STEEPLEJACK'S CORNER 2012

[Stanley]

They're old telegraph poles Bodge and I assume the holes are where the cross bars were fixed. Strange how they are all in a line....



Building the fire, Era, Rochdale, 1979. Fred Dibnah felling.

[Steeplejerk]

The holes are drilled to speed up the burning of the props!!

[Stanley]

That makes sense.....



Era stack down. Tidy job.

[Stanley]

Fred Dibnah (striped jumper) ready to fire Moss chimney at Rochdale in 1979.

[Stanley]

Moss almost ready to fall. If you look carefully you'll see Fred and his mate hiding behind the container in the left foreground. They wanted a good view of the fall. They got it! See ensuing pics.

[Stanley]

Moss on its way down. Note the heroes behind the skip in the foreground!

[Stanley]

Moss hits the deck in 1979. Note the lads behind the skip, Fred in the striped jersey. At this point they were getting a bot worried! Bricks flew well opver the skip and they were very lucky. Fred said afterwards that the force of the bricks hitting the loaded skip moved it about two feet!

[Stanley]

Fred Dibnah after the Moss felling. 1979.

[Stanley]

Peter Tatham demolishing Sough Bridge Mill chimney near Earby in 1979.

[Stanley]

The chimney head at Newtown Mill, Burnley in 1987. In need of some TLC at the time!

[Stanley]

Brooke Edgeley laddering Newtown Mill chimney at Burnley for inspection.

[Stanley]

I notice that Bancroft is laddered. Is that you Tom?



Mons at Todmorden coming down piecemeal in 1986. Ronnie Goggins job.

[Stanley]

Mons chimney demolition. The old engine house had to go as well. They left part of the engine beds in place because it was supporting the mill. Mons was built on very bad ground and they had many problems with subsidence. Almost all the buildings in that area lean because of this.

[Stanley]

Is this the man who is on Bancroft at the moment?

[Stanley]

Young Tom is strangely quiet... I don't like it Jim!



Moss, Long Ing and Barnsey stacks in 1982. All gone now.

[Stanley]

Swabs chimney at Middleton under demolition in 1979. Reputed to be the tallest brick chimney in Europe. The demolition bankrupted a few firms before it was eventually completed.

[Stanley]

Don't know where I got this one. Brook Mill, Glodwick, Oldham in 1930.

[Stanley]

I've always said that the best way to find out how something was made is to take it to pieces. Look at this section of Jubilee chimney and note how the brickies clodded bricks in any old way when nobody was looking. Victorian craftsmanship?

[PanBiker]

I have often thought that we have loads of pictures of chimneys coming down or the aftermath of a felling, but I can't remember ever seeing one of a structure being built. Is it because in the main the end game is usually quite dramatic and not so with the construction?

[Stanley]

Possibly Ian but in my defence I also have lots of pics of building and maintenance work on chimneys!



Tom Philips and Peter Tatham working on a small and very high building site in 1986 when they were rebuilding the head on Ellenroad chimney.
Perhaps this partially answers the question. A shortage of eccentric snappers in the hey day of chimney building! What a good job I was nosey!

[David Whipp]

What a good job I was nosey!

... and had a head for heights?

[Stanley]

It was the only way I could get the pics. As Peter once told me, when you get to the stage that height doesn't frighten you, you should stop climbing!



Peter Tatham 340ft up at the top of Swabs in 1976 with Robert Aram following up behind. The story behind this is that Robert collected chimneys and had set Peter on to inspect it for him. Just before they went up Peter asked Robert if he had ever been on a ladder before. Robert said yes, he'd been on the roof of the family bungalow at Mablethorpe. Peter looked at him a bit offside and said well it's your funeral. Robert set off for the ladder but Peter stopped him saying that he'd go first, if Robert dropped off the ladder he didn't want to be knocked off! Give Robert his due, he went right to the top but said afterwards that the scariest moment for him was when Peter swung off to the side of the ladder at the top so that Robert could pass him to look at the head. Once Robert had done this Peter sent him down while he did some pictures off the top. While he was doing this the wind started to get up and Peter did a rapid retreat. I can still remember him coming down two rungs at a time and looking for all the world like one of those chimps on a child's toy that come down a ladder swinging from side to side. Impressive.....

[Stanley]

The age old problem at height.......

[Steeplejerk]

Dont fret Stanley ,iam never far away ,the Oldham stack must have had some rebuild/extension,the batter in the brickwork is totally different,almost veticle.

[Stanley]

Good lad Tom. Are you on Bancroft at the moment?