Shirt's Bridge

There had long been a track or footpath leading from Big Tree Farm on Dolly Lane, towards Waterside. The 1885 Ordnance Survey map shows this crossing the Midland Railway over a bridge which had been buit in 1865. When Gowhole Sidings were constructed, the footbridge was extended in 1903 to span the numerous tracks. This was named and numbered by the railway as Bridge 121 but was sometimes known locally as Shirt's Bridge. 

Both the original span and the extension are seen in this photograph taken in the 1940s. The locomotive is No 3271 heading south with a train of empty wagons. A group of three train spotters sit at the trackside. Big Tree Farm is on the hillside

Les Footitt recalls the bridge from the late 1960s:  
"It brings back the memory of being with my brothers and friends in the late 1960s. We would always be out exploring up at the disused sidings. As you approached the bridge from Waterside , you would walk through the tunnel to the bridge and the then turn left to go up about 10 stone steps, then turn right up another flight of stone steps until you were on the wooden walkway across to Big Tree. Well, it was at the bottom of the steps that we found that the earth had fallen away revealing a small hole and we could see that it was hollow inside. We returned at a later date with torches and scraped a bit more soil out until we could squeeze through on our bellies into what was to us a secret cave. We went there on numerous occasions to play in the “cave” until we eventually got too big to squeeze through the gap. I think the bridge was demolished in the mid 1970s".

Les also describes the far end of the bridge:
 You actually came down a flight of about 10 stone steps from Big tree on to the wooden walkway.  so if you were to walk along the bridge from Waterside end towards the Big Tree end all you saw were the stone steps as if it was a dead end  and no exit until you were at the bottom of the steps.

The bridge has long been demolished but following the path from Big Tree Farm still leads to a descending flight of steps.  The path crosses the site of the sidings at ground level and then passes under the remaining railway tracks through the original tunnel.

 Neil Ferguson-Lee's photographs  show the view along the bridge  with the rising flight of steps at the far end.

   















 Below is the tunnel under the main railway line. This is the view towards Waterside.

 

Derelict Dorma

Originally a 19th century paper mill, built by John Sykes, the Forge Bleach Works was for many years occupied by Dorma, manufacturing bedlinen, towels etc. The factory closed in 2005 and stood derelict for some years before the site was redeveloped for housing. Like so many sites that stand empty, Dorma was visited on several occasions by Urban explorers. Here are a few of their photographs:

Manchester's First Airport

A DeHavilland Moth is pictured at Wythenshaw Airport in 1929.

This aeroplane, a DH 60x model, registered G-EBZU was built in 1928. It was operated by Northern Air Lines until crashing at Irlam in October 1932. Northern Air Lines operated a number of aircraft from this field. These 2 seater Moths could be chartered for a shilling per mile.

This photograph appears to be an advertising opportunity for both BP and Northern Air Lines.

 The Moth and its many vairiants were built in the 1920s and 30s. They were operated mostly by flying clubs although many were sold as military trainers and large numbers were exported. The Moth was the most popular aircraft of its day and was produced in large numbers. The Gipsy Moth sold almost 9000 aircraft. When introduced in 1925, the Moth sold for a price of £650.

Mr Tatton, squire of Wythenshaw Hall had in 1926 sold much of his estate to Manchester Corporation for future housing. This was farming country which had been owned by the Tatton family since the 14th centruy. Realising that Manchester would need an airport, the Corporation reserved four fields for that purpose, removed trees and hedges and levelled the ground. Wythenshawe was Manchester’s first municipal airport and opened in April 1929. It was also known locally as Rackheath Aerodrome for it occupied the site of Rackheath Farm. A barn became an aircraft hangar capable of housing just one small aeroplane. and the farmhouse served as the administrative building. As an aid to navigation, a large white circle enclosing the letters M/C was painted on the grass. There was neither lighting nor radio equipment. The airfield was only a temporary arrangement until Barton Airport opened in January 1930 and served only general aviation. Wythenshawe saw its last flight in June of that year. The site was eventually absorbed into the new housing estate which was intended to be a "garden city" and grew to house 100,000 people, the largest public housing development in Europe.

Sparrowpit and the Wanted Inn

This post  concerns the watering hole known as The Wanted Inn.

It was originally a farmhouse built in 1618 but in 1700 it became a public house for the first time and was known as The Three Tuns.

But by 1839 the name had changed to The Devonshire Arms.

But as coaches and taxis dropped people off there who thought they were at the place holding a function or a party or whatever people soon realised they were in the wrong pub. They should have traveled a bit further to Peak Forest to the Devonshire Arms situated there and was a much better pub.

So it was then renamed The Unwanted Inn.

Eventually it closed for many years and was then bought by the Buswell family whose son played the part of Ray Langton in Coronation Street who failed to turn up for filming one day and was eventually spotted as a Bank Manager in Las Vegas after firstly working in a casino.

The Buswells called it The Wanted Inn as it is known today.

Below are a couple of photos of the place during a Sparrowpit winter.

I am not forgetting Bennestone Hall which is alarge topic in its own right but shortly we must return to Dove Holes village itself.

Tony Beswick

Remembering The Old Clubhouse

When I went to school at Buxton I went from WB to Buxton on the train and passed it every week day. It was a members’ only club called The Union Club. It looked very posh and exclusive from the outside.
It was converted in the 70’s to The Old Clubhouse by Chris Brindley, landlord of The Eagle Hotel and Jimmy Milburn, managing director of the building firm Milburn and Mills.
Milburn and Mills had their offices on Lightwood Road on the site of the old outdoor swimming pool. I went there a couple of times as a young lad and it was absolutely freezing. But when M & M took occupation of the site they filled in the pool to make a ‘yard’ and used the changing rooms as their office. I worked there for a year as company quantity surveyor until I could stand it no longer. Everyday somebody would stagger into the office blind drunk and more often than not it would be Jimmy himself. He used to drive a large Mercedes car and took no notice at all of the drink driving laws.
Some mornings he would ring me from his home and ask me to take his kids to school. They were pests and were always trying to make me crash.
Then I would have to go back for Jim as his car wasn’t there. He couldn’t remember how he had got home but we needed to pick his car up from outside The Gaslight Club. It wasn’t there. Ah it must be outside The Queens; not there either. Ashwood Park Hotel then. Wrong. Prince of Wales perhaps.
No chance. Nineteenth Hole. Yes that’s where it will be. But it wasn’t.
Then I spotted it on the grass opposite the Golf Club. Right Jim, there it is, have you got your keys? Er, no.
Well I drove him to the side of the Mercedes and the window was right down and the keys were in the ignition. Ah, I knew I wouldn’t have mislaid them he said. What time is it? Look the Golf Club’s door is open let’s nip in for a few scoops.

Loads more on Jimmy one day

Tony Beswick. 

The Old Clubhouse Roof.  A watercolour by David Easton

Once Jim decided to splash the cash and he bought a reasonable plot of land and got Planning Permission to build 3 bungalows and 2 houses. The design was good and from a distance the properties looked very good. I won’t mention the location because hopefully they are till standing and are occupied.
The bungalows were completed first mainly because Jim was going to live in one and his partner Mills in another one.
They were virtually complete apart from kitchens, decoration and carpets when there was an unexpected visit from the Structural Engineer who had spotted a mistake on the drawings. There was a point where the roof had inadequate support and needed to be reinforced somehow. He did a quick on site sketch whereby a pillar needed to be built in the hallway and indeed it could be made into a feature if built from stone.
Jim agreed immediately. But then the Structural Engineer dropped a bombshell: a foundation would be needed and this meant the concrete floor would need to sawn out and a concrete foundation would have to be put in and he reminded Jim that the hardcore under the slab must not exceed 600mm and that would be where he should find the original clay which he could concrete on.

Now I knew full well that the hardcore was at least 1200mm in depth due to the original ground levels and I wondered how Jim would get out of yet another mess.
As soon as the Engineer had gone Jim turned to me and said: “Right you. How are you going to get me out of this?”
“Well just what do you expect me to do Jim. It is what it is.”

As it was Friday I went home and hardly gave it another thought.
When I went into the office on the Monday morning Jim arrived at about 11.00am after shaking off yet another severe hang over and he phoned the Engineer and told him the job was done and could he come out after lunch to do a final inspection as Jim was in a hurry to finish the bungalows.
The Engineer said that was fine and he would be on site at 2.00pm
Intrigued, I went round to the site and we all gathered around the hole which now had a firm clay foundation just below the floor slab level. The Engineer prodded it and declared it suitable to concrete on and gave Jim the go ahead.
Jim went to the pub and I went back to the office and shortly Jim’s partner Mills rocked up. And I asked him how such a thing could have happened and he told me Jim had sent Salty the apprentice bricklayer round the back of the 2 houses and dig out some clay and he told him to tip it into the hole and tread it down and then tamp it down to make it look like virgin clay which it did.
So as Jim said: “Bob’s your uncle get it concreted in and get on with your work. I’m off to a business meeting.”
Which everyone knew meant he was off to The Golf Club or somewhere like that.

Tony.

A postponed meeting and an appeal

The speaker at our May meeting was to be Neil Ferguson-Lee, Vice Chairman of the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, a heritage line at Wirksworth, Derbyshire.
As a non profit making organisation, its future is threatened by the current health situation. Neil writes: 

The Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is fast tracking its appeal for help fight the financial shock the COVID-19 Virus has caused to its operation.

Current Government guidelines have forced the railway to cancel its trains for the next few weeks with a resulting dramatic loss of income.
The railway is one of Derbyshire's treasures, providing a wonderful link to county's heritage. Maintenance of the engines, tracks and structures must continue during this emergency period and the railway is asking for members of the public to donate whatever they can to ensure its survival and a Victory over the Virus.
To help the railway beat the virus please click on the link below. We extend our eternal gratitude for your support at this difficult time.
www.e-v-r.com/victory

Station Road

A group of men, and their dog, pose for the camera on Station Road in Furness Vale. The photo is undated although the style of dress suggests that this is most likely taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s.  In the background are the railway station and Station Hotel.  Does anybody recognise who these people are or know what the occasion was?

Yeardsley Lane

A view of Yeardsley Lane

This image is from a postcard which we have digitally colourised. The date is unknown although the houses on the extreme left were built in 1914. In this phot they look quite mature. The gas lamps were replaced in 1960 so we have a wide range of possible dates. The man on the right is standing at the door of the Institute, now the Community Centre and Social Club.

A Desirable Address In Manchester

 

   
Mosley Street was laid out in the 1780’s and named after the lords of the manor. The area had been entirely residential and very fashionable. Here lived Manchester’s greatest merchants and businessmen. Hugh Birley was a cotton spinner and manufacturer of rubber goods. S. L. Behrens was the founder of the firm of shipping merchants and Nathan Meyer Rothschild was of the banking family.

In 1827 Henry Charles Lacy converted a house at the corner of Mosley Street and Market Street into an hotel and allowed rooms in the building to be used for warehousing. A rash of house conversions and warehouse building followed over the next decade as property values soared. One house was sold in 1832 for eight thousand guineas, twice its’ vaue of only five years earlier. By the end of the thirties, Mosley Street consisted almost entirely of warehouses, the former resident having moved to the new suburbs such as Victoria Park and Didsbury.

Victoria Park was opened in 1837. An area of 140 acres had been obtained by a company of gentlemen in order to build villas which would be let for between £100 and £250 per annum. The notable architect, Richard Lane was engaged to design the park, laying out roadways, boundaries and landscaping and designing the gate lodges. The park had its’ own tollgates, walls and police.

Marple Hall, family home of writer Christopher Isherwood

Few people know of Marple Hall for it was demolished, unwanted and uncared for in the late 1950's. The name lives on however as a school has been built in the grounds where a few foundations may still be seen.

The Hall dated from the fifteenth century, built for the Vernon family who owned considerable estates locally. Lack of male heirs saw the Hall and estates sold on two occasions and they came into the hands of the Bradshaw family. The first born sons of this family were all called Henry. It was the second son of Henry III who found fame. John Bradshaw was not born at Marple Hall but at nearby Peace Farm although it has been argued that Wybersley Hall was the birthplace. Educated at Middleton Grammar School and at King's School in Macclesfield, he subsequently entered the legal profession in Congleton. He went on to study for his bar exams in London before returning to practice in Congleton in 1627. He was to attain a number of important appointments before becoming a Sheriff's Court judge at London's Guildhall. Bradshaw was to become closely involved with the Parliamentary supporters and a good friend of Oliver Cromwell. He was president of the commission appointed to examine and put on trial, King Charles I. It was Bradshaw who pronounced sentence and was first signatory of the death warrant. Celebrity and great wealth was to follow although conflict with Cromwell was to ensue when he opposed the latter's attempts to wrest power from Parliament. He died in 1659 at the age of 57. After the restoration, Bradshaw was declared a traitor; his body was exhumed from its tomb at Westminster Abbey and hung from the gallows at Tyburn.

Henry Bradshaw III rebuilt the hall in 1658 and it remained largely unaltered until its demolition although some outbuildings were added by his son Henry IV. When Henry Bradshaw V died in 1724, childless, his brother Thomas inherited the estates. He died unmarried in 1743 and Marple Hall passed to the Isherwood family. Henry's sister, Mary having married Nathaniel Isherwood of Lancashire. The house remained in that family and was inherited by Henry in 1924 who only lived at Marple for a short time. An auction of the contents raised a considerable sum but the house was afterwards little maintained. Although married, Henry Isherwood was homosexual, had no children and subsequently separated, dying in 1940. He was close to his nephew Christopher who was born and lived at nearby Wybersley Hall and bequeaved the property to him. Christopher was by that time living in California so he transferred ownership to his younger brother Richard. Incidentally, both brothers were homosexual.

The Hall was looked after by caretakers for some time but in 1954 was offered to Marple Council who were not interested in taking on the property.
Vandalism and the ravages of the weather took their toll and by 1957 when the council did agree to take on the Hall, it was in a state of ruin and fit only for demolition.

  Christopher Isherwood (left) with friend, the poet W. H. Auden

In Good Company - Southern Cemetery, Chorlton cum Hardy

Sir Matt Busby and Lawrence Stephen Lowry need no introduction, neither perhaps does Sir John Alcock. These are among the famous names to be discovered on the graves of Southern Cemetery in Manchester.

In 1872 40 hectares of land were purchased by Manchester Corporation for £38340. The City Surveyor J. G. Lynde was responsible for designing the layout and manchester architect H. J. Paull designed the chapels and other buildings. Roman Catholics, Nonconformists Jewish and Anglican denominations each had their own chapels and designated burial areas. In 1926 a further 36 hectares was purchased making this the largest cemetery in Britain and second largest in Europe.

Some Dove Holes History

Mr. Fred Green

I would imagine that anyone who has spent much time in Dove Holes will have known Fred Green who lived at Meadow Lane Farm and who died quite recently.
Fred was certainly not frightened of hard work and was a really nice man.
As well as his farm he was also a coal merchant which took its toll on him in later life as he could only walk bent double. There was no way he could straighten up and he cut a sorry figure.
He also had an allotment on the other side of the road below Ladylow but only grew gooseberrys and rhubarb. As lads we used to sneak up and eat what we could but Fred wasn’t daft he often seemed to know we were there and would suddenly appear out of nowhere. We would scatter as fast as we could diving under the barbed wire fence but Fred would always catch one of us and a thick ear was swiftly delivered to his young prisoner.

Later in life we became good friends and I used to meet him at Chelford Market where he always took his duck eggs to sell. I would help him in with them.
It was during one of these market days that he told me about delivering coal in the dreadful 1947 winter.
German and Italian prisoners had stayed on after the War and were put to work digging the main road out. They dug a single track passageway all the way from Horwich End in Whaley Bridge up to Buxton and back down Long Hill and it was a strict one way system.
One teatime Fred had just come home and a lady was sat in his front room. Fred knew her; she lived at Lower Bibbington. She said that her family were shivering to death, they had no heat and could he drop her 6 bags of coal off. Always the gent Fred put the bags of coal on his truck and after a bit of tea he set off. Now Lower Bibbington wasn’t too far from his farm but it wasn’t an easy drive. There was no salt and grit in those days.
With the coal dropped off Fred had to stick to the one way system and you couldn’t turn round even if it was possible. So he had to drive all the way up to Buxton, down Long Hill and back to his farm over the railway bridge.
He told me it was midnight before he got home.
Poor Fred, a very nice man.

Tony Beswick.

This is an old photo of Black Hole Cottages in Dove Holes going down towards Barmour Clough. Not a very appealing name really.

I don't even know where the name came from. Some folk say they were railway houses but they are quite a distance from Dove Holes Station and why would the station need all those houses and employees? More likely they were houses for quarry workers as the track leading to Beelow Quarry was directly opposite on the other side of the A6.

But where did the name Black Hole come from? There used to be a mine near Eyam called The Black Hole Mine but that's a long way off and makes no sense anyway.

An Artful Trick

The other day, as one of the coaches which plies between Buxton and Manchester was ascending the hill near Taxal, the coachman was accosted by an Irish woman with a child in her arms, requesting him to "give her a ride". He replied, "that the proprietors employed him to receive fares, not to give rides." upon which she, pretending to find her pocket among the folds of her ragged dress said, "Sure and have you change for a sovereign?". The coachman, elated with the prospect of receiving his short fare, ordered her to get on and he would furnish the change at Buxton. On arrival at the destination, the woman alighted and was proceeding apace without producing the coloured material, when the coachman, in a stentorian voice exclaimed, "Hallo, you have not paid your fare."  "Fare do you mean, sir, sure and I have only a penny in my pocket." "Then why did you ask me for change?" replied the coachman. "Sure and it was the change that I wanted; the devil of a sovereign had I." The coachman, much chagrined at the loss of his anticipated fare, at the request of a passenger, allowed the woman for her craft, to proceed on her journey.

The Blackburn Standard 3rd December 1845

The Sale of a Wife at Wirksworth Market

In 1837 an unconventional method was followed to dispose of a wife.
The wife of John Allen of Turnditch eloped with J Taylor of Shottle.  The injured husband heard that the couple were in lodgings at Whaley Bridge and resolved to settle the matter.  Finding them he demanded 3s for her clothes. Taylor said that he would pay this provided Allen would accompany them to Wirksworth next market day and deliver her according to the law. Arriving at Wirksworth, Allen purchased a halter, placed it around his wife and gave the end of the rope to Taylor saying "I, John  Allen, was bereaved of my wife by James Taylor of Shottle on 11th July last; I have brought her here to sell her for 3s 6d; will you buy her James?" Taylor answered "I will, here is the money, and you are witness Thomas Riley" calling to a potman who was appointed for the purpose.  The ring was delivered to Allen with three sovereigns and 3s 6d, when he shook hands with his wife and her paramour wishing them all the good luck in the world. She had been married to Allen at Kniveton about ten years ago and had lived together until then.