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Manchester Trip : Quarry Bank Mill (Part Two)

I’ll have to upload these photos as a job lot as I can’t really add a great deal of context to them (it might surprise my two loyal blog readers, but my knowledge of industrial equipment isn’t perfect to say the least), but they were what turned the cotton into clothing and other items at the mill.

The volunteers turned a lot of these machines on and they’re not the quietest things. I can only begin to imagine what the noise must have been like when all of the machines were running at full capacity. It’s no surprise that many people working here lost their hearing. Some of the machinery isn’t actually from the mill, but has been brought here to show the sort of industrial equipment that was here.

Some videos of the equipment (and Richard).

An apprentice’s indenture.

A wage cup from the mill, this is how everyone received their pay.

The toilet facilities at the mill for the workers.

The main waterwheel here is enormous, of a quite breathtaking size, but it was hard to get a photo of it to show just how substantial it was. This is the original wheel pit when they had a smaller waterwheel in operation.

I did manage to get a video of the waterwheel though from the side.

Liam likes engineering projects.

In April 1847, the original 1818 shaft was found to be cracked and so it was replaced with this new iron shaft. It was repaired in 1873 and taken out of usage in 1904.

Richard then bought a load of fabrics from the shop, although Liam and I resisted such temptations.

And with that, we all had to think of getting home. Richard went off in one direction, Ross and Liam in another, but not before they dropped me off at Manchester Airport’s free drop-off car park. For the observant, this is where my little series of posts about Berlin started….. Anyway, this was a quite marvellous weekend and excellent company, I’m looking forwards to the 2025 expedition which I think is to Cardiff.

January 6, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : The Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex Rail Road Company

And just one more post from the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago this week…..

“NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, AND ESSEX Rail Road Company.

At the request of several Gentlemen of influence and respectability of Norwich, the Committee of Management have consented to receive SUBSCRIPTIONS for SHARES until the 1st February, before which time all Tenders must be made, to Messrs. Gurney, Messrs. Tompson, Barclay, & Ives, Messrs. Onley, Hudson, and Harvey, and Messrs. Day, Bankers; Messrs. Unthank and Foster, Solicitors, at Norwich; Messrs. Brown and Co. Messrs. Oakes & Co. and E. Squire, Esq. Bankers, at Bury St. Edmund’s; Messrs. Borton, Solicitors, Bury St. Edmund’s; or to Messrs. Sir W. Kay, Price, Marryatt, and Coleman, Bankers, Mansion House-street, London; Messrs. Morland & Co. Pall Mall; Messrs. Wolfe and Edmunds, Brokers, ‘Change Alley, Cornhill; and Messrs. Wilks and Verbeke, Solicitors, 36, New Broad-street.

But all parties so making Tenders must remit the amount of deposit of £1 per Share, on the Shares for which they may tender, to one of the above-named Bankers, otherwise the Tender cannot be received.

London, 13th Jan. 1825. WM. SIM, Sec. Pro-Tem.”

I’ll ignore that Oxford Comma in the first line…. I can’t find any substantial reference to this company, although I like the early use of the words rail road, so I’m not entirely sure what happened to it. However, this must have been one of the earliest attempts to create a rail company in East Anglia, but it took over a decade for any line to appear in the region. However, I suspect I’ll start to see a lot more journalism and adverts about the rail network from 200 years ago, as in 1826 there was an Act of Parliament that authorised the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

January 3, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : Theft from the Castle Inn

And (yet) another post in my series of things that I thought intriguing from the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago this week. The article reads:

“On Thursday night, or early on Friday morning, some persons broke into the bar of Mr. Blackley, at the Castle Inn, by breaking the window over the porter-room door, and slipping the bar lock, and stole from thence a musical snuff-box, a silver snuff-box, four pictures, double-bitted bridle, pair of shoes, boots, silver wine strainer, and several other articles. The pictures are portraits of Mr. Blackley and some of his family. A person sleeping near the room imagined that he heard their attempt, but did not rise to ascertain the fact.”

It’s the last line that I thought of note and I can almost imagine the annoyance of William Henry Redhead Blackley, who was the landlord of the pub between 1823 and 1833, that the person mentioned didn’t attempt to stop what was going on. This was also a large venue (known over the time as the Castle Inn, the Castle Hotel, the Castle & Lion and just the Castle), it had been trading since the mid seventeenth century and it remained open until 1989, which seems like quite a decent run to me. Unfortunately, the building was lost in the 1990s as part of the Castle Mall development, but it had been a sizeable building.

As some other asides, it was quite a little haul that the thieves got away with, taking horse related kit, shoes and photos of the landlord. I had to look up what a porter room was and it’s apparently a Norfolk thing, it’s a reference to the posh bar or I suppose the lounge bar of its day.

As for the landlord, William died on 1 March 1833 and is buried at the Rosary Cemetery, although I’m not sure if his gravestone is still there.

January 3, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : Surgeon and Mechanical Dentist in Pubs

And another in my series of posts that caught my eye from the Norwich Mercury of 200 years ago.

“MR. WOODCOCK, SURGEON AND MECHANICAL DENTIST, OF LYNN,

RESPECTFULLY informs his Friends and the Public, that he may be consulted in the several branches of his profession,

At the Hoste Arms, Burnham Market, on Monday and Tuesday, the 24th and 25th January inst.

At the Fleece, Wells, on Wednesday, the 26th.

And at the Red Lion, Fakenham, on Thursday and Friday, the 27th and 28th.

Lynn, January, 1825.”

A mechanical dentist is a phrase that was used for over 100 years and this is someone who made dentures and other dental appliances. But, what I rather like is that he wasn’t operating from a dental office, but was instead travelling to different towns and meeting patients in various pubs. I rather like this glimpse into what healthcare looked like in rural England in the early nineteenth century, for those with at least a little money at least. And meeting patients in a pub seems a quite marvellous idea to me.

What is also rather positive is that the three pubs mentioned are all still operating 200 years on. The Fleece is better known now as the Golden Fleece and the Red Lion closed in 1974 and was turned into council offices, but then reopened as a bar around twenty-five years ago. There’s something reassuring knowing that 200 years on, these pubs are all still there (although the Red Lion seems to be a little tentative at the moment) although I don’t think that they have anyone going around offering tooth repair.

January 3, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : John Sell Cotman Teaches Painting

200 years ago this week in the Norwich Mercury is this advert placed by John Sell Cotman. This wasn’t a new thing for him, he had been doing it for many years and so it must have been successful in getting work in.

John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) was a prominent English landscape painter and etcher, particularly recognised as a leading figure of the Norwich School of painters. Born in Norwich, he displayed an early inclination towards art, diverging from the path of his father’s business. Cotman’s artistic journey began in London, where he immersed himself in the art scene, encountering notable figures like J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtin. He became part of their sketching club, embarking on expeditions to Wales and Surrey, which significantly influenced his artistic development. By 1800, he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy, showcasing his captivating landscapes.

“MR. J. S. COTMAN
RE-COMMENCES his Course of Teaching in the departments of DRAWING, PAINTING in
OIL and WATER COLOURS, on the 24th in NORWICH, and at YARMOUTH on the 21st instant.
St. Martin’s at Palace.”

Hindsight is a marvellous thing, and also a bit pointless as this was 200 years ago, but what an opportunity this would have been. Cotman on the other hand often had financial difficulties, as being an artist wasn’t always hugely profitable, so this sort of thing would have bought in extra revenue.

January 2, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : £30 Reward after Theft of Two Fat Sheep

And another in my series of posts from 200 years ago this week (well, actually next week, but the crime was this week).

“£30 REWARD.

WHEREAS on Friday night last some Persons entered a Turnip Field, in Swardeston, Norfolk, and there STOLE TWO FAT SHEEP, the property of Mr. William Smith, of Swardeston Hall, the Skins, Heads, and Entrails of which have since been found hidden among the Furze Bushes on the Hall Green, at Swardeston.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That whoever will give information which may lead to the apprehension of the persons concerned in the above felony, so as they be thereof convicted, shall be paid the Sum of TWENTY POUNDS out of the Fund of the Association for the Prosecution of Felons within the Hundred of Taverham and adjoining Hundreds and Towns, in the county of Norfolk, and the further Sum of TEN POUNDS by the said Wm. Smith.

J. S. PARKINSON,
Treasurer to the said Association.

Norwich, Jan. 10th, 1825.”

This caught my eye because this is a huge reward for the theft of two sheep, the equivalent of nearly £2,000 in today’s money. The level of this must have been intended to be a deterrent and the farmer must have had some considerable wealth and influence. The farm is there today, known as Swardeston Hall Farm, with the hall itself still standing. I couldn’t find any later reference to this case, so the perpetrators might well have got away with it. As a slight aside, Swardeston is where Edith Cavell was born in 1865.

I also think it’s interesting that this is the period when attitudes were changing towards crime. The Bloody Code which had increased the number of capital crimes had been pretty much phased out in 1823 and I wonder whether some landowners were nervous that crime might rise as a result of that.

January 2, 2025
Manchester Trip : Quarry Bank Mill (Part One)

On a wet Sunday afternoon in November, we needed something to occupy ourselves for a couple of hours. A National Trust site with one of the largest waterwheels in Europe seemed like just the ticket and it wasn’t far away to drive. Fortunately, I got in free with my National Trust pass, Ross got in on that as well, with Liam having his family membership. Richard came along as well with his own specially purchased ticket and we were ready to walk in the rain for a while.

As a background to this site, it’s at its heart about cotton production during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. At the centre of the site stands the impressive mill itself, built in 1784 and an important part of the industrial revolution. It was established by Samuel Greg, who used the River Bollin to power the water wheel, and his family kept it going into the twentieth century. The challenges were obvious in the Victorian period with more competition and the site struggled to maintain profitability. By 1939, it was realised that the site wouldn’t be profitable and Alexander Carlton Greg took the decision to donate the site and the surrounding estate to the National Trust.

We had a limited amount of time and so we focused on visiting the mill which is the main part of the site. There was plenty of walking in the parkland and estates, but we didn’t have time and it was pouring with rain anyway, but there is more to see here than we did. Above is the counting house, part of the mill manager’s offices, where the money was handed to workers.

And this is the hatch view that the workers would have had when collecting their money. At its peak, there were 250 people working here, so it was a sizeable operation.

The manager’s office. We decided Richard would like this decadence.

This was more Ross, Liam and me…..

And there’s Liam.

Some cotton and the process was explained, effectively its a matter of harvesting it, then ginning it (separately the cotton fibre from the seeds), then cleaning it (by carding and combing) and then spinning and weaving it.

And a cotton plant. The whole cotton industry was an essential part of the industrial revolution, with the spinning jenny, water frame and power loom being developed as part of the process. There was an enormous demand for cotton products both nationally and internationally, with colonies exploited to secure the raw material and then they were used as markets for the finished material.

The next part of the museum were the working machines, but that will require its own page as I took numerous videos as well as photos. Ooooh, the anticipation…..

January 2, 2025
Manchester Trip : Great Central JD Wetherspoon Pub

Another complete absence of photos here, I really must have been distracted during this weekend. Anyway, we weren’t quite sure where to go for breakfast, so for the 592nd time in a row, we decided to go to a JD Wetherspoon pub and we opted for this one in the Fallowfield area. The breakfast is on the lowest price tier here, so a traditional breakfast and coffee came to under £4.40. Bargain.

The pub name does rather sound like this is a central Manchester pub, but it’s located a couple of miles to the south of the city. The chain gives the reason for the pub name:

“The railway reached Fallowfield in 1891, with its station opening on 1 October. The following May, the Great Central Railway line was extended to Sheffield. Edward Watkin, its general manager, wanted to link Manchester/Sheffield with the expanding continental European markets. The station closed to passengers in July 1958, but the railway line stayed for 30 years, used by freight trains. This pub is on the ground floor of a retail/residential block over the railway lines.”

The pub felt a little generic in terms of the building, it’s not historic and so there’s a limited amount I can imagine they could do. The service was though friendly and we were able to sit near to the coffee machine and also near a power point, so that was a win as far as I was concerned. I don’t get out much….. The breakfast was as expected, I’d like crispier bacon, but I’m not going to complain when the breakfast is £3 and especially when I got a runny egg just as I like it.

The on-line reviews are generally positive and towards the upper end of the scale for a JD Wetherspoon outlet. Talking of breakfast requirements though, they got a 1/5 review stating::

“Raw bacon and sloppy egg, never will I dine here again, kitchen staff are teenagers that don’t care, avoid at all costs”

I can see from the photo that the egg and bacon are cooked as I would expect, so you can never please everyone. On which subject, Richard had his Eggs Benedict to show off his wealth to the staff and I think he was content with it.

“Divert this place. Staff are unfriendly and never smile, people rolling around on the floor which I take are regulars. A drunk pensioner was still getting served after falling over three times”

This is the sort of thing that my friend Julian positively looks out for in a pub as he likes a bit of excitement.

“Fight broke out, no bouncer there to break it up. Went on for about 5 minutes before glasses started to get thrown. Had smashed glass hit he on the back and land in my drink before having to head for an emergency exit. The positioning of the emergency exits is ridiculous there was no way to exit the building without passing uncomfortably close to the fighting. Disgusting that this happened at 8pm there was a baby sat at the table across from us. Never again.”

I think that’s a bit too much drama even for Julian.

“Terrible..the staff were very rude and refused to serve a group of pensioners but would give no reasons only they had drank enough..they only had 2 each. They were there to have a family celebration celebrating there brothers 70th birthday ..absolutely disgusted”

I can imagine numerous reasons why and I can imagine they were justified….

“Put the wrong table number manger very unhelpful would not replace the drinks even though we had spent about a £150 that night”

Don’t put the wrong table number 🙂 I’ve never done it, although I remember when Richard ordered to the wrong pub.

“Nothing more than a glorified old pub”

Seems a positive to me, but it came with a 1/5 star review.

“The atmosphere seemed interesting so I sat there and asked if it was possible to eat there, which was confirmed to me. After 30 minutes of waiting feeling like I was invisible, I ended up going elsewhere. Obviously very disappointing.”

I see these from time to time, this was a French customer (well, the review was in French, so I’m making a logical conclusion here) and they were expecting table service.

“There is no window and the air is too bad”

This is a review in Chinese, and I can confirm that there are windows….

“Visited this bar as we were flying from Manchester airport next day , stood waiting to be served drinks at bar for 20 mins at least only to be told they only serve from the middle …….. The bar staff are ignorant and only serve people first that face fits , we then eventually found a seat as to order food only to be greeted by the none smiling miserable faced barmaid we had earlier , I ordered burgers only to be told there were none left and if I need to go back and ask my girlfriend what other food she would like I would lose my place and have to stand again in line in the middle . I ordered something different and yes it was brought relatively quickly for this reason only I give two stars , my honest opinion is if your 25 and under them yes this is the place for you only because you go to college or university with the staff , me I’m 48 and was made to look like a fool when the barmaid talked down to me , obviously wasn’t brought up with good manners .”

Customer thinks staff are ignorant. Customer is confused why they don’t engage back.

Anyway, I digress. We had a little debate about where to go next and it was unanimously decided by me that we should go to a National Trust property. Everyone seemed very pleased.

January 2, 2025
Manchester Trip : Seven Brothers Taproom in Salford (and Richard’s Uber Score)

Let’s start this post with a little story. I’m not really a taxi person, I think I’ve got a taxi (that I’ve paid for) around ten times in my life as I find them expensive, scary to order and just generally not something I need. However, Richard is very decadent and so uses them a lot. I mentioned in passing that you can see what score Uber drivers have given you as a customer in the app, and my rating is of course 5. Richard rushed to the app to check that his rating was 5, but it transpired to be much lower. I reassured Richard that they were likely just marking him down on his personality and not to take it personally, but I think he did. Anyway, with that bombshell, Richard booked us a taxi to take us all to Salford and tried his best to be extra nice to the taxi driver in an attempt to salvage his ailing rating.

Our hotel was in Salford, so we headed for the Seven Brothers taproom. I’m a fan of their beers, they’ve produced some intriguing and interesting flavoured pales, so I was pleased that we were able to visit here.

Ooooh, this looked appealing and I do sometimes feel like a kid in a candy shop when presented with choices such as this. I’d tried several of these beers before and I’ll note here just how good their honeycomb pale ale is.

This is the cleverly named Currant Affairs from Seven Brothers. It’s a fruity beer, blackcurrant to the fore and suitably sour.

I mentioned the honeycomb pale ale which I’ve had before, but this is the chocolate honeycomb stout. Like a liquid crunchie, the flavour of this was delicious, but for a 5.5% ABV beer I thought it was a little thin, but the aftertaste was decent.

This is yet another very well reviewed bar and our experiences were no different. The team members were friendly and knowledgeable, there was an excellent range of beers and the pricing was reasonable. The brewery name is actually Seven Bro7hers, but it always looks wrong when I type that, so I’ll stick with not adding a number into the middle of the word. There are actually seven brothers who set up the brewery, the McAvoy family, and they explain their reasoning for establishing it:

“The gateway brewery to craft beer. We brew and sell beer to those wanting to leave behind tasteless lagers for craft beer full of flavour, but struggle with confusing branding. We aspire to make your entry into the craft beer world fun and easy by being ‘clear with beer‘.”

Seems reasonable.

And then we walked back to the hotel, another really rather lovely day. Łukasz and Simon went off to do their own thing the following morning as one wanted a lie-in and the other needed to get back to London. But, not to fear, there are a few more posts in this series left, as there were still four of us left on the Sunday…..

January 2, 2025
Manchester Trip : Bardez – Indian Street Food and Grill (Rusholme)

One bus journey from the city centre later, we arrived at Bardez in Rusholme. This is an Indian restaurant that has managed to secure a Google review rating of 4.8, something that’s really quite impressive. Our table was ready for us on arrival, which was handy as I was hungry, and everything looked modern, clean and well presented. I also noticed that the operators are from Goz and have the surname D’Souza, and although I doubt that Liam knew that when booking, perhaps he was naturally drawn to the restaurant.

Back to the food. They didn’t serve poppadoms in the traditional manner, but suggested one bowl of mini versions between six of us. I think we had to up the order to four of them, of which one stayed miraculously close to me for proceedings. Unfortunately, as I was distracted, we have another blog post with an absence of useful photos (although I remembered the food and beer), although I suspect that we’ll all cope with that and my two loyal blog readers will have to use their power of imagination.

I normally go for mango lassi as my drink of choice (craft beer isn’t a huge thing in Indian cuisine, although that situation is getting better, so until then mango lassi is something of a liquid soulmate for me) , but beer seemed to be the order of the day here. I went for the Bardez house beer and this mysterious brew wasn’t listed on Untappd, which, let’s be honest, basically means it doesn’t exist. However, it was crisp and light, so it met its objectives as being a complement to the food. The Chicken Chetinaad curry was rich in taste and the peshwari naan had a pleasant taste. Although they didn’t serve my favourite coconut rice, the basmati rice was light and fluffy. The portion size of the whole arrangement was decent, so I left full which always feels like a desirable state of affairs.

Łukasz, bless his cotton socks, is one of those people who could find a reason to smile during a zombie apocalypse. Seriously, the guy radiates sunshine like he’s swallowed a lightbulb and it can get a bit much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely quality… in small doses. But sometimes, you just want to wallow in your own grumpiness without someone bouncing around like a hyperactive Tigger, but there we go…. Anyway, as per usual, I’ve developed a convenient case of amnesia when it comes to everyone else’s opinions on their meals. My brain is like a sieve when it comes to remembering anything beyond my own immediate needs (mostly food-related, if I’m honest). But there were no complaints from Richard, no hurled plates, and no dramatic walkouts, so I’m going to assume everyone was content so let’s chalk that up as a win.

There is another Bardez in Didsbury and the whole operation felt slick and well managed. The service was timely, personable and the order was entirely accurate which meant that not even Richard had anything to complain about. Definitely recommended as a location and I can see why they’ve secured such positive reviews.

January 2, 2025