Furness Vale from the Air

Thanks to Jim Oliver for the loan of this aerial view of the village. The date is believed to be in the mid 1970s. The brickyard is still busy judging by the stacks of finished products. The framework can be seen, partly erected for one of the new "Industrial Estate" buildings. The last remaining "beehive" kiln is still to be seen. The Charlesworth Crescent estate looks very new having been completed around this time. Riddick's office and builders yard is still in Charlesworth Crescent so the picture is perhaps just before they took over the former Co-op in about 1974.
There are open fields on Station Road where houses have since been built.
The photograph appears to be one of a series of aerial views taken by Whaley Bridge photographer Frank Armstrong although it is one which we have not seen before

Britain From Above

This website features thousands of historical aerial photographs archived in a searchable database.  Although there are no images of Furness Vale, our neighbouring communities are well represented.

This is Waterside Mill in Disley taken in 1946. Some of the buildings are painted in camouflage colours to hide them from wartime bombers. In the background is Bowater's mill standing alongside the canal.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/eaw001584?search=disley&ref=7

New Mills in 1952.  In the centre of the picture is the bus station. The railway to Hayfield disappears into the background. There are vehicles in Albion Road and Market Street but otherwise the roads are empty.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/download/EAW043351

Taxal Lodge in 1937.  This house built in 1904 was the home of the Jodrells until 1950 when it became a special school. It was famed for the gardens which Mrs Cotton Jodrell regularly opened to the public.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/download/EPW054325

Horwich End in 1937 with Botany Bleachworks in the right foreground and Macclesfield Road on the left. Behind the gasworks are the Shalcross railway sidings, full of wagons.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/download/EPW054325

Here is the Rising Sun with St. Thomas's Church in the background. This is in 1927 long before the roundabout was constructed. A Stockport tram has just arrived  at the terminus as another can be seen leaving at the top of the picture. Torkington Lodge and Estate were still in private hands and were not purchased by the Council until1935.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/download/EPW019189

This is just a small selection of images. It is well worth visiting the website and exploring the locations that interest you. Low resolution photos may be downloaded from the site or purchased as larger, high quality photos.
http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/