FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

New Road School in 1977.

[Stanley]

Arnold Brown of Salterforth in Bancroft engine house in 1978. I know very little about Arnold apart from the fact he was a distant relative of the Browns who were engineers in Earby and Barnoldswick. He was a friend of Newton Pickles and was the man who taught Newton to play the organ. A very nice man.

[Stanley]

In 1976 this was the view from Bancroft Shed engine house across the dam. Everything tidy and in its place..... I miss it.

[Stanley]

The Lancashire boilers that once served Bankfield Shed going down the road in 1978.

[Stanley]

The Ulva at the jetty, Isle of Eigg. The Calmac ferry couldn't get in to the jetty in 1989 so Calmac supported a 'Fly' boat which transferred passengers from the jetty to the Loch Mor which hove to on the outside of the bay in the shelter of Castle Island. In rough weather it was a bit hairy getting from one boat to the other but I don't think they ever lost anyone!
I have an idea that there is a deep water jetty for Eigg now and the fly boat is no more.

[Stanley]

The Clyde puffer Jenny hard at work. Note that she came to grief in 1954 when she went aground on the Isle of Eigg in a fog.



In 1988 Mary and I were on Eigg and we were told that Jenny was still there. Her remains were lodged in a cave on the NE coast of the island and was accessible at low tide so we went looking for her. I doubt if many people have accessed her since. A forgotten corner.

[Stanley]

The surgery in Park Road in 1983 before it was remodelled. The cast iron frame on the side of the building was the base of a rainwater tank and carried a nameplate showing it was cast at Bracewell's foundry in Burnley.

[Stanley]

Gisburn House Horse trials in 1982. We forget that in those days when it was a private house it was a very horsey establishment with it's own racing stables and annual horse show.

[Stanley]

Almost 50 years ago my friend Robert Aram bought the former mill lodge for the CPA works at Barrow between Whalley and Clitheroe. After spending a lot of money tidying it up and landscaping he opened it as a trout fishery. This 1977 sign was his bid for clubs to rent it for fishing. It still exists as Pendle View Fishery but I'm not sure whether it's currently open.
When Robert owned it is it was named after Emma his black Labrador....



Emma always took my chair in the engine house as her rightful place.

[PanBiker]

It still exists as Pendle View Fishery but I'm not sure whether it's currently open.

It's currently closed and has had quite a few owners over the years. Company House currently lists it as owned by a dormant company. Last time it was up for sale they were asking 1.25 million for the site.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Ian.





April 2002. Now you see it, and then you don't. Wild's garage demolition.

[Stanley]

This vain hope used to be at the bottom end of the Green next to Skipton Road. It never worked but I think we could have predicted that.

[Stanley]

1992 in the engine house at Masson Mill, Matlock Bath. Robert Aram and Stanley with the Jubilee engine that used to be at Padiham but was at risk so Robert bought it and moved it to Masson. Just like that! It was a very complicated and expensive job and took us many years but I think it was worth it. Robert paid for everything out of his own pocket and men have got knighthoods for less. All a forgotten corner but that doesn't matter, the engine is safe!

[Stanley]

The original Arkwright water frame at the Lancashire Textile Museum at Helmshore. The only example left in the world. The forgotten corner is that due to a set of circumstances that go back thirty years the Arkwright machinery is actually owned by a private individual but even though many know all about this, the fiction is still preserved that it is the property of the Lancashire Museums Service.
There are still some of us left who know where the bodies are buried.

[Stanley]

The dolly scourer at Higher Mill Helmshore. Part of the work I did to rebuild the old fulling machinery at the mill. I stripped the scourer down and completely rebuilt it and to this day I marvel at the quality of my work. I was working on it while visitors were coming through and one day a man asked me where I'd served my apprenticeship. I told him I was just a bum fitter who had fallen into the job. It turned out he owned a firm that did carpentry at Colne and he said if ever I wanted a job I was to call him as he doubted if any of his men could have done as good a job. I've never forgotten that, it boosted my ego no end!

[Stanley]

This is definitely a forgotten corner. I have had this image for years and don't know who it is or anything about it. But it's such a striking image. I wish I knew who it was!

[Stanley]

Here's another unknown image from my archive. This one is particularly annoying as it is one of my negs! But I have no recollection of it at all. Can anyone help me? (I did wonder whether it was the old Colne Grammar School...)

[Stanley]

Will someone tell me why I still have a stock of clog irons, filler pegs for the holes in the soles and clog nails?
Surely a forgotten corner now....

[PanBiker]

No idea Stanley, probably the same reason that I have lots of old technology and redundant stuff as well.

No clue on your previous photo but I don't think its Colne Grammar School, not big enough and the wrong shape. The approach looks similar though.

[plaques]

Mystery man Try this Stanley. Mystery man.

File:Atelier Nadar - Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), Baumeister (Zeno Fotografie).jpg

[Stanley]

Very similar Ken but I don't think it's the same bloke....

Today's forgotten corner is pain......

038
FORGOTTEN CORNERS 2

It struck me last week that there are forgotten corners in our minds as well as the built environment. We tend to forget how things were many years ago and one of these is pain relief. I was reading Stephanie Carter's new book 'Getting Better. Health Care in Earby Down the Years' (you can get a copy by asking in the library or getting in touch with Earby Local History Society) and she mentioned Mr Atkinson the dentist as being regarded as 'a cruel man'.
I know nothing about modern dental practice because my knowledge stopped in 1959 when Mr Pinder on Park Avenue pulled all my teeth and made dentures for me. As an aside I should say he did a good job they are still serving me well after fifty three years! This would be unheard of these days but was quite common fifty years ago. Many brides had a visit to the dentist to get false teeth paid for as a wedding present, it guaranteed them freedom from the dentist for life. I know this will shock youngsters but what you have to remember is that standards of equipment and anaesthesia were nowhere near what they are today. The one thing you could be sure of getting from your dentist was pain. Our school dentist in the 1940s was still using a drill powered by him pedalling furiously while he worked on your teeth. If you were lucky you got an injection of cocaine in your gums to numb the pain but teeth were still drilled and pulled without any pain relief.
I have personal experience of this as in about 1952 I had a bad toothache, the sort that gives you flashing lights behind your eyes! I put up with it as long as I could hoping in vain that it would go away but in the end I had to give in and called at Mr Atkinson's surgery in Croft House on Station Road. He had been in business as a dentist for a long time, Betty Corner (nee Greenwood) told me that his first office was in the end house in Ribblesdale Terrace in 1902 so he was definitely one of the old school. He looked in my mouth, jabbed the offending tooth with something sharp which immediately got my attention and said it was rotten and would have to come out. I was hard up in those days so I asked him what it would cost. He said that for five shillings (25p) I could have an injection of cocaine and the tooth pulled. For half a crown he would pull it without the pain relief. I only had four and sixpence in my pocket so I went for the cheaper option.
I learned something about old dentist's chairs at this point. They were made so that if someone clasped their hands on your head and pulled you back and down in the chair you were immobile. The reason I found this out was that Mrs Atkinson came in and pinned me in the chair while her husband went straight in, grasped the tooth with his forceps, pushed it down and then screwed it from side to side before pulling it out and throwing it in the corner. (I suspect this was so that I wouldn't see if any roots had been broken. The main thing I remember is that it wasn't all that painful, just one blinding flash and then complete relief. I could well be the last person in Barlick to have a tooth pulled like this. Good historical research and evidence but I could have done without it! Give Mr Atkinson his due, he might have been getting on a bit but he did it quickly and efficiently and I never had any problems with it afterwards. Just before he pulled it he had gone into the back room and I heard the unmistakeable clink of a bottle neck on a glass so when he asked me was I all right I offered him the other two shillings I had in my pocket for a dose of the medicine he had taken. He gave me a large glass of whisky to rinse out with but cautioned me against swallowing it. I took no notice of course, rinsed, swallowed and went out four shillings and sixpence and one rotten molar lighter.
I realise that the younger end will have difficulty believing this story but every word is true. This is what I meant when I said there were forgotten corners in our minds. We forget that as little as fifty years ago our expectations of medical practice were far different than they are today. We didn't automatically assume that procedures would be pain-free or that a doctor could cure just about anything. You may find it hard to believe but there are people alive in Barlick today who can remember a child's tonsils being taken out on the kitchen table at home without anaesthetic. Even common diseases like measles and scarlet fever could be fatal. This was accepted as part of life, our bible teachers made sure we got the message, even growing food couldn't escape, get your Bible out and read Genesis 3: 17-19. 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life'. Childbirth and illness were also promised to be full of pain and sorrow. No wonder we accepted pain as a normal part of life!
Pain cropped up in other contexts as well. Corporal punishment of children is seen as abuse these days. In my childhood it was common. We got the cane regularly at school and at the grammar school I attended 'six of the best' was a common punishment and I can assure you that you never forgot it. No, I'm not going to say it never did us any harm because sixty years later I can still remember the fear and the pain. It's good that we have left those days behind us when apart from caning in schools, flogging and hanging were accepted punishments for criminals.
See what I mean about forgotten corners? If you know anyone who is over seventy years old ask them what they remember. They'll give you examples I haven't touched on. No matter how bad things seem to be today, we are far better off in many ways than we were then. Mind you, it wasn't all bad. I have only spent £10 on one dental repair (no pain!) since 1959 so there was something to be said for having all your teeth pulled. Perhaps the bride's wedding present was a good idea after all!

SCG/09/10/12
1121 words.



Station Road in about 1900. Croft House was already built.

[Stanley]

the unexciting clock on what used to be the Council Office at Post Office Corner. Totally mundane but also totally reliable. More than can be said about the all singing all dancing clock on the new bus shelter that replaced it which has been a total failure. Timekeeping at the end of Station Road is a forgotten corner!

[Stanley]

Cross Keys corner in 1983. I love interrogating these old images to remember what has changed. Not only the cars but the buildings.....

[Stanley]

The west end of Philip Street or, as it used to be called, Back Lane. Historically this was the main west to east route cross Barlick from the ford in Walmsgate which in turn was the main route. This became forgotten when Church Street took over as the main route to the east.

[Stanley]

Gus Brennand's image of Barnsey, Moss Shed and Long Ing Shed in the late 1970s. Barnsey and the associated buildings which used to be a farmhouse are no longer there, a forgotten corner. Notice that this was before the canal bridge was replaced by a modern structure.