OneGuyFromBarlick

The squatter's hut in Walmsgate looks an interesting little structure.
What's the history behind it?

Look in the LTP for Ernie Roberts' transcripts for the full story, he knew the two ladies who lived there in the 1930s. There was a move to knock it down as an eyesore but I pointed out that it had all the attributes of a squatter's hut as it was built on an odd corner of land where the old road used to go up from the ford to Back Lane, the main road through Barlick from Colne direction originally. I also asked them to cost the revetment they would need to build to ensure no subsidence of the other buildings on the slope. It was decided it was cheaper to leave it where it is and refurbish it. This resulted in the old red telephone box being saved as well.

Weaver's cottages in Walmsgate. Notice that the old chapel was still a furniture store at the time but not Procter's. It was dealing in second-hand furniture and house clearances.

It's always interesting to keep your eyes open for older buildings embedded in the townscape. I suspect this was originally a barn and the infill a small cottage.

A clashing gate at the entrance to the front gardens of Wellhouse Square. Note the re-use of old stones and remember that when the Square was built by Bracewell for his workers at Wellhouse Mill it was surrounded by fields and stray animals had to be kept out.

The double road bridge over the canal at East Marton.

Ah the double bridge at East Marton. Famously drawn by Wainwright in his Guide to the Pennine Way and where he also asks walkers to consider why it is as it is.

Richard Broughton

Stanley wrote: A clashing gate at the entrance to the front gardens of Wellhouse Square. Note the re-use of old stones and remember that when the Square was built by Bracewell for his workers at Wellhouse Mill it was surrounded by fields and stray animals had to be kept out.

I think a school mate of mine, Jack Pearce, used to live on Wellhouse Square. I had a look on Google maps but couldn't locate it.
I seem to remember it was a row of nice old cottages

Look again for a square North of, and sharing front gardens with, East Hill Street.



Swimmers at Greenberfield Locks in 1958.

Wendy, why not post old field here?

You are right Mick, Jack did live on Wellhouse Square and in the flat above his mums shop on Albert Road at one time. The shop was "Tot's to Teen's" and it was here that Jack inherited blue legs for a while after we jumped on the bus after school to get some "shrink to fit" Levi's from the Army and Navy stores in Skipton. Of course Jack being Jack had to immediately jump in a bath of cold water with said jeans on to get the perfect fit. I seem to remember we played Jimmy Hendrix records from the Dansette in his bedroom throughout the ritual. Al recorded with comic caricatures in Jack's red and black pocket books. I wonder if he still has all those?

Garden fronts between Wellhouse Street and Railway Street. Note that these were protected by a clashing gate at one time.

Stanley wrote:

Frank Street in 2002 after an attack on the hanging baskets.

That is my Brother Ben Suleman,hope he wasn't the hanging basket hater!

He doesn't look drunk enough!



Haworth's of Nelson delivering pop in Frank Street in 1980.

Clashing Gates , funny how many of these have been removed , while the wider alleyways are often getting gateing fitted in alleygate programmes around Burnley/Pendle and other areas to keep the undesirables out.

The clashing/kissing gate at the foot of Letcliffe Park.

Earby Old Lane about 1900.

Esp Lane Bottom at Townhead. The footprints of these houses look as though they are the original sites of pre-medieval housing. No planning rules then!

Lime kiln in the canal bank opposite Lower Park Marina.

Good one of Greenberfield Locks there.

My dad used to swim there as a lad. He was down there one time with his arm in pot having broken it falling off the dining table at home, which is a puzzle in itself...

Larking about he fell in the canal, got out as fast as he could, saw the pot wasn't right and took it upon himself to put it back to how he thought it should be and then let it dry in the sun.

The result was a somewhat bent forearm for the rest of his days.........

Richard Broughton

I like it! Those were the days. A friend of my dad, Harry White, once cut the end of his thumb off on a circular saw. After he and the dog, a bulldog called Buller (A general in the Boer War), had fought for the severed end he washed it, put it back in place and used a large Home Guard field dressing to cover it. Weeks later he was at our house playing cards and my dad said it might be time to take the dressing off as it was covered with a thick coating of paint (Harry was a signwriter). They went into the kitchen and I heard them laughing. The severed part had healed back on but was twisted round and looked very peculiar. Harry said it was very handy for pressing doorbell buttons....



Core from one of the boreholes at Whitemoor waterworks. It's still there in Letcliffe Park.

The valve house at the end of the pipeline from Winterburn reservoir where it empties into the canal at Greenberfield. Built 1893.

An old postcard of Greenberfield locks.

And Laycock's buses used to fly round those bends!! Nolic

And meet our old Bedford wagons from West Marton Dairy occasionally. The peg on the back tailboard support could zip an aluminium panel out very easily! In about 1990 I took our large coach up the road to Greenberfield during the Carleton College visit to Barlick. Ivor, the driver, managed to get a large modern coach round the sharp bend onto the canal bridge but only just. He was a good driver.



In 1977 the remains of the ice-breaking boat were still visible on the bend at Greenberfield where the canal turned away from the road on its way towards Barnoldswick.

The fields behind the ice-breakers final resting place are now Whitworth Way.

On Stanley's picture, you can see the original route of Coates Lane before it was diverted by the canal company to its present route alongside the canal. The section of old lane downhill of the canal is clearly visible and is still a public right of way.

What was to become the Whitworth Way development originally got planning permission in Barlick Urban District Council days. In the early days of Pendle Council, when the development hadn't been carried out, the council wanted to remove the consent from the land. However, the landowners/developers had made a nominal start by scraping out some footings and taking pictures of the operation. These they used to show that they'd 'made a start', which protects the permission.

When developers eventually came along years later with plans to actually build on the fields, they could have built the 1960's style development already approved. The layout of the estate and the absence of any open space/play area for children or (at the time) pavements on Coates Lane are all down to the planning permission granted decades earlier.