Author: Alan Burnett

The Lost Pubs Of Brighouse : No 1. The Duke Of York

For those who don't know the area, you can think of Brighouse and Rastrick as the Budapest of the Calder Valley. To the north of the River Calder stands the town of Brighouse; busy, somewhat full of itself with its municipal buildings and self-righteous chapels. To the south of the river stands the older parish … Continue reading The Lost Pubs Of Brighouse : No 1. The Duke Of York

Message To My Wife

At first I thought that this was one of the hundreds of lost and abandoned old photographs that I provide a home for. They live in boxes and cases, they hang in filing cabinets and folders; they create a hazard to anyone trying to navigate their way through my office. Every so often I reach … Continue reading Message To My Wife

The Day Of The Parade

We all have different ways of occupying ourselves during the Great Lockdown; things we can do that will take our minds off the challenges and dangers that lurk outside the confines of our own houses. As will be obvious to anyone who visits these pages on a regular basis, my own particular approach is to … Continue reading The Day Of The Parade

Consider The Journey

Consider the journey if you will - from a photographic studio in Crefeld in the late 19th century to a box at the end of my desk ....

Bottled Beer And Serial Bankruptcies

The last photo from this strip of six negatives focuses on something which was just visible in the previous image: the monumental end wall of the Old Lane Inn. There must be collective memories out there about this Halifax pub, but the written record is limited to the sad listing of the bankruptcies and liquidations … Continue reading Bottled Beer And Serial Bankruptcies

Between Smoke And Soot

Old Lane And Dean Clough, Halifax (c1970) There was a greyness about Halifax back in those days: fifty or more shades between smoke and soot. But it was honest, hard-worked muck - nowt to be ashamed of.

Vicarious Travel

In this strange, modern world in which we live, we travel vicariously: in our minds and in our memories. My particular means of transport is my collection of negatives: photographs I too fifty or so years ago. They not only remind me of a time in my life, but also of people, crowds, cars, noise: … Continue reading Vicarious Travel

Up The Junction

Superimposed on our familiar landscapes are echoes of the past; Victorian ley lines that were the superhighways of their time. I took this photo of Holmfield Station in Halifax 50 years ago: it was forgotten then, it's lost now. Holmfield railway station was opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1878. For a short while … Continue reading Up The Junction

Bobbin Ligging

Smith Bulmer's Mill in Holmfield, Halifax, pictured in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I had a holiday job there once, as - what used to be known as - a "bobbin ligger": sorting out a mountain of old bobbins into pointless piles.