FORGOTTEN CORNERS

[Stanley]

34 years later Mary and I found the remains of Jenny jammed in a cave only accessible at low tide on the NE coast of Eigg.

[Stanley]

The old system of filing papers by spiking them is verboten now on the grounds of health and safety but there has never been a more simple or sffective way of filing small papers in date order. It is still used at Graham Towers......

[Stanley]

Not really a forgotten corner but one of my favourite snaps...... I don't think it's one of mine.....

[Stanley]

Cloth in the warehouse at Bancroft Shed waiting to be shipped out. For almost a century this was the lifeblood of Barlick. Now it's a forgotten corner. (But we still need cloth!)

[Stanley]

Fire bug report from Telegraph and Argus, Monday 4th of May 1959.

BIG HUNT FOR CRAVEN FIRE-RAISER.
Top level police talks after mill blaze sends the damage total up to nearly £1million.
By Donald Alred. T and A crime reporter.

The Chief Constable of the West Riding, Sir Henry Studdy, today called a top-level conference as his force embarked upon one of their biggest man-hunts – to catch the West Craven fire-raiser.

The conference follows a blaze at Dotcliffe Mill, Kelbrook, near Earby, which is estimated to have caused £200,000 worth of damage and which brought the total losses caused by arson in the area to nearly £1million in six months.

I understand that fires started at five or six points in the mill and yesterday, Mr H Powell, Chief Scientific officer from the North Eastern Forensic Science laboratory, Harrogate, spent several hours there.

It is believed that the fire-raiser was still inside the mill while the alarm was being raised.

Police concern over occurrences in West Craven was indicated by the talks called at Wakefield HQ by Sir Henry Studdy.

Present were his two assistants Mr H Lofthouse and Mr George Blackburn and the County’s CID chief, Detective Chief Superintendent George Metcalfe.

From that conference it is expected that there will be an increase in the tempo of investigations by the calling in of more officers from various parts of the county.

This afternoon, Mr Metcalfe went to Earby Police station- headquarters for the enquiry.

SHIPLEY DETECTIVE.
He had summoned to Earby his special ‘murder squad’ team with two of the senior officers in Det. Chief Inspector Jack Handley of Shipley and Det. Chief Inspector Jack Eddington of Harrogate.

Saturday’s fire was discovered at 10:10pm by Mr William Henry Walton, a joiner, of 59 Dotcliffe Road Kelbrook who went outside his house to lock up for the night.

He noticed a flicker of fire through a window of door shutters at one end of the mill.

Mr Walton ran to the house of a mill-worker whom he thought had a key but there was no one in so he set off down the village.

Mr J L Seago[sic] clerk to Earby Urban District Council, heard a commotion outside his door and saw Mr Walton who told him what he had seen. Mr Seago telephoned for the brigade.

It is thought that while Mr Walton was seeking aid the fire-raiser was still inside the mill starting seats of fire for there was no sign of smoke or flames from the main building when Mr Walton first saw this flicker which was well away from the main part of the buildings.

Flames shot into the air as the main portion of the mill crumbled. It took three hours to get the fire under control and the fifty firemen fought the blaze throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Today fire assessors examined the mill and it is hoped to restart in about a fortnight but it is not known whether at that stage it will be possible to start full production. The Dotcliffe Mill has been one of the busiest in Lancashire.

NEW “LINES”.
Tracker dogs were out yesterday in the fields and lanes around Kelbrook and house-to-house enquiries were resumed today while Mr Handley and Mr Eddington followed up one or two other new “lines” that had come to light yesterday.

The village of Kelbrook with it’s population of about 700 was a sad place today. Dotcliffe Mill provides the weekly wage for many of the inhabitants. About 30 of the 130 employees were inside the building doing salvage work.

Among them were Mr Sidney Smith, foreman of the twisting and drawing department and a clerk, Miss Rita Walton, who were sorting out the partially burned records of the departments so that they could prepare a list of new equipment that would be needed for that department. Mr R King, General Manager of Charles Shuttleworth and Company Limited, Dotcliffe’s sister mill at Earby, said that it was intended to step up production at Earby by engaging more employees and it may be that some from Kelbrook are drafted in immediately.

Mr C Lord, General manager of Dotcliffe Mill said “We are certainly not going out of business and although the three-storey section is completely gutted, we hope to be back in part production at least in 14 days”.

Det. Chief Superintendent Metcalfe appeals to anyone in West Craven who can Help with any information – however minute it may seem to them – to contact the police immediately. The fact that it may be a stranger from outside the villages and towns concerned in the fires is not being overlooked.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE.
From the manner in which the premises have been chosen and the scenes of fire set however it would it would appear that the culprit is not only someone who has a considerable knowledge of the West Craven district but also knows the premises well where the fires are being started.

In every instance the premises chosen have been somewhat isolated with green fields on at least one side of the building.

So far as the mill fires are concerned there has been talk of sabotage but the police have no facts at their disposal to back up this suggestion. Whoever the culprit is he worked quickly and made a speedy escape before the arrival of firemen or police.

SIX MONTH LIST
Here is a complete list of the fire-raisings:
November 18th 1958; Fernbank Mill, Barnoldswick, damage estimated at £30,000. Barnsey Shed of S Pickles and Sons Ltd, Barnoldswick, extensive damage. Attempt on the shed of John Widdup and Sons, Barnoldswick.
January 26th 1959; Moss Shed, Barnoldswick. Two private houses at Kelbrook. Barn at Kelbrook. Barn at Long Preston.
February 20th 1959. Springfield Infant’s School, Earby, extensive damage. Earby Cricket Club Pavilion, fire confined to the refreshment room. Attempt on Alder Hill School, Earby.
February 22nd 1959. Cragg Top Farm, Silsden, barn on fire.
February 25th. Garage at Earby, attempt.
March 9th 1959. Fire at Kelbrook Garage, damage slight.
March 16th 1959. Well House Farm, £60 damage. Ivy Cottage Farm, Carleton and Royds Farm, Kelbrook, two barns.
April 18th 1959. Lane Ends Farm, Lothersdale, hay stack fire.
May 2nd 1959. Dotcliffe Mill fire, damage £200,000.

[Transcribed by SCG 18 June 2005 from an old cutting donated by Robert King of New Zealand. He was Shuttleworth’s manager in Earby at the time of the fire.]

[Stanley]

Dotcliffe Mill after the fire in 1959.

[Stanley]

The unique double bridge over the canal at East Marton. Modified over the years to improve the slope on the main road through the village.

[Tripps]

I came across this photo yesterday. It was just like the bacon we could buy from the 'corner shop'.

It was called Rody Bacon I've googled it - and there seeems to be some controversy as exactly what that means, and even how it is spelled. Rhody, Rhoded ? Since it waas the only bacon they sold, I take to mean the full flitch rolled up - back and streaky combined. I would stand to be corrected on that though.

That was the same shop I first bought Nescafe instant coffee in sachets, and some strange stuff called yoghurt in small pots.

bacon.jpg

[Stanley]

That looks like the shoulder end of what was known in the trade as a Spencer when I was buying bacon..... It was a rolled full side without the ham of course.

[Stanley]

This was my favourite bacon, home cured fat bacon. As far as I was concerned the fat was white meat. I don't think there would be much sale for this in the supermarket today. It tasted superb in a bacon sandwich with a smidgeon of brown sauce. A forgotten corner for me now.

[Stanley]

The cottage pig was often the source of fat bacon and this was in the days when people weren't frightened of fat because they were doing enough hard work to burn it off! The Industrial Revolution was powered by saturated fat!
These particular pigs are at the Black Country Museum in Dudley and the cottage was a miner's cottage rebuilt brick by brick at the museum incorporating its bent walls as well as the pigs.

[Stanley]

The Post Office in 1955. Less traffic, no guard rails or CCTV, the clock and stamp machines outside the PO set in a fascia plate of solid copper.
There used to be a brass insert in a paving slab outside the PO which stated that the PO had not dedicated and did not intend to dedicate a designated area of flags as a Public Right of Way. It vanished when the PO became a bookies. No pillar box as there was a one incorporated in the copper fascia of the PO.

[Cathy]

That’s how I remember the Post Office.

[Stanley]

Me too Cathy. Thanks to Mick Brett for posting the picture.....

[PanBiker]

There was also a public telephone to the left of the entrance foyer. Sorting Office was upstairs.

[Stanley]

The Craven Harriers meeting at East Marton in November 1932.
See this link for evidence that they are now a forgotten corner. (LINK)

[PanBiker]

As is the pub. Our Carla used to work table in the restaurant when she was at college. Dad Taxi at Midnight was a regular job for me at the time.

[Stanley]

Has it shut? If so you're right, another forgotten corner.

[PanBiker]

Its been shut for a couple of years Stanley.

[Stanley]

The 2000 gallon stainless steel Darham Tank off the tanker I used to drive for West Marton Dairy. After I left the dairy the motor was scrapped but the dairy kept the tank to use as a reservoir for the caustic wash that the pipes were flushed with in the dairy. Here it is later fulfilling the same function at Bail Farm in the village.

[Stanley]

This is a forgotten corner now.....

[Stanley]

How old do you have to be to remember one of these? It's a shilling in the slot gas meter and every home had one at one time. A man came round from the Gas Board to empty the meter and take the shillings back to the office. It seems incredible now but the system worked well.

[Cathy]

I have no recollection whatsoever Stanley ..

[Stanley]

You must be too young Cathy......

[Tripps]

How old do you have to be to remember one of these?

As old as me anyway. They took an old penny, not a shilling.

I remember - from probably before or about 1950 - the 'gas man' coming to empty the meter, from the cupboard under the stairs. . He stacked the coins up at the bottom of the stairs - in shilling stacks, then calculated how much was due, and there was usually a "rebate" to be returned.