FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[plaques]

Whatever happened to the Brown & Pickles home made crane that sat at the entrance to the mill? I never saw it in action but had been told it was very efficient for big loads.

[Stanley]

Sorry Ken, I know nothing about it. Never heard Newton mention it but it would make sense, they had some big lumps to handle at times.



It would doubtless be scrapped in 1981 when the Wellhouse shop was emptied and demolished. A lot of history was scrapped then.

[Stanley]

Once upon a time (This was in 1895) machinery was so simple that one clear image told you all you needed to know about an artefact. Today we are far more complicated and not much more efficient in matter like this, pumping water at high pressure. Simplicity and clarity might be forgotten corners.

[Stanley]

The Browett and Lindley pilot engine at Ellenroad in 1985. In the days before mains electricity if you wanted electric light you made your own. At Ellenroad this engine drove a dynamo that made DC electricity which was used to power the pilot lights in the mill first thing in the morning before the main engine started. (The main engine drove a large alternator that made AC electricity for the mill during the day.)
Such provision is now a forgotten corner.

[Stanley]

A 'dancing bear' in Spring Lane at Colne. Not sure of the date but thank God we don't see such sights on the street these days.

[Stanley]

Re the dancing bear..... One of the surprises I got when doing the interviews for the LTP was the number of references I got to dancing bears on the streets. I had never heard of them but evidently they were quite common in the late 19th century and for quite a long time in the 20th.



One old custom that has long gone is rush-bearing. I've never found any mention of it in Barlick. This is in Rochdale. I think it qualifies as a forgotten corner.

[Gloria]

I don’t know if this is in the right place, but it’s a very interesting and sad piece of Burnley history.

[Cathy]

Very dark and sad all round Gloria.

[Stanley]

It's certainly a forgotten corner!



Workshop in York Street in 1982. The thing that makes this a forgotten corner for me is the terrible degradation of the brickwork. Almost certainly a sign that they came from the brickworks on Salterforth Drag associated with the top quarry. Harold Duxbury once told me that the reason why they failed was because the bricks were only suitable for interior use, they couldn't stand frost.

[Gloria]

Worth a watch for the aspects of Burnley which it shows.

[Stanley]

Gloria, you missed the link!



I'm not sure why this horse was tied to the railings in Bancroft yard in 1978 but it's a good picture of the yard. Note how the setts have settled unevenly in the 60 years they have been in use. The drains below were similarly uneven and it was a constant fight to keep them running. One of the less glamorous parts of the job of mill engineer!

[Gloria]

Stanley, I was commenting on the link I had added earlier, about the 3yo boy who had been murdered, it gives some really good footage and history of Burnley in the early 1900s.

[Stanley]

Ah yes Gloria, I looked at that.



I can't remember the context for this image. The title of the file is 'Duckworth Shop'. I love the small stones the road is paved with. One thing is certain, it's a forgotten corner!

[Wendyf]

That's a very familiar photograph and I believe the shop was at the top of School Lane in Laneshawbridge. The people standing are possibly members of the Colne Duckworth family, who were originally from Rimington.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Wendy....



Today's forgotten corner is this Molesworth pocket reference book. We are used to having instant reference to t'internetwebthingy but in the days of Empire Molesworth was the answer for the engineers who built the infrastructure of a colony. There were different specialised versions but this one is the civil engineering version. It contains all the basic information you need for constructing telegraph lines, railways, irrigation systems, in short everything you could possible need to direct a workforce.
(If you fancy owning a copy have a look at THIS)

[Stanley]

The bottom of Jepp hill in 1982. It had changed before then with the demolition of the cottage properties where the car park is here but since then has changed again as the building behind Taylforth's has gone.
Incidentally the corbels on that building were for a rainwater tank, quite common

[Stanley]

If you have a flag cut like this in your back yard you are looking at the site of a long drop tippler toilet. The connection to the sewer will still be there under the stone but those old toilets are now a forgotten corner.

[Cathy]

If we could see the layer upon layer of things that are under the ground that we walk on, we would be very wary where we walk.

[Stanley]

And learn so much more about the past Cathy. That's the direction archaeology is going with the latest ground investigation tools which are more and more sensitive.

[Tripps]

It's late - again. . . .

I thought this was a forgotten corner, but as they say "what goes around comes around" I've been listening to this sort of music for longer than is proper - but it still does it for me. Please yourselves as Mr Howard used to say . . . .

Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder -

[Stanley]

Chacun a son gout as they say David. I was never exposed to that sort of music so I can't say it's a forgotten corner, more like unexplored country...... Here's something that's been going through my head for a few days now.... Illustrates perfectly the different strokes concept.

[PanBiker]

I thought this was a forgotten corner, but as they say "what goes around comes around" I've been listening to this sort of music for longer than is proper - but it still does it for me.

Me also David so you are not on your own. My tastes go from early 20th century blues and everything in between, New Orleans Jazz, 40's swing bands, 50's Doo Wop, R&R and into the 60's.

One of my favourites from Sonny and Brownie:

[Tripps]

I think we have 'spooky' again. Yesterday I was reading a site where the day's article was entitled 'Pale Hands'. I saw the title many times and each time kept getting the word Shalimar, and a vague recollection that it was a song. Little did I know that a kind soul would be guiding me to the very track the next day.

If that's not spooky. . . .

It's a bit 'stiff collar' for me, but my taste is wide- currently I can't get enough Mongolian throat music. It'll pass.

Wolf Totem

[Stanley]

We are few but diverse....... (Glad I solved your puzzle....)

[Stanley]

This image from William Pickles book, 'Our Grimy Heritage' is of a farm chimney. Once very common on large farms where the barn machinery was extensive and driven by a steam engine. Today that is a forgotten corner.