The fires above Stalybridge ........ June 29 2018

We woke to the distinctive smell of smoke this morning as we have done every day since Monday.

Most days it is just a hint but on the first day it was very noticeable, and there was just a slight haziness, like looking out through a dirty window.

Of course our slight discomfort is nothing compared with what those on the east of the city and particularly in Stalybridge at the foot of the fires must be experiencing.

We are a full 16 miles away while Stalybridge is right beside it.

I have resisted writing about the fires, because there is that sense that to do so is an intrusion on the misery of others but last night Peter posted a picture from Spinneyfields, high above the city streets of the hills and the fires to the east.*

There have been many other powerful images of those fires but this one a full 10 miles away tells the story.

Leaving me just to reflect on the dedication of the firefighters, now joined by the army and on the generosity of the general public who have donated to the comforts of all those struggling to contain the fires

Location; Spinneyfields, Manchester

Picture; looking across to the fires on Saddleworth Moor, from the collection of Peter Armistead

*20 Stories, 1 Hardman Street, Manchester, https://20stories.co.uk/

Back in Stalybridge ......... no 1 cheese pie, chips, mushy peas and a pint

Now it is sometime since we have been in Stalybridge.

Back in the 1970s when I lived in Ashton, a walk along Beaufort Road from our house on Raynham Street up past the park and down into Stalybridge was a must on a warm sunny Sunday.

That said there were those occasions when we never got further than the Sycamore which back then was still small rooms each with a distinctive character.

Today more often than not it’s the Buffet on Stalybridge railway station which takes our fancy and we have been known to turn it into an adventure and arrive in style from Manchester on the train.

So that seems a perfect reason to feature John Casey’s picture of the interior and kick start a few more stories on the town.*

Location; Stalybridge

Picture; inside the buffet, 2016 from the collection of John Casey

*Stalybridge, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Stalybridge

Walking through Stalybridge with memories of 40 years ago part 4 ........ that church on Trinty Street

Now looking at Peter’s paintings and revisiting Stalybridge I realize just how much  of the place we missed including those gems like the Market Hall and the library.

But back in the 70s, we worked in Manchester, and really only got out into Ashton at weekends and trips out to Stalybridge were rare.

I suppose we could have done more excursions but the route into the town from Raynham Street took us past the Sycamore and the park and if the pub didn’t get us the hot house did.

So here is another of the buildings painted by Peter and unvisited by me.

It is Holy Trinity and Christ Church and if you live in Stalybridge you will know its history so I won’t go down that route.

Instead I shall ponder on how people felt when in 1778 the Old St George’s Church, Cocker Hill collapsed only two years after it was built, and I rather think I will go looking for a story.

Painting;  Stalybridge, Holy Trinity and Christ Church  © 2014

 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn ............ so what's in a name?

I am never surprised at the way place names and in particular the names of pubs hold a fascinating history.

All too often you take them for granted and if you are really curious rely on one of the regulars propping up the bar to give you the story.

If you are lucky they will know what they are talking about otherwise you have go digging which was what I did when Peter presented me with his painting of the Riflemen or to give it its full name, the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn.

Now that is a long one, running to 55 letters and at various times this has qualified its appearance in the Guinness Book of Records as the pub with the longest name.

Its first entry was in 1955 which was short lived and a tad inaccurate as the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn only became a pub in 1956.  Before that it had been a beerhouse for a century and only gained a wine license in 1950.

Added to which it briefly lost its claim to be in the book when it lost one of the words in its name.

Such are the vagaries of record busters.

Putting that aside there is a real story here, linked with the establishment of the Volunteer Rifle Force in 1859 in response to one of our periodic invasion scares.

These were loosely based around rifle clubs and in turn owed their origins to earlier militia units raised in times of war.

At which point I will not steal someone else’s research and just point you in the direction of the Development of the Rifle Volunteer Movement in Manchester* and the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn.

Between them the full story of how our pub was transformed from the New Inn when it opened in 1855 to the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn via a drill hall and an enterprising landlord.

Paintings; the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn  © Peter Topping, 2015, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Picture


*The Development of the Rifle Volunteer Movement in Manchester, http://www.tameside.gov.uk/museumsgalleries/mom/history/riflevolunteer

**the Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn,  http://www.stalybridgetown.com/articles/entertainment/old-thirteenth-cheshire-astley-volunteer-rifleman-corps-inn

Of night clubs and cinemas on Market Street in Staylbridge

Now I collect old cinemas and in my time have watched films in some of the oldest we have and stood outside many more which have long since gone dark.

But the Palace on Market Street in Stalybridge passed me by, or to be more accurate I passed it on many occasions when we lived in Ashton back in the 1970s but never went in.

To my shame when we went to the cinema it would have been in Manchester, where both of us worked by day and where we were drawn back to at the weekends.

Recently on one of those rare visits out to Stalybridge I clocked the place and was not surprised to see that it had closed and been converted into a night club.

That said it only shut up shop in 2003 which meant it survived longer than many picture houses, pretty much just missing it centenary.

It had opened in July 1913 as the Empire Picture Palace and seated 850 later becoming part of the H.D.Moorhouse chain which operated it until the 1960s after which it was taken over by an independent operator closing finally in 2003.

And I seem to have missed its brief period as a night club which just leaves me to thank Peter for sending me his painting of the building.

At which stage I wish I could say it brought back happy memories which of course are not the case.

But I bet there will be many who remember magical nights at the Palace and perhaps even a few who will own up listening to their parents talking of their times at the old Empire.

If so I would like to hear them and include them in future stories of Stalybridge in the past.

After all Peter also painted quite a few of the other iconic buildings after a visit to Stalybridge in late November.

Painting; Rififi, once the Palace Cinema at Stalybridge,  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*Cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2431

Walking through Stalybridge with memories of 40 years ago part 2 ........ two pubs and a canal

They say you should never go back to a place that you left a long time go especially if it is somewhere with fond memories.

Now Stalybridge is one of those places.

When we lived on Raynham Street 40 years ago Stalybridge was where we went after a walk in Stamford Park.

After all it was just a short trip and rang the changes from Ashton market and the library.

Not that I can ever remember visiting any of the pubs and so Peter’s paintings are a nice reminder of what we may have missed.

At which point I usually go off on a bit of historical research, but today I shall just let the pictures capture a bit of Stalybridge and wish I had taken a few photographs of these places 40 years ago.

Of course I am sure there will be plenty of people with memories, stories and pictures of the two pubs along with the canal and perhaps in the fullness of time they might share them on the blog.

Which just leaves me to offer up one last confession which is that as far as I can remember I never managed to visit the canal.

And that was also my loss for nothing adds to a place than the presence of water, be it a river or a waterway.

Painting; The Q Inn, The Old Fleece Inn, Huddersfield Narrow Canal Stalybridge,  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Walking through Stalybridge with memories of 40 years ago part 1 an art gallery and market hall

Now when we lived in Ashton, Stalybridge was where we went during the summer holidays.

It was usually because we had done Manchester the day before and fancied a walk out.

From Raynham Street it was a pleasant enough walk along Beaufort Road and on to Stamford Road and then down into the town.

And depending on how sunny it was we might dawdle in the park promising ourselves a few in the Sycamore on the way back.

And here I have a confession because I have no recollection of visiting the art gallery or the Market Hall in fact I am not sure what we did.

But to be fair we are going back 40 years which is why I welcome Peter’s paintings which are part of his Stalybridge series.

More recently we made an effort to visit the art gallery which I wish we had done all those years ago.

And it is an odd thing about returning to a place that you haven’t been to in decades because the transformation can be dramatic.

I don’t remember the one way system or some of the open spaces and still have not found a date for when the market hall closed.

But there will be someone who does and I hope they will tell me.

And that pretty much is that except to reflect on the Sycamore for which I have very fond memories.

I toyed with calling in but there are some things that should just be left as fond memories.

Painting; Astley Cheetam Library, Victoria Market Stalybridge,  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Back at Stalybridge Railway Station, waiting for a pint, a pie and looking out on the hills.

Now you can’t get enough of a good place and when I last visited Stalybridge Railway Station I wrote that I had fond memories of the place.

Back in the mid 1970s it was where we would catch the train to the North East on rolling stock which must have dated from the early 50s.

There was even a sign in one of the lavatories which announced that ‘in the event of inclement weather water can be obtained from the guard’ which I always took to be if the pipes had frozen.

But someone will put me straight on that and no doubt also the exact date when the old buffet on platform 4 was enlarged and transformed into its present very pleasant restaurant which I think was 1998.

So with the family over for Christmas from Italy I think we shall show them the buffet.

We may not be able to offer them a steam train from Piccadilly but time it right and we should get there in the late afternoon just as the light fades making the bar all the more inviting and a tad atmospheric.

And we will have shown them a few clips from Brief Encounters with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson staring longing at each other over a cup of railway tea with a hint of steam and smoke in the distance and the noise of the buffet all around them.

I may even send them Peter’s paintings which he did after his own visit last week.

They are two of a series of Stalybridge inspired by that visit and I have to say having rarely been back since we lived in Ashton they bring back some equally fond memories.

Painting; the Buffet at Stalybridge and Stalybridge Station,  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

At Stalybridge Railway Station with a pint, a pie and a view of the hills,

Platform 4, 2014

I have fond memories of Stalybridge Railway Station.

Back in the mid 1970s it is where we would catch the train to the North East on rolling stock which must have dated from the early 50s.

There was even a sign in one of the lavatories which announced that “in the event of inclement weather water can be obtained from the guard” which I always took to be if the pipes had frozen.

But someone will put me straight on that and no doubt also the exact date when the old buffet on platform 4 was enlarged and transformed into its present very pleasant restaurant which I think was 1998.

It is still a grand place to take a pint and pie and takes you back to all those old fashioned buffets on stations across the country.  All too often now a meal or a drink on a station  is in one of those  anonymous chain outlet which can be seen on any city centre of high street.

But not so the restaurant on Stalybridge Station, it has good food, some interesting customers and above all with only a bit of imagination you could be back with Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in the film Brief Encounters.

Now that may just challenge most readers so I shall just say it was made in 1945 and perfectly captures a British Railways Buffet which had changed very little a decade later when I passed through them.

Looking across to the hills, 1983

The station  was opened in 1845   by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway and is just fifteen years younger than that first passenger railway station on Liverpool Road.

So like Huddersfield Station which I wrote about yesterday this is a fine place to see the history of how railway stations were going in the early years of the Railway Age.

What is better you can still get there by train from the city so no worries about excepting that second pint, just, “let the train take the strain.”

Inside 

And just before someone mutters what about the folk club, yes there was one but for reasons I don't remember I never went.

But I bet my friend Brian did and he has added just a bit more to the story.

"The station was opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway, which became the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, and then the  Great Central.

It station became jointly run when the L&NW Railway opened the line from Stockport to Yorkshire on 1849."

All of which leaves me with offering Brian a pint in the station buffet.

In the meantime there is lots more to read about our stations at *Manchester Railway Station,  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Railway%20Station

Pictures; Stalybridge Buffet Bar on platform 4, El Pollock - from geograph.org.uk This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. See this photograph's page on the Geograph website for the photographer's contact details. The copyright on this image is owned by El Pollock and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. The station in 1983,  Mr. M. Schofield, courtesy of Tameside Image Archive, http://www.tameside.gov.uk/history/archive.php3 and inside the Buffet, from Stalybridge Buffet Bar, https://www.facebook.com/StalybridgeBuffetBar/photos_stream

A ghost sign in Stalybridge and hints of something more

Sidney Shaw, House of Furniture, 2014

Now here’s a ghost sign I will have seen many times.

But it was before I discovered these old hand painted adverts and I will have not even given it a second glance which is a shame because they are part of our history.

This one was spotted by Angie who “found it today.  But when I say today I actually pass it several times a week and only 'saw' it today. 

It’s on the corner of Market Street and the bus station in Stalybridge.  
Sydney Shaw was a house furnisher and was a maker of bedroom and Chesterfield.”

Market Street and bus station, circa 1960s

And that is the thing about them.

Because they have always been there we just ignore them as Angie says “you notice them without noticing them if you know what I mean.”

Now I wish I knew more about the history of the building on Market Street and Sidney Shaw, but in the fullness of time I will.

A visit to the local studies centre will give me access to the street directories which in turn should give an address and a date.

Tantalizingly there is a Sidney Shaw in the 1911 census aged 12 living at 50 Blandford Street in Ashton who may be our man.

A ghost sign and ghost wall, 2014

What also interests me about our sign is the ghost image of the building which is also revealed on the gable end.

And here I confess to being at the edge of my knowledge.

This is clearly the outline of a building which stood beside what is now the Co-op chemist and sets me off on all sorts of new enquiries.

Or it might have been incorporated into our building.

None of which I can answer at present.  But there will be someone who can and so I await their response.

There are some general views in the Tameside digital collection of pictures of this corner with just a hint of the shadow building, and an earlier one from 1910 which might be what was once there.

Maket Street in the 1990s

On the other hand I wonder if the present building was constructed incorporating the wall of that earlier one.

The OS for 1894 shows a different set of buildings with a different footprint on the site so much hangs on when the block was built.

In the meantime I can at least offer an explanation for how Mr Shaw’s sign has survived.

Back in the 1960s it was obscured by an advertising hoarding, below which is a poster for Kenyon the Chemist.

So plenty there for people to ponder on and a thank you to Angie who along with Neil and Andy has been enrolled in the Chorltonblog ghost sign roll of honour.

Pictures; from the collection of Angie Thomas, and Market Street in the 1960s t00306,& in the 1990s, t00304, courtesy of Tameside Image Archive, http://www.tameside.gov.uk/history/archive.php3