FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

The 'waterfall' at Forty Steps would be seen by many as a forgotten corner but what is really forgotten is the culvert beneath the path on which the photographer stands. The path is actually a Bronze age track, part of a route from Ireland to the Baltic states and such a deep gulley as this would have had a primitive bridge or culvert from very early times, pack animals had to cross here. So, deep beneath the present day path must be the remains of one of the oldest continuously used bridges in the UK. Well over 2,000 years old. Now that is a proper forgotten corner!

[Stanley]

The whole of Ouzledale Clough is a forgotten corner. There was a proposal to make it a water park a few years ago but it never came to pass. What could force action is any failure in the culvert under Walmsgate. That would get the attention of the council! Last time it was blocked was in 1932 and we still talk about it.



Fred Procter's furniture shop in Walmsgate the morning after the July 1932 flood.

[Stanley]

Ouzledale pre 1936. Sorry about the quality but well worth interrogating!

[Stanley]

Victory Park 20 years ago. I did the pic at the time to show the vandalised sapling but wonder how many people realise that the original use for much of the land that comprises the park was a landfill site for many years.

[Stanley]

The canal at Long Ing before Moss and Barnsey sheds were built so about 1900. Long Ing shed chimney and New Coates shed dominate. The little cut to Rainhall Rock is still operating and Barnsey cottages are still on the road side.

[Tripps]

Not sure where to put this. Worth a look I'd say. I think Alan McEwen used to post on here a long time ago. I think he 'flounced' .

I liked this - possibly slanderous comment

" owners of boilers would scour pubs to find stokers or ‘fire beaters’, often drunkards who would work long hours for meagre pay."

By Margaret Ashworth of Clitheroe.

Boiler explosion

[Stanley]

David. Be careful where you place your trust. I can remember standing looking at a boiler repair with three men who were genuine masters of their craft and they universally criticised and condemned everything about the repair. After about ten minutes I said "Funny isn't it. nobody has mentioned a name but we all know who we are talking about...." they all nodded and we moved on.
As for looking for drunkards because they were cheap. I can't think why anyone would say that. True, there must have been firebeaters who were boozers but you could say that about any group of workers. All I can say is that all the firebeaters I knew were sober and conscientious. Just ask yourself, would you do that? Remember, the boiler was the heart of mill production. If it wasn't reliable and efficient neither was the mill.



My friend John Plummer. An expert at his job and a good man.

[Stanley]

Clapper bridge over Stock Beck in what is now Victory Park. I think this was about 1890. I believe that chimney is the old gasworks stack. The only picture of it I have ever found.

[Stanley]

Hill top Farm in 1890. The pic can be dated accurately because the houses next to it were built in 1900.



Hill Top in 2003.

[Stanley]

The demolition of old Gledstone Hall in 1928. The stables, the building in the background with the clock tower, survived.

[Stanley]

This image of the hall when it was built accords nicely with the photograph in 1928.

[Stanley]

Broughton Hall in the 17th century.The original hall stood on a flat nearer the brook in the foreground and was known as Gilliot's Place after the family who owned it. This site was abandoned and the hall moved to its present site in 1597 and has since been incorporated in subsequent additions to give us the building we have today.

[Stanley]

This is the present day end of Gisburn Old Track which starts at Pasture head and ends here at what used to be called Stoops House, I am not sure what it's called now.
In fact the track goes forward and becomes Coal Pit Lane leading down into Gisburn but has been abandoned for at least 200 years. I've always been intrigued by the name and was told at one time that there were a few bell pits along the route but no great quantity of coal.

[PanBiker]

It's Weet's House one the modern day maps Stanley.

[Stanley]

I thought it was Ian but wasn't sure.
I used to delivery groceries there in the 60s to an elderly couple who I think were quite well off. I often wondered why they lived in such a bleak spot, must have enjoyed the solitude.... The next person I remember was a lady who had a drink problem, I have an idea she was a solicitor and at one point there was a house fire. However the house and other buildings survived and last time I saw them they were in as good condition as I have ever known them.



Why it was called Stoops House in the first place. 1894 OS map.

[PanBiker]

The present owners keep a herd of Alpacas now.

[Stanley]

I'm not sure why it happened but the road from Pasture Head up to Stoops House used to be the responsibility of North Yorks County Council and in winter snow clearance was always late if it landed at all. I think the reason could perhaps be traced back to the mistake made in the perambulation of the boundary by de Lacey when he gifted the manor of Barnoldswick to Fountains Abbey in 1147. He assumed Admergill to be part of the manor but it was actually part of the king's hunting ground, the Forest of Blackburn. In the 12th century. I've always been a bit suspicious of this story. de Lacey was in arrears with the rent for the manor, sat in his castle at Pontefract it must have seemed a long way away and was a very poor manor. The result of his 'mistake' was that the matter was tied up in the courts for over 200 years and never satisfactorily resolved,. It fascinates me that this could be the reason the snow plough was late on Old Gisburn Track eight hundred years later....

[Stanley]

I'm not sure of my ground here, that's why it's a forgotten corner! This end cottage next to the chapel was the home/place of business of Isaac Levi, general dealer, mentioned in reports of the 1932 flood. Harold Duxbury says that Isaac Levi had a pawnbroker's shop on Church Street. Jim Pollard said that Isaac Levi had a pawnshop on Victoria Road Earby. Ernie Roberts mentioned Isaac as a moneylender and bookmaker.
The name isn't common and all these reports refer to the same time, between the wars. Isaac must have been a very busy man!



Here's a pic (not mine) of Rag Albert in the 1970s in his house on Orchard Street. The connection is that I was once told that Albert worked with Isaac Levi in his capacity as general dealer on Walmsgate. So This cottage on Walmsgate was quite important if my links are all the same man. All forgotten now except for us!

[Stanley]

This was my pic of Albert done in 1982 outside his house in Orchard Street.

[chinatyke]

So, there are 12 years at the most between those 2 pictures? Didn't he age fast?

[Stanley]

Same dog China, the date for the coloured one was only what I was told. My date is definitely correct.

[Stanley]

I did a pic of the stones in the Square yesterday to register how they had been carved and noted that Mike Harding inaugurated the Town Square in 1990. Now there's a forgotten corner. He'll be 77 now and I haven't heard anything about him for years. At one time he seemed to be all over us like a rash!

[Stanley]

I was talking to one of my lady shopkeepers in the Square yesterday and I asked her what she expected Monday to be like when the general retail lock down ends. She said "Dancing in the Streets!" I hope she is right and that the lock down could become a forgotten corner. Fingers crossed...

[Tripps]

Mike Harding inaugurated the Town Square in 1990. Now there's a forgotten corner. He'll be 77 now and I haven't heard anything about him for years. At one time he seemed to be all over us like a rash!

He got the elbow from the BBC, and went solo on the internet. Folk Show Seems to have stopped that now. Can't blame him at his age.

I've got his LP Bombers Moon a tribute to his father, but I associate him mainly with the St Bede's scandal. He gets a few mentions here if you dig deep enough.

[Stanley]

You're right about digging David. I soon tired of Mr Malpas but then stumbled over THIS. Then I discovered the word Laicization. Lovely, it made the search worthwhile!