Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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!!

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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!

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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....

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink: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.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

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..

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

They's not tunnels because they're not constructed passageways through or under something.....they're just rivers with a load of soil, debris. bricks and concrete piled up and over from their banking.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Can I suggest next time you go in there you take your door with you and burn it for warmth?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink:thinking about that one willow,the water comes down from the hills and in places disappears and goes underground boring its way to the lowest outlet.as it is a constant force it takes debris with it making it bigger thus making a t......l or what is it?come on tealeaf when is a tunnel not tunnel, and dont say when you turn it on its end and its a funnel....he..he

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink:i remember them going on strike at rothwells and they where all stood round 56 gallon drums with a nice fire going in them....perhaps thats what kept them warm.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

OK....which came first - the "tunnel" or the river?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

You mean like 5°C?

No, mine hasn't................;)

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Er, which topic here is the thread wander?????

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink:NONE.... the rain come first and due to the lay of the land it rolls to the lowest point,causing a puddle and when that puddle gets full it starts to flow to the next lowest point.This keeps carrying on untill it forms a stream...what comes after a stream a river...good innit!

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

I remember one summer when it rained very hard, the water running under Sultan St burst up through the ground and flung cobblestones hither and yon. Was that a tunnel?

Presumably "rivers" still run under those streets from the hillside.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink:has anybody still got any of those big glass jars(carbunkles i think)they used to put chemicals in them at blyths,used to be alot about at one time...probably worth a bit of brass now.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Could that be carboys? I saw some at a car boot sale a few weeks ago. People use them for making bottle gardens. Never noticed the price tho.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

yes your right willow dont know where (carbuncles )came from,had a bloke in today,says he hasnt seen any on site but blyths are making fifty redundant.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Carboys - Now't like this I suppose?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

:drink:similar but about10 times bigger,they must have been about 2.5 ft tall and 2ft across.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

And don`t for-get the putty works

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

sorry YOU did not forget it .... putty works (church paint and varnish)
I MUST READ ALL THE REPLY`S

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

there was a place that supplied sheepskin paint rollers across from blythes entrance in the seventies.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

used to be church paint and varnish!

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

yeh cheers i'd forgot the name,used to get brilliant sheepkin rollers from them-what happened?did they go bust or did they re-locate?

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

thay move to huncoat

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

can remember them in huncoat and that burned down as well didnt it .

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

I lived in Walmsley street in the 1950s and my Mother worked at Chambers Mill over the bridge. When you crossed the canal bridge and turned left down the path to the canal there was a caravan builders. Further down on the left was a foundry with a moulding shop we used to watch them putting the hot metal into the moulds before going to play at the back in the empty ruined building or in the tunnels or waste from Blythe`s. This used to be hot in places and if disturbed you would create different colours of smoke,no health and safty issues in those days. Does anyone have memories of the Queens hall cinema latter the Tudor cinema and a night club.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

do i ......i only lived on george st so the tanpits was my play area, we used to go to queens pictures on a saturday morning ........some paid some didn't.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Hi Mez
Do you remember an old gentleman Mr Snape or Snake lived in a house behind the Queens Hall he seemed to do all the jobs sell tickets, ice cream and keep all the kids in order. What a laugh on Saturday when the side door would fly open just after the show had started and a dozen kids would swarm in and disapear into the dark to join their mates.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

I remember there being a family called Snape around the Oswald St/Tanpits area. Many happy hours playing on the old engine beds, jumping from one to the other. I didn't know there were ever houses on Bridge St, though.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

re bridge st I used to live at no.10 with nates tommy halliwell, mary clements, jimmy marsh, and dorothy perkins. This was during the war years 1939-45. There many industries over the brig But funnily we never seemed to be upset with the noise of them all working day and night. Our fun and games was playing behind Lords garage and pretending to drive the unrepairable cars dumped there, childhood memories ah so long ago.

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

Hello~

I am wondering if you are able to tell me Mr. Snape's actual name? I am searching my Snape genealogy and it seems to center around Accrington. My g-g-g-grandparents, John and Jane Snape are buried at St. Mary's Old Burying Ground between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham. Is there any chance there could be a connection?

Glenn

Re: Was Bridge Street The Industrial Site Of Church
 

For us in Lee's cafe the whistles signalled a change over of customers, a quick pile up of plates in the wash room, we had over 500 and didnt wash any until we closed unless we where very busy, and another two buckets of chips on the go and a fryer full of fish, perhaps butter a few more loaves as well, a hectic changeover.