The Blind Man's Road

Two of our local routes were built as turnpike roads in the 18th century by a blind man !

John Metcalf was born in Knaresborough in 1717. Six years later he contracted smallpox which left him totally blind. Known locally as "Blind Jack", he was a man of great accomplishments, especially his expertise as a road builder.
Within a few months of losing his sight, John had gained the confidence to leave his home unaided and within a few years could find his way throughout the town. Making the acquaintance  of boys of his own age, he soon learned to climb trees, joining them in regular forays into local orchards. He learned to ride his father's horses and eventually took up hunting. At the age of 13 he was taught to play the violin, a skill which was to prove a ready means to earn a living.
The deep pools of the River Nidd were popular bathing places and aged 14, Metcalf became a strong swimmer and it was he who was called upon to rescue a drowning soldier who accidentally fell in the river. 
There are numerous anecdotes telling of Metcalf's adventurous life and a popular story relates to a wager with Colonel Liddell, MP for Berwick. Jack won  10 guineas when he walked from London to Harrogate in five and a half days, arriving before the colonel whose journey by coach was slowed by the state of the roads.
Obtaining a four wheeled chaise, he entered the trade of a carrier, initially on local journeys but later transporting fish from the Yorkshire coast to Leeds and Manchester.
Joining the army, he was sent to Scotland during the Jacobite rising of 1745. His duties involved moving guns and entertaining the troops with his music.
On leaving the army, he obtained a stagecoach and driving it himself made a twice weekly journey between Knaresborough and York. 

The Turnpike acts of the 18th century empowered trusts to build and maintain new roads financed by tolls. An act of 1752 authorised a road between Harrogate and Boroughbridge and Metcalf with his experience of the bad state of the roads tendered to construct this three mile section. Despite having no knowledge of roadbuilding, he was awarded the contract and completed the work ahead of schedule. He now embarked on a long career during which he built 180 miles of new roads, often employing innovative methods. He earned more than £40,000 in this enterprise continuing to work until the age of 75. He died at Spofforth near Harrogate in 1810 at the age of 92.
This extraordinary man is commemorated in his home town where a sculpted figure sitting on a bench, holding a surveyors wheel, graces the Market Place.

Fernilee Toll Bar

The road from Macclesfield to Chapel-en-le-Frith was built by Metcalf in 1770. One feature of the road "Blind Jack's Bridge" in Rainow is Grade 2 listed. This is met by another Metcalf road at Horwich End for he constructed the Long Hill route between Whaley Bridge and Buxton. 

Christie and Watts

 

Agatha Christie at Upper House, Hayfield in 1913. A digitally colourised photograph

James Watts was born in 1804 and baptised at Ardwick.  It is said that he began his working life at a small weaver's cottage in Didsbury. The rags to riches story seems however, to be a little fanciful. His family did indeed come from a small cottage and farm in Burnage and were gingham weavers who employed some of their neighbours in the enterprise. Longevity seemed to be a family trait; his father lived to be 93; his grandmother 92, and his grandfather 103. The young James was sent to a private school in Salford and then to London to learn the drapery business. On his return, he joined his elder brother in the cotton trade before setting up on his own in Ashton. He was to return to Manchester and join his brother John in a business opened on Deansgate in 1796 and known as "The Bazaar". Specialising in ginghams hand-woven by the family, this is now acknowledged as the first department store in the World. The Watts brothers moved to Brown Street in 1836 selling the Deansgate store to three employees, Thomas Kendal, James Milne and Adam Faulkner. Since the death of Faulkner in 1862, the business has been trading as Kendal Milne & Co. There has therefore been a department store on the site for 223 years.

The House Of Wonders

Quaintly named, "The Stones" is an attractive street in the centre of Castleton village in Derbyshire. Here in 1926, Randolph Osborne Douglas, opened part of his home as The Douglas Museum, The House of Wonders.

The House of Wonders at The Stones, Castleton

On display was his vast collection of ephemera, including many miniatures that he himself had made including a working engine that would fit inside a thimble; The Lord's Prayer engraved on a thread and a greenhouse complete with plants, small enough to stand on a thumbnail. He had collected African weaponry, mineral samples, ships in bottles, locks and keys and many other items. For a small fee, visitors were shown around by torchlight. 

Randolph Douglas with a group of visitors

Douglas had been born in 1895, the son of a Sheffield silversmith. He worked himself, at Hadfield's steelworks, until joining the army in 1916.

At the age of 8, he had seen Harry Houdini, the great escapologist, perform at the Sheffield Empire and thereafter he aspired to emulate the star. He became a self taught locksmith and his skills became known to Houdini with whom he corresponded regularly. After a show at Nottingham, Houdini travelled to Sheffield, invited to witness a new act that Douglas had devised. His step-mother dressed him in a straight-jacket secured with chains and padlocks and he was then suspended upside-down from a beam in the attic of his home before proceeding to escape. This was soon to become one of Houdini's most popular acts.

Douglas performed on stage himself on a few occasions as The Great Randini but only at small local venues. His first appearance was at the age of 16 at Catholic Young Men's Smoking Concert. A heart condition led to an early discharge from the army and he was no longer strong enough to perform on stage. He returned to the steelworks, married his wife Hetty and in 1926 moved to Castleton.

Randolph Douglas died in 1956 and the museum continued to be run by Hetty until she passed away in 1978. The museum closed and became a private house, the collection passing to Buxton Museum where it is on occasional display together with the Houdini correspondence

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 This article first appeared in our Newsletter, January 2017

Whaley Bridge In Colour

A selection of colourised historical photographs

Prepare For The Invasion

 We are grateful to Dr. Gaynor Andrew for providing a copy of this World War II information leaflet.