FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[David Whipp]

Individual properties built on flood plains may be protected by various means such as building them up higher, which is a typical solution. What then happens to the water displaced in flood conditions by the material used for fill?

Maybe stilt built solutions would be acceptable?

[PanBiker]

I still reckon my idea is best, flood plains are there for a reason, don't build on them.

[Whyperion]

I see there are ideas to build some floating houses ( I guess Chinatyke has experience of these things on a large scale ). Based on the temporary harbours of WW2? I'm not really certain that building everywhere is a good idea though.

[chinatyke]

Flood plains are called flood plains because that is what they do. To build on them is criminally negligent. Draining them just exacerbates the problem and pushes it further down the river.
The answer is building in sensible places. We had over 6" of rain fall during the night and no problems. I pipe some of the rainwater run-off to my small fishpond on my roof terrace, the fish and terrapins love this influx of cool clean water. Waste not, want not.

[Stanley]

Good discussion and it has flushed out a couple of Forgotten Corners, I hadn't thought about the inserted basements. (Actually the first is a Remembered Corner). 'If a body is partly or wholly immersed in water, the up-thrust or loss in weight equals the weight of water displaced'. Whoever taught me that did a good job! Something I had forgotten is the detached house in the field next to the River Aire at Kildwick as you approach the bridge from Skipton. It is built on land that floods and is perched on top of what is quite obviously an artificial mound.

[Stanley]

It looks as though today could be a warm day. In 1958 weather like this at weekend triggered activity like this. It's a forgotten corner of course, nobody will be in there swimming today. (It's probably illegal anyway!)

[Stanley]

I tripped over this pic in the archive this morning. 1979 at Greenberfield. I think it qualifies as a forgotten corner because these kids weren't at home in their bedrooms surfing the net! Frightening to think they are all almost forty years older! Time flies when you're enjoying yourself!

[Stanley]

Not a Barlick corner but one close to my heart. This Leyland Clock used to stand on the side of the road over Shap Fell North of the Jungle Cafe. It's in the grounds of the museum in Kendal now. There were others, one I know was on the by-pass road used by the Blackpool traffic at Preston. There were others but I have forgotten where they were.

[Tizer]

There are a couple of old clocks among the photos on this web page: LINK

[Stanley]

I had a look and found THIS on the web. It is inaccurate because it doesn't mention the clock on Blackpool Road at Preston or the one I think that used to be at the Leyland works. However, it solved one mystery for me. I always wondered how it was powered and thought for years it was electric and battery driven but according to this link it was clockwork and a local farmer was paid £2 a year to wind it once a week! I believe the report because they mention names.... They also put me right, It is at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal not the town museum. I re-discovered it when I went up there with Daniel Meadows one day when he was giving a lecture there.....

[Stanley]

Another clock. The clock on Gissing and Lonsdale's office was made in 1937 by Johnny Pickles for the Riley Street Methodist church in Earby as a tribute and memorial to his old master Henry Brown with whom he served his apprenticeship in Earby.



Johnny in Henry Brown's shop in 1903.

When the Riley Street chapel became redundant Johnny took the clock back and installed it on the shop at Wellhouse Mill.



The clock at Wellhouse in 1978.

When Wellhouse was demolished and Jack Gissing bought Henry Brown and Sons the clock was moved again to the offices on Wellhouse Road. The last time I saw it it was stopped and I must have a word with Terry Gissing about it.....

[Tizer]

In that 1978 Wellhouse photo the road slopes up towards the left of the picture, so much so that it nearly blocks the lower part of a window! Was there any gap between the wall and the road or did they just build the wall into the slope?

[David Whipp]

No need to have a word with Terry, Stanley...

The clock is thriving in a newly refurbished clock tower on Wellhouse Road; it was showing the correct time when I took this picture this afternoon.

[Stanley]

Tiz, the slope up on Army Right was the access to the road. I can't remember but I don't think there was a gap.
This was the main entrance to the mill for the workers and at starting time the iron gates were closed and workers had to enter via the white door which was nicknamed 'the Penny Oil' as it passed the timekeeper's office (Used by B&P as their office) and latecomers were fined. Right up to the end of the mill the large entrance was always known as 'The Thoroughfare'.
David, good! I shall not attack Terry!

[chinatyke]

...and workers had to enter via the white door which was nicknamed 'the Penny Oil' as it passed the timekeeper's office (Used by B&P as their office) and latecomers were fined.

Penny 'oil [Penny Hole] brings back lovely memories of when I worked at Loveclough Printworks. It was always penny 'ol there because workers dropped in their numbered copper check-in disc through a small slot below the timekeepers window. The slot was closed dead on work time and any late comers were "quartered".

[Stanley]

Ahh, Loveclough. I wanted to do a third section of the LTP there so we had Spinning Weaving and Finishing but time, events and lack of support got in the way. One of my personal forgotten corners!

[Tizer]

...The slot was closed dead on work time and any late comers were "quartered".

By "quartered" I guess you mean wages docked in units of quarter of an hour. When I left school and started work at British Northrop I had to clock in with a time card. If I was even a minute late I lost the equivalent of quarter of an hour of wages. If I remember right that applied up to 15 minutes. At 16 minutes it would become half an hour of wages etc.

[Stanley]

That was fairly common in latter days. However, once we had the Model Lodging Houses and tramp weavers there was no fining. There were always weavers waiting in the warehouse and if a set of looms was unmanned at starting time a tramp weaver was chosen by the tackler in charge of that set and put on them for the day. These weavers were usually very skilled but for some reason couldn't hold a regular job down.

[Stanley]

The large 'Artisan's Lodging House' in Butts that in 1931, as the need for tramp weavers was declining because of contraction of the industry, became Briggs and Duxbury's 'Model Joinery Works.



We tend to forget that the 'Model Garage' was also a lodging house and that may of the pubs also had lodgers. The Dog was built specifically for that purpose that's why it is three storeys.

[Stanley]

One small forgotten corner is the odd projecting stone high up in the wall you'll find in some of the older houses in the town. There was one at Hey Farm and it puzzled me for years until I realised that the most likely explanation was that it was a support for one side of the top beam on a hand loom. There were many hand looms in the town but we don't have the classic rows of windows that you see in some areas. I've always thought that this is because they were drawing a balance between light and conservation of heat! A long row of windows would be cold in the days before efficient glazing. Same principle as not having a back door which would encourage through draughts..... Hey Farm and the houses on Crow Row were built with only one entrance. All back to back houses have the same advantage.

[Stanley]

If you stand in the SE corner of Letcliffe Park and look down towards King Hill it's easy to forget that the green track that connects the high lane with what is now Kelbrook New Road, Hodge Lane, was once a main route down into the Eastern side of the town. It's clearly marked on the 1570 map of Whitemoor.



Hodge Lane runs downhill across the hillside just in front of King Hill with its lone tree. I find it interesting to speculate why some routes died out like this one while others, like Barnoldswick Lane/Manchester Road develop over the years into major roads.

[Stanley]

County Brook is within the Manorial Boundary of Barlick and it's a magnificent water power site. Fo0r various reasons connected with land ownership and riparian rights it never developed beyond what it is now. It's interesting to speculate that given different circumstances it could have developed into a thriving village.



Click to enlarge. County Brook in 1849. Have a search in the gallery for Midgely Estate maps for more information.

[Stanley]

David Whipp reminded us this morning of a partially blocked culvert under the new development at Crow Nest Shed. Excellent that he has alerted the developers and they are taking notice. One of the Forgotten Corners of Barlick is the presence of underground watercourses, out of sight, out of mind. Occasionally this bites us in the bum.... Remember the culvert under Gill Meadows that had been obstructed by subsequent development? I know of one in Hebden Bridge that caused a multi million pound development to be abandoned. Ever since I discovered the details of the failure of underground drainage under stress in July 1932 I have regularly posted here and in my BET articles warning of the possible consequences of neglect. When the supermarket development in Butts was mooted I pointed out the dangers there. David and others have done good work on some of our culverts and it has been reported here but there are still choke points and we would do well to take notice of them.
I have identified what I think are the hot spots and made my feelings known in the right quarters. These are the culvert that carries Gillians Beck under the Bancroft site, the short culvert from the 'waterfall' on Forty steps under the Ouzledale Mill site, the Clough culvert and the culvert that carries Calf Hall Beck under Butts Mill. There are others but these are the most important.
The July 1932 flood was a consequence of an extreme weather event on Whitemoor and since then we have been spared a similar occurrence. My point is that it is generally agreed that such events are becoming more common as changes develop in our climate, we see the results every year the latest being the Boxing Day flood last year. We should take notice, pay attention to the weak points in our infrastructure and take action now before it is too late. This is not 'Crying Wolf', it is a sensible precaution based on evidence. If I lived in certain areas of the town I would be be on my hind legs! Well done David......

[David Whipp]

I think it's 'out of sight, out of mind' for most folk Stanley.

When we have a risk of flooding I go round the critical locations and check what's going on. As well as the culvert locations you mention, the inlet to the culverts beneath the old Westfield Mill site needs checking.

I treated a councillor colleague, Claire Teall, to a tour of the 'interesting' locations after Boxing Day last year to build up knowledge amongst a wider set of people.

Afraid I've not got much faith in official bodies, such as the county council - which is the 'lead local flood authority' - to keep comprehensive records of what there is; local knowledge needs to be maintained.

[Big Kev]

Afraid I've not got much faith in official bodies, such as the county council - which is the 'lead local flood authority' - to keep comprehensive records of what there is; local knowledge needs to be maintained.

Can we not create an online record, administered within the town council? It could be available to everyone, shared knowledge can be useful...