FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Here's a forgotten corner for many reasons. It's 1976, the front lid on the high pressure cylinder has sprung a leak and Newton and I are taking the lid off as soon as the mill stopped so that we can make and fit a new packing. Daniel Meadows happened to be there and did a few pictures. I was 40 years old and in my prime so on that basis alone it's a forgotten corner.



Old fashioned though we were, one phone call to B&P and we had instant attention. Service like that is also a forgotten corner.

[Stanley]

Bendem weaving shed in Wellhouse Mill in 1982. Bendem was of course originally B&M Holden who featured not long since on the site. There may have been a few looms at Fernbank but I think this was the last proper weaving shed in Barlick. When we finished in 1978 quite a few weavers finished there days down at Bendem.
Notice the way the shafts were driven, by individual motors for each shaft.

[Stanley]

A group of Brown and Pickles workers in Wellhouse yard in 1957. Newton is on the left.



In 1981 it was all over. B&P had been bought by Johnny's old apprentice, Jack Gissing and all the machinery either transferred to Gissings or scrapped.



Some machines survived. The Bullard vertical borer leaving the Wellhouse shop en route for Gissing and Lonsdale's February 1981. This is the same borer that was used for the Jubilee bearing shells in 2004.

[Stanley]

The town well embedded in the wall at Gisburn Road School.



Poorbones on Barlick Lane, the small yard where poor people knapped road stone to qualify for outdoor relief from Skipton Workhouse.
I'd like to see both these sites recognised as part of the history of the town. They seem to be forgotten corners.

[PanBiker]

Problem is Stanley, no one has any brass to develop projects such as these at the moment even if there was a will.

[Stanley]

Volunteers needed Ian, no capital expenditure needed for either of them. The lay-by on the top side of High Lane on the Blacko side of the Fanny Grey was a poorbones as well.



Bewick's drawing of a stone knapper at work.

[PanBiker]

I agree about tidying up poorbones but no doubt with Elf and Safety there would have to be cones and traffic lights to keep everyone safe, then all the folk that use the lane would kick off that it was inconvenient etc. Ripping the wall apart at the side of a pedestrian walkway and crossing would also run into similar problems. I assume the Town Well will be part of the Yorkshire Water network so you would probably have ask them. If was the same as digging a hole to a broken stop tap at the top of the back of York Street many years ago, they quoted over £800 to dig the hole and £40 to fix the tap! I dug the hole. The back street was cul de sac like yours if it had been at the front it would have needed notices and signs for traffic and god knows what else to do the same job.

I noticed a forgotten corner myself the other day going round to our Jack's. The top is still missing from The Jubilee Fountain and the overcomplicated clock is still awol from the bus shelter. Town Council said they would be finalised months ago. DW and Tom have gone very quiet on the local FB sites since David lost his County seat.

[Stanley]

I check the lamp on the Jubilee fountain and the bus station clock every day Ian. You're right, it's taking too long!
I'm tempted to make David Whipp and his son today's forgotten corner. Certainly no sighting since the elections.
A thought occurred to me this morning that in itself points to what could be a future forgotten corner. How long before the number of workers employed at Silentnight exceeds those at Rolls Royce?

[PanBiker]

Well, Rolls management are already reneging on the deal agreed with the unions, hence the lads outside the factory again.

[Stanley]

I have been pointing out for years that Rolls has lasted almost as long as peak textiles. It is not in the nature of the modern world to be stable and sooner or later they will fail.
Another forgotten corner here is the fact that after the major decline in the textile industry that had happened by the mid 1930s it was war production that saved Barlick from becoming a ghost town. Remember the shadow factories.... It was Adolph Hitler who rescued us, the government were not about to ride in like the Seventh Cavalry.
What is going to save us this time?

[Stanley]

"What is going to save us this time?"
I may be about to answer my own question. 'Connectivity' was the buzz word in the 19th century. The foundation for successful business and industry was the Postal service (including the telegraph), road, canal and rail connections. These were augmented in the 20th century by the rise of the internal combustion engine which reigned for 100 years but is now under threat on the grounds of pollution.
The new 'connectivity' is superfast fibre broadband. In the brave new world where so much industry has been sent off shore in search of cheaper labour it appears that our survival over the next century may depend largely on home working and the speed and reliability of connectivity. If that is the case the forgotten corner we are looking at could be the whole world of work as we know it. In future it will be confined to the bits that we can't outsource like services and utilities. Large factories and mills may be the real forgotten corner. God knows we have been able to see the decline since the 1930s. What a brave new world.....

[Stanley]

The South Lodge at West Marton ( A Lutyens design). This is the lodge at the end of the drive to what used to be Gledstone Stables. The forgotten corner is the slating of the roof. Look at it carefully. For a start off it is Coniston Green Slate, very expensive and distinctive. Second, notice that there is no lead visible on the corners of the roof and no tiles capping the ridges. Finally note how the slates are evenly graduated in size from eaves to ridge. This is the very highest grade of slate and slating and as such is a forgotten corner.

[Stanley]

Today's forgotten Corner is Manby's Corner in Skipton. One of the great ironmonger's and like almost all of them long gone. The shop is a boutique now, some sort of commentary on our times.

[Stanley]

1948 Ford 8 van. This came to mind as I was talking about old computers, it's the road-going equivalent when compared to today's computerised marvels. For a start, the '8' referred to the government road tax class which regarded anything under 1000cc as '8 nominal horse power'. I think the 4 cylinder side valve engine in this was 996cc. If I remember rightly the first of these had rod-operated brakes. They certainly only had a 3 speed gearbox and of course one reverse. You couldn't really get much more simple, the only other thing you could have left out was the starter motor. These vans had a six volt electrical system and a starter but also had a starting handle, just in case!

[Stanley]

Standridge Farm on Folly Lane in 1977. In the late 1950s I delivered groceries to all these farms right up to Prospect. I remember Wilbur Duxbury at Prospect, I think he lived on his own. At that time Prospect was accessed from Folly Lane. It's still possible to do that now but the track is overgrown, access today is via Lister Well Lane.
Folly Lane then was in very bad condition and it always struck me that it must have been hard farming up there. At least two of my customers up there had a struggle to pay for groceries.
Around 1970 a family had the farm at the top of Folly itself and the two brothers made a living out of running a small cattle wagon for local deliveries. I think one had a son, there was always three in the cab. Down at Gisburn we always called them the Thunderbirds, don't ask me why! How that wagon held together going up and down that rough track every day beats me.

[PanBiker]

First of all it's not a forgotten corner to me, one of my many escape routes into the country.

At that time Prospect was accessed from Folly Lane. It's still possible to do that now but the track is overgrown

Not overgrown Stanley but above Higher View you would need a quad bike or a decent 4 x 4. The lane has not been hardened past there and the ruts would swallow a normal car or van or certainly take the sump out!

[Big Kev]

First of all it's not a forgotten corner to me, one of my many escape routes into the country.

At that time Prospect was accessed from Folly Lane. It's still possible to do that now but the track is overgrown

Not overgrown Stanley but above Higher View you would need a quad bike or a decent 4 x 4. The lane has not been hardened past there and the ruts would swallow a normal car or van or certainly take the sump out!

It can be bad enough on foot if it's been raining for any length of time, made a right mess of my boots and trousers

[PostmanPete]

First of all it's not a forgotten corner to me, one of my many escape routes into the country.

At that time Prospect was accessed from Folly Lane. It's still possible to do that now but the track is overgrown

Not overgrown Stanley but above Higher View you would need a quad bike or a decent 4 x 4. The lane has not been hardened past there and the ruts would swallow a normal car or van or certainly take the sump out!

It can be bad enough on foot if it's been raining for any length of time, made a right mess of my boots and trousers

I lost count of the number of delivery drivers having to turn round at Higher View Farm whilst following their sat navs leading them to Prospect up Folly Lane..!

[Stanley]

I can well believe that Pete...

[Stanley]

In the days before sat-navs navigation was cheap. At that time you could get fuel company road maps for 1/6 at garages and I had a collection in the cab covering the whole of the mainland. They were a very reliable aid and never sent you up mountain roads that were a dead end. In contrast the first sat-navs were dire (and it seems some still are). I remember a story about a man in Germany who bought a new Mercedes fitted with a factory sat-nav as standard. He trusted it rather than his own eyes and on one of his first trips out followed its instruction and tried to cross a bridge that only existed on the map. I don't know if he claimed from the manufacturer!



I still have some of the maps that did so many miles with me.

[PanBiker]

You can get overlays for most systems for HGV vehicles that will indicate unsuitable roads. Problem is lots of contractors wont pay for them particularly the continental ones. When I did the top road to work for 10 years it was always foreign drivers who got stuck on Barnoldswick Road at the Red Lane bend causing absolute mayhem at 7.30am. Notices at Gisburn Road which they couldn't read and their sat nav telling them it was the shortest way to Barlick. Very short, 300 yards from the junction and then everyone was buggered. If you were unfortunate enough to have made it past Cross Gaits you were stuffed as you had everyone else backed up behind you. Same goes for the length up Barnoldswick Road. It needed a raft of coppers to manage each event and back everyone out.

[Stanley]

That was the great advantage of the wagon and trailer over a normal, shorter, articulated vehicle, the bend at Red Lane was no problem. As I often pointed out to people, there was a reason why wagon and trailer combinations were so popular in Switzerland and other countries with narrow mountain roads. The biggest problem and I suspect it still would be, was the fact that so many drivers were so bad at reversing. I have a store of war stories about meeting these drivers on narrow roads but I won't bore you with the details. Is there a section in the driving test on reversing?

[Big Kev]

Is there a section in the driving test on reversing?

Yes, I remember doing this manoeuvre in my test

[Stanley]

But does the car test have a reversing section?

[Big Kev]

But does the car test have a reversing section?

Reversing around a corner is no longer on the test

The 3 reversing manoeuvres are
parallel, at the side of the road;
in a bay, by driving in and reversing out, or reversing in and driving out;
or pull up on the right-hand side of the road, reverse for two car lengths, and then rejoin the traffic.