Reminscences

37 Crow Lane – Anderton family

from about 1942-3 to 1946.

MAIN TOPIC                            37 Crow Lane

OTHER INFORMATION          The Hagans at no. 33

Ice lollipops from Bosleys shop (45 Crow lane)

                                                The Drill Hall

                                                Tripe boiled at the end of Paradise St

                                                Clayton Smithy & Blacksmith

                                                Woods Foundry, end of Garden St.

                                                Cement factory at the end of the street

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Reminiscences of  Colin Anderton with additional information from his father who is now 98 years old.

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We lived in 37 Crow Lane from about 1942-3 to 1946.

My mother (Annie Rogers) got married just before the outbreak of war and we were living with my grandparents at 7 East View, Stubbins, but owing to lack of space we moved with my mother (my father was in the army) and sister to No. 37 Crow Lane.

I was only a small boy but I still remember our time there.

The house was in very poor condition with large cracks in the walls, and lots of cockroaches, and the roof leaked but in a situation such as it was, it was all we could get.

The lavatory was out the back and was the flush type

The house did not have electric lights, only gas, no bathroom, but there was a bath in the pantry (in which the previous tenant had stored coal!!).  The bath did not have a water supply and had to be filled with a bucket although it did have a drain. Also in the pantry there was a cold slab and a couple of shelves. The kitchen had a pot sink.

There was a cast iron range in the living room. My father remembers that this had a hood over it on which was some sort of design, but cannot remember what the design was.

Hot water was from a cast iron range which had a tank heated by the fire.  Unfortunately the tank had a leak and was not used until my father got back from the war; He put a couple of inches of cement in the bottom and it was OK afterwards.

We had a cupboard at the side of the fireplace with a small cupboard underneath a big one. Inside the small cupboard was a penny slot gas meter

The floor was stone flags and we had a gramophone under the window and to give an idea of the state of the floor the gramophone had 2” blocks of wood under the front legs to get it to stand level !!

I well remember my mother doing the ironing with an iron which was hollow and into which you placed heated iron blocks from the fire (I think they were called brigets) or something like that but we got a gas iron which worked from the gas fitting.

The gas fitting (lighting) was a single mantle and also the front bedroom had gas lights but we never used it, we always used candles and nightlights

We often broke the gas mantles and had to get new ones from the plumbers shop at the top of the brow up from the Royal Picture House.

The ground at the front of the house was not fenced off then and people walked along the flags at the front of the house and made a heck of a racket with their iron shod clogs.

A Mrs Annie Homer lived on one side and an old lady on the other side.  I think she was bed-ridden as she had her bed under the window downstairs. The bath in Annie Horner’s house was in the corner of the kitchen  (see notes on 33 Crow Lane)

The Hagan’s lived at no. 33 Crow Lane and my father had to put in a window for them after I broke it throwing stones. This happened whilst my father was away in the army and the Hagan’s told my mother not to bother until he got back, very good of them

The shop at the end was owned by a Mr & Mrs Bosley, and they made ice lollipops.  On reflection they were not very good but to kids that did not have anything they were lovely.

Richardson owned the other shop up near St Paul’s School.

The Drill Hall was looked after by a Mr Brierley I think (I did hear that that was not his real name).  I woe betide any kids that he caught playing on his flags in front of the building; he soon chased you off.

They boiled tripe at the end building of Paradise Street and it was a place of great interest to us kids and we would go up to watch (the smell from the place was awful).

Clayton Smithy & Blacksmiths was another, and word soon got around if a horse was being shod and we would rush up to watch, the hot iron and the sparks and noise -wonderful for kids.

Woods Foundry at the end of Garden Street was another favourite shop and we would stand outside and watch the sparks flying from the iron moulds.

We also played in the piles of sand outside the cement factory at the end of the street.

When old enough I was sent to St Paul’s School, my teacher was a Miss Hazel.

By this time, however, the war ended and my father came home.  He fixed up the house but shortly afterwards we moved to 17 North Street, Strongstry but that’s another story.