The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*
Now I wonder just how Joe and Mary Ann disposed of their Christmas tree?
Of course that presupposes that they went in for one, but assuming they did I wonder what happened to it?
I don’t suppose they left it in the Rec which is what someone did at the weekend, which was quickly followed by a second...... making a sort of his and hers decorative feature on the corner of Beech Road.
Once, we would have burned ours, having first lopped off all the branches and then cutting up the trunk, which given the size of the tree would have been done in instalments with the last going on the fire sometime around March.
And back in the 1930s the Corporation encouraged people to “Burn your rubbish” making the point by posting the slogan on the side and top of their dust carts.
All of which was a lot easier when most people had open fires and the range of food packaging was limited to paper bags and small wooden boxes.
But even so there remained a vast quantity of material which was tipped, and here in Chorlton that meant on the meadows.
My friend David came across a copy of the Daily Express from a nearby tip dated 1939, detailing the Governments’ preparations for war. It was in perfect condition although a little damp and must have been uncovered by someone looking for period bottles.
And many of us will turn up bits of old clay pipe in the garden which may have been thrown away by an agricultural labourer or when found in larger quantities were from night soil deposited on the land by farmers who bought the stuff in cartloads from the Corporation.
There was even a suggestion from some of the residents around Nell Lane that during the construction of Chorlton Park in the 1920s, the Park’s Department was using rubbish to level the ground, an accusation which was strongly denied.
That said I suspect not too far below the surface of the Rec will be found similar light refuse given that at least one of the farmers who rented out part of the field in the 1850s regularly used night soil to spread on the land.
And that brings me back to the two trees. Joe I am convinced would have taken his away to his builder’s yard where it would have been burnt with the other bits of left overs from his newly built houses.
Which just leaves me to comment that, I have reported the abandoned trees to Environmental Health, but was unable to tell them who dumped them.
Of course it would be fascinating if the owners of the said trees took them back and waited for bin day next Wednesday when the Council will take them for free.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Christmas comes late to the Rec, 2018, Mr Gratrix’s clay pipe, 2014 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Mr Higginbotham ploughing Row Acre, circa 1895 courtesy of Mr Higginbotham, from the Lloyd Collection
*The story of a house, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house
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| Christmas on the Rec, 2018 |
Of course that presupposes that they went in for one, but assuming they did I wonder what happened to it?
I don’t suppose they left it in the Rec which is what someone did at the weekend, which was quickly followed by a second...... making a sort of his and hers decorative feature on the corner of Beech Road.
Once, we would have burned ours, having first lopped off all the branches and then cutting up the trunk, which given the size of the tree would have been done in instalments with the last going on the fire sometime around March.
And back in the 1930s the Corporation encouraged people to “Burn your rubbish” making the point by posting the slogan on the side and top of their dust carts.
All of which was a lot easier when most people had open fires and the range of food packaging was limited to paper bags and small wooden boxes.
 |
| Mr Gratrix's clay pipe, 2014 |
My friend David came across a copy of the Daily Express from a nearby tip dated 1939, detailing the Governments’ preparations for war. It was in perfect condition although a little damp and must have been uncovered by someone looking for period bottles.
And many of us will turn up bits of old clay pipe in the garden which may have been thrown away by an agricultural labourer or when found in larger quantities were from night soil deposited on the land by farmers who bought the stuff in cartloads from the Corporation.
There was even a suggestion from some of the residents around Nell Lane that during the construction of Chorlton Park in the 1920s, the Park’s Department was using rubbish to level the ground, an accusation which was strongly denied.
That said I suspect not too far below the surface of the Rec will be found similar light refuse given that at least one of the farmers who rented out part of the field in the 1850s regularly used night soil to spread on the land.
 |
| Mr Higginbotham ploughing Row Acre, 1895, now the Rec |
Which just leaves me to comment that, I have reported the abandoned trees to Environmental Health, but was unable to tell them who dumped them.
Of course it would be fascinating if the owners of the said trees took them back and waited for bin day next Wednesday when the Council will take them for free.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Christmas comes late to the Rec, 2018, Mr Gratrix’s clay pipe, 2014 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Mr Higginbotham ploughing Row Acre, circa 1895 courtesy of Mr Higginbotham, from the Lloyd Collection
*The story of a house, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house
Love this little ponder of a story!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lo
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