FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

A transcription of part of the plan of the Bowker Drain used by Briggs and Duxbury when they refurbished much of the drain for Rolls Royce who did the work because they used the water from the drain for foul water services at Bankfield. It was given to me by Joe Moran whom I believe worked for either RR or B&D at the time.
This section shows the 'timbers' under the canal which carry the water from Bob Preston meadow to a concrete manhole on the opposite bank.....

[Stanley]

Danny Pateman in the engine house at Bancroft in 1977. Danny was a fellow tanker driver at West Marton Dairy and was a good friend for many years. He died too young and I still miss him.

[Stanley]

For many years a house on Wellhouse Road near the Fire Station had these two copper timpani in the front garden. I always thought it strange because even in this condition they were quite rare and valuable.....

[Stanley]

As you are well aware, I am a man of peculiar habits and one of them is that I take note of manholes in the street.



This one is in Hill Street. I don't know what it was originally for but it's over 100 years old and has evidently not been lifted for a long time. I'd guess that it was connected with the original water mains in the town from 1890 onwards.... Henry Brown was casting at the foundry at Ouzledale mill and then the new foundry at Havre park until 1932. The key fact is that in those days such things were produced in the town.....
(The capitals SWD in the centre of the lid stand for Skipton Water Department I think as they would be the authority in the early days.)



Ouzledale Foundry in the early days.

[Tripps]

Oddly enough - I saw a Youtube video a few days ago in which a lady took 'rubbings' of manhole covers and then transferred the image onto T shirts which she then sold quite successfully.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that David. Evidently a lady with superior intelligence and tastes!



This is Charlie Southwell who owned his own feed water treatment company and came round regularly to make sure I was testing my boiler feed water correctly. He was a nice man and good at his job. He enrolled me on a course run by a very large manufacturer of steam fittings and I enjoyed it. He was a good man and his water treatment was good as well. I reckoned he might have been saving us about a ton of coal a week because of the improved efficiency of our boiler.
Another Charlie.... Charlie Sutton my flue cleaner who also cleaned the inside of the boiler for me said that Charlie's chemical;s were doing their job and the amount of scale in the boiler was slowly lessening and becoming much softer and easier to deal with....

[Stanley]

If there is such a thing as reincarnation I want to come back as a spoiled terrier!

[Stanley]

There was a time before the advent of washing machines when getting water out of clothes as part of the washing process was a matter of britches arse steam! The cast iron mangle was made so that it folded and did duty as a kitchen table for the rest of the week. I grew up with one of these in the kitchen and twined the handle for my mother if I was at home when she was washing..... She was lucky, she didn't have to go to work because my dad had a good enough wage but just think of the mill workers who had to do their own cooking and washing..... And modern housewives say they have no time.....

[Stanley]

Moss Shed chimney having a bit of a puther in 1979. Such sights are forgotten corners now..... King Coal is dead!

[Stanley]

Demolition at Long Ing in 1959/60 as Silentnight built new frontage and offices on Moss Shed which they had just bought from Widdup Brothers. The old canal bridge is still there in the background.

[Stanley]

This yard at the top of Lamb Hill is easily overlooked but shows the original road level before it was raised and Gillian's Beck culverted in the mid 19th century. It must have been a significant obstacle to traffic.

[Stanley]

Mavis Cash, my secretary at Pendle Heritage, working on the transcription of the LTP tapes in the Toll House at Higherford. Every word on the tapes (over a million and a half) had to be transferred to the typewritten page (with three carbons!) as nobody could guarantee the archival survival of the tapes. Later we got funding for a dedicated typist and I found an Italian lady who was superb. Her English was very poor and many people thought I was mad employing someone who didn't have English for a native tongue but that meant that she had to really listen. I had to edit all the transcripts by checking the transcription against the original tapes and her accuracy was quite remarkable and compared well with the best native speakers. Later I had to use the third carbon to digitise all the transcripts and then go back through them all to edit for elimination of repetition and to improve brevity. Later still Ian and I had to go through them all again when we constructed LTP 2013 with the embedded images. As I have often said, nobody will ever know how much work went into the Lancashire Textile Project. Definitely a forgotten corner!

[Stanley]

Newton Pickles at Ellenroad in 1985 when we were first thinking about running the engine to prove it. First we had to put back all the bits that had been stolen and you might have noticed that the engine was a long way from being clean!
People forget these times.....

[Stanley]

Era and Moss mill chimneys in Rochdale in 1979 shortly before they were both felled. Their time had come but like all the others it was so sad to see them go.

[Tripps]

I've posted this before - you will tell me when you're bored with it won't you?

I put it on an army site (Facebook 19 Signal Regiment) over a year ago to little response, but it has sprung to life in the last few days. A couple of chaps who arrived in the unit after I left have appeared, and identified most of the BOR (British Other Ranks) names. It's remartkable that names I could not remember can immediately be identified as correct when someone else says who they were.

The picture is almaost exactly sixty years old . I find it all remarkable.

Tengah 1965.jpg

[Stanley]

Berlin 1955. I spent 18 months there. Notice that they got the sign wrong. 'A' Company Cheshires wasn't at Gatow but 'S' Company. I never understood why but it was army policy to house Support Company separate from the battalion. They were down in Berlin at Brooke Barracks while we were out in the country at Gatow.

[Stanley]

UK defence was so much simpler in 1955! My 17pdr at Gatow ready for action if the Russians decided to move.....

[Tripps]

Did you develop and print these photos yourself or send then to Boots? I'd have thought there would be some suspicion of someone taking such photos, in those days, followed by a tap on the shoulder from Smiley's people.

[Stanley]

All my army pics were developed and printed in Berlin David. And no, there was never any problem.
(They did say that if you left a copy of the Daily Worker showing in your kit you would get sent back to HQ Depot at Chester!)



Wavell Barracks Berlin where I taught the First Battalion The Black Watch how to use the 17Pdr when they came back from Korea straight to Berlin.
Notice that the authorities had remembered to chisel the Swastika off the obelisk outside the guardhouse....

[Stanley]

Newton Pickles' shed at Vicarage Road shortly before he moved out. I don't know what became of the 7" Gauge engine, I think he must have sold it.

[Stanley]

The original granite setts under the tarmac on Newtown. I was told that the paviors were French.....

[Stanley]

At the time in 1991 many were convinced I was a vandal and said so publicly. I don't blame them and eventually I think everyone realised that demolition was the only way to erase the scandal that was Dee Mill. English Heritage certainly did because I had to spend a year making the case to them. All forgotten now I think....

[Stanley]

Timber scaffolding on an unknown clock face in the 1930s. I think Elfin Safety would have something to say about wooden ladders to that height these days. I can remember using a wooden ladder to about 30 feet and the sway was frightening. These must have been much worse.... Brave men!

[Stanley]

Peter Tatham laddering Salford Destructor chimney in 1976. Note, no hard hat, harness or safety gear. Perfectly legal in those days. This is a forgotten corner now!

[Stanley]

A master of his craft. Peter Tatham laddering Salford Destructor chimney in 1976...... He perched on the end of the last ladder to reach up to install the next dog no matter how high he was. I have seen him doing this at 300 feet. Just another day at the office!