BARLICK BITS AND PIECES

[Thomo]

My Father was born in a small cottage on Orchard St in 1899 and as such he grew up along with much of the towns development, there wasn't much he didn't know about the Who, What and Where and he loved to walk, not much else back then. I arrived 41 years later and as soon as I was old enough to walk unaided, he showed me all of what he knew so well. Barlick does not conform to the boring block plans of some places and was full of hidden gems, snicket's, ginnels and back alleys. There were older buildings that had been swallowed up by the spread of housing and factories, most of which have now gone forever, farms that were still there in the 1940s and have vanished such as New Laithe now home to the telephone exchange and where one of Silentnight car parks stands was Long Ing Laithe. The town had a generous supply of places to play in or explore. It also has a fair number of rows of houses that have not just street addresses, but individual names, mostly with the suffix "Terrace" the origins of some of these are fairly obvious, one however puzzled me, "Warneford Terrace" just across the road from here, who or what was Warneford, today I found out and purely by chance.
Sub Lieutenant Reginald Alexander John Warneford VC Royal Naval Air Service, was born born in India, the son of a Yorkshire couple! He was the first man to shoot down a Zeppelin in WW1. On the 7th of June 1915 he found and attacked Zeppelin LZ37 over Belgium, armed with only a 303 rifle borrowed from the Belgian Army and six fire bombs he tried to attack the airship from below being unable to climb above it, he was repeatedly driven off by heavy machine gun fire from the coppola's, his ammunition for the rifle exhausted he fell back and followed the airship hoping his luck would change, it did. They were flying above dense cloud and when a sudden clear patch showed the airship started its descent, he was now able to get above it and was out of sight of its gunners and he let go his bombs onto the top cover of the Zeppelin. There was an almighty explosion below and his tiny aircraft was thrown about with much violence, he emerged below the clouds and saw the remains of the giant airship plunge to the ground, his elation was short lived however as the engine of his aeroplane coughed and died turning his plane into a glider almost 60 miles behind enemy lines. He put the plane down in a field close to a farmhouse, finding nobody around he started looking for the cause of the engine failure, the fuel pipe was broken, this he repaired with a piece of his cigarette holder held in place by bits of silk handkerchief, priming the engine by two turns of the propeller he went back to the cockpit and turned the switches to "On", he now had to start the engine by swinging the prop and then get back and into the cockpit before the aircraft left without him. He made it home without further incident and was awarded the Legion D'Honneur by the French and the Victoria Cross by the King a few days later. Sadly just ten days after destroying the Zeppelin he was ferrying a passenger when his aircraft lost a wing, both died as a result. Next time you pass Warneford Terrace remember this brave young man.

[Big Kev]

Thomo, you could be just the man to answer this. Why is Castle View, the row of houses next to "The Dog" on Manchester Road, called Castle View? I'm not aware of a castle that can be seen from there.

[Thomo]

That Kev is a frequently asked question and I will look at the possibilties after a bit of poking about. I have lived in a house in a similar situation, one of a group of handloom weavers cottages near Colne, the cottages are on Castle Rd and known collectively as "The Castle" and are over 200 years old, I was intrigued, Castles usually ocupy a dominant location, often atop a rocky outcrop, the view from the kitchen window was of Noyna Rocks and a possibilty. This turned out to be not the case at all, and a look at an old OS map put the site of a Castle in my neighbours garden, when the cottages were built, the Castle was long gone. When Castle View in Barlick was built, the view would have been more extensive, so I will see what turns up, one thing is certain, it was named for a reason. Mistakes can be made in the naming of streets etc, Mosely St, was maybe intended to be Mousely St, as this is the spelling on a stone plaque along there. A more recent example is the incorrect naming of "Great Croft Close" just off Fernbank Avenue, it should be "Old Croft Close" Great Croft being what we know as Monkroyd.
Last weekend a friend mailed me sections of a map of the Fosters Arms Estate produced as a sale map by a firm of surveyors at Hebden Bridge, I have now to re-assemble this and produce a copy that can be put in here. It shows the Fosters Arms Inn as being totally different to the one we know, and standing alone except for Lane Ends Farm and Laithe, and Carr House Farm, there is no date on the original but I formed an approximate idea of this from other information on the map. The map names the owners of the land nearby, BUDC own land to the East where the sewage farm now stands, the BUDC came into being in 1891. There is also the line of a sewer with manholes that runs from Banks Hill to the BUDC land and named Hospital Sewer. The Isolation Hospital was built at Banks Hill in 1898 which gives 1896/7 as a highly possible date for the map. "Seek and ye shall find".

[Thomo]

The possibilities are few Kev, the presence of Weets Hill excludes any to the West, to the East there are two, near Elslack on the Barlick side there is the site of a Roman Fort also known as "Burwen Castle" beyond that is Skipton Castle. It is possible that the mere fact that they are there was sufficient reason for the name. My great Niece lives in one of houses between Castle View and Manchester Rd, a visit with binoculars may be called for!

[Thomo]

The sale by auction of the Fosters Arms Estate. This week a friend sent me a copy of a map produced for the sale, the original is 8 X A4 so this arrived as eight PDF Files, I have put them together again and then worked them in Paint Shop Pro to produce a re-worked A4 Printable map. The original is not dated but working from a couple of clues ie, BUDC Land ownership, BUDC came into being in 1891/2, the other clue is the hospital sewer running from Banks Hill, The Isolation Hospital was built in 1898 so the map is probably circa 1896/7. This is the unworked map:-



And this is the final one:-



It can be seen that the 45 acre estate was bordered by Gisburn Rd, Brogden Lane and as far South as Carr Rd, part of the original building was where Foster Rd is now.

[Thomo]

I have just been inside the old Fosters Arms to give the current owner a copy of the map of sale circa 1896. If there weren't any ghosts at West Craven College yesterday you almost feel them in the Fosters today. All of the bars and fittings are gone and it seemed eerie and quiet, almost unloved. The main part of the building is now sold, it will be intereting to see what happens next. The inglenook fireplace looks enormous now that all else has gone. It was strange standing in my favourite spot where the end of the lounge bar was, that is where I met an ex girlfriend who is now my Wife, and the wallpaper that I hung in the lounge in 1959 is still there!

[Thomo]

This fireplace was uncovered during renovation in the 1950s.



The entire wall had been boarded over, when a probe was put in, it went in four feet. The panels were removed, this is what lay behind.

This is where the lounge bar was, the semi circular bar foot is still there.



The location of the Tap Room Bar. A new staircase has been added as it was impossible to move large pieces of furniture up the old one.



In the 1950s the adjacent barn was removed and the farmhouse was stripped of its top floor, the roof being replaced through 90 degrees, what was left of the farmhouse became the lounge extension and the ladies toilets, the farmyard wall was also moved back to allow two way traffic on Gisburn Rd.



This was the Landlords upstairs private lounge, if you look at the floor, you can see where the Southern annex was removed.



This is a vast room indeed, bigger than the ground floor area of some modern houses.



In 1959 I redecorated the new lounge area for Whitbreads, The Landlord was Mr Frank Neil. When I had finished he pulled me a pint of mild and gave me a brown envelope, "open it when you get home" it contained a tip that was twice my weekly wage, the Anaglypta that I hung is still there!

[Thomo]

That's it then, the end of an era. The main building of the old Fosters Arms is being converted as a dwelling. While I was in there last week I took a photograph of a much older photograph, taken after the other annex was removed but surrounded by trees and with a horse and cart in the front yard. This pic was behind ordinary glass and although I did not use flash the glass shows reflections, when i've cleaned it up I will post it here, I may even do a drawing from it.

[Callunna]

Very sad. I spent many happy hours in there.

So did my uncle Frank (Greenwood) if anyone remembers him (the family emigrated to NZ in the early 1960s).

Still, the building started off as a dwelling place, didn’t it? So perhaps Syke House farm has been reincarnated. Better than being totally demolished, as happened to so many fine buildings in Barlick in the mid 20th century.

[Thomo]

Only the ground floor of the original farm building remains, this is the oldest part of the buidings that still stand. When the barn was demolished, the first floor of the farmhouse was removed and the roof turned through 90 degrees to align with that of the newer part, which was the shooting lodge before it became an inn. Also removed at some stage was the Southern Annex, the stables at the rear of the farmhouse and a small building attached to the East end of the coach houses. This week the gents toilet block has gone, this had been an addition.

[Tarty's Lad]

My great grandfather, James Slater, 1834 - 1910, built a large American - styled villa near James Street above Castle View, and named it Castle Villa, but this was after Castle View was built, but I wonder if that row of cottages was named something else prior to the building of the villa.

Can anyone help as I've long wondered about this.

[Stanley]

Good question. I can't immediately identify any reference in 19th C.

[Thomo]

Work on the Fosters Arms goes on apace. The main building is being converted into a dwelling as is the annex at the rear, the owner of the site is doing this one for himself, the land has been cleared of vegetation and tidied up, this is a bonus for us as it was the source of weed seeds.
The history of the Drill Hall is now falling into place, the original building would have been built in the 1860s at the bottom corner of the land which was later occupied by the gas works, later to become of part of the works. The second drill hall was raised as a tribute the the Barlick men who lost their lives on the Rohilla, built early in the 1920s, the date on the Dukes stone is 1925, The drill hall comprised of two buildings, the hall itself and off to the South side a long narrow building which was the rifle range. At which point it became a licensed club is unclear but the stewards house to the rear does not appear on the 1940 aerial photograph and is of red brick.

[Big Kev]

Is the pub sign still on the property or has it been cleared away?

[Thomo]

The signpost is still there, but the sign itself is in safe keeping at a house on the corner of Gledstone View.

[Big Kev]

I'd very much like to get a photograph of it "out of context"...

[Thomo]

Will do Kev.

[Big Kev]

Will do Kev.

Excellent. Is it possible that I can take the picture?

[Thomo]

I will speak to the owner and arrange it Kev, I do not forsee a problem.

[Big Kev]

I will speak to the owner and arrange it Kev, I do not forsee a problem.

A gentleman you are. Any afternoon this week is good for me, if it's convenient.

Cheers

[Thomo]

Right Kev, go to No 1 Gledstone View and introduce yourself, you will be welcome, please let me know how you get on.

[Big Kev]

Apologies to your friends at Gledstone View, I've not had opportunity to get there this week. I will endeavour to go on Wednesday morning.

[Thomo]

Work to convert the annex at the rear of the Fosters Arms into a dwelling, is almost complete and should be occupied later this week. Terry, the owner, invited me over for a look yesterday, and what a surprise it was, He has done a wonderful job. The false ceiling in the old function room has been removed, exposing the original roof timbers, these had not been seen for many years, and have now been restored to pristine condition. This room in now the kitchen/dining room/lounge, a new sun room and a bedroom have been added to the western side, two more bedrooms are at the old pub end as is the bathroom. The new doors are solid oak and very nice too, a combination of thought and good workmanship has produced a home that anyone would be proud of. Well done Terry.

[Thomo]

Work commenced this week on building a stone garden wall around the front and side of the main part of the old Fosters Arms. I am impressed by the speed and skill of the man doing the job. This brings me to the proposal to return the bus turning area to domestic use, this has been recommended for approval by those concerned in the planning department, however a certain well known councillor has raised an objection. I will not be sorry to see it go as its main purpose is little used now, we have a front line view of this facility, and the misuse that occurs. Over the past five years that we have lived here, I have had cause to call the Police on several occasions when I was unable to deal with problems of anti social behaviour myself, getting the situation under control was not easy and is something I have no desire to have to repeat. Since the no parking notices went up, it has become a gathering point for local "Boy Racers" The bus shelter doubles as a handy toilet and is somewhere to avoid on a hot day! It has also been used as a drug pick up point. I am certain that an alternative arrangement could be found in the area, the smaller town buses could go around Carr Rd, then either Arthur or Louvain St, into Foster Rd and pick up somewhere along there, the larger and less frequent buses could turn at the now unused ambulance depot and pick up at the nearest stop on Gisburn Rd (opposite Carr Rd). Yes I believe that I would rather see gardens across the road and not a big chunk of abused concrete.

[Whyperion]

GVA as agents inviting offers of interest for the former Ambluence Station in Brogden View

http://www.gva.co.uk/5771/