FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Today's forgotten corner is slightly different. There was a time in the late 19th century when Barlick had no banks. The nearest one was the Craven Bank in Skipton and in those days private banks issued their own notes, this is a Craven Bank £20 note and whist not strictly legal tender was trusted and accepted as sound currency. The ironic thing is that we are fast approaching the same situation in the town as high street banking becomes a rarity. Is this progress?

[plaques]

Never seen one of these before but the cow shown on the note is a copy of the enormous Craven Heifer cow that gives it name to the Craven Heifer Kelbrook. Craven Heifer. . Everybody knows that!

[PanBiker]

Interesting to note that it states that you can only cash it after 21 days. In that respect it is more like a fixed amount cheque. Same as the banks now it gives them playtime with your money.

[Stanley]

That was the origin of paper money Ian, a promissory note issued by a trusted person or institution. Personal ones were often used as currency as well as those from the banks. They all depended on trust and the financial stability of the issuing authority. The big con now of course is that the BofE can legally print more notes even though they haven't the funds to redeem them all if they were presented. That's why long ago the promise on a bank note to repay in gold was done away with.
P. It fell into my hands as a bookmark in an old engineering book I bought, my lucky day!

[Stanley]

The Midland Bank in Newtown in 1982 when it was still functioning. You have only got to look at the standard of design and build to see that when it was built, banks were the mainstay of the community. Everything inside was the same high standard, the woodwork was magnificent. Salutary to realise that now it is a betting shop, that's a very apt comment on the way things have changed.....

[Stanley]

One of the biggest changes in the last 50 years has been the decline of the old pub culture under the onslaught of cheap supermarket booze and rapacious pub chain landlords. Think Foster's Arms, Seven Stars, the Railway and The Commercial. I realise change is inevitable but I can't help thinking that on the whole we have lost much that was important in the way the community worked.

[PanBiker]

The Commercial is still there Stanley but now the Fountain, (much better than The Barlick). It is one of the more successful pubs in the town along with the Greyhound. Jury is still out on the Keys, it's under a new chain, not been in but if the outside is anything to go by with it's garden centre frontage... Sally was in to play darts in the league this week and she says they have spent a fortune but not touched the toilets.

Not a pub but Green Street Club goes from strength to strength after it's refurbishment from sale of half the of the building to Bosom Friends. We are not far away from opening our new centre there. Kitchen is in, carpets down and furniture is being delivered on Monday, few more jobs to do but nearly there on the first phase.

[Big Kev]

They do a nice bit o' lunch in the Fountain, highly recommended. They'll do a naked burger (no bun or chips and extra salad) for us low carb diners if you ask nicely.

[Stanley]

Gisburn used to be well pubbed. I suppose that was down to all the travellers on the road and the auction mart. West Marton used to have a pub but it was closed during the big temperance movement early in the 20th century, I think by Amos Nelson. He closed the pub in Thornton in Craven as well. Bracewell had a pub, not sure who closed that one.

[Stanley]

One change which has been accelerated this summer by the good growing conditions is the general increase in the number and size of trees in the town.



In 1920 this photograph was taken of the band stand at Letcliffe Park.



90 Years later in 2010 I did the same pic and the difference is striking. You can take almost any old image of the town, repeat it and get the same result. Our climate is just right for trees and it gives weight to the descriptions of Barlick in the 14th century when it was the best source of large timber for at least 30 miles round. Over the years the resource was exploited and we were largely de-forested. Over the last 100 years the position has been reversed and we are once more a heavily wooded area.



It's not long since the old sidings were treeless. Look at it this year!

[Stanley]

I still puzzle about the references in the Bolton Priory Compotus to the Barnoldswick Wood. 600 years ago I know but at that time we were a centre for big timbers exporting them as far as Clitheroe and Bolton Abbey.

[Stanley]

I think that this gathering on Jepp Hill was a halt for the Whit Walks procession to have a service and a good sing. The thing that always strikes me is that gatherings like this have long gone for a variety of reasons. It's a very powerful example of how society has changed in the last hundred years. A Forgotten Corner.

[Bodger]

Hepworth Feast Yorkshire
I first walked in this 75 yrs. ago, bringing tears to my eyes watching this, great memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsUbayacwH0

[Tripps]

Me too Bodge - and I'd never heard of Hepworth - I thought it was a firm of gents outfitters.

[PanBiker]

Smashing.

[Stanley]

It was good for the local traders as well because the tradition was to have something new to wear for the Walk. The Northern equivalent of the Easter Bonnet. I remember the Whit walks in Stockport were enormous.

[Stanley]

It struck me yesterday that our local Big Issue seller, a young lady who used to stand in Town Square a couple of times a week is absent off parade. I always had a soft spot for her and the Salvation Army collector but haven't seen either of them for a while....



I've always liked this image, the kids playing in the beck and the tin tabernacle that served as a church until the 'proper' one was built. But what struck me today is the butcher's cart delivering meat orders. I suppose the modern equivalent is the supermarket delivery vans which get more and more common. On the whole I prefer the old horse and cart!
By the way... if you keep your eyes open as you go into Skipton on Broughton Road, just past the old Ribble garage you can see a corrugated iron hut on the left hand side. It's made from parts of the Earby church when it eventually became redundant.

[Stanley]

Seeing reports of Stephanie Carter's new book about Earby holidays reminded me of this image of Barlick Station as the town decamped en mass for the seaside during Wakes Week. If you read the transcripts of life in the early 20th century in the LTP you'll realise just how important it was. Informants told me that if anyone was too poor to go away they tended to keep to the house as it was regarded as a stigma to be at home. The C-op 'Divi' was drawn the week before and almost every mill had an unofficial holiday scheme run by the office whereby a little was taken from your wage each week to save for the annual Feast. Sidney Nutter ran the Bancroft scheme and I once asked him about the interest on the money. He was a bit cagey about it but finally admitted that the interest was compensation for whoever ran the scheme as they didn't pay it to the workers but pocketed it at the end of each year's scheme.

[Stanley]

I am reminded of a possibly apocryphal story (but none the less containing a believable element of truth) about a Board of Trade delegation that was sent North to Bolton in the late 1950s to enquire into just how dire the plight of the northern towns as as the textile trade collapsed. They arrived at the station to find the town was deserted, shops closed and hardly anyone about. Thoroughly alarmed they hastened to their first meeting and raised the matter. It was pointed out to them that it was the annual Wakes holiday and the lack of activity was perfectly normal. They had no concept of a town shutting down completely for a fortnight!
If you read the transcripts in the LTP about annual holidays you'll find evidence of the practice known as 'bed and cruet'. This was when a family booked at a boarding house but took their own food and all they needed was the use of a table and brewing facilities. Can you imagine that today?

[Nolic]

I have been asked by a friend if I know anything about The Rainbow in Barlick that was a dance hall. I'm sorry I have no more information. Any help much appreciated. Nolic

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 247&type=3

[Stanley]

Sorry Comrade, nothing in the index. I think the problem is that Rainbow is the name of the band and not the hall. There was a dance hall at the Liberal Club, the Conservative Club, the Majestic and the Cooperative building in Cooperative Street. At Bracewell there was of course the Country Club at Bracewell Hall. My money would perhaps be on Bracewell because I know they booked a different band almost every week from Arthur Entwistle's evidence in the LTP.

[Nolic]

Thanks Comrade. I will pass this on. Nolic

[Stanley]

[Wendyf]

It does say that for a good night out you should visit the Rainbow, which sounds as if it was a place.

I just checked the newspapers and it was the Queens Hall, Barlick. There are adverts dating from 1947.

[Wendyf]

From the Barlick & Earby Times, May 9th 1947