves at New Road bridge and further west beyond the Anchor. A hive of industry.

[Stanley]

One of my favourite pics and it illustrates two major industries in Barlick. We often forget that there were at least two boatyards at Salterforth building these L&L short boats. Hey Farm was a wheelwright's shop and Ouzledale was a sawmill before it became a foundry. I've often commented on John le Tourneur mentioned in the Bolton Priory accounts in the 15th century in Barlick. The wood based industry was very strong and long lived......



The 1892 OS map showing Ouzledale.

[Stanley]

The Corn Mill dam in 1892 as extended by Billycock around 1850 when he bought the mill. The dam isn't my forgotten corner but what happened to it. It was filled in and became a garage site. In the 1950s many old hen huts were converted to garages and sited on odd spare pieces of land. This practice seems to be dying out, people prefer to have their cars outside their front doors! That being the case I wonder how long it will be until the site is cleared and built on. The school canteen was built on one part of it and now this is scheduled for closure one wonders if the land will become more attractive. I was once told that in the process of installing one of the garages a shallow gas pipe was uncovered and a connection made into it which fired a gas heater in the garage in winter for many years. I wonder if this is true...... The more common form of heating was a small paraffin brooder heater under the sump. I think that practice has died out with more reliable cold starting due to better car batteries.

[Stanley]

Thank God for old postcards.... I'm sure Tiz will agree when I say that they are our best graphical source of evidence. Not only for the subject but other matters as well



This old pic of the brow in Elslack leading up from the ford towards Pinhaw Moor is informative in itself but note the 'ghost' figure of the man stood outside the cottage. This tells us that it was a slow film (or plate) and a long exposure. He has gone back indoors shortly after the shutter was opened. This almost certainly means that the date is circa 1900.



Here's another informative image of Tubber Hill. We can date it to the 1920s I think because of the telegraph poles. If you give it further thought you might come to the same conclusion that I have made. A lot of these images are done on a Sunday. Note the number of people out for a stroll, this wouldn't happen in the working week. Other information in the pic is the huts at the end of the lane to Moor Bottoms, the HQ of the 'Firewood King'. Even more significant for me is the absence of trees. If you do the same picture now it is far more wooded.



This is the same location in the 1950s. Notice the trees. This shows in all such comparisons. So look after your old postcards and share them!

[Stanley]

Albert Hoggarth, engineer at Butts Mill with the big Musgrave engine in about 1900. We have talked elsewhere about the status of workers in the old system and shouldn't forget that there was an hierarchy and a 'working class aristocracy'. This was never more true than this case. Albert was master of all he surveyed, had shares in the mill and was a law unto himself. You've only got to look at him to realise that this is a confident and secure man. I've been told that the mill engineers had what was almost an informal association and met in the Commercial pub one evening a week for a bout of mutual congratulation and education as they shared news of the latest coal quality, which oil supplier was giving the best backhanders and what the latest concession were they had wrung out of the management who treated them with kid gloves as the operation of the mill was entirely dependent on them.
To a lesser extent this was still true in the 1970s when I was at Bancroft Shed. The management hardly ever interfered with us beyond paying the occasional visit. I was in an even stronger position in some ways as I was the only bloke in Barlick, apart from my mate Newton, who knew how to run the plant. I always said it was the best job in the world! They were happy secure days.

[Stanley]

I remember one day the managing director popped in the house just as I was in the middle of indicating the engine. He was amazed and hadn't a clue what I was doing. It struck me that he thought that all I did was oil bearings and polish bits with a lump of cotton waste. A forgotten corner....

[Stanley]

Rolls Royce entrance in 1963. The elevated pill box for defence is an indication of the ethos in the 1940s reminds us that they have been in the town for 75 years this year, longer than the hey day of the cotton mills lasted. Every morning, weekend included, there is a procession of cars around 6AM heading for the factory at Bankfield. What would happen if we ever lost them? Doesn't bear thinking about.

[Stanley]

I've been told that this is the old Baptist Chapel at Salterforth. For a long time I confused this with the Baptist Chapel in Walmsgate because the layout is so similar. I think I have it right now, can anyone confirm this?

[PanBiker]

It doesn't look like either of them to me Stanley, windows are wrong for Walmsgate and the orientation is wrong for Salterforth. I'm fairly sure that there are no graves at Salterforth either. It does look familiar though and I can see why it was mistaken for Walmsgate.

[Wendyf]

It is the original Salterforth Inghamite Chapel. See it's history here...

http://www.earbyhistory.co.uk/#/iinghamite/4583695426

[PanBiker]

I knew I had seen it somewhere else.

[plaques]

Inghamite Church Rebuilt 1932. Sorry to be pedantic but its there in stone.

P3270194AC.jpg

[PanBiker]

The original one that the photo depicts is on a different site to the present building. Adjacent to Gateland Lane which runs down the side of the school to Earby Road. It's actually hidden from view unless you go up or down the lane.

[Stanley]

Thanks, do you know I knew that it was the Inghamite chapel, it must have been a senior moment. P, if you read Harold Duxbury in the LTP he tells the story of the building as it was the first time he had acted as Clerk of Works on a build.

[Wendyf]

The original one that the photo depicts is on a different site to the present building. Adjacent to Gateland Lane which runs down the side of the school to Earby Road. It's actually hidden from view unless you go up or down the lane.

The original one was pulled down and the new one built on the same site Ian.
Plaques, the last service in the old chapel was in April 1932 so perhaps the first service in the new one didn't happen till 1933? I'll check on that date.

[Sue]

Is. 11 The Butts still there. It was a Widdup family home at one point, its on a couple of censuses

[plaques]

Adjacent to Gateland Lane which runs down the side of the school to Earby Road. It's actually hidden from view unless you go up or down the lane.

With respect to the image I posted PanBiker is correct in saying the date stone is only visible from the Gateland Lane. What we would consider to be the back of the building. The memorial foundation stones are on the front of the building.

[Wendyf]

Sorry, I misread Ian's post.

[Wendyf]

The new build was begun in June 1932 and completed in April 1933 Plaques.