THEN AND NOW: THE KING'S LOCK

 

THE KINGS LOCK.   Photo: The Frank Smith Collection

A familiar postcard once to be found, faded and curling around the edges, in obscure corners of Middlewich shops, along with even earlier postcard views of other favourite Middlewich scenes such as Wheelock Street, Chester Road, Fountain Fields and, of course, the Parish Church. The date of this view is a little difficult to establish, but the King's Lock's unabashed promotion of the dreaded Double Diamond beer puts it sometime around the late 60s/early 70s.

The pub was owned at this time by Ind Coope. Ind is, improbably, the name of one of the founders of the Burton-on-Trent brewery which produced DD. Mr Coope joined him in 1845. Double Diamond was originally a bottled pale ale which the brewery developed after the war to become one of the first keg beers. The supposed advantage was that the quality of the beer was 'consistent'. Consistently awful, some said. Ind Coope later became part of Tetleys, which in turn came under the Allied Breweries umbrella in later years. Double Diamond was last heard of as a keg beer in the early 1980s, though a bottled version was available until quite recently.

Ind Coope seem to have made an effort to give the old canal pub a more 'modern' look by painting it in sickly shades of green, possibly to go along with the Double Diamond beer on offer. Note that the old-fashioned lintels and other period features have been painted over. The King's Lock at the time was notorious for being somewhat compact and restricted for space (or being, as the locals had it, 'a poky hole'). It served canal users, both dwindling numbers of commercial boaters and people trying out the  burgeoning canal leisure industry, as well as locals from Booth Lane and the Avenues.

Like its near-namesake The Big Lock, the 'King's' is a 'stack pub' built on two levels; the pub at Canal level and accommodation on the lower level for horse stabling and other necessary arrangements for the canal trade.

The Big Lock, of course, differed slightly in that it was really two pubs - one at canal level along with a shop and stabling for the canal trade, and another on the top level for the residents of Webb's Lane.

It seems likely that the King's Lock, as built, included accommodation for a lock-keeper. Perhaps the lock-keeper doubled as the publican?

Photo: Gav Jackson

In Summer 2022 Gav Jackson was out and about photographing some attractive Middlewich scenes and, fortuitously, took a photo of the pub from the same angle. At first glance not a lot seems to have changed. The exterior of the pub looks a bit smarter, but the real changes have been to the interior. When the pub was re-modelled a surprising amount of space was reclaimed from somewhere and the building is now more roomy, while still retaining its cosy intimacy. The King's Lock, like so many other pubs, is now also a restaurant and has a marquee on the land at the lower level where musical performances can be seen throughout most of the year. The actual lock which gives the pub its name is on the other side of the bridge which could benefit from a fresh coat of whitewash.

Photo: Gav Jackson

The full photo by Gav Jackson, showing a little more of the surroundings of the pub in the Summer of 2022. The marquee can be seen on the left.

Many thanks to Gav for permission to use his photo.

THE ORIGINAL LONG LANE CANAL BRIDGE

by Dave Roberts

We're indebted once again to local photographer Bill Armsden who found this remarkable image while he was looking through some family photographs.
In fact, Bill thinks it may well have been taken in the 1960s by his mother, who died recently.
We're calling it 'remarkable' not because there is anything particularly special about the photograph itself, but because it depicts a lost feature of our town - the only bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal's Middlewich Branch (within the town boundary at least) to have been destroyed and replaced by a modern concrete structure.
Nearly all of Middlewich's canal bridges have survived through the years, the only exceptions being the most famous of them all, the Town Bridge, which was replaced by a modern structure in 1931 and the Turnover Bridge, drastically altered in the 1960s, both on the Trent & Mersey. 

See: TOWN BRIDGE circa 1914

          THE TURNOVER BRIDGE

The replacement of this particular bridge happened during that curious and mercifully short-lived era when the car was king and, in the rush to make everything easier for the motorist, a historic canal bridge which had been serving the community since 1829 could be sacrificed.
Or am I being too harsh? Was there, in fact, a problem with the original bridge which would have cost too much to put right, making the concrete replacement the better option?
I certainly can't remember there being any public outcry over the destruction of the old bridge (which there certainly would be today if anyone suggested destroying such an iconic structure).
Does anyone know the circumstances of this drastic change to the SUC landscape?
Was it simply a question of the need for a  a wider road, which couldn't be accommodated by the old bridge?
Housing development in the area around the 'new canal' over the years has, of course,led to an increase in road and pedestrian traffic on the roads leading from the town to these outlying estates. The St Ann's Road Bridge, for example, survived, but with an additional pedestrian footbridge. Was it simply that the Long Lane bridge couldn't be adapted to the new traffic conditions and thus had to go?
Whatever the reason for the change, it comes as a bit of a shock to see the modern bungalows on the other side of Long Lane, which still look very much the same today, with this long-gone bridge in the foreground.
And look at the steel and concrete 'stile', to the right of the bridge, which I'd always thought was put there when the new bridge was built.
Is it the same 'stile' which is there today? It certainly looks like it.

Facebook Feedback:

Geraldine Williams I think the photograph must have been taken a little earlier than Bill thought. My parents moved into one of the new Chris Earl houses bordering the canal in Hubert Drive no later than 1959 and there would have been gardens where the photograph has been taken from. I well remember the scramble down that path from the bridge to the canal - it's a wonder no-one ended up in the water! Bill Stoneley lived in the first bungalow.

Dave Roberts Yes. I should have mentioned that Bill says that he thinks his mother took the picture from the bottom of their garden in (I think) Hubert Drive.

Geraldine Williams I suppose it was a shame that the original bridge had to go but I can remember when Long Lane was just a dirt track and when you consider all the housing that was eventually built - Long Lane North and South, the extended Hayhurst Avenue/Rolt Crescent area etc - even if the bridge was sound it would never have been wide enough to take the traffic and, more importantly, provide safety for pedestrians. The steps created down to the canal were an added bonus of course!

Facebook Feedback (April 2018)

Paul Smith (to Ron Evans) I'm guessing the coving stone I saw in the mud must have come from this bridge. I wonder what me Aunt Dol would have made of all this hoo ha?

Ron Evans (to Paul Smith) Paul,The surface of Long Lane used to be clinker cinders from some local factory and was replaced periodically! If you fell on it you could look forward to deep grazing which took ages to heal.
Used to have a smoke under that bridge on the way to school.....courtesy of Barry Jones whose mum gave him five fags every morning.....is he still in Middlewich?
Our Doris moved into her house in Long Lane in 1962!

First published 11th April 2014
Re-formatted and re-published 11th April 2018
Updated and re-published 30th April 2020

BEFORE THE MIDDLEWICH DIARY: GEORGE ROBINSON

Here's one from May 2011

From Facebook 30th May 2011

Dotted throughout these photographic memories are shots of what I like to call 'Middlewich personalities' (largely for want of a better word) and here's one of them.

George Robinson gave me some slides early in the 1980s of himself and his cronies from the dustbin gang (refuse disposal operatives, I mean) messing about in  the sacred confines of the Council Chamber.

Here George wields the Chairman's gavel. Ironically, he actually did become a councillor in later years.

For those who have not yet penetrated this Holy of Holies, the window behind George is the back window of the Council Chamber, and the roof glimpsed through it is that of the Civic Hall.*

*Now the Victoria Hall - Ed.

Editor's Note: As far as we can ascertain this slide never found its way to the Middlewich Diary, and we're pleased to be able to show you this photo of 'Scampy' (or was it 'Scampie', or even 'Scampi'? We'll probably never know.)

Given that this slide, along with the others in the series, was given to us in the early 1980s, in all likelihood we're seeing George as he was in the early to mid-1970s.
We've shown you many many photographs of the town and its long-lost buildings.

over the last seven years, but we should never forget that without its people - and especially without people like George - a town is nothing.

Facebook Feedback (30th May 2011):

Jonathan Williams (Middlewich Town Clerk) Not sure that's allowed. Mutiny on the Dustcarts?! Sacrilege; and a Dastardly thing to do. Maybe it was Muttley on the Dustcarts ! Wouldn't happen in my time.

George has cropped up a couple of times in The Middlewich Diary. Here are links to a couple of MD entries which feature him, including one featuring him as the intrepid driver of the renowned 'Orange Wonder'...

THE PIAZZA
THE ORANGE WONDER (2)

George at the helm of
The Orange Wonder

FAMILIAR MIDDLEWICH FACES IN FAMILIAR MIDDLEWICH PLACES

by Dave Roberts

Well, they'll be familiar to many, we strongly suspect. Here are four photographs from prolific Middlewich Diary contributor Mike Jennings' Classic Collection. Mike originally posted the four photos on our Middlewich Diary Photo Group, always a good way of contributing to the Middlewich Diary. (You can also post them to any of our other Facebook Groups. We'll trim them and tidy them up for you if they look a bit the worse for wear. But please remember we can't perform miracles.)

All four of Mike's photos seem to date from the 1960s.

Picture One: The gentleman in this picture  has already been identified by Celia Burt as her cousin John Appleton.

He's astride a motorbike in the car park of the late lamented White Horse in Lewin Street. On the other side of that low wall is Niddrie's Toy Shop and the HQ of Niddrie's Coaches.

Across the road is a row of typical Lewin Street cottages and shops - no two the same - leading up to a very interesting building, to the left of Niddries as seen in the photo. This was the original frontage of St Paul's Methodist Chapel, later demolished to make way for a car park in front of the remainder of the building which was given a new, modern frontage. In 1998 the three Middlewich Methodist Churches - Chester Road, St Paul's and Cledford, combined together. Chester Road became the HQ of Bamford's Stationery, St Paul's became Dave's Angling Supplies and the Cledford Chapel was demolished to make way for an enlarged building combining the congregations of all three chapels.

Picture Two: ....and who's this cheerful lady, strolling down Booth lane on what looks like a lovely sunny day? Has she, perhaps just got off a bus from Sandbach or Crewe? To her left is the Booth Lane recreation area, then and now a children's playground and now also a skateboard park. In the background is 'Etta Mault's' chip shop which, we hardly need mention, is still going strong.

UPDATE (24th May 2022) On Facebook Rita O'Hare wrote: 'This photo is of  Lavinia Barnet - the mother of the late Ann Hough.Vinnie as she was known lived on Booth Lane near to the Methodist chapel.'

Many thanks to Rita, and also to Julie Bickerton who supplied the same information - Ed.

Picture Three: This gentleman has a strangely familiar look about him. 

UPDATE: Since the first publication of this Diary entry, he has been identified by Colin Appleton as Jack Molineux, who lived just across the road from the place where this photo was taken, on the corner of Ashfield Street. See Colin's comment below.

He's sitting on Booth Lane Bridge, which spans the junction of the Trent & Mersey and Wardle canals and carries the road from Middlewich to Sandbach. We know that the photo was taken after 1962 because the ICI Alkali Works behind him on the other side of the canal is in a derelict condition. Pochins, who took over the site (and are still there)* have not yet arrived at the time of the photo. The King's Lock Boatyard and the ancillary businesses now to be found on that peninsula of land between the canal and the arm which once served the chemical works are nowhere to be seen. One link with the present day, though, is the canal signpost seen to the gentleman's right. In those days it was made entirely out of cast-iron, painted in British Waterways colours of blue and yellow and guided the last of the working boats to important destinations on the T&M and SUC. It still performs the same function today. mostly for pleasure boaters. The modern version of the signpost, restored in the 1980s, has 'fingers' made out of timber.

And talking of signs, look at the cast iron sign on the bridge. It can also provide a clue to the date of the photograph. It was originally headed BRITISH TRANSPORT COMMISSION, but the letters appear to have been chiselled off, meaning that the photo must have been taken after 1954.

But we knew that anyway, because the ICI Works was in full swing right up until 1962. 

There were signs like this on most of the local canal bridges in those days, including a very nice diamond-shaped one on Brooks Lane bridge just a short distance away. The wording was something like:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THIS BRIDGE

 IS INSUFFICIENT TO CARRY WEIGHTS

 BEYOND THOSE OF THE ORDINARY TRAFFIC

 OF THE DISTRICT

-that's just from memory. Perhaps someone could enlighten us as to the precise wording?

The gentleman in the picture has one of those 'Middlewich faces'. He seems happy to be photographed, unlike his dog which, as they say around here, appears 'not struck'.

* Or, rather, were until 2019 when the company went into liquidation.

Picture four. Actually we're not entirely convinced that this particular photo was taken in Middlewich. We certainly can't place the buildings in the background. Can anyone else?  Nevertheless the fact that this photo is among Mike's collection points to the ladies in it being from Middlewich. Perhaps they're on an outing somewhere? And sure enough, Celia Burt has identified one of them as Clara Cresswell.

Many thanks to Mike for letting us see these photographs. There's something very poignant about seeing these Middlewichers of long ago going about their business in (mostly) familiar places.

If you can identify anyone, please let us know.

Facebook Feedback:

Pam Leese The 4th picture is Sandbach. The white building is Brook's butchers across from the cobbles.

If this is your photo, please let us know, so that we can credit you properly.

Many thanks to Pam for coming up with the answer to this one. This photo proves the point that our Middlewich lassies were not in Middlewich at all, but just down the road in the estimable town of Sandbach. 

A very distinctive roofline, even if it does make the shop look more like the Alamo than a High Street shop. It's an excellent butcher's shop, by the way!

More excellent Sandbach photos at:
SANDBACH PHOTOS - PAST & PRESENT

Many thanks to:

Mike Jennings
Celia Burt
Colin Appleton
Pam Leese

THE WOODLANDS, NANTWICH ROAD 1960s

by Dave Roberts

Nantwich Road in the 1960s (or possibly early 1970s) and treble Green Shield Stamps are being given away with petrol at 'The Woodlands', situated where, in modern-day Middlewich, we find Glastonbury Drive, Malmesbury Close, Lindisfarne Close, Tewkesbury Close, Fountains Close, Westminster Close, Welbeck Close and Buckfast Way, all modern developments built mostly on the site of the former Boosey's Nurseries as mentioned here.
Glastonbury Drive is the main estate road, off which the others branch and replaces the access road running alongside the houses on the far right of the picture. Malmesbury Close, which is the first road to branch off it to the left, runs parallel to Nantwich Road, approximately where the line of petrol pumps is in our picture.

Lurking alongside the building, on the left, is what looks very much like a breakdown truck.
Fortunately for the modern day motorist's peace of mind, this picture was taken long before  large signs stating the price per litre of the petrol on sale came into vogue, so we'll never know just how heartbreakingly cheap it was at the time*
* Not so, regrettably. Ignorance is bliss, but Geraldine Williams spills the beans below.
The ubiquitous squeaky Castrol sign is, however, present and correct.
The Woodlands was one of my earliest memories, for the very good reason that it stood directly opposite my home at 53 Nantwich Road.
Despite that, I find I know surprisingly little about it.

But here, riding to the rescue, comes Geraldine Williams:

'...The Woodlands used to be a guest house/hotel and was also used to billet American officers during the American occupation of Cranage(!) and the filling station was always known as Blease's.
My Dad used to top up our car with petrol there - four shots and four gallons for £1. The shots were (apparently) REDeX - an upper cylinder lubricant which was pumped into the petrol tank when filling up with a corresponding number of gallons of fuel and allegedly made the pistons work more smoothly.

(REDeX is still very much with us, and a source of endless discussion among motoring enthusiasts, who will spend  hours discussing its pros and cons rather than talking about sensible  things such as the relative merits of the Sony ECM 99 mike and the smaller F99A for field recording work, as normal people do -Ed)

Joan Pierpoint used to hold ballroom dancing classes (which I attended) in the big left-hand front room, and I owe all my Foxtrot skills to her. Ha ha!'

For a first hand account of late-night working at the Woodlands petrol station 

see WORKING AT THE WOODLANDS by Carol Jennings

Facebook feedback:

Andrew Tomlinson  Didn't this garage later become Jelliman's?

Geraldine Williams  Yes, I think it did.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2013:

I was delighted to receive additional information on this entry from no less a person than Denis Yardley - a name I remember well from my childhood. Denis' comments are featured below. - Ed

MIDDLEWICH TALES: TALES OF SHREDDED NEWSPAPERS by Daniel Preston and Cliff Astles

THE TALE OF THE SHREDDED NEWSPAPER
by Daniel Preston

This  incident took place around 1964 when I was a newspaper boy.  I was still at school in those days. and  worked part-time for Reg Taylor, who had a newsagents shop in Wheelock Street where  the Choklat Bar is in the present day.

I took the round over from Ian Sant and  had morning and evening deliveries which paid ten shillings each (50p in decimal currency). I also had Sunday morning deliveries, which paid four shillings (20p).

Thursday evening was the hardest round, as that is when the Middlewich Guardian and Middlewich Chronicle came out. 

Also the Radio Times  (which had the listings for B.B.C. TV and radio) and the T.V. Times (which had the listings for ITV - in our area Granada TV during the week, and ABC Television at weekends). Everybody and his dog wanted the extra tonnage of papers on Thursday evening - one dog especially.

On

St. Anns Road

, just before where the Lily Works was then and the Newton Court care home is now, there is a fork in the road. 

One house  I made deliveries to was on Newton Heath, the street that angled off to the right from

St. Ann's Road

. On my evening rounds, I would come along

Wheelock Street

, then up

Darlington Street

, then turn left at the top and go to this particular house. 

There was a dog that lived there, not a big dog, but one well trained by his master. Every evening when I slid the paper into the letterbox, the dog would grab it in his jaws and snatch it from my hands and the letterbox would slam shut with a loud clap.

Meanwhile, the dog would be scampering off, presumably to lay the newspaper dutifully into his master’s lap. I can just see said master, sitting back in his armchair, smoking his pipe and sipping a snifter of brandy.

He would, of course, be wearing a heavy duty bathrobe and slippers, feet up on a stool.

“Good boy!” he would say, picking up the papers, “now let’s see what’s on the bally telly tonight.” 

Meanwhile, said ‘Good boy’ would settle in to lie comfortably at his master’s feet while  a roaring fire in the ornate fireplace would bathe the pair in its ruddy glow.

Meanwhile I would be still be out in the pouring rain, on my bike with a ton weight of papers hanging off my shoulder in a great, soggy canvas bag.

After several weeks of the dog grabbing the paper and me not being able to get it through the letterbox before he showed up, I hit on a strategy. 

I would keep hold of the paper until I was good and ready to let go of it and  see how long the dog could hang on. 

You see, I wanted to deliver the paper. 

That meant putting the paper through the letterbox and hearing it hit the mat on the other side of the door with a satisfying thud, not have some mongrel snatch it out of my hands. 

I wasn’t bothered about what the dog did with it afterwards, just as long as he would let me do my job first.

Which brings us to one rainy Thursday night in November 1964.

My bag was full to overloading, already heavy with all the newspapers and TV magazines and made heavier by the rain. 

I had loaded them up in the back of Reg Taylor’s shop and made my way along

Wheelock Street, delivered

 papers on

Darlington Street

 and then  pushed my bike the short distance to the house with the frantic dog.

I leaned my bike by the front gate, opened it,  squelched my way up the path and  pulled out the papers for this house - one of the evening national newspapers, the Middlewich Guardian, the Middlewich Chronicle, the T.V. Times and the Radio Times.

I folded them together with the local papers on the outside. The evening national papers weren’t too thick, but the local ones were and this made a very thick bundle… and the papers were damp, very damp.

I could hear the frantic dog scamper up to the door, eager to retrieve the papers for his master. The papers, all folded together like that, were a tight squeeze for the letterbox at the best of times. Now I had a job to get them through. As soon as they did poke through though, the dog grabbed hold and snatched them in.

However, I did not let go. I snatched them back. The dog didn’t let go either so he snatched them back to his side. I wasn’t having that, not on a night like this. Wet through and letting a dog in carpet slippers have its way? No way! 

I kept hold and snatched the papers back to my side. The dog started to turn nasty, I could hear him  growling. 

He pulled hard, I pulled hard, we both pulled hard together. 

The bundled up newspapers went see-sawing in and out of the letterbox. Of course, the papers on the outside, being wet anyway, were soon torn to sodden shreds. 

I  noticed the mess they were in, so I decided to let the dog have them now. He could trot off to his master while I trotted off down the path.

As I got back on my bike to pedal off to the next house on my rounds, I thought I heard a bewildered, “What the bally ‘ell is this?” from the house of the frantic dog.

It was one of those affairs. By the time I got back to the newsagents, the shredded newspapers were there waiting for me. They were not a pretty sight. A bit like papier-mâché that isn’t quite ready. 

Of course, I blamed it on the dog. “He wouldn’t let go,” I said. “Kept pulling on the papers and wouldn’t let me deliver them.”

 I was told that, in future, maybe I could consider putting the newspapers through the letterbox one at a time.

This would save Mr Taylor from having to consider sacking me. 

No more trouble with the frantic dog after that. First paper in, he snatched it and off he’d go. Before he got back, I’d have the rest through the letterbox and on the mat with a satisfying thunk. 

So we were all happy then and besides, Christmas was coming and I might get a chance to see Carnegie’s daughter.

 Ian Sant had told me that she was a cracker and usually gave the Christmas box to the paper lad.

That, though, is another story...  
© Daniel Preston 2011
......................................................................................................
...and so's this, albeit a somewhat similar one from Cliff Astles. Not really all that surprising, really. Dogs will be dogs. -ed
ANOTHER TALE OF ANOTHER SHREDDED NEWSPAPER
by Cliff Astles
Interestingly Daniel's story is almost identical to one of my own.
I was also a Reg Taylor paper boy!
In 1954, when I was 14 years old, I was also delivering papers along St. Ann's Road, where at the house at the bottom of Hannah's Walk I would place the morning papers through the letter box.
At the time the family living at this house had a white terrirer dog which, when he heared me delivering papers, would wait until I placed them into the letter box, take a running leap and tear at the papers.
This went on for some time, and, like Daniel in his  tale I was slighty miffed that the owner would allow his dog to do this.
Therefore, at times I would hold onto the papers until the dog had had his fun, and then put the ripped-to-shreds paper through the letter box so that the dog's owner could try to find anything that might be still readable.
Finally, the dog owner got the message and stopped the dog from being able to do this each day. 
Two satisfied customers - me and the dog owner!
© Cliff Astles 2011

The St Ann's Road house which was home to the1950s  newspaper loving dog
Photo: Cliff Astles

Facebook feedback:

Geraldine Williams There's a definite thread coming through these Tales Daniel. Obviously the Meadow Dairy hadn't asked Reg Taylor for references.......!! haha

FOSTER'S BIKE SHOP 1960s

In a photo from the Paul Hough Collection, here's another long-lost Middlewich institution - Foster's bike shop as it was in (as far as we can tell) the early 1960s. The shop was in Lower street, directly opposite the Town Hall and its location relative to that building can be seen in this photo, the accompanying description of which also tells you more about Lower Street..
Mr Foster was an excellent bicycle repair man, but many  youngsters lived in fear of his wrath if their bikes had to go in for repair and had not been 'looked after properly'.
The bike repair shop was actually out of shot to the right, at the end of the path with the wooden fence running alongside it.
The door giving access to the shop's living accomodation can be seen at the side of the building.
Although the workshop was a little ramshackle, the shop/showroom and associated house were very substantial buildings, as were the two adjoining cottages.
On the extreme left we can just see  the block of shops also mentioned in the posting linked above which closely resembled the Wheelock Street row which still exists and includes Peter Forshaw's funeral parlour*  and Cynthia's cake shop.
The 50s (or 60s) vintage car parked there is also interesting. Can anyone identify it?
We welcome your memories of Mr Foster and his bicycle business.
*Update: Forshaw's moved to the former newsagent's (Challinors/Gibbins) on Leadsmithy Street in 2014

P.S. You'll have realised, of course, that one way of dating the above picture accurately would be to find out when that Heinz Ketchup ad was current. Don't think we haven't thought of it. No success so far, though.

Facebook Feedback

David Graham got many a bike part from there - built/resurrected a few bikes in my misspent youth

NOW & THEN: SOUTHWAY AND TESCO ENTRANCE 1960s and 2011

This posting should be read with reference to this one in which we were looking at part of the site of the current Tesco supermarket and car park as it was in (we think) the 1960s.
Obviously the best way of comparing a scene from the past with its modern-day counterpart is to take a 'now' picture to put alongside the 'then' shot, but this is not always as easy as it might appear.
This is a case in point.
Short of knocking down the Tesco Supermarket, there is no way an exact present-day equivalent of the 1960s shot can be taken, and this is the best I could do. I've cropped and enlarged part of the original black & white shot to try to make the two pictures a little easier to compare.
On the extreme left of both shots is Barclay House, struggling to be seen through the trees in the old shot, but in the new picture seeming almost engulfed by the luxuriant foliage which forms part of the landscaping of the current Tesco car park.
The two windows at the end of the block of shops along Southway can be seen in both photos (in actual fact the block in question is, traditionally, part of Wheelock Street - Southway was, until the 70s, just the name for the footpath between Wheelock Street and St Ann's Road. This posting shows how things were at the start of that decade) At one time these windows were partly masked by the roof of the wooden 'industrial' building which stood at the end of the block, and when this was removed and replaced by the modern lower-roofed building which houses the hairdressers and florists shops, those windows were fully revealed.
And I have to say that I think my assertion that the trees in the 'then' shot are in the same spot as the Tesco entrance 'pagoda' was absolutely spot on.

Facebook Feedback:
Paul Greenwood The two windows at the end of the building to the right of the image are my bedroom windows now!!

SEDDON'S WORKS AND MIDDLEWICH GASWORKS FROM TOWN BRIDGE 1960s

We believe this image to be out of copyright. If you own the copyright, or know who does, please let us know.

by Dave Roberts

Today, courtesy of Paul Hough, we're able to go back to the 1960s to take in the view from the Town Bridge, looking in the direction of the Big Lock. We've seen some of the elements of this photo before from various different viewpoints, but it's nice to see them all together in this classic 1960s view.
Our house at Number 33 (originally 27) King Street was on higher ground, out of shot and to the right. Thus we had wonderful views of both salt works and gas works from the mid-50s until the late 60s, as well as views of the town centre and part of Webb's Lane.
The same house now commands views of 'The Moorings', which (eventually) took the place of Seddon's in the 1980s.
On the extreme left is the building which now houses the Town Bridge Estate Agents. 'EE ACES is just a small part of the words: JAYGEE FIREPLACES. This long single-storey building has been considerably smartened up for its new life in the property business.
To the right of that are those oh so familiar chimneys at Seddon's Pepper Street Works.
I think the works must still have been in operation at the time of the photograph, because I seem to recall that the gas-holders went a few years before the works closed in 1967, but there appears to be no smoke from any of the chimneys (what I at first thought to be smoke, I now think is either passing clouds or smudges on the original print), and the salt pans themselves (the location of two of them can be discerned by the inverted 'V' shaped structures in the centre of the photo) are not steaming. It may be that the photo was taken over a weekend when most of the pans were shut down for de-scaling and maintenance.
The bridge which took Middlewich's supply of town gas across the canal is a bit difficult to make out in the middle of this shot - its reflection in the canal is actually clearer than the direct image.
The houses on the skyline, which still exist, are in Webbs Lane.
And on the right can be seen Middlewich's main gas holder and, in front of it, the steel framework of the secondary holder (which, as we noted in 'Storm Over Seddons', eventually 'fell off' its framework and was dismantled)
The main gasholder  (sometimes erroneously referred to as a 'gasometer'), seems to be full of gas (by this time, I think I'm right in saying, gas was no longer made on the site, but the holders were still used to store gas produced elsewhere).
The gas holder acted like a huge telescopic bellows, the top, darker coloured, part moving up and down inside the lower part, rising and falling with the demand for gas.
On Sunday lunch-times when everyone was cooking roast beef and all the trimmings, the top part of the holder would disappear into the bottom part as all the stored gas was used up.
The small brick building which can just be made out behind the girders of the secondary holder still exists and has been given a pitched roof and the name 'Cheshire House'
Both Northwich and Winsford had much larger and more spectacular gas holders than we did. But then, they would, wouldn't they?

For a different view of the salt works and gas works see
SEDDON'S SALT WORKS FROM THE CANAL MID 60s

SEE ALSO: SALT WORKS, GAS WORKS AND CANAL 1960s

The Paul Hough Collection
Ever since A Middlewich Diary first started, back in June, I've wanted to include some of the older black and white photographs which we've all become familiar with over the years, but didn't know where to source them from.
Recently I came across a whole collection of these photos, some familiar, some new to me, posted on Facebook by Paul Hough. I contacted him and asked for permission to use them on the Middlewich Diary. He explained how he came to acquire them:

They were scanned from a mate's photo album; he was the previous owner of Middlewich Auto Spares in Wheelock Street. A photographer was taking photos of his premises, apparently stables of yesteryear (Doctor's Surgery?) and sold him the prints. That's as much as I know about them. So I thought it was the correct thing to share them!! 


Which, of course it was. We're delighted to include these photos in our Diary and hope that, if you have any memories or information about the photos and the subjects contained in them you'll let us know.
Our thanks to Paul for giving us his permission to use this collection and an opportunity to delve even further back into the fascinating history of Middlewich. -Ed