FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

One of the big gaps in my knowledge about the development of the Town Centre is that I have never been able to find a map dated around 1800. I got some clues when I was looking into land ownership in the Butts area and it appears that Wellhouse Farm (above) either owned or had control of much of the land down there. The block containing the old Commercial Hotel was open space in those days and designated as the Village Green, the Vestry sold it around 1850 to finance the culverting of Gillians Beck. So it's not actually forgotten by me but definitely undiscovered! There will be an estate map somewhere......

[Stanley]

Next time you are walking along Church Street take particular notice of the building styles and materials. The Garlic block next to the old St James' site is obviously Matt Hartley, he loved his pediments! (Compare that with the old Occasion building in Newtown.) Then notice the fine ashlar masonry in the three storey buildings on the opposite side of the road. I'm not sure who built them but the high standard of build reflects the general prosperity of Barlick between 1890 and 1914. Compare again with the 1850 build in the Commercial block.



Church Street in 1982

[plaques]

From my observations from walking round Barlick this side of Church St is totally bland with no distinctive features whatsoever. No date stones, builders initials, plaques, nothing other than that they are well built. The opposite side is full of interest, well worth the extra few minutes having a good look round.

[Stanley]

I agree P but that in itself tells a story, they are a different type of build altogether and also a storey higher.

[Stanley]

The two new banks and the replacement for St James' church at the end of Church Street have always struck me as being very unsympathetic. They join the Post Office corner and the fire station in my regrets list! Somehow the Accrington brick of the fire station is at odds with the rest of the town. The new bungalows at the end of Greenberfield Lane are Accrington brick as well.....

[Stanley]

The view across Barlick from the end of Avon Drive in 1979. Partially hidden by the tree is Eastwood Bridge, the access bridge that the canal company had to put in so that Eastwood farm had access to its land in Eastwood bottoms. Now gone of course. It's interesting to look at the skyline of Barlick and identify the chimneys, now all gone except for Crow nest and Bancroft. The biggest one is Wellhouse Mill.

[Stanley]

The bridge in 2002.

[Stanley]

New Coates Mill from the canal in 1984. All gone now of course.....

[Stanley]

The frontage of the mill in 1978. It was Carr's Printers then, another forgotten corner......

[Nolic]

My dad worked at Coates when it was Dobson's Dairy. He was weaver, good, clean and fast but hated the weaving shed. He tried weaving again at Johnson and Johnson's in Earby in the early '60's but before long he was back at Armoride. He was , until going blind, always in work. Nolic

[Stanley]

This pic was done in 1963 when I think Dobson's were still operating in Coates Mill.

[Stanley]

The Havre Park area in 1963. I never tire of looking at these old aerial views, you can learn so much. Wellhouse Shed is still entire, Henry Brown's foundry has been taken over by Gissing and Lonsdale I think but the land is used for caravan parking. Valley Road has not been completed through to Long Ing and the open grass area is still allotments. (click to enlarge)

[Stanley]

Wellhouse Mill in 1963.

[Stanley]

For many years the open ground to the NW of Wellhouse Mill was leased to the National Showmen's Association and was used as the venue for annual and occasional fairs in Barlick. I think the fairs continued until the 1970s.
The Calf Hall Shed Company owned Wellhouse and for many years after the war Rolls Royce occupied most of the mill. before WW2 Barrett's Steam Laundry operated in the old carpenter's shop which was originally a bobbin mill. This is the square building between Brown and Pickles shop and the engine house. They had their own borehole in the laundry. During WW2 Barrett's had moved out to their own premises in Chinatown and B&P took over the laundry for more machinery space for war production. At the time the picture was done, in 1963, there was still one small weaving shed operating in the east side of the shed, Bemdems (B&M Holden) who had 98 looms operated by electric motors after the engine was stopped in 1965, two years after this image.



Tom Marshall the old tenter and Ernest his son who took over after him. Stopping the engine for the last time in 1965.

[Stanley]

We walk past the old water engineering remains that were the foundation of water-powered industry in the town every day and I suppose it is only peculiar old gits like me who look and remember. This is the weir in Butts Beck behind the old Model Lodging House which is now Briggs and Duxbury's Model Joinery Works (yes, that's how it got its name). It gave the head of water necessary to drive both the waterwheel and later the turbine at the Corn Mill. If Billycock Bracewell had had his way it would also have been a water source for the dams at Wellhouse Mill. He put the necessary 6" cast iron pipe in from the mill to Wellhouse but for some reason never used it. Later when the Calf Hall Company took over Wellhouse they investigated the possibility of using it but in the end relied on the Bowker Drain and a borehole they put in at the mill.

[Stanley]

Click to enlarge. Some weirs and mills are harder to find than others. If you look carefully you'll see 'Old Mill' marked in the fields to the East of Yarlside Farm. You can follow the mill race back to the east of Bracewell village where you'll find 'weir' marked on Stock Beck. If you go out on the ground you can find them both but they don't leap out at you. Tip, if you go to find the mill look for a flat stone peeping through the grass, lift the sod carefully and you'll find an intact millstone. You can also see the stone setts that paved the ford if you look in the beck from the bridge on the path to Stock.

[LizG]

Just been looking at your photos of Coates Mill Stanley, it brought back memories. I think from about 1960 to 1967 it was Yorkshire Plush. They were after Dobson's Dairy. My Dad owned it with Fred Bovan. Not 100% sure about the 1960 but I'm pretty sure we left there in 1967.

[Wendyf]

Stanley what do you think might have been the purpose of this weir marked on the first edition OS map? It was on a bend of Earby Beck downstream from the known mill site at the Youth Hostel. There is a track leading to it from Glen Farm (Once known as Old Earby).

[Stanley]

Can't be certain Wendy. I don't know of any water power site it could have served and there is no indication of a mill race. The most likely reason for it could be as a means of regulating the flow on the back during times of low water. Suppose it was part of the water management for Big Mill where the water was used form the beck for cooling the condenser on the engine. They could shut the clow at night and use the gathered water the following day to augment the natural flow in the beck so they had enough depth for their intake. The same system was used by Bracewell in Barlick to regulate the flow on the beck at Springs Farm to aid economy at Butts Mill and it's noticeable that the Bracewells in Earby ran their business on much the same lines as Billycock. That's the only thing I can think of that fits.



Springs Dam.

[Stanley]

If you have a look at the minutes of the Calf Hall Company on the site you'll find that a lot of care and effort was put into maintaining the Springs Dam even though there were frequent complaints from farms lower down that used the beck. The most common was dirty water coming down when they cleaned the dam out. They wouldn't have put so much effort into it if it hadn't been useful. The same could apply to your weir Wendy, not obviously important now but a valuable resource when it was in use.



They even diverted the overflow from the Dark Hill Well into the Springs Dam.

[plaques]

what do you think might have been the purpose of this weir marked on the first edition OS map?

Weirs were sometimes used to add oxygen to the water. This would prevent it becoming stagnant and taking the life out of the stream. What they were doing at the Mill may give a clue.

[Stanley]

Quite true P but the Earby Beck at that point has just travelled down a rocky bed with drop-offs referred to locally as 'the waterfalls' Not too sure about the oxygen theory.
If you go back and look at the map showing the Bracewell Mill weir you'll see that the headrace has a long and convoluted course because there is so little fall on the Stock Beck. The race still partially exists at the bottom of Hall Lane but if you study it carefully you'll find that its flow has been reversed after drainage measures taken in the field next door. This is an indication of how little fall there was but it must have been enough because the mill worked successfully for many years.
If you go to the mill site you can still see the site of the lodge and the wheelpit and traces of the tail race back into the beck. Have a very careful look at the short stretch of wall from the site down to the beck. It looks to me as though many of the stones have been subjected to extreme heat and I suspect that the wall may have been built from rubble from a mill that was destroyed by fire.

Here's a different forgotten corner....

[Big Kev]

I have an old CIU membership card somewhere .

[Big Kev]

A question for Stanley, do you have any record of where Fallons Family butchers was in Barlick? A picture has been posted over on Gus' s Facebook page posing the question.

[Stanley]

I've had a look Kev. No entry for Fallon either as the name or under butchers and licensed slaughterers. So I've never come cross him in over forty years of research....



Mention of butchers reminded me that the site of the block that included the Occasion in Newtown was originally the barn associated with Wellhouse Farm on Church Street. It was used as a slaughter house for many years. See the Billy Brooks transcripts in the LTP. The Wraw Brothers ran it around 1900 and I have an idea they slaughtered for the Co-op as well as their own shop and other butchers.