FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

Not a current image but this is how Butts Beck is running over the Corn Mill dam this morning. As you all know by now I constantly draw attention to our becks and culverts. We tend to forget just how destructive a flood caused by a blocked culvert can be.



In 1932 we found out just how destructive water can be. Note that the weft skips and boxes washed down from Wild's yard above Bancroft were a significant component of the blockages. It could happen again. We must be aware of the Forgotten Corners which are our watercourses and keep them clear.

[Tizer]

Coincidentally, I've written to the new Somerset Rivers Authority this morning warning them of a drainage ditch that isn't maintained. No-one would take responsibility for it but I'm hoping the SRA will be more helpful and take some action before it overflows in the future.

[Stanley]

Go public with it Tiz. I am reasonably certain that my banging on about this for years has alerted opinion and made a small difference. Mind you it helps if you have an active representative like David Whipp!



Calf Hall weaving shed in 1932 after the culvert under the mill had broken into the weaving shed. We forget how damaging flood-water is until it happens!

[Stanley]

An old manhole in Hill Street. I always keep an eye on manholes and gulley grates, they can tell you a lot about what's happening! This one in Hill Street hasn't been lifted for a long time and I have no idea what it was giving access to. However it is evidence that there is something down there and what intrigues me is what exactly it is. Over the years many piped services have been installed in the town and not all of them were gas , water , electricity, sewage or as today, telephone lines. For instance, there was a Pipeline from Wellhouse Mill to the railway station dating back to the days when Billycock Bracewell owned the mill and had an interest in the branch railway line to Earby, he was one of the promoters of course. If you look in the CHSC minute books you'll find that when they took over Wellhouse they found that one boiler was still lit even though the mill was empty. It was making steam to power the pump that forced water up to the station. This was of course installed before we had mains water. There was a brief argument with the Midland Railway who refused to pay for the service and CHSC shut down the boiler forcing the MR to go onto mains water.
Again, there was a pipeline from the gasworks up to the railway yard which was used to convey the valuable by-products from the gasification of coal; tars, phenols and lighter fractions, to tank railway cars in the sidings.



I did this pic a few years ago and the stain on the wall is gradually fading but it's a relic from a spill in the yard when filling the tank wagons with tar. It's so faint these days that I doubt if anyone notices it but if you look carefully at the wall to the right of the steps down from Co-operative Street you can still find it. Definitely a Forgotten Corner! By the way, that cast iron pipe will still be there of course!

[Stanley]

Worth mentioning that I first realised what that stain was when I saw exactly the same stains in the railway yard at Skipton where they did exactly the same thing, loaded rail tank wagons with the by-products from Skipton gas works.



Robin Higgins' picture of the stand pipe at Barlick Station with the level crossing in the background. One peculiarity about the level crossing was the fact that the redundant original signal was never changed. This pattern was superseded very early in rail history.

[Stanley]

For many years the mainstay of bus services in Barlick was Laycock's Buses. Here's picture of the fleet in 1925. They were based near the gasworks and corn mill. I have an idea that Pennine buses based in Gargrave also had services into Barlick at one time.



Here's a pic that will bring back memories. The Ribble X43 service, still the same route number and still serving the town but run by Transdev as the Witchway service. These buses were not painted in the normal Ribble colours but were the White Ladies, a better class of bus and running between Southport and Manchester. At almost 50 miles this was a true long-distance service.

[David Whipp]

Present day X43s are a higher standard of bus too; more comfortable and equipped with wi-fi.

[Stanley]

Does the route still extend to Southport?

[David Whipp]

Skipton to Manchester, and the service gives a fast journey between Barlick and Burnley as well.

For Southport nowadays you'd catch the 280 to Preston and change there.

[Tizer]

That railway engine at Barlick station appears to be 41327, an Ivatt 2-MT 2-6-2 tank engine, built at Derby works in April 1952 and withdrawn in 1964. Weight: 63 tons 5 cwt; driving wheel size: 5' 0"; Boiler Pressure: 200lb/sq in. Not that you needed to know that of course...

[Stanley]

Information is power Tiz!
Here's a bit more information.....

Extract from ‘The Midland Railway North of Leeds’ by Peter E Baughan; published 1955 by David and Charles.
Finally, of the schemes absorbed in the 1890s, we come to the Barnoldswick Railway. This had been authorised as far back as 1867 to make a line about 2 miles in length from the Leeds & Bradford Extension just south of Earby. It had been opened for traffic on February 8, 1871, and the Midland had worked the line from the beginning. In March, 1898, the Barnoldswick company asked the Midland if it would buy. As the line was trouble-free and regularly paid out a reasonable if fluctuating dividend -on June 30, 1897, it was 5 per cent.-the Midland agreed and the necessary powers were obtained in 1899. These three small additions then, the Guisley Yeadon & Rawdon, the Y.D.R., and the Barnoldswick, together with the new Heysham line shortly to be in service, completed the build up of the Midland system north of Leeds. On November 16, 1922 the traffic committee authorized the fitting of steam heating apparatus in the nine carriages and two engines working the Barnoldswick branch service, nearly twenty years after the main line coaches had been so fitted and barely a month before the Midland ceased to exist.

[Stanley]

Thinking about the railway I went digging this morning. I found that we had lost Robin Higgins article so I have reposted it.
I also had a look in the index and came up with the following:
From Parliamentary Sessions 1866. The Craven Junction railway proposed a link between the Ribblesdale Railway (yet to be built) and Earby, via Barlick. This never came to anything and in 1867 the branch line was proposed, the Act passed and the railway opened in 1871.
In May 1904 the Barnoldswick and Gisburn Light Railway sought powers for a single line branch from the LYR's Chatburn and Hellifield branch just north of Gisburn Station connecting with the MR's Barnoldswick branch. This failed because the LYR refused to allow a junction at Gisburn. Nine years later in 1913 the scheme was put forward again without the junction at Gisburn and the LYR agreed but the outbreak od WW1 stopped the development.
The definitive dates for the Barnoldswick Branch are opened February 8th 1871. Closed to passengers 27th September 1965 and to freight on 1st August 1966.
The Midland Railway ran the line from its inception but actually bought it in 1898.
When the CHSC bought Wellhouse Mill in 1889 and stopped pumping water to the station the MR came to an arrangement with the Gasworks who pumped water to the station until 2nd June 1922 when the station was connected to the mains.
From BUDC Papers, 9th November 1905. Letter to Midland Railway pointing out that 35,200 gallons a week was being pumped to the station from the gas works. A figure of 2/- per 1000 gallons is mentioned but it's not clear if this is the charge to MR or the cost of the pumping, I suspect the former. The BUDC asked for a new agreement.

[Stanley]

When I interviewed Billy Brooks for the LTP in 1978 he was about 100 years old, nobody really knew exactly. He was a very accurate informant and one thing he told me that has always intrigued me is that on the small triangle outside what used to be Bolton's decorator's shop there was a pump that he had seen working. He was not sure what it was for. Could this have been the feed to the station? Is there a bore hole under the triangle?

[Stanley]

Here's a boring image for you! Not many people would know what this is or what it was used for. It's a hydraulic ram. This is a very clever invention whereby a fall of water can be harnessed to pump a proportion of the water uphill to a higher location where it can be used. Have a look at THIS for a good description of the technology. As far as I know, this particular ram is still in place at Hall Spout, Salterforth.



Here it is in 1982. Harold Duxbury told me it was installed by the Gledstone Estate to pump water up for it's properties behind Salterforth.

Some of you with good memories may remember hearing a regular thumping noise emanating form somewhere between Lane Bottoms and the properties higher up Tubber Hill. I think it was still working into the 1980s but am not sure about this. The noise was a hydraulic ram pumping water up the hill.
I came across rams in various places and once when I was researching Slaidburn and found one there I traced the firm that had made it to Accrington where to my surprise I found that not only did they have complete records for the ram I was interested in but were still in business making rams. They were all going for export to under-developed countries where they were still a useful and efficient solution to many problems.

[Stanley]

My posts over the last few days have reminded me that there is another Forgotten Corner that I have never mentioned specifically. The redundant network of service pipes like the by-product main from the gas works to the sidings and the old water main from Wellhouse to the station. I can think of many other examples: The water main from the Corn Mill to Wellhouse Mill. The connection between the balance pond that I am sure existed in the Parrock to Clough Dam. The connection between Old Coates Mill lodge where the Rolls Royce car park is now and old mill site.
Newton once told me that there used to be a local myth about secret tunnels under the town, mostly connected with Gill Church. He asked Johnny about this and he said that it stemmed from the fact that every now and then an excavation to install services in the late 19th century broke into old, forgotten culverts and drains which sparked conjecture.



Here's an example. How many people have noticed or have any idea what this large CI pipe is in the beck bottom at the Corn Mill?
Then there are the redundant bore-holes. There was one at Calf Hall next to the lodge. There is one on the site of the old laundry at Wellhouse and a very big one 185ft deep that was on the corner where the two dams met at Wellhouse. The evidence for the latter is in the Calf Hall Shed minute books if you take the trouble to dig for it. I suspect that the major part of the old Bowker Drain from Kelbrook New Road to the beck in Victory Park is now redundant, so much construction has been done along its course. Then there is the culvert under the canal that drains the meadow opposite Lower Park Marina.
There will be many more that I have no knowledge of so if you are ever digging in the town and hit something unexpected don't be surprised!

[David Whipp]

I've wondered about the cast iron pipe in Stocks Beck, Stanley -and have taken pictures of it from time to time... are you going to post it in Mystery Objects?

[Stanley]

Could do David. It's a tailpipe discharging the waste water that has been used in the mill. If it was from the water wheel or the steam engine it could just be dumped, no need for a pipe in the beck. Therefore I suspect it's the tail pipe from the water turbine we know was installed in the mill. Using a pipe like that to the lowest level possible ensures that there is a suction effect that enhances the output.

[Stanley]

Tiz commented on the fact that if the Somerset Levels had not been drained they would by now have built up into higher land, not as prone to flooding. I agreed and pointed out that this is what happens when silt builds behind an obstruction in a water course like a weir. Here's a pic of Clough Mill Dam which illustrates this. The level of the ground on the upstream side of the dam is far higher than that below. This process hasn't stopped, the levels are still rising. This increases the possibility of flood risk and should be recognised. For another example go upstream and look at the site of the original dams at Ouzledale Mill, they are well above the level of the weir now. These are Forgotten Corners because even though the trash screen is maintained, the general rise in the ground level is not recognised.

[Stanley]

I was once told that this iron post at the top of the brew down to Butts used to protect the corner of a building further up the street. I suppose it was put there to stop vehicle passage down the hill. I think you'd have to have been desperate to try it!

[plaques]

Perhaps not a completely forgotten corner but some elements of this building are heading that way. The building now occupied by Windles Funeral Services in Skipton Rd has been identified by Pendle Council as “’Sherbrooke’ is a sizeable, double-fronted Edwardian villa which contrasts with the smaller terrace houses found elsewhere on that road. Its imposing frontage has wide doors and large bay windows incorporating stone mullions and stained glass.”
It is worth noting that ‘Sherbrooke’ is the original house name whereas the surrounding terraced houses are all numbered.

Originally the home of Dr McMaster-Glen it was sold to Windles around 1957. The first clue to the original ownership lies in the date stone that sits high above the door.

Besides showing the date of construction it also the initials of Thomas and Margaret Mc Master-Glen. The Connecting latin “ET” between the initials may be a reflection of his medical background.

Born in Cardross Scotland, in 1878, Dr McMaster-Glen’s father was Archibald Glen an engine fitter. His first wife was Margaret Alice Smith, who he married in Barrow in Furness, died in 1936 at the age of 59 while still at Sherbrooke. Records show that was buried in Caldbeck, Cumbria. After selling the property Dr McMaster-Glen moved to Embsay where he died in 1965.

In a previous OG posting Thomo noted that some WW1 memorabilia collected by the Doctor was on exhibition in the early 60s in Federation St. The current status and reason behind the collection are not known.

Much of the above research detail has been supplied by Wendy with initial assistance from Ken Ranson.

[Stanley]

The luck will drop out of that horseshoe....... If you read Billy Brooks in the LTP he mentions a doctor called Mac something who tuned up waving a revolver one day around 1900 when a footpath across the fields that were then where the Town Square is was stopped. I suspect it was him.

[Wendyf]

He was just known as Dr Glen and didn't arrive in Barlick till after 1911, so that might not have been the same chap.

[Stanley]

You could well be right Wendy. Billy himself was unsure of the man's name. All he was certain about was that he was a doctor.

[Stanley]

If you take the trouble to read Billy Brooks' evidence in the LTP (78/AB/01) you will find that at the end of the 19th century there was no Albert road and the area between Newtown and the railway station was open fields. Here's what Billy said:

R-One Sunday morning I thought it sounds a bit funny, it were soon on, sounds to be a lot of carry on outside, there were a whole crowd out in’t road. And it seems that there were a chap called Dr McTackham [Billy’s pronunciation. Barrett for 1899 has a Rev. McCallum, a Baptist Minister, could this be him?] or sommat, he’d knocked a damn great top stone of that wall. He said There used to be a road here, reight onto t’canal bank. I’m barn to open it again, and he prised a big [stone] wi’ a crowbar. Well, t’police had to come and stop him you know.

Whereabouts was that Billy?

R-In Newtown. Aye, he he he! There used to be a road down here he says and I’m barn to open it out again, they’ve shut it up! Well he gets this crowbar you know, crash with this here, aye, there used to be some fun! At Saturday night when t’pubs turned out there were nearly allus somebody locked up every Saturday night and they brought ‘em down at Monday morning frae t’police station for t’first train to Skipton, aye.

It seems to be the case that as the town was developing there was some sort of land grab going on over the open space. As is the case now, the first thing you did was to extinguish any other use such as a right of way and it looks as though this was what was happening here. I think this was at the end of what is now Albert Road because Rainhall Road was an established route and I doubt if anyone could stop it. Billy was very accurate. I know this is only a fragment but there is something buried in here.....

[Reading it again I am struck by "right down to the canal bank". Could it have been Rainhall Road?]

[Stanley]

This morning's forgotten corner is not easy to illustrate. It is the social structure of employment in the mills. There was an atmosphere of solidarity and mutual support that extended beyond Xmas decorations in a dirty weaving shed into the wider society of the town. Time were often hard but we have numerous instances of self help to ease temporary circumstances. I don't doubt that on a smaller, more personal scale this still exists but the difference then was mutual involvement of the majority of workers in a single industry. You find the same phenomenon in mining and fishing villages and the harder the work, the deeper the bond.



It was this deep bond that led to events like this march in Earby led by James Rushton at the height of the More Looms dispute with the manufacturers. Seen as evidence of general insurrection by some it was actually a joining together of people fighting to right a wrong. Could it happen today?