Boyd's photo diary. |
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Wed 29 Apr 2009
I recently saw
the 1998 film B. Monkey in which some scenes were filmed in an
old house near Cautley by the Howgill Fells. The film doesn’t
seem to be too well known, I’d not heard of it. It is a crime
thriller and I found it quite good but not brilliant. Its no
‘Withnail and I’, which was also partly filmed in an old Cumbria
house. The Cumbria B. Monkey link was 'Mountain View' and I
called in to look at the house while walking towards Kensgriff
summit. The house was in good condition when they filmed there
about 12 years ago but now the interior is on the verge of
collapse. Very sad. |

Mountain View in the film c1998 |

Mountain View today |

The blue front room where most of the filming took place. |

The kitchen where some scenes were filmed |
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A scene filmed in the kitchen |
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Sat 25 Apr 2009

Laying of the foundation Stone of the Blackburn Cotton Exchange
(1863) |
Caught the bus
to Blackburn and a visit by Chorley Historical and
Archaeological Society to the Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery.
One of my favourite pictures there is the huge 'Laying of the
foundation Stone of the Blackburn Cotton Exchange' by Vladimir
Sherwood was purchased by the Committee for the sum of £17 9s
6d. It was the very first work acquired by the Museum was on
June 9th 1875. |

The same scene today. |
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Wed 22 Apr 2009
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Sun 19 Apr 2009
Withnell Fold Sports and
Social Club monthly walk |
The Withnell
Fold Sports and Social Club monthly walk was blessed with
sunshine and ideal walking conditions. Two separate walks were
organised; a short one and longer one for which 25 turned out.
We set off through the village to the Leeds and Liverpool canal
where we walked along the canal bank to the ‘Top Lock’ at
Wheelton. After a shot way up Copthurst Lane we turned left and
followed a footpath which took us over South Hill and its
extraordinary hilltop football pitch where the each goal can’t
be seen from the other. Back on the road we headed up Chapel
lane to St Barnabas Church where we turned right and down the
lane past Eagle Tower. Some of us stopped briefly in the corner
the see the last remnant of the old school which stood here. It
was disused by 1890 and probably demolished in the early 1900s.
However, parts of the original school date stone ‘National
School 1843’ can be seen build into the wall by the lane. At the
bottom we passed under the magnificent stone viaduct that used
to carry the Chorley – Cherry Tree railway line which was opened
in 1869 and closed to passengers in 1960. We passed the site of
the old Heapey works, now a housing estate, and followed the
path along the reservoirs towards White Coppice. The first
reservoirs were build here in the 1700s and considerably
enlarged in the 1800s as the mills became bigger. The site of
one of the original mills ‘Shackerley’ from around 1780 is now
flooded and the approximate site is marked by a stone pillar set
in the ground above the reservoir. |

refreshment stop at White Coppice |
At White
Coppice we stopped for a break at the cricket field where the
pavilion was open for refreshments. We left via a walk round the
cricket field to look at Rose Cottage and a memorial bench to
Miss Elsie Whitehead (1909-2003). Miss Whitehead lived at Rose
Cottage and her mother, Margaret, was headmistress at the White
Coppice School. Miss Whitehead attended Chorley Grammar School
and was head girl around 1927. She attended teacher training
college and eventually was appointed headmistress at Withnell
Fold School in the mid 1940s. She taught some of us on the walk. |

footpath on the old railway - passing under Bury Lane. |

Elsie Whitehead outside Rose Cottage c1920 |

Margaret Whitehead in 1936 age 70 |
After White
Coppice we headed by ‘The Lowe’ to Tootel’s Farm, across Trigg
Lane, and on to the old railway line then left it to head up
through the woods to Well Lane, Railway Road and back on the old
railway line which is now a footpath. We followed it to Abbey
Village then on to Bolton Road for a while before leaving it to
cross the new Golf Course. The original path seems to have
vanished so we followed various tracks between the greens before
emerging on to Bury Lane. We crossed over to Snape’s Heights and
then down Oakmere Avenue and back to the Withnell Fold Cricket
Field for refreshments. We’d walked around 12miles and the pace
was rather fast. It used to be ‘come for an enjoyable walk’ now
it’s more like ‘come for a walk – if you think you’re ‘ard
enough’ |

plan of route |

altitude profile from the GPS unit |

walking speed profile from the GPS unit
(the spike at the right is me running to catch up after stopping
to take a photo) |
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Wed15 Apr 2009
Drove to
Theakston’s brewery in Masham near Ripon, North Yorkshire. They
do conducted tours and we just managed to get there in time for
the first at 11am. There was a very nice atmosphere in the
reception. There was also a bar in the back room and the tour
included samples to drink at the end. |

Theakston's Brewery, Masham. |

The Mash Tun being closed after cleaning |

The Mash Tun ready for the next sparge of barley. |
Our guide was
Maggie who told us about the start of the brewery in 1827 when
Robert Theakson, a local farmer, brewed beer for the local pub
the Black Bull. Our tour started at the top of the building
where is pre-malted barley is put through the grist mill before
dropping down a floor into the mash tun where the word, the
first part of the liquid in the process, is produced. After the
fermentation process the beer is mostly transported by tanker.
We returned to the reception and as I was driving was unable to
sample the beers. However the others did and found them all
excellent. |

Robert Theakston
the man who started it all. |

samples after the tour. |

Theakston time runs sloping and backwards. |
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Sun 12 Apr 2009

There is always a good crop of daffodils this time of year at
the junction of Sandy Ln/Holt Ln, Brindle. |

Between Holt Farm and Denham Hill I came across this pond. |
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Sat 11 Apr 2009

While walking home I took this long-lens shot of the Mormon
Temple
from Carwood. To the left of the spire is the chimney
of Morrison's in Chorley. |

From the same location I took this snap of the radio / TV
masts on Winter Hill. |
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Wed 08 Apr 2009
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After a wet and
windy day walking on the fells I called in to the Cross Keys at
Cautley, Sedbergh for a pot of tea and sit down by the real
fire. This is my view of the parlour as I sipped my tea. I
couldn't resist taking a photo. |
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Fri 03 Apr 2009
Mid morning
drove to Sedbergh. I wanted to check out a report in a 1998
edition of the Sedbergh Historian publication. Copies are kept
in a room above the Sedbergh Information Centre. It was such a
nice day that after I’d finished I decided to walk along the
River Rawthey from Millthrop Bridge to Brigflatts. At Brigflatts
is a Quaker Friends Meeting House which I knew about but hadn’t
seen. On the way back I visited the building and was glad I did.
It was built in 1675, and is the oldest meeting house in the
North of England. It retains many of the original oak
furnishings in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity. When I
walked inside there was a man there doing some electrical work
so some of the pictures I took have his tool box in them.
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Millthrop Bridge |

Brigflatts Meeting House |

Interior view - today |

Interior view - early 1900s |
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In 1905 it was
found necessary to replace some of the roof timbers and at the
same time considerable restoration work was done by Henry T.
Fowler. The group picture (left) was taken on completion of the
work in May 1905 on the occasion of the first Monthly Meeting
held in the restored building. |
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Wed 01 Apr 2009
Its always nice
to wander through Sedbergh in the morning as things get underway
fairly early. Many of the shops are open before 8am and some at
7am. Compare that with a main town like Preston which is a
shopping ghost town before 9am.
The Wednesday market charter was granted by Henry VIII in 1538.
It followed a Tuesday market charter granted in 1251 by Henry
III |

The Wednesday market charter was granted by Henry VIII in 1538. |

walking through Sedbergh. |
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