FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Definitely a forgotten corner David.
That looks tidy Wendy. Hammerite is such good paint for cast iron outside.... Lasts for many years.....

[Stanley]

In 1979 I bought this back to back house in King Street for my mother for £2,000 and here it's getting a tidy-up and a coat of stone paint. She loved living there close to the town centre and the pensioners on Frank Street. £2,000? That's a forgotten corner these days......

[Stanley]

An old postcard of Horton Hall.

[Stanley]

This map of Newsholme on the Gisburn to Long Preston road in 1892 shows that it had a railway station and a goods yard. Fred Norcross who farmed there all his life (Living in the farm immediately to the East of the railway bridge) told me that in summer after a day's haymaking they used to get on the train to Blackpool, have a dance and a pint in the Tower Ballroom and catch the train back, home before midnight. They also had two bus services running through the village. Today you either walk or go by car if you live in Newsholme and want to go anywhere.
Is what we have to report progress?

[Stanley]

In 1982 we still had gasholders in Barlick. A forgotten corner now....

[Tripps]

I remember a couple of them from childhood - but always knew them as 'gasometers'.

Often wondered why - as 'meters' implies measuring something.

In fact I still wonder why.

[PanBiker]

I remember a couple of them from childhood - but always knew them as 'gasometers'.

Same here. One has already gone in that photo, there used to be two, or were there three? Was there one or two in the gasworks yard plus the one at the other side of the beck?

[Stanley]

There were two and they are both there in the image.



One in the Corn Mill Yard and one over the beck. This was in 1982.

[PanBiker]

I wonder why they put one at the other side of the beck behind the bakery and laundry rather than two in the gasworks yard, surely that would have been simpler, plenty of room. Safety issue or a pipework solution?

[Stanley]

When Bracewell built the original gasworks which was mainly to serve Wellhouse Mill and only later became a public supplier the first Gasholder was in the Yard set aside for the gasworks which contained all the other buildings, retorts etc. When more storage was needed the only land available was across the beck behind the Co-op slaughter house. So the order of build was the one nearest Skipton Road first and the second, across the beck.

[PanBiker]

Excellent Stanley, thanks for that, always wondered.

[Stanley]

There was a time when 'having a vacuum round' was a serious matter involving heavy machinery!

[Stanley]

I saw this demolition in Crawshawbooth in 1979 and did this picture. It's a good example of how much can be revealed as old buildings are reduced. For instance, this wall was not always an internal wall, at one time it was the gable end. The windows are still there. It looks to be a different build than the rest of the row so another set of forgotten features will be revealed when the good wall is reached. As I have said so often, stones can speak if we take the trouble to observe and listen!

[Stanley]

This overgrown part of Gill Churchyard is most likely to be the location of the Black Death graves of 1348/9 as it is at the bottom end, furthest away from the church. If so it is truly a forgotten corner.....

[PanBiker]

There are two First World War lads commemorated on stones down there. I set crosses for them on the banking above each year.

A.W. Robinson and

James Hudson who is buried at Etaples.

[Stanley]

This is the extension to Bailleul Communal Cemetery in the mid 1920s. Bailleul is a village near Ypres and it was where my Granddad was buried. This was before everything was tidied up by the Imperial War Graves Commission and one wonders what happened to the ornate monuments some families had erected. You can see them in the distance.
Under IWGC management, everybody's grave was equal to everyone else's of course.
A forgotten Corner now, Bailleul is the same as all the others.

[Stanley]

Blasting the foundations for a skyscraper in 1980 in the Manhattan Schist, a strata of hard rock that is the reason why tall buildings are so successful in New York. The explosion is under the mat of heavy chain link which contains the blast and prevents any debris being thrown out. That's why it has a hump in it.

[Stanley]

A very ordinary street scene in 1983. We still had the Midland Bank, Preston and Ashworth's furniture shop, the Lighting Shop and the Occasion. All gone now. A lot of change but then it is forty years ago......

[Stanley]

We would do well not to allow this to become a forgotten corner......

[Stanley]

The state of affairs before Universal suffrage. Lest we forget!

[Tripps]

AS you get older (and older !) memories play an increasingly important part in your life.

Compare and contrast - this was school speech day 1956 ish - 5th row right hand block, aisle seat.

speechnight004.jpg

This is the same school today - the difference is almost unbelievable

Class of 2023

[Stanley]

You had very tidy ears David....



Green End Shed in Earby. Bracewell's first steam mill in the town.

[Stanley]

A view from Avon Drive in 1979. What is interesting is the fact that if you look to the right you can see that Eastwood Bridge is still in place over the canal. Shortly afterwards it was demolished.

[Stanley]

The bowling green at the Station Hotel Earby around 1900. There was a time when pubs were more than just a watering hole, they were closer to a social club. I'm afraid those days have gone now.

[Stanley]

The three buttresses on the end of the Cross Keys pub betray the fact that at one time there was a cottage and a shop on the end but they were demolished, I think in the mid-1950s, to allow the road to be widened. It has never been clear to me but I think that associated with these buildings in some way was a lock-up used by the local Constabulary.