OneGuyFromBarlick

I think they had Maureen O'Hara or some other female lead of the time standing in trench at some point when in the same scene. CGI could sort all that now "a la Hobbit", but the other way round

My mum must have had a thing about short blokes as she was a real fan of Alan Ladd and my dad was only about 5'4". She was 5' 9". Nolic

You seemed to like that one so here's another....

Daniel Meadow's pic of a wartime poster in the warehouse at Bancroft.

Fred Cope in Bancroft warehouse in 1978. He's bundling cloth ready for the carrier, not a lot of that about now! Fred was unlucky with the redundancy money, he reached retirement the day before the closure and got nowt. Grossly unfair.....

We forget that extreme weather is nothing new. The winter of 1947.

Great picture - I was only little, but that's how I remember it.

Brought back memories of 1963. We were the top house on Walton Lane Nelson, the snow came up to the 2nd floor windows and we had to dig out to leave the house. Life went on with little disruption, now 2 inch stops play.

Class 1 at the Wesleyan school on Rainhall Road with Isaac Barritt the headmaster in about 1885.

Dogs of Devon Feb 1st 1930. Barlick photographer. Dogs of Devon or Foiled Again was an operetta popular with local societies. Anyone know the concert party?

Unknown concert party at Padiham. They look a jolly lot and were making their own entertainment. I think we have largely lost this these days.....

Once a common sight, this cast iron urinal on the side of the road at Winewall was the last one I knew of. Is it still there?

Stanley wrote:Once a common sight, this cast iron urinal on the side of the road at Winewall was the last one I knew of. Is it still there?

Yes, still going strong.

David Riley in the butcher's shop on Newtown in 2002.

Stanley wrote:

Once a common sight, this cast iron urinal on the side of the road at Winewall was the last one I knew of. Is it still there?

Ashamed to say that I had no idea it was there....I've been up and down that road so many times and never noticed it.

Wendyf wrote:Ashamed to say that I had no idea it was there....I've been up and down that road so many times and never noticed it.

Maybe because of your gender Wendy?

David, are you suggesting that I would be more observant if I was a man, or that I'd instinctively recognize a Victorian urinal when I saw one?

Never mind Wendy, you'll notice it the next time you go up there.



Here's another I found, under Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Wendyf wrote:David, are you suggesting that I would be more observant if I was a man, or that I'd instinctively recognize a Victorian urinal when I saw one?

Observation skills not in doubt... more likely to recognise a useful object? (Now, where's that she-wee?)

You might wonder why a clashing gate was needed on the garden fronts at East Hill Street. We forget now that when the gardens were first laid out they were in the middle of green fields and animals had to be excluded from the gardens.

Stanley wrote:

You might wonder why a clashing gate was needed on the garden fronts at East Hill Street. We forget now that when the gardens were first laid out they were in the middle of green fields and animals had to be excluded from the gardens.

Probably just reclamation salvage, and someones whim.

This gate protects the path to the front gardens of Wellhouse Square which I think I am correct in saying pre-dates the other rows of houses built around it. The path continues along the frontage of the square as well. I think Stanley's explanation for why it is there is perfectly feasible and based on historical evidence rather than some fanciful idea of the why's and wherefores viewed from afar.

Quite! You are wrong Hartley. There are clashing gates on other garden fronts and in other places like Shitten Ginnel. You are right in one respect, the stones in the pic are reclaimed but this is not unusual, useful stones are continually re-used in buildings as well.



Gate at 9 Cragg Row Salterforth. Made by Hartley Wilkinson, blacksmith of Earby and Kelbrook who I think lived here. Rebuilt by SG in 2003. It had been sadly neglected and many elements were rotten but the lady was quite prepared to pay me for my time. I was so glad to do it I only charged her half price, it's a good gate and a piece of history!

Running Bancroft engine was the perfect job. Here's daughter Janet doing her homework I think in the engine house while it was running. She used to call in after school, wait till I had stopped the engine and then we walked back home across the fields. Show me anywhere in modern industry where this could happen today.....

This field below the sharp bend on Folly Lane is called Causeway Carr. You can see the line that the road up to the Weets used to follow through the field before it was diverted to give less of a slope on the track. This follows the line of the original track that ran through Barlick joining the west coast to the East coast and was the M62 of the Bronze Age. When I enquired about it the Lancashire Archaeologist told me it was a major route for transporting gold from Ireland to the Baltic states. It passes through the huge hilltop earthworks at Middop,