It will have been in the winter of 1973, and my friend Rod Whitworth would often recount lines from the work of Ben Brierley which were rich in the Lancashire dialect of the 19th century.
Now there was nothing surprising in that, because Rod had been born in Waterloo in Ashton-Under-Lyne which is not that far from where Benjamin Brierley had been born in Failsworth in1825.
At the time I would smile indulgently, and reflect that what was quoted, was quaint, had some historic interest but was miles away from the speech rhythms of south east London where I grew up.
Decades Iater, I came back to Ben Brierly, partly because of the book I was writing on Chorlton-cum-Hardy* and because of a renewed curiosity in those working-class men who were self-taught and went on to have a career in journalism, literature and the sciences.
Richard Buxton was one of these, who was self-taught, and became an expert on botany, wrote books and struggled against poverty before dying obscurely. “I am well aware” he wrote “that a narrative of the life of a poor man like myself .... is anything but interesting.” and yet it has proved to be so and sits with beside the story of John Horsefield, hand-loom weaver of Whitefield the President of the Prestwich Society; and now president of the General Botanical Meeetings and the amateur insect collector Robert Cribb, who collected a series of about fifty small yellow and brown moths which turned out to be a previously unknown species of moth.**.
All of which takes me back to Ben Brierly, whose father was also hand-loom weaver. Mr. Brierley started life in a textile factory, educating himself in his spare time.
At about the age of thirty he began to contribute articles to local papers, and the republication of some of his sketches of Lancashire character in A Summer Day in Daisy Nook (1859) attracted attention.
In 1863 he published Chronicles of Waverlow, followed by a long story called The Layrock of Langley Side and in April 1869 began the publication of his Journal.
It started as a monthly magazine and later came out weekly.
In 1875, Brierley was elected a member of Manchester City Council, and served six years.
In 1880, he paid a short visit to America and in 1884 a longer one and wrote of his impressions in his Ab-o'th'-Yate in America.
He gave public readings from his own writings, and his various Ab-o'th'-Yate sketches and his pictures of Lancashire common life, were very popular, and were collected after his death.
Now I freely admit the research was done from several sources including Wikipedia, and one of his books which I downloaded this morning.***
This is his stories of Treadlepin Fold from Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life which from the start conjures up the place of his birth, with a description of some of the houses and in one particular one, “against a kitchen wall abutting on the sink some local artist half tried his maiden powers by sketching a full-length figure intended for a man, but whose frying-pan trunk, turnip head and pump handled legs and arms suggest a model of other than biped species.
Doors are grey and furrowed with age, windows are sunken like hollow cheeks, and looked bleared and dim, as if they had ceased to admit what little light of day the Fold could spare them”. ****
Now, that I like, and rather reminds me of the pictures Andy posted of the buildings connected with Benjamin Brierly.
They come from his Failsworth series, and include Mr. Brierley’s birthplace, the plaque, and the pub which bears his name on Moston Lane, which closed in 2011 and is now a community centre.
Location; Failsworth
Pictures; Benjamin Brierley, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson, 2012,
**Richard Buxton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Richard%20Buxton
***Benjamin Brierley, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Brierley
**** Treadlepin Fold from Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life, Benjamin Brierley, 1884, page 10
 |
| The plaque, 2019 |
At the time I would smile indulgently, and reflect that what was quoted, was quaint, had some historic interest but was miles away from the speech rhythms of south east London where I grew up.
Decades Iater, I came back to Ben Brierly, partly because of the book I was writing on Chorlton-cum-Hardy* and because of a renewed curiosity in those working-class men who were self-taught and went on to have a career in journalism, literature and the sciences.
Richard Buxton was one of these, who was self-taught, and became an expert on botany, wrote books and struggled against poverty before dying obscurely. “I am well aware” he wrote “that a narrative of the life of a poor man like myself .... is anything but interesting.” and yet it has proved to be so and sits with beside the story of John Horsefield, hand-loom weaver of Whitefield the President of the Prestwich Society; and now president of the General Botanical Meeetings and the amateur insect collector Robert Cribb, who collected a series of about fifty small yellow and brown moths which turned out to be a previously unknown species of moth.**.
 |
| His birthplace, 2019 |
At about the age of thirty he began to contribute articles to local papers, and the republication of some of his sketches of Lancashire character in A Summer Day in Daisy Nook (1859) attracted attention.
In 1863 he published Chronicles of Waverlow, followed by a long story called The Layrock of Langley Side and in April 1869 began the publication of his Journal.
It started as a monthly magazine and later came out weekly.
In 1875, Brierley was elected a member of Manchester City Council, and served six years.
 |
| The pub as was |
He gave public readings from his own writings, and his various Ab-o'th'-Yate sketches and his pictures of Lancashire common life, were very popular, and were collected after his death.
Now I freely admit the research was done from several sources including Wikipedia, and one of his books which I downloaded this morning.***
This is his stories of Treadlepin Fold from Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life which from the start conjures up the place of his birth, with a description of some of the houses and in one particular one, “against a kitchen wall abutting on the sink some local artist half tried his maiden powers by sketching a full-length figure intended for a man, but whose frying-pan trunk, turnip head and pump handled legs and arms suggest a model of other than biped species.
Doors are grey and furrowed with age, windows are sunken like hollow cheeks, and looked bleared and dim, as if they had ceased to admit what little light of day the Fold could spare them”. ****
 |
| The pub now a community centre, 2019 |
They come from his Failsworth series, and include Mr. Brierley’s birthplace, the plaque, and the pub which bears his name on Moston Lane, which closed in 2011 and is now a community centre.
Location; Failsworth
Pictures; Benjamin Brierley, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson, 2012,
**Richard Buxton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Richard%20Buxton
***Benjamin Brierley, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Brierley
**** Treadlepin Fold from Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life, Benjamin Brierley, 1884, page 10
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