Sheffield in 1935

Fitzalan Square in 1935

Never let be said that the blog is hide bound by geography.  

And so today we are in Fitzalan Square in Sheffield, in 1935.

This I know because the postcard was produced by the Valentine Company and the reference number dates it to that year.

Of course it has changed quite a bit since then and I did have some difficulty recognising it at first.

Some of the old land marks remain like the bronze statue of Edward VII erected in 1913 which cost the square its large cab stand and clock.

King Edward V11 statue

Ahead of us the big white building which twists round from High Street to Haymarket is also still there but seems to have been truncated somewhat.

But others have long gone, like the London Mart which stood on the corner of Flat Street and High Street and can just be glimpsed in the top left hand corner of the picture opposite the C&A building.

It was first occupied as a hotel in 1870 and was taken over by John Marples in 1886 who gave it the name of the London Mart but as was locally known as the Marples.

During the Sheffield Blitz on the night of December 12th the building received a direct hit from a bomb which plunged through the building and detonated just above the cellars killing approximately 70 people who had taken shelter in the cellars.

Flat Street & corner of the London Mart 

The building was reduced to a 15 foot high pile of rubble.  Despite this, the following day 7 men were rescued alive from a section of the cellars which had been protected when the cellar roof had not collapsed.

The site remained derelict until 1959 when the brewing company John Smith opened a pub on the site which was called the Marples.

Square received a facelift during the summer of 2003 when  the Edward VII statue was cleaned and  lights were added to illuminate it at night.

New sandstone paving and steel benches were installed, the trees were pruned back and improved street lighting put in.

I could go on but think I have strayed well away from 1935.  Suffice to say that in writing this I discovered that one of my new facebook pals knew the pub well and our own Josh and Polly live close by.

So another small world.

Picture; Fitzalan Square, 1935 from the collection of Alan Brown, listing of Marples, John & Co, wine & spirit merchants from Whites Directory for Sheffield and Rotherham, 1911

Buildings waiting for a story ……….

There will be heaps of people who know this building and a few who can offer up its history.

Andy Robertson was on King Street in Leigh and took the picture with the comment “Generally speaking, Taxi or cab offices are usually rather grim looking places, not so this one on King Street, Leigh”.

It is an intriguing building reminding me of the London Underground Stations of the 1930s and W.H. Smith kiosks on our railway stations.

So, I await the comments which will give its history.

And for those who want exact directions, it is on King Street at the junction with Twist lane.

Location; Leigh, Wigan

And no sooner had l posted this and Christopher Roman commented "A building that's always intrigued me when I ride along the canal to Liegh. It was the offices and waiting room for a bus company. Possibly Lancashire United".
 

Picture;  Taxi or cab offices, King Street, Leigh, 2023, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Cluttered corner …….. April on Beech Road

Some signs, a poster and that parked bike.

Location; Beech Road

Picture; Cluttered corner …….. April on Beech Road, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

News from Huddersfield of Manchester, hot water bottles and much more

Now in the great age of the picture postcard, you could send a card in the morning confident it would be there by later in the day.

All of which made the picture postcard the text message of its time.

In the case of this one which was sent from Huddersfield to Scotland the message and the picture of a Blackcap would have been on the door mat of New Lanark Cottage for breakfast.

It was posted sometime before 8 in the evening of August 24, 1939 by Joe who signed himself “Your obedient husband”.

He had been in Manchester but was glad to be back, and went on to tell his wife that he was about to put the hot bottles in the bed.

And that intrigued me and will prompt me to go looking for the weather report for August 24, 1939 to check out whether it was unseasonably cold that month.

Or perhaps it was just Huddersfield that was cold, or this might just be what they did every night.

We will never know.  That said I do know the bird on the front is a Blackcap which according to the description on the card is   “so called from the glossy black cap.  His song, heard early in spring is very melodious.”

And that is that.

Location; Huddersfield

Picture; postcard 1939, from the collection of Linda Rigby

Narnia on the Green ….. April in Chorlton

Silly really, given there is no snow, wardrobe or a lion.

Location; Chorlton Green

Picture; Narnia on the Green, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Who mourned the passing of the trolley bus?

I was too young to have caught one of those old Corporation trams.

Even so I have  a soft spot for these tall stately vehicles which dominated our towns and cities for over half a century.

But I have less time for the trolley bus which began replacing them in Manchester in 1938.

They were quieter and smoother than either the old tram or the motor bus but I never took to them.

Even a short distance on one was likely to make me feel ill and even now I can vividly remember the smell of the warm leather seats mixed with the disinfectant and the low hum.

So I have to admit that I have struggled with Peter’s fine picture of a Huddersfield trolley bus.

But I can put prejudice aside and record that the trolley bus has long since joined the Corporation tram as part of our transport history.

The first in the UK were being run in Leeds and Bradford as early as 1911 and Bradford has the distinction of seeing the last in 1972.

London began operating them from 1931 and finished them 31 years later.
Here in Manchester our last ran in 1966 having operated over nine routes with a fleet of 189 vehicles for nearly 30 years.

All of which leads me finally to Huddersfield which having started their service in 1933 continued till 1968.

And for those that revel in trolley bus facts, Huddersfield had one of only four trolley bus turntables in the UK.  It was manually operated and the Longwood trolley bus turntable survived well into the 1980s, although it had ceased doing its job of turning Huddersfield trolley buses terminating at Dod-Lea in 1940.

At which point I cannot believe I am about to enter the wonderful world of trolley buses but that is what Peter’s painting has done for me.

There are three former Huddersfield trolleybuses preserved at the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft,* the British Trolleybus Society has a full list of all surviving trolleybuses,** and a list and description of UK trolleybus systems List of trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom which has a heap of interesting information.***

Painting; Huddersfield trolley bus  © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

*The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, Lincolnshire, http://www.sandtoft.org.uk/

**British Trolleybus Society, http://www.britishtrolley.org.uk/preserved-trolleybuses

***List of trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trolleybus_systems_in_the_United_Kingdom

April on Beech Road .... the green bits

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; April on Beech Road .... the green bits, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson