Macclesfield

A happy afternoon exploring an old abandoned stone quarry yielded lots of old machinery quietly rusting and rotting away. Here two crushers sit side-by-side, both made by Robert Broadbent & Son Ltd., Phoenix Ironworks, Stalybridge. On the right is a jaw crusher of the Blake's patent type for primary crushing of larger pieces of rock. To the left is a roll crusher designed to break smaller pieces of rock down to cubes for roads and paths etc. I thing that the remains below the crushers might have included some form of rotary screen but the decay of the various parts made it difficult to be sure.

Bakestonedale Moor above Pott Shrigley has seen an extensive coal mining industry over the past 2-300 years. The last coal and fireclay extraction took place in the mid 1960's before the Peak Park planners put a stop to it. The nineteenth century workings left a number of deep shafts which remained open until the 1970's when they were capped by the then National Coal Board leaving distinctive concrete obelisks on the shaft top.

This example is probably a wyvern rather than a dragon and is lurking on a rooftop in Macclesfield. This looks to be a fairly recent example rather than one of the Victorian examples which are generally of better quality detail.

The Hovis Mill in Macclesfield remains a significant feature of the town even now it has been converted to apartments. This view is taken from a small illustration at the bottom of a retirement address presented to a worker at the mill in 1943. It is somewhat idealised and I certainly don't think there was that much traffic on the canal by 1943!

Good Friday at Bosley Locks and not a boat to be seen in the ice. This must be the first Easter that I haven't seen a boat on the move at the locks, but then the canal isn't usually frozen at Easter.

Winter has overwhelmed a Macclesfield bound train just north of High Lane during the winter of 1947. The cab of the locomotive seems to be well filled with snow.

This little dyeworks is actually on Oxford Road at the rear of the Regency Mill which faces Chester Road. In 1889 it was operated by Peter Horobin, Silk Dyer, who had recently been declared bankrupt. In 1924 Harry Bullock & Samuel Thornhill were partners in business as silk dyers at the Chester Road Dyeworks, Macclesfield, trading as "Bullock & Thornhill".

The uncovering of the wall facing onto the entrance to Palace Yard at the side of 34 Mill Street has stirred up quite a bit of public interest. A site meeting was held to brief interested local people councillors onthe likely history of what can be seen, and also what future works are to be undertaken. Andrew Ramshall, senior conservation officer, is seen here addressing the meeting. The poor state of the stonework requires the rendering to be replaced, but hopefully the evidence of the building history currently exposed will be recorded for posterity. It is possible that the 'date' stone will be left exposed. The provenance of tthe 'date' is doubtful, as it would almost certainly have been carved in roman numerals if it dated from the 15th century.

I thought they delivered parcels.

The Bull and Gate on Waters Green, Macclesfield, closed as a pub some years ago and is now offices. The terracotta and round window reflect the rebuilding of the premises in 1927-28 by local firm George Rylance & Co at a cost of £4,400.

46233 'Duchess Of Sutherland' was at the head of this morning's Scarborough Flyer at Nether Alderley. In the last few minutes before the train arrived the sun broke through and at last we were blessed with a shot in bright light.

The crocodile stalks its prey at Beehive Cottage on the Macclesfield Canal in Bollington.

The Olympic torch made its soggy way through Macclesfield but the rain didn't stop crowds from turning out. Passing Tarboat Towers is torchbearer Lynn Ratcliffe, who has epilepsy, and was accompanied by Dougal, who knows what to do when she has a seizure. The grey clad people behind are the torch police!

This morning I was peering into the new chip shop on Castle Street when I noticed that they had blow-ups of old photos on the front of the counter. One of them was this old postcard shot of Mill Street c1950 which is full of atmosphere. I am too young to remember it looking quite like this but I bet there are a few on this group who do. Hunters Tea Stores on the right is where Poundland now stands and Burgons Grocers is now Lloyds Bank. The white terracotta of the Majestic tower is just as prominent today.

Action on the Danes Moss peat tramway in Macclesfield. This 'railtour' took place on 26th October 1962 and was punctuated by several derailments on the grassy tracks. Here the passengers scramble back aboard after rectifying a derailment whilst the motive power patiently watches. The gauge was 3ft 0ins and the motive power was named 'Star'. In the background can be glimpsed Macclesfield Moss signal box and wagons on the sidings adjacent to the building belonging to the British Peat Moss Litter Company Ltd which built and operated the tramway. I am very grateful to Alan Brackenbury for giving me permission to post his photograph and consult his notes made on the day of the railtour.

No wonder the frog population is dwindling in my garden pond!

The premises occupied by Matthew Burgess have long since been demolished and the Town Hall extension stands on the site.

This end of the Bosley Mills site is no longer in use by Wood Treatment International for their processing of a range of organic materials such as SoftWood Fibres, Olive Stones, Almond, Walnut and Coconut Shells for use in a wide variety of industries including explosives, thermoplastics, glucose production and effluent handling. The silos are empty and disused whilst the sheds are in other industrial uses.