THE FLATLEY DRYER

[MickBrett]

Similar image.

[PanBiker]

Post Office Buildings wasn't built until the late 50's Mick. I think the date on the block was 1958 or 59 from memory. It was wooden advertising hoardings on the site before that.

[MickBrett]

Thanks Ian. I've edited the post. (pun not intended)

[PanBiker]

Just been round to the Co Op and took advantage whilst in the parish so to speak Mick. 1958 it is.

[Stanley]

In 1983 Nutters had the two end shops on the row in Albert Road. Before that my memory is that it was the Post Office and a barber's shop. Was it Sneath's?

[PanBiker]

Yes it was Sneaths.

[Stanley]

This was a hole dug in Church Street in 2016 to effect a repair to a sewer that runs deep under there just opposite Butts Top. In the mid 19th century this never happened because there were no underground services apart from a few culverts associated with water courses in the town. Then came mains water, followed by a water carriage sewage system and then gas and electricity services last of all in the 1920's. From then on, streets free of excavations were Flatley Dryer country. Whenever you see one have a look in the hole, it's an archaeological dig into the town history!

[Stanley]

When gas for cooking and heating (As opposed to lighting which came first.), this was your typical gas cooker. Made entirely of cast iron and blackleaded by the housewife they were a massive improvement on cooking on an open fire which was what happened before. Especially in summer when fires for heating weren't necessary.
As time went on sheet metal replaced cast iron and porcelain enamel meant no blacklead and easy clean surfaces. The old cast iron cooker receded into Flatley Dryer country.......

[Stanley]

I like this image. It reminds me of a time when, despite what the modern person would think about the poor accommodation, this old bloke was one of the lucky ones, he had a house and a fire to sit in front of! Today we need bright decorations, sofas and entertainment from the gogglebox. Then you sat with your thoughts or for real excitement read a book! This is Flatley Dryer country now, people are not so easily satisfied.
The thought occurs to me that we live in a country where increasing numbers of people and families would give their eye teeth for the level of comfort and shelter this old bloke has. It may be that for some it is not Flatley Dryer but an impossible dream.

[Tizer]

My grandma's cottage was like that. I'd have been in my pram, my dad working at Philips and my mum in the spinning shed.

[Stanley]

You're showing your age like me Peter!



When we moved into Napier Road at Stockport we had a range like this in the kitchen but plainer and with no ornaments. I remember being very impressed because the ashes dropped straight down into the cellar and you emptied them from there. Victorian labour-saving device! Flatley dryer country now.....

[MickBrett]

They don't make them like they used to. Same goes for the machinery

[Stanley]

Those trousers are Flatley Dryer country as well. Ex police issue, built like a battleship and they had a truncheon pocket that was very handy for a two foot folding rule or a spanner.....

[Tizer]

This scene might still be seen in places like India but this is the docks in Hayle, Cornwall in the old days...

[Stanley]

Elfin Safety would have an opinion today!



Charlie Sutton cleaning the bypass flue in the economisers at Bancroft 50 years ago. I can't see Elfin Safety allowing anything as simple as this today but the same job still needs doing.

[Stanley]

There was a time when pointless physical effort was part of prison sentencing. Thank God it is no longer used in UK gaols.

[Tizer]

Cornish tin streaming is now in the Flatley Dryer category. These two articles by a Cornish man about the Gwithian tin streaming works on the Red River near Godrevy are entertaining as well as informative - they include some lovely local history (and when you read the bit about the lighthouse keeper keep in mind that he is on an island, not on the mainland!) Gwithian Part One Gwithian Part Two

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Pit head at Merrill's Farm drift mine at Cliviger in 1983. Flatley Dryer country now but still plenty of coal on the skirts of the Burnley coal field.

[Stanley]

The Arley Four Foot seam at Merrill's farm Cliviger in 1983. This was reckoned to be the finest house coal in the area and at one time the royal palaces were reputed to burn nothing else. Definitely Flatley Dryer country!
(Something to note about the pics done in the Cliviger Mine is that they were all available light, no flash allowed because it was a gassy seam. The only light was a head torch....)

[Stanley]

Miners at the drift mine at Merrill's Farm going on shift in 1983. The rest of the Burnley coal field had shut down by then and these were the last coal miners in the district.

[plaques]

Remember the days of the Charles Atlas adverts. Chest expanders, bodybuilding supplements. not to mention getting sand kicked in your face. In those days you went to the gym to put weight on. Nowadays you go to take it off.

Charles Atlas..jpg

[Stanley]

Evolution of the activity over the last 100 years..... Include me out!
And as a sub-plot. Whatever happened to the flood of Tenalady adverts we used to have to endure? Are they now Flatley Dryer country?

[Tizer]

I wonder how many of them eventually suffered psychosis from the effects of binging on steroids?

[Stanley]

Or dry rot due to too much tanning!