tarboat's photos

Construction began on the 1,070 seat County Playhouse in 1916 for Eagle Picturedrome Company to the design of W. Ellis from St Helens, although due to a shortage of materials and labour during World War I, it was not completed until 1919. Having survived a major fire in 1949, the cinema closed on Sunday 13th November 1966 with Disney’s 'The Sword and the Stone'. It was taken over by the Leeds Based Star Cinemas chain and they converted it into Star Bingo and Social Club. The building has since been used as a discount store and Playhouse Club Café and is currently the 1,200 capacity Pure Nightclub.

Part way through a day of walking in the Yorkshire Dales National Park I found this scene comprising a barn, small quarry and a collapsed and robbed kiln on the bank below.

Empties for the mine leaving the principal crossing point on the Huanan Coal Railway at Xiahua. Trains tended to pass here and also stopped to clean the fire and take water.

The loading area at the Wallerscote works of Brunner Mond / ICI incorporates this telpher which could be used for loading boats and road vehicles. The site is now being demolished and will be replaced by housing.

Tunnel from a limestone quarry underneath the Cromford & High Peak Railway. This seems to be far too big to be just for drainage and may have also been used for workers' access.

Whilst I was eating my lunch this teneral female Common Hawker ( Aeshna juncea ) landed in an adjacent bush and was good enough to remain whilst I took a photo.

Hudswell Clarke 1173 of 1924 - 0-6-0WT+T 'ALPHA' heads into the Threlkeld Quarry on a recent 30742 Charters event. The locomotive was restored to working order in 2016 at Statfold Barn.

A small draw kiln in Cumbria high up on Haresceugh Fell.

Walsall Wood Colliery was sunk in 1874 on a site close to the Daw End Canal just north of Coppice Road. A brickworks was established just to the north of the pit and a canal basin was constructed for brick traffic. There was a very large circular kiln (presumably continuous) with central chimney. The Earl of Bradford as mineral owner was paid a royalty of 1/- per 1000 bricks manufactured. The works is shown on the OS maps from just after the First World War but it is believed that the works was already closed by 1911. The site had been cleared by 1938.

Work to erect the brickworks at Hamstead began in 1876 at the same time as the colliery was being developed. In 1929 the Hamstead Brick Company Ltd advertised that a new kiln had recently been installed. It was said to be of a type invented by Alvis Habla of Czechoslovakia. The kiln was 84 ft long and 63 ft wide and was of the zigzag Hoffman type. The company later stated that it operated a Staffordshire Continuous Kiln containing 20 burning chambers, each holding 20,000 bricks. Shale for brickmaking was brought from Hamstead Colliery by an aerial ropeway. It would appear that the brickworks was absorbed by the National Coal Board along with the colliery in 1947. In 1963 the works was producing pressed commons but in March 1965 the colliery closed and the brickworks was certainly long closed by 1968.

SY 1685 tops the rise to the bridge over the China Rail line with a heavy load of coal for the power station at Xinhua on the Hegang Coal Railway in Heilongjiang province, China.

Type 37 and snowplough at the recent DRS open day at Crewe.

A copper in the old version of Robinsons brewery in Stockport. This has now been replaced with new plant supplied from Germany which allows for production of more smaller batches of beer.

Another train of spoil pushes onto the vast tips at the Sandaoling opencast mine.

Whilst out walking this morning I found a brick on the spoil tip of Middlecale Colliery bearing the letters "N C" which stands for "NORBURY COLLIERY". The works was behind the Robin Hood pub on the A6 heading up towards High Lane. This brick must date from no later than 1878 when the Middlecale Pit closed.

Colonial Sugar Refining Co Ltd No.11 is pottering amongst the fields on the Statfold Barn railway.

Although it has seen significant rationalisation, Bolton Station is still an architectural gem with its polychromatic salt-glazed brickwork and also the survival of many etched glass windows. The Guards' Room no longer seems to serve its original purpose.

Having abandoned a rainy Southport I travelled by train to Manchester Airport before returning to the city centre by tram as I had not previously used this route. The tram traverses some sections along the public roads where it jostles with cars for space. This is the crossing of Barlow Moor Road on the outskirts of Chorlton.