Dark Forgotten Mills

A strip of medium format negatives dating from the 1980s is the next to go on my scanning machine. I took these photographs whilst on a walk down Shaw Lane in Halifax, at a time of transition for the town. The last of the mills that had been at the heart of the economic and … Continue reading Dark Forgotten Mills

Coincidence At Clark Bridge Mills

A strange set of coincidences took me on a virtual trip to Clark Bridge Mills in Halifax yesterday. It started with my never-ending quest to prune my bookshelves - the Good lady Wife keeps threatening to bring in a structural engineer as she believes that the beams and floorboards can no longer support the weight … Continue reading Coincidence At Clark Bridge Mills

A Halifax Alms Race

Although this postcard was not postally used - and therefore has no convenient postmark on the back to help date it - we can be reasonably sure it dates from that first decade of the twentieth century, when picture postcards were the Twitter of their day. The card shows Sir Francis Crossley's Almshouses which are … Continue reading A Halifax Alms Race

Fancy Goods And Photographs

In Search Of Edward Gregson Part 2 My research into the life and times of Edward Gregson, photographer, of Halifax and Blackpool is both illogical and unstructured: flitting between odd facts and unrelated times, and punctuated by portraits of anonymous Victorian worthies. It is a journey of discovery in which gazing out of the window … Continue reading Fancy Goods And Photographs

Beauty And The Pint

Sunset Over The Calder Valley. Looking West From Upper Edge, Elland The perfect combination: my senses drink in the beauty of the Calder Valley at sunset as I enter the majestic Rock Tavern, Elland, to drink in a fine pint of Weaver's Bitter.

Waiting Its Turn

This old paddle mechanism is on the route of the Halifax Arm of the Calder and Hebble Canal. The canal arm has been closed for over eighty years, but the paddle mechanism still rusts in the Yorkshire sun, waiting its turn.

Postcards From Home: Crown Street, Halifax

This is a rather odd little postcard which dates from the early years of the twentieth century and features a view of Crown Street in Halifax. For some reason, the publishers - the famous W H Smith & Son - have chosen to print the photograph in a murky black on a dark silvery grey; … Continue reading Postcards From Home: Crown Street, Halifax

In Search Of Edward Gregson : Part 1

There is an advert doing the rounds on television at the moment for some new family history database service which is supposed to make tracing your ancestors as easy as sending a Paypal transfer for £100. Just press a computer key and: "Oh goodness, my grandmother was the daughter of the Duke of Beaudung", says … Continue reading In Search Of Edward Gregson : Part 1

Tramcar Obscenities

YORKSHIRE EVENING POST 17 MAY 1919 People today just don't know how to behave. There is no discipline. Fighting, swearing, misbehaving on a Corporation tramcar - we didn't act like that when I was young.