Gate

[Atarah]

Gate (and all its mysteries!)

Well A-B, you have certainly got yourself a "good posting" here, eh? Most intriguing! Unfortunately I am not familiar with this area of town, so am learning a lot here!
I certainly intend to have a nosey around this weekend. The houses in Rowland Street, as WillowTheWisp mentions are certainly of a different brick. It appears there used to be a brick works in that area of town - THE HIGHER ANTLEY BRICK WORKS, started by the Pickup family in 1855. The site occupied by bungalows in Willows Lane. The quarry was filled and landscaped. The houses in ROWLAND STREET were built 1878-80 by this firm.
There used to be an old hall in that area "Priest Heys" also known as "Tewitt Hall", but dont know much about it.

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

Mention of Tewitt Hall led me to this

http://www.accringtoncc.co.uk/history/early_days.html

The grounds must have been large enough to play cricket!

 

[Acrylic-bob]

So it seems from the link that the land around Priest Heys/Tewitt Hall was redeveloped in 1859. However, it seems odd that they should want to play cricket on what is one of the steepest slopes in Accrington. I thought that cricket demanded a "level playing field".

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

It does seem the oddest choice of location doesn't it? I wonder if there could be some misinterpretation somewhere and in actual fact Tewitt Hall was justwhere they had committee meetings or something and actually played elsewhere?

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

Cancel that theory because there do seem to be records of actual games having been played there!!!

 

[Darby]

So it seems from the link that the land around Priest Heys/Tewitt Hall was redeveloped in 1859. However, it seems odd that they should want to play cricket on what is one of the steepest slopes in Accrington. I thought that cricket demanded a "level playing field".

Try playing on the old King Georges or Highams side pitches or even White Ash (as was)...Level...no way.

The last football pitch on Highams (nearest Accy CC) was so bad the left back couldn't see the right winger as he was over the horizon!! When we played cricket on it, you could hit a cracking square cut "up the Hill" only for it to roll back before it got near the boundary!!

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

OK, this is the site of Tewitt Hall. As you can see, not much room for playing cricket.

Was the field possibly on the opposite side of the road? Still surely one of the steepest locations, no comparison with King George's, Highams etc. How can you play cricket at a 45 degree angle?

 

[Acrylic-bob]

Excellent pics Willow. The site is pretty much as I remember it from my childhood. what the Brickwork was for is a mystery. I don't recall it ever being used for anything in my lifetime.

 

[Acrylic-bob]

A possible explanation occurs. The factories surrounding the site were originally buit by Bulloughs as metal foundries. Casting requires sand and iron,which would have to be delivered in bulk to the site on a regular basis. Looking at the the last two photographs can you see these bays filled with Sand and Iron which would be driven in to the site through the gate in pictures 1 and 2 and tipped into the bays below.

You can see HBC doing much the same thing with road salt, lower down on Brown Street.

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

Did you notice that there are a couple of skips there? I wonder who owns that plot.

I also did a bit of a wander round the house relating to the gate which started this thread. When it was a nursing home it was known as Cliffe House. It is in a very sad state of repair now which is a terrible shame for something which was obviously once a very fine residence.

The last numbered house below it is 31, the next one above it with a number is 37. If Cliffe House was known as number 33 that would only leave one house number available for the plot which now has those 'garages' on. I could still see steps at the upper end but the rest is overgrown with weeds and not possible to see what else was there. I'm not allocating a number to the vicarage because the entrance is round the corner.

Of course it's also possible that Cliffe House didn't have a number which would leave 33 & 35 on that plot.

 

[Darby]

Great piccy Willow...thanks. My wife was aghast when she saw the piccys of the house. It looks like a sound building , and with some imagination (and lots of dosh) it could be made into a palace. Unfortunately, the surrounding area isn't Park Lane etc.

HBC shoud be spending money on the renovation of sound stone houses and area renewal, without trying to resort to Projects such as Pheonix. No wonder our heritage is dying!!!

 

[Acrylic-bob]

Someone did mention that the house may still be owned by the same people who own Springhill House Retirement Home. I have no way of knowing whether this is still the case or not. It is certainly a crying shame that such a fine building has been left to rot for the last ten years or so.

Willow: given that there is only one number available for the empty plot, 35, it may be that it was earmarked for a single dwelling or maybe even a commercial premises.

 

[Ifty]

I think it was for sale once but then got arson attck. It looks better in photos than real because you cant see in photo there big cracks in walls. It looks more like falling down than strong sturdy house. Why make council take blame for not making it good? If it belongs to somebody it is there responsibilty not council. Big house could have lot of family in there.

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

Yes in the second photograph if you look carefully through the tree you will see that the wall seems to be parting company with itself just to the left of the first story bay window. I'm not sure how serious that is. However, following repeated break-ins and at least one fire which Ifty mentioned I'm sure the inside of the building must be in a worse state than the outside. Surely the council can trace the owners and insist that the area is cleaned up at the very least? There's also an unpleasant smell and a considerable amount of rubbish around those garages.

 

[Atarah]

The house with the Gate at its rear

Well A-Bob, you have certainly whetted people's apetite - I too went round to have a look at the house, what a disgrace, what a shame.

 

[WillowTheWhisp]

That's an excellent photo Atarah. It just shows what a beautiful house it could be.