OneGuyFromBarlick

The Pendle Grit and Warley Wise Grit belong to the Millstone Grit Group which is dominated by coarse gritstones and sandstones. These two grits have a totally different character - the Pendle grit was deposited under the sea whilst the Warley Wise Grit formed part of a huge river delta. Now there's a very forgotten corner!

Warley Wise Lane runs up from Cowling Hill to Black Lane Ends, passing Warley Wise Farm. The name has always interested me, will the gritstone have been named after the area? Looking at a map of the geology the Warley Wise Gritstone forms a narrow band coming up from the Crosshills area to Black Lane Ends then along the side of the hill down into Colne. I'll study the stone walls more carefully next time I walk up that way!

I thought that might interest you Wendy.



Warley Wise yard in 1957.

Always love to see that photo! Named on my Black Lane Ends Facebook group as Barbara and Suzanne Smith, daughters of Bill Smith. The older daughter is Anne.

How about this? Anne in 1957.
I went and found the girls years later.....

Windmill made by Newton Pickles. He gave it to 'Paraffin' Jack Grayson, loom-sweeper at Bancroft Shed. Here it is in Jack's garden at Havre park in 1978. Jack has the dubious distinction of being the only person in Barlick (to my knowledge) that was eaten by cats. He was missing for a while and when the police broke in Jack's cats escaped. They had kept alive by eating him.....

He also hit the headlines earlier around 1968 when he claimed to have heard the lost US submarine Scorpion on the ex navy receiver he had for SW listening on the bands. He had a simple wire antenna and his receiving equipment had been bought I think from Exchange and Mart. He had the top US Navy brass and the spooks from Menwith Hill on him like a rash at the time. Their technicians tested his equipment and did confirm that it did cover the frequencies that could be used by the stricken sub. The submarine is listed as lost with all hands.

Fascinating.

Do you know what the frequency was?

I don't think that was mentioned but at the time I would assume it would have been in the LF Bands which is what they used for submarine communication. His general coverage ex surplus receiver (probably Navy) apparently covered the band. When we visited the submarine communication lads at the other side of Menwith Hill many years later they had long wire antennas running into thousands of yards. Jacks was a bit of wire from the chimney stack to a pole in the back yard 40ft at most. Of course he could have made the story up. I might pop in the library and have a look at the articles in the Barlick and Earby times on the microfiche. It was a front page spread job, I think it was about 10 days after it was reported lost, his first 15 minutes of fame.

PanBiker wrote: ↑06 Jun 2021, 11:27 Of course he could have made the story up.

Put me down as sceptical. . . . .

I've just refreshed my memory by reading Communcation with submarines

Under water LF comms is one way, and he couldn't have decoded it anyway, so that's out. On the surface would be HF so the RN would have received it. I think it's a tale. Be good to see the press cuttings though and be proved wrong.

Like I posted, he was visited by "the ministry" so to speak and all they confirmed was that his receiver covered frequencies that could have been used by the sub. There was an extensive search for the craft at the time, all normal military communication channels had been tried to no avail. I agree that it was probably a tall tale. You can contact the world on 20m of wire but not at the LF frequencies that are required for sub ocean communication. 40ft of wire doesn't hack it for me.

Tripps wrote: ↑06 Jun 2021, 12:10 Be good to see the press cuttings though and be proved wrong.

I noticed the smilie David but will add, you can't always believe everything you read in the papers and that includes the Barlick & Earby Times (a localised edition of the Nelson Leader and Colne Times) but like all journalists they could probably recognise a tale that would sell papers.

I've just been reading that the US navy knew that the Scorpion was missing 4 days before it was officially announced, so very unlikely that any contact could have been made. Or is the following a conspiracy theory?

https://www.historynet.com/final-secret ... orpion.htm

That's an interesting link, and there are many more theories (of course). See USS Scorpion

I think we can safely rule out Paraffin Jack from any involvement though.

I heard a wonderful 'conspiracy theory ' this afternoon whilst discussing this - only indirectly connected. I've tried to 'stand it up' via Google, but failed, so I won't say more except the person I spoke to was no fool. It's a goodie - and as usual credible, but I'll save it for another time.

Probably not Wendy and also probably why they descended on Jack like a ton of bricks when he claimed he had heard them. Like I have posted his receiver may have covered some of the frequencies that the sub was capable of using but as Tripps has said and also supported by the history article all radio traffic while submerged would be encrypted and not sent by telephony or in plain text Morse code. Jacks bit of a wire antenna would almost certainly give him some reception on the higher HF bands but little else.

There is still conjecture about whether it sunk by accident or catastrophic mechanical failure or was targeted and sunk by a Russian Sub which they were sent to spy on.

Tripps wrote: ↑06 Jun 2021, 17:51 I heard a wonderful 'conspiracy theory ' this afternoon whilst discussing this - only indirectly connected. I've tried to 'stand it up' via Google, but failed, so I won't say more except the person I spoke to was no fool. It's a goodie - and as usual credible, but I'll save it for another time.

Come on now Tripps, spill the beans.

If I find any evidence that it might be true I'll let you know. Tizer won't like it though. . . .

Well I never - it's on the BBC. I can't see when it was published - though it's said to related to 1974.

Deep sea mining conspiracy.


This however is very recent - can they be connected? I don't know.
Moratorium

I can remember an interesting film about it. You'll find it on Youtube. The vessel was scrapped in 2015 I think.
Funny how Paraffin Jack triggered all that off.



Jack Grayson sweeping in the shed at Bancroft in 1978.

I found this up at Elslack reservoir and it came to mind this morning.



Elslack reservoir in 2005.
We tend to take running water for granted and reservoirs like this are forgotten corners.

The night soil men in King street in winter 1982. Though a forgotten corner even then they were still providing a service for people confined to one room on the ground floor and using a commode. I wonder how that problem is dealt with now?

I like things that people walk past every day and never notice them or, if they do, don't question their purpose. This isn't the first time I have raised today's example. The high cast iron pole with the 'No Entry' sign on it to the left of Craven House has no apparent use but is a vital part of the sewage system. It is a vent for sewer gas which can be both poisonous and explosive.



Here's the only other one I know of in the town. The pole rising from just beyond the bench on the island between Valley and Wellhouse roads is a vent pole.

This pic posted by Angus is of the Foster's Arms lying empty before being developed. The yard was still used as a turning circle for the local bus service.

I did this pic in 2018. It's a redundant gatepost at the entrance to the allotments in Eastwood Bottoms next to Damside Terrace. You can see there are two gudgeon pins still in place on it. Too big to bother moving it, remember that is extends at least three feet deep. A post like this would have been cut in one of the quarries around the town, as its gritstone it would have been to the South of the Craven Fault.
Notice also the top-stone in the wall next to it that has been carved to give a step down. I don't think we would go to that trouble today, it would cost too much to do. In the 19th century skilled labour in the quarries was cheap. A forgotten corner today. Both the men and the quarries are gone.

Genuinely interesting. Thanks. I wonder why the stone was stepped down and they didn't just continue the wall to the end - or could it have been recycled from another job? . I think some pointing lessons may be needed too.