OneGuyFromBarlick

Probably the biggest water wheel ever built. The Burden wheel at the Nail Works at Troy, NY State.

Spotted in the Brewery Arts Centre Garden in Kendal

I remember the clock well and of course passed it many times. Legend had it that it marked the exact half-way point between Land's End and John O' Groats but I never found if that was true. It was on the east side of the road about half a mile North of this place, another Shap Landmark.



The Jungle Cafe. The last time I saw it it was derelict and the yard was full of traveller's vans. Sad.... It was a life-saver for many over the years when Shap turned nasty in winter.

The wooden cafe that used to be opposite the entrance to Bankfield in the 1960s. I used to deliver their milk each morning and remember that it always smelt of old frying .......

The back side of Coates Shed on to the canal twenty years ago. All gone now so it qualifies as a forgotten corner.

Got hooked on fishing there when I was about 7 years old. Caught my first fish opposite the small run off pipe which discharged into the canal from Dobsons Dairy as it was then.

Ian, I was once told by an angler that fish were attracted to the scent of whey in the water, they used to use it to make their ground bait up. That would be what was coming out of that pipe at the dairy because they were making cheese then and processing the whey.



Crow Nest cottages and Bank House on the horizon. Just before 1900 I think. New Coates mill on the right at the top of the hill.

Paraffin Jack Grayson, loomsweeper at Bancroft. The lowest job in the industry but essential, without his work the looms couldn't run efficiently. People will write about all the other trades but loomsweepers and cloth carriers are the forgotten legions.....

Possibly the most boring image I have ever posted on the site. It's the only one I have that illustrates loomshifting. Something that happened many times and often on a much larger scale than just this odd one. When a manufacturer moved from one shed to another he almost always took all his looms with him. There were specialised contractors in the town who would take the job on and using horse-drawn transport of course, would accomplish the job efficiently and with no fuss.
Such a task today would be seen as a big complicated job. In those days it was just one more thing that had to be done....

The end of Harrison Street in 2006. This property was built on what was originally the site of a large wooden hut. Ernie Roberts told me that a man called Crabtree who shifted looms for a living worked from there. The BUDC minutes in 1957 recorded it as being in ruinous condition and set in motion the process to force repair or demolition.

There was a time, in this case in 1960, when motor vehicles weren't computers on wheels and life was much more simple! This is a forgotten corner.

Post Office Corner in about 1975. So many things to note.... The Post Office is still open, there is no video surveillance, no pylon and no cameras. We still have the telephone boxes and Council Shop and the old stone bus shelter is still there. All forgotten corners now......

Bob Fort of Brown and Pickles at Queen Street Mill in 1979 working on a repair to the engine. This was one of the last steam engine repairs that B&P did. The job was to fit new piston rings to the high pressure cylinder. The old rings were damaged because the 'engineer' had run the engine without oil. At one time B&P had almost every engine in the district on their books and were kept busy doing repairs like this but that's a forgotten corner now. The firm and the engines are long gone.

Jim Fort and Harry Crabtree from Brown and Pickles working on the lineshaft in the tape room at Bancroft Shed in 1977. I had a hot bearing I couldn't cure and got B&P to come up and sort me out. They were with me within half an hour. That was the sort of service you got from them in those days. That sort of response is a forgotten corner these days in most cases.

Walmsgate on July 3 1932. The aftermath of the flood. It is a forgotten corner now but should not be allowed be so. The possibility of a repetition is still there.

Longfield Lane. So many associations..... The course of the Bronze Age track through Barlick en route to the Baltic States, the road down to Ouzledale Foundry in the valley and the site of what is arguably the oldest bridge in continuous use in the district where the lane crosses the course of Gillian's Beck.

Thornton in Craven in about 1900. Dorothy Lancaster grew up in these cottages and she told me that she used to play in the roadway, there was so little traffic. The road of course was limestone water-bound macadam.

This building in Thornton used to be the Kay's Arms Inn. I have an idea that it was Amos Nelson who closed it when he bought much of the village before buying the Roundell Estate at Gledstone. He was a staunch opposer of drink. (And closed the pub at West Marton also when he bought that estate.

It's a horrible shade of pink now...

No accounting for tastes Kev!

The front door entrance to the Budenberg Gauge Company near Altrincham at Manchester. In small letters on the name plate is the legend; 'Formerly Schäffer & Budenberg', See THIS Wikipedia article explaining why the company had to change its name. The firm was very good to Ellenroad, they refurbished and tested all the pressure gauges at Ellenroad. They are still trading but I do not think they are the same management. I dealt with members of the Budenberg family then.

This image of stonework in the entrance to the back yard at Dam Side Cottages is a good illustration of the plethora of evidence that surrounds us in Barlick. There is a story in the stones and time and time again I have learned that the ability to read that evidence can be a great asset in working out the story of the town.

Holman's shop in the late 19th century. See THIS Wikipedia article about the firm. Holman Brothers was a large manufacturer of mining equipment in Camborne, Cornwall founded in 1801. At one time they employed over 3,500 workers and were the largest employer in the West country.

The headstock of Johnny Pickles' 1956 lathe with the epicycloidal chuck and accessories he made for it together with a turning exercise which he did to test his skill. I have the lathe but I think the chuck and it's accessories are in the Science Museum in London. Ornamental turning on this level is akin to three dimensional chess, no way I could ever aspire to it and so the loss of the chuck doesn't bother me!

The Orme Pick Clock. Arguably the best thing that ever happened to weavers as it meant there was a solid evidential base for paying a wage based on production. How many people would recognise what it is now?