tarboat's photos

Running alongside the River Churnet towards Consall on the Churnet Valley Railway. It would probably have been better if I had captured all the train in the reflection.

At the former Ordnance Factory No.10 (Roften) at Hooton, stood this pillbox, still guarding the perimeter from attack. The factory manufactured heavy anti-aircraft guns during WWII.

This type of gatepost ornamentation is fairly common in the Glossop and New Mills area. These examples are in the wall of a Bungalow on Marsh Lane in New Mills. I expect that they are a product of the Glossop Brick works.

I made a few visits to the private mines around the Potteries during the early 1980s. I was invariably made welcome and allowed to take photgraphs wherever I wanted on the surface. This tippler was at the the High Carr No.3 Mine operated by the Great Row Colliery Co. Ltd.

A section of the asphalt plant at the Lafarge granite quarry at Mountsorrel.

Black 'Fives' 45407 + 45231 lead 'The Tin Bath Extra' onto the viaduct at Penistone. The wind pushed the exhaust across the train and obscured the locomotives for much of the way across, so I was lucky to get this shot.

James Davenport, trading at 29 Mill Street, Macclesfield, had to wait from 1844 until 1848 to be paid for the first item listed on this bill. The shop location has more recently house the Woolworths store and is now an Iceland frozen food supermarket.

Bengal Tram supplied from Royal Depot Mills at Park Green, Macclesfield in 1836. Tram is a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk. The purchaser, Thomas Bullock & Son were silk manufacturers in the town. 1½% discount for cash in one month. It was actually settled in just over two months. The mill was demolished to make way for the architectural wonder that is the NatWest Bank and County Court in a building called Silk House.

1858 decorator's bill for hanging flock wallpaper in Thomas Bullock's bedroom. The premises is still a furnishing retailer, currently called Medina Home.

Cable manufacturer Nexans has a factory in Charleroi just across the railway from the mothballed steelworks.

SY 0950 and 0407 go about their business at the classic brick and concrete coal washery at Didao on the Jixi Coal Railway.

Eleanor Thistlethwaite, Confectioner, charged 5s 0d for a pigeon pie in 1853, which was certainly not cheap. The shop was at 11 Chestergate in Macclesfield and is now Jones' Jewellers.

Petrochemicals have been produced on the Carrington site since 1949. The main output from this plant is polypropylene and polyethylene . Formerly operated by Shell the Carrington site is part of the LyondellBasell Industries Group of Companies which was formed at the end of 2007 by the combination of Basell Polyolefins and Lyondell Chemicals.

Lining Mr Norris' pew - £1 14s 0d. Invoice from Samuel Plant to the Trustees of St George's Church, Sutton. The billhead features a goodly selection of the very latest in furnishings for the discerning Maxonian. A search of the trade directories reveals that his premises were at 58 Mill Lane which is nowadays Michael Dale Photography.

Thos Alman, General & Furnishing Ironmonger, 24 Mill Lane, Sutton. 1 coal box repaired for the grand sum of 1s 3d. The premises which stood over, and at the south side of, the archway that led to the Victoria Mills were demolished when the Silk Road was built through to Mill Lane. This particular billhead has special significance to me because we lived in the flat over the shop in the mid 1970s. At that time it was the 'Home Improvement Centre' selling double glazing.

The Baum Washer tower stand prominent at the site of New Haden Colliery. The pit was plagued by water problems and, after attempts to work the Four Feet coal in 1942 led to an greatly increased inflow, it was abandoned in June 1943. There are still many buildings on the site including the rare washer survival.

Historic view of stone being charged into a limekiln at Ampsin, Liège. This is a large commercial running kiln 11 metres deep and 6 metres in diameter. The pot is covered by a steel lid with a series of doors that can be raised for charging as seen here.

Kerr Stuart No.13 eases a freight past a gang of women repairing the road at Namtu on the Burma Mines Railway.