Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church

staggeringman · 04-10-2004, 18:22

hello fellow churchians and countrymen/ladies,i have alot of memories from my childhood being brought up on bridge street.Obviously a lot of people out there will have worked ouher brig at one time who remembers the following.

1.the old sheds just after top of the bridge, they stored foam in them for caligen during my time ...but what before that.
2.next came lords funeral parlour...(was that because it was near blyths)?
3.was it indian mill next?
4.boneyard/coalyard?
5.rothwells at the bottom.
6.what was the building on the right as you walked up the street before the houses started?
7.what came after those?

Darby · 05-10-2004, 06:01

As a kid (nearly 60 years ago) I remember my mum worked at Chambers Weaving Mill down Bridge Street. There was also a Tallow makers, on the left hand side as you go down Bridge Street. Can't remember anything else significant, I haven't been down there for almost 30 years or so!!

staggeringman · 06-10-2004, 15:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darby

As a kid (nearly 60 years ago) I remember my mum worked at Chambers Weaving Mill down Bridge Street. There was also a Tallow makers, on the left hand side as you go down Bridge Street. Can't remember anything else significant, I haven't been down there for almost 30 years or so!!

I cant remember that far back darby, But i remember the buildings on the right being altered and thats where church paint and varnish started before they moved over to huncoat.

Tealeaf · 06-10-2004, 15:43

If you work on the basis that the oldest industries are likely to be located near to a river, then, then the area around Peel Bank is probably the oldest industrial part of Church...in fact, this industrial area preceeds the canal by about 60 years.

However, the Hyndburn/Stink is not the only river in Church...the Tinker forms the old boundary beween Church and Ossy. The boundary sign used to be on Blackburn Road about 100yds prior to the old warehouse and this sign actually stood above the point where the river was (and still is) ducted under both the road and the canal. The name "Holland Bank" (see the other thread here) refers to it's siting by the Tinker Brook, which of course, would have been quite open at the time. It's quitelikely, therefore that the area to the East of the river (i.e. Bridge Street) would also have been an industrial hotspot prior to the canal coming through in the second decade of the nineteenth century.

WillowTheWhisp · 06-10-2004, 15:51

I remember when Rothwells closed down. That was the death knell for the old TSB in Church because half its customers were Rothwell's employees. We did have other customers but it wasn't half quiet without the Rothwell's crowd. In fact some days we used to fight over who was serving the next customer because we were so darned bored!

staggeringman · 06-10-2004, 15:51

you just wkoke up one there tealeaf,remember a old mate of yours j.ward. Wellme him and a mate of ours went ratting with air guns down there and we decided to walk through the river(bad idea,but good at the time) anyway guess where we finally got out after walking through numorous tunnels....at the bottom of the dunk where the stink meets the tinker.

Tealeaf · 06-10-2004, 15:56

I hope you watchd the weather beforehand.....there's nowt worse than getting stuck in those tunnels when it starts ****ing down and the rivers up a couple of feet in as many minutes. The thing is, all those "tunnels" on the Stink and Tinker are not "tunnels" at all...they're simply areas where the river has been covered over. They may look like tunnels, but they ain't!

How is JW, anyway....I'm surprised he ain't on here yet....

staggeringman · 06-10-2004, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

I hope you watchd the weather beforehand.....there's nowt worse than getting stuck in those tunnels when it starts ****ing down and the rivers up a couple of feet in as many minutes. The thing is, all those "tunnels" on the Stink and Tinker are not "tunnels" at all...they're simply areas where the river has been covered over. They may look like tunnels, but they ain't!

How is JW, anyway....I'm surprised he ain't on here yet....

he is on the net but i dont think he knows about this site untill i tell him,A lot of people i know dont know about it either? just heard hes doing a o level for his job...let you know later.

staggeringman · 06-10-2004, 16:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I remember when Rothwells closed down. That was the death knell for the old TSB in Church because half its customers were Rothwell's employees. We did have other customers but it wasn't half quiet without the Rothwell's crowd. In fact some days we used to fight over who was serving the next customer because we were so darned bored!

you must have been busy on paydays, just thinking willow did they get paid cash or by a chitty of some sort,and was it only rothwells employees that banked there and none of the other companys over the bridge.

Tealeaf · 06-10-2004, 16:17

Who can remember the massive press at Rothwells? Used to start bang on the dot at 8am.....Boom...Boom...Boom.............you could hear it all over Church. No wonder people went deaf. These days we just get poisioned from the Blyths/Ashworths chemical cocktail. They should name a drink after it.
Can anyone remember the 12 O'Clock and One O'clock whistles?

staggeringman · 06-10-2004, 16:35

remember them? i was never late for school down at the old sacred heart . we still get the early warning siren going off these days...what a lot of use that would be.
1.whats the point of the siren when the leak has already happened and its floating across church.
2.people would just say they are only having a dummy run and carry on gassing(anouther pun)
during the school holidays when the sirens went off,all the kids would run for cover...when you heard all them cloggs commin up the street.

WillowTheWhisp · 06-10-2004, 16:45

When is a tunnel not a tunnel? If it looks like a tunnel and acts like a tunnel - what is it?

WINGY · 06-10-2004, 16:49

I know of a couple of people who worked at Rothwells when it closed down, and they later worked at Emerson and Renwick. The old building is now Alkron Export and used to be Shaw Export. We used to build machines in there when we were busy and had no room in our fitting shops. It used to be absolutely freezing in that place, then they spent about £1m on having it insulated, and the average temp then came above 5 degrees c:-) (should my computer have a degree button on it???) Aint been down there for a year or so now but when in there i can imagine what it was like in its day..