OneGuyFromBarlick

For many years i was puzzled because, having found a clear reference to Hartley Street in Barlick, I couldn't find it on the map. Eventually, and I can't remember how I found it, I was told that it was near the spiritualist church at Townhead but that those properties had been demolished in the late 50s as part of the widening of Colne Road.
I never found the name on a map but was told it was off Smith Street and if you stood at the end of Esp Lane and looked across the road, the spiritualist church and Smith Street and Hartley Street were across the road.

The Weaver's Triangle in Burnley. Looking from Padiham Road towards the Mitre. Posted originally by 'Plaques'.

Looking down into Oldham in 1979. Many chimneys had gone already but there was still a good crop!

Ned Town in 1982. Ned was a well known Barlicker who was a milk retailer and a man who was abreast with all the local gossip.... and had a wicked sense of humour.

New York in 1981. A topical image in view of today's US news......

We have forgotten how ubiquitous horse-drawn transport used to be. Examples like this persisted into the late twentieth century. Looking at the cost of motor transport, is there a place for them once again?

Jack Platt barrowing flue dust away from Bancroft Shed in 1977. In earlier times flue dust was always in demand by flaggers. It was the ideal base for laying flags because it didn't move once compacted because of the sharp edges on the grains of dust. Sand can move and settle, flue dust never did this.

Red Lion Street in Earby around 1900. The pub is on the left where the cart is delivering and you are looking back towards Earby. I have always been fascinated by the little girl and her dog. I asked questions and as far as I can make out she lived at the farm on the left.....

What used to be Mrs Brown's shop behind Castle View, on the end of Crow Row. It was very old established as a tea dealer's and was a busy little shop.

The main gate into Manchester Docks in the glory days when it was the terminus of the Ship Canal and the second busiest port in England. Those days are long gone!

42 years ago. So much has changed.....

Greenwoods is where my dad bought his flat caps.

And so did I Peter.... A good solid firm that suffered as fashions changed and their offering became 'old-fashioned'.



A West Marton Dairies wagon parading in the Skipton Gala of 1953. These galas and parades used to be annual events but have almost totally died out now.

They're still an important annual event in this part of Somerset but called Carnivals. Teams compete for the best entry and spend much of their spare time through the year preparing their entry. The vehicles are now articulated lorries and giant farm tractors pulling long trailers. It takes place in a dark autumn evening and is followed by what the locals call `squibbing' (fireworks) and people carrying burning torches. Very dangerous!

The 'Mammoth' floating crane at Liverpool docks. During the inter-war years this was one of the Wonders of Modern Industry and featured heavily in the press. Today, it would be seen as a tiddler.....

In 1982 this was the last bastion of weaving in Barlick, Bendem's 90 loom shop in Wellhouse Mill. 'Bendem' was short for B&M Holden Brothers and the small shed was shaft driven, the shafts being the last remnant of the transmission system of the mill from the days when it was driven by steam. The only difference was they were driven by electric motors in 1982. Many of my weavers from Bancroft ended their careers there having one last crack at the trade they had followed all their lives. This really was a forgotten corner.

The main entrance to Wellhouse Mill. In 1985 when this image was done it was Brown and Pickles' Wellhouse shop but in the days when it was a weaving mill the main entrance with the iron gate was closed at starting time and any weavers who straggled in after that had to go in the small entrance. This was called 'The Penny hoil' because they were charged a penny for going in that way as a penalty for being late.

When I first took over the engine at Bancroft Shed this was the new world I had to learn about. It was one of the most interesting ventures I had ever embarked on and is of course now a completely forgotten corner....

Mrs Metcalfe at Brown Hill Farm Black Lane ends in 1957.

Wow, I haven't seen that one before Stanley. I have saved the other one you took, which is more of a close up of Mrs Metcalfe and her son outside Brown Hill. The son is looking very miserable on that photo and in this one I can imagine that mum is giving him a quick clean and tidy ready to be photographed!

It was saved as a .psd file in a separate folder and I tripped over it this morning Wendy.

The steam engine at Stott Park Bobbin Mill at Lakeside at the bottom end of Lake Windermere in 1978 before Brown and Pickles refurbished it.
The sacking draped over the pipes is what is left of the improvised lagging for frost protection.

How many people, on seeing this stonework, would immediately realise that the stone with the diagonal marks was cut out of a millstone and was therefore proof that there had been a corn mill on the site at some time as masons didn't carry stones any further than they had to.
This was seen at Booth Bridge, Thornton in Craven, in 1979. If we forget these things we handicap ourselves in the pursuit of history.

This is certainly a forgotten corner, Gus Brennan shared it on Facebook earlier today. Old cine film from Barlick Station down to Earby