Cheshire

Whilst heading for the station in Crewe I spotted this fine example of entitled parking. Never a parking warden when you need one. Quite likely to get scratched and damaged by passing bikes too.

Bristol RE TFM 267K on the approach to Nantwich Bus Station during a Crewe and South Cheshire Running Day back in 2010.

Eddisbury Hill Colliery was operated by J T Brocklehurst & Sons Ltd of Hurdsfield Mills, Macclesfield, presumably to provide coal for boilers although some fireclay was also worked here. It seems that the pit was sunk soon after 1918 and in the last year of coal winding (1923) employed 3 men underground and 2 on the surface. This is the magazine for the pit which was a landmark from the Buxton Road until demolished a few years ago when the pit spoil heap was also levelled.

Drivers exchange places in the cab of 92 014 during the 5.30am stop of the Highland sleeper service at Crewe. I had just 30 minutes to wait before catching the first morning service to Manchester.

Nice terracotta detailing on this terrace row on Middle Walk in Knutsford, Cheshire. A close look reveals there is also decoration on the chimneystack.

A Barton & Sons Ltd manufactured cotton wadding at their Albion Mill in Hazel Grove, Stockport. Their trade name was Lion Fleece Wadding. The mill closed by the 1970s and in 1984 was demolished for a supermarket development. Just before demolition I was able to visit the site and took a very few photographs. This is one of a long row of carding machines awaiting the scrap man.

Marker stone below Buxton New Road, Eddisbury. This marks the boundary between Macclesfield and Rainow. M = Macclesfield and R on the reverse unsurprisingly = Rainow.

Redundant railway and ship at Birkenhead Docks. It is some time since the wagon turntable saw use whilst the RMS St Helena only came out of service in 2018 as the passenger and supply ship serving the remote island of the same name. It subsequently served for a shore period as a floating armoury in the Gulf of Oman. The ship is said to now be under conversion to a mobile hub for the race events of the Extreme E electric SUV racing series.

45407 + 45231 head 'The Tin Bath Extra' through Disley on their way to Sheffield. The Disley cutoff line brings back so many childhood memories of watching steam there.

Base load was the order of the day at Fiddlers Ferry when I took this from Frodsham Hill. I shall miss the cloud factory.

A small convoy from Manchester to Ellesmere Port is passing the Stanlow oil refinery. Narrowboat Victoria leads the way with Short Boat Severn close behind and then some way behind comes tanker narrowboat Spey. An easy short day's boating compared with the long haul via Middlewich and Chester.

05.31am and the southbound Highland Sleeper sees a crew change whilst it is stopped at Crewe Station.

This little bothy type building caught my eye as I was walking in Lyme Handley this afternoon. To the right (out of frame) is a small field barn at the edge of the walled yard. The bothy roof is formed of lovely gritstone flags and the ridge pieces are all hand shaped from gritstone. The dressed quoins are a nice touch too.

The dry weather for the past weeks has caused the local archaeology to become more obvious. A trip out with a drone today yielded evidence of coal pit shafts dating from the late 18th or early 19th century. This previously unrecorded shaft could have been anything up to 250 ft deep and worked with a horse gin. It was certainly already disused by 1826.

Swing bridge over the Manchester Ship Canal at Moore. It now provides access to a large nature reserve.

The Black Lion in Middle Hillgate has been long closed and converted to flats. This 1887 pub sign remains but is weathering badly.

Shaft remains from early workings on the hill above the Park Pits site in Poynton, Cheshire. These workings were extracting coal from the Sheepwash and Cannel seams which are close together and outcrop just beyond the tall trees on the left of this image. These are not bell pits and would have had galleries working out from the pit bottom. Shafts would probably have been connected underground to improve ventilation. The coal would be wound using a windlass. There is documentary evidence that coal was being worked here in 1635.

A memory of the gas industry in Macclesfield. These two gasholders were demolished in 2016. A stitch of two images in Photoshop.