FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Elmers had a monopoly on that corner, John's dad had the chemist shop next door. In those days you could buy all sorts of things there, Dr Collis Brown's Chlorodyne , Kaolin and morphia for the trots and even French Polish!

[Julie in Norfolk]

French polish for the trots eh? I shall have to let a close family relative know that one!

[Stanley]

Now then Jules! You know I didn't mean that! (Nice to see you popping in.....)
In those far off days the chemists sold all sorts of things that would raise eyebrows now, concentrated acids and powerful chemicals for your home chemistry kit.... I can still remember the prohibition on the sale of Methylated Spirits from 4PM on Friday until opening time on Monday morning. It was supposed to make it more difficult for the poor souls addicted to 'Red Biddy', a mixture of meths and tomato ketchup, the cheapest intoxicant around. You never hear about Red Biddy these days.....

[Tripps]

" You never hear about Red Biddy these days....."

I think they call it Cabernet Sauvignon now.

[Stanley]

That could be right..... Well worth going back and reading the articles I did on 'Drugged to Death'. Quite amazing what was sold by chemist's shops less than 100 years ago.... Some of them hung on for years like Colliss Brown's chlorodyne. It wasn't until drug takers started to buy it in bulk that it was prohibited.....

[Stanley]

Newtown in 1983 when Elmer's corner really was just that because John's dad still had the chemist's shop next door to John's ironmongery store.

[chinatyke]

I'm told by a friend that the following inscription is on a gravestone at Ghyll Church. Can anyone confirm if it is true or even post a picture?

Remember man, as you walk by,
as you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so shall you be,
remember this and follow me.


To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I'll not consent,
until I know which way you went.

[PanBiker]

You nearly have it China, the stone is just inside the gate into the churchyard, it's one of the large "table" type, the inscription reads:

Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I.
As I am now so you must be,
Therefore prepare to follow me.

The additional quip you mention is often quoted and has become a local urban legend.

[chinatyke]

Thanks, Ian. Nothing like local knowledge.

[Stanley]

In Bracewell church yard. By the time this was erected the firm had failed and all the workers sacked. I've often wondered whether the workers actually subscribed.....

[Stanley]

Not local, it's in a Cornish Tin mine but it's a good reminder of the way people had to work hard in dangerous conditions to make a living....

[Cathy]

Makes me shudder just to think about doing that. Imagine getting out of bed every morning knowing that you have to do that all day.
One of our ancestors was a miner in Cornwall

[Stanley]

They were hard men Cathy and their were a lot of deaths..... I think I'd hate that ladder! Especially when climbing back up after a hard shift.

[Stanley]

I posted this on another topic but it's a forgotten corner. Alan Starkey's little cottage on King Street next to the house where the brothel was... (Or so the police sergeant told me.) I had seen the callers but simply thought they were popular young ladies.... To the pure, all things are pure!

[Stanley]

One of the things we tend to forget is how uncluttered our streets used to be. Compare this pic of the Occasion gift shop in 1983 with what we have now. Over the last twenty years we have filled our streets with cast iron street furniture, some of it is an improvement but the rest is just clutter. I often wonder how blind people fare on pavements littered with obstructions.....

[PanBiker]

One point Stanley, if the street furniture wasn't there, the pavements would be full of cars which is why a lot of it is there in the first place.

[Stanley]

Simple answer, enforce the existing regulations against parking on pavements.

[PanBiker]

Not enough manpower to do that in the first place hence the need for the stuff, that would be the argument anyway. In an ideal world everyone would obey the highway code and you wouldn't need to enforce anything but that's not the case you only have to look at the environs around the zebra crossing on Church Street to see some of the worst examples.

[Stanley]

I agree entirely and the sad thing is that as the police funding falls it will get even worse. Here are the 'environs round the zebra crossing on Church Street in days gone by....



Wellhouse Farm in 1881.

[Stanley]

The 'Well House' at Townhead in 1984. I was told that at one time this house contained a public well in the days before mains water, hence the name. The fact that we have three 'well houses' to my knowledge is an indication of how important these public wells used to be.

[Stanley]

Talking about town wells reminded me of the disruption in the town about five years ago when Balfour Beatty, as main contractors for Yorkshire water, ripped up just about every street in the town to clean and reline our water mains and installed many new valves. Quite amazingly I can't find any pics of the work! I must have slipped up. It reminds me of the disruption in the late 19th century when a similar exercise to install the water mains in the first place and a water carriage system for sewage at the same time caused chaos. There are many clues in the papers and sources like the Calf Hall Shed Company minute books to just how bad it was. Remember that these works included building the water works, reservoirs and sewage plant as well. Add to that the general activity of the mill and house building boom that was going on at the same time, all hand work of course, and it becomes obvious that Barlick must have been like an ant hill! Think of the traffic from the quarries alone!
Another little forgotten corner is the fact that just before Balfour Beatty moved in, BT marked all over the place for the installation of fibre for broadband, They mustn't have known what was being panned for the water mains. When a few of us enquired at the time we were told that the BT project had been postponed because it would clash with the other works. Funny thing is that they have put the fibre in since then and I for one never noticed any major disruption, it simply quietly appeared.....

[Stanley]

If you are walking up Folly Lane, notice this insignificant rivulet running out of the ground near the cottages. Until the late 19th century this was the only source of water for the cottages and it all had to be carried from the stone trough which is now overgrown. If you hadn't got a rain water tank or a small well in your kitchen (many houses had these....) you relied on a water source like this. Every time we turn the tap on we should think about all the effort that went into this simple measure to make our lives easier.

[PanBiker]

I can remember drinking from that water source and trough when out walking with mum and dad when I was a little lad. Lister Well was another one where you could always get a drink of fresh water 50 odd years ago.

[Wendyf]

if it's the one I'm thinking of there's usually is a bucket under it now catching the water, the dogs enjoy a drink there after a warm walk.

[Stanley]

At Hey Farm we had several springs in the field which never dried up. One near the house used to be the water supply and always had a lovely crop of water cress in it. All coming down from Letcliffe of course. On the old map with the deeds the field was always named 'The Flows'. One flow was much bigger than the others and ran down an old stone drain in the middle of the field. That one used to cause a permanent wet patch on Manchester Road and I have an idea it's been diverted into the road drainage in latter years. There is almost always water coming out of the bank above the gate to the park and just before you get to Poor Bones.