Donkeys at St Anne's-on-the-Sea

© Gerald England, 2019

A contribution to Wordless Wednesday

Somme shadows at Heywood

Yesterday I stopped briefly in Heywood, a Lancashire town that lies halfway between Rochdale and Bury. This photo was taken in Heywood Memorial Gardens looking across towards St Luke's Church.

Four World War commemorative benches have been installed in the Memorial Gardens and were dedicated in the Battle of the Somme centenary anniversary commemorative Service held as part of the Heywood 1940's Day on Saturday the 18th June 2016.

Heywood Township provided a World War One and a Lest We Forget bench and worked with local Groups to provide another two, The Heywood Rotary Club purchasing a World War One bench and the Heywood Armed Forces Covenant Partners, The Lancashire Veterans Association purchasing a World War Two bench.

The bright February sun was casting strong shadows across the grass.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday and Inspired Sundays.

St Peter's Church, Ashton-under-Lyne

St Peter's Church was built between 1821 and 1824, and was designed by Francis Goodwin in a free Perpendicular style constructed in ashlar stone with a slate roof. The church is an example of a Commissioners’ Church built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Act of 1818 and 1824.

The church lies in a triangle of land bounded by Manchester Road, Stockport Road and William Street, part of which includes West End Park.

An interesting short history of the church written in 1974 by John Hedges can be read on the Rhodes Family History website.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

CATS delivery site

This is part of the former Oldham Batteries site which has been derelict for more than 10 years.

According to the council website "Tameside Council has been successful in securing £1.67 million from the Greater Manchester Growth Deal Round 2, which will deliver a new relief road linking the A6017 Ashton Road at the M67 Junction 1 slip road to the A57 Hyde Road in Denton. The proposal seeks to relieve congestion to reduce traffic delays, improve air quality and road safety for the travelling public and the population of Denton. Alongside these improvements the road will also facilitate the comprehensive redevelopment of the former Oldham Batteries Site.

According to the sign on the side of Edward Street:
"This site has been selected for the delivery of the
Greater Manchester NHS Clinical
Assessment & Treatment Service
(CATS)
Our mobile units will visit this location
at regularly scheduled times."

Information on the service can be found on the Greater Manchester CATS website.

A contribution to
signs, signs;
Good Fences;
Skywatch Friday.

St Mary's Graveyard, Haughton Green

Looking across the graveyard of St Mary's, Haughton Green.

For more photographs and information about the church see my earlier post from March 2015

A contribution to Skywatch Friday and Inspired Sundays.

St Lawrence, Denton

St Lawrence's Church, Denton is on the busy Ashton to Stockport Rd (A6017), and so is a notable landmark for many travellers. It is at the centre of the parish of St Lawrence, about a quarter of a mile from Denton Town Centre.

The church is a timber-framed building dating from 1531 at the most conservative estimate. It is one of only 29 of this type of common mediæval church building remaining in England and Wales.

It began as a chapel of ease for the medieval manor of Denton within the Parish of Manchester, dedicated to St. James until the discovery in the mid-nineteenth century of a stained glass window to St Lawrence. It became a parish church under the name St. Lawrence in 1839.

When the chapel was built, its original benefactors, the Hollands and Hydes, were staunch Roman Catholics. It stood firm also through the upheavals of the Puritan Era, under the leadership of the much-persecuted John Angier a Puritan divine who was Minister of St Lawrence for forty six years until his death in 1677. He survived the various religious upheavals of those troubled times and continued to preach the Puritan message.

The graveyard was grassed over in 1965 when the former Denton Council took it over under the Open Spaces Act, and, in accordance with that Act the gravestones were either removed, covered over or broken up. A few gravestones remain, though probably not in their original locations.

More information can be found on the church website.

A further selection of photographs can be found on Geograph.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

Through The Light

The latest anthology from Cosmopetry is Through The Light described as:
COSMOPOETRY INTERNATIONALS XX:
WITH OR WITHOUT EINSTEIN,
THROUGH THE LIGHT!

-dedication to the International Year of Light 2015
by SARM's Cosmopoetry Master Club and Friends-
My own contribution is a haiga based on a view of the bandstand in Victoria Park, Denton.
well beyond the light
twenty-two miles a second
Spooky whizzes by
and is a reference to the comet/asteroid that passed by the Earth in 2015.

Mine is only one of many contributions of astronomical photographs and poems featuring cosmic events that happened in 2015. Credits go to
Coordinator Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Technical counsellor Valentin Grigore
Literary counsellor Arlene Carol
Web design Florin Alexandru Stancu

With the support of some admirable members of the
Science Fiction Poetry Association, Astronomers Without Borders
and International Meteor Organization

*

© 2015 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Shadow Shot Sunday: Denton Murals

The sun casts the shadow of a tree across the wall over the end of the Millenium Mural and above the Denton Remembers Poppy.

The Millennium mural was painted on the wall of Denton Pool (Swimming Baths) in 2000. It was conceived by David Vaughn and commissioned by the Denton Town Twinning Association. It serves to commemorate both the second millenniumm and the continuing friendship between the people of Denton and Montigny le Brettoneux.

For a better view of the mural see my post of March 26th 2012.

According to a plaque next to the poppy artwork which quotes an extract from a poem by Albert Taylor:

How were you known, number or name,
Denton's unknown soldier?
Farmer or hatter; when the call came,
Denton's unknown soldier?

DENTON REMEMBERS is a community arts project commemorating, the First World War Centenary 2014, in partrenship with Tamside Council Cultural Services,Neighbourhood Services and Irwell Valley Housing Association.

I'm not sure when it was placed here but wasn't there in July 2015 so it must be some time since then.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday and Monday Murals.

Moorhens on the Ashton Canal

Last week I showed you some Geese on the Ashton Canal. The geese are common but a little further along I came across this perfect habitat for moorhens. I almost didn't spot them at first.

The Moorhen (Gallinula clioropus) is a member of the family of crakes and rails. It is a poor flier and prefers to go into hiding when danger threatens. Its name is a form of mere-hen. Seldom seen in flocks it spends all its time on shallow water near dense undergrowth in which it can hide. It can sink when danger threatens leaving just its bill above water. When it does take to the air it patters off across the water flying low and dangling its legs. The Moorhen has partially webbed, very long toes, to aid its passage across floating vegetation. As it swims it jerks its head and pecks up food, including slugs, snails, worms, insects, seeds and vegetation, which float on the surface of the water or amongst bankside vegetation. Its nest is built near the water, often in a bush or low branches. It will aggressively defend the nest against all comers. The hen lays 5 to 11 eggs between March and July. They hatch after 21 days and the young leave the nest after 2-3 days.

A contribution to
Weekend Reflections;
Saturday Critters;
Camera Critters.

Albion Church, Ashton-under-Lyne

Albion Congregational (now United Reformed) Church in Ashton-under-Lyne was built 1890-95. It is Grade II* listed.

On completion the Church was said to be the most beautiful Congregational Church building in England, mainly of Gothic design with glorious stained glass designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and installed by William. Morris.

More information can be found on the church website

A contribution to
Skywatch Friday;
The Weekend in Black and White;
Inspired Sundays.

Haughton Green Methodist Church and Sunday School.

The brick-built church on the corner of Two Trees Lane and Sunningdale Road, Haughton Green, Denton, Manchester, was founded in 1810 as the Haughton Green Wesleyan Chapel. It has a slate roof, a gable at each end and plain rounded windows. Inside, there was a central pulpit at the southern end, a gallery on all four sides and a pipe organ behind the pulpit. The organ was supplied by Alexander Young & Sons in 1894. It was converted from hand-pumping to electric in 1947.

A new entrance to the church was erected in 1913. A house attached to the Church was taken down in 1981.

The Church building was in need of much restoration and the last service was held on January 9th 2011 after which all services were held in the former Sunday School. It was sold to a private buyer in 2012 for conversion into a house.

Since being sold the property has deteriorated further and the former graveyard is overgrown. As of July 2015 it is due to be auctioned.

The Sunday School was built across the road on Two Trees Lane in 1877. In 1974 alterations were made after the congregation of the former Haughton Green Primitive Methodists joined the church. The School is used by community groups as well as the church.

More information and a photograph from 2008 can be seen on the Pitt Dixon website. Additional photographs can be found on Geograph. There is also a Facebook group Friends Of Haughton Green Methodist Church Building.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

Petting a Shetland Pony

We met a miniature Shetland pony in Ashton under Lyne this Saturday.

The young lady who was looking after it told me its name but I've forgotten what she said. She did say they were a charity based in Leicester and they take their "petting ponies" to schools, hospices and care homes around the country to meet people and raise money to support various children's charities and Riding for the Disabled.

More information can be found on their website The Phoenix Children's Foundation.

A contribution to Saturday Critters and Camera Critters.

Two Trees Lane United Methodist Free Church

Two Trees Lane United Methodist Free Church, Haughton Green, Denton, Manchester, UK was built next door to the Cock Hotel, which predates it. Architecturally, it has a strong resemblance to the Wesleyan Sunday School on the opposite side of Two Trees Lane (now much altered), which was built in 1877, and it is possible that the same architect designed both buildings.

The date of closure of the church is unknown but trade directories suggest that it was prior to 1903. It was by then known as Victoria Works and was occupied by the engineering firm of John Brown (Denton) Ltd which was founded in 1880 and specialised in the manufacture of hat wire and spokes for the cycle and motor trades.

Additional information on its history can be found on the Pitt Dixon website.

The current occupiers are Moorside Manufacturing, a family owned and run precision engineering company formed in 1991.

A contribution to
Inspired Sundays;
Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.

Signs at the end of Hulme Road

The sign denotes that the speed limit on Manchester Road ahead is 40mph and this is the end of the 20mph zone.

The poplar trees visible in the background are in the grounds of Denton Golf Course.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Shadows in Thornley Park

Thornley Park is a small park in the Denton West area of Tameside, Greater Manchester.

I have been unable to find anything much about its history, but a 1955 photo in the Francis Firth collection shows some large ornamental bushes around the gardens and the presence of a pavilion. Now the only building in the park is an electricity substation and the gardens have been reduced to neat lawns and small bushes that require minimum maintenance.

In the centre of the park is a recent war memorial inscribed:IN
PROUD MEMORY
OF
THE MEN
AND WOMEN
WHO GAVE THEIR
LIVES AT THE CALL
OF THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE TWO WORLD
WARS AND IN THE
YEARS SINCE 1945
WE WILL
REMEMBER THEM
A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday.

ABC Wednesday: O is for Orinoco Goose

The Orinoco Goose is a 5-star, 69ft long, 8-berth narrowboat that operates out of the Anderton Basin.

Seen here on the Ashton Canal at Portland Basin by the junction with the Peak Forest Canal, it is probably doing the circuit known as the "Cheshire Ring".

A contribution to
Water World Wednesday;
ABC Wednesday.

N is for Narrowboats

This narrowboat is called Tinkerbelle and is moored on the Ashton Canal just east of Portland Basin.

On the left past the moorings is Cavendish Mill, a Grade II* listed former cotton spinning mill built between 1884 and 1885 for the Cavendish Spinning Company. It ceased spinning cotton in 1934 and was then used for a variety of purposes before it was converted into housing in 1994.

There is no towpath beyond this point as the canal was closed until the turn of the 21st century when the Huddersfield Narrow Canal was restored and re-opened. The canal now passes through a tunnel under the Asda supermarket.

A contribution to Water World Wednesday and ABC Wednesday.

St Mary's Haughton Green Revisited

Following on from my earlier post featuring St Mary's, Haughton Green I've been back and taken some more photographs.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Meadow Lane, Haughton Green, Lancashire, UK is of timber frame construction and was built in 1874/6, the architects being the brothers James Medland and Henry Taylor of Manchester. The design was inspired by the nearby Church of St Lawrence in Denton.

This shows the south side of the church viewed from Meadow Lane.

On the wall next to the rear door is a Millennium sundial.

The lychgate is also by James Medland and Henry Taylor. The slated roof is supported by a timber frame that, in turn, rests on stone walls. The two posts rise from, and are braced to, sole plates attached to the walls. The upper parts of the posts are braced to tie-beam trusses on each side and the eaves and verges overhang the roof trusses. The timber gates are hung on iron hinges.

Further information on the history of the church can be found on the PittDixon website whilst current information can be found on the Church website.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.

Hail on Hyde Road

The A57 at Crown Point, Denton. On the right is the entrance to Morrison's supermarket. The fence separating the pavement from the busy road is reflected in the window of the Quicksilver fireworks shop. A shower of hail is just falling but failing to stick.

A contribution to
Good Fences;
Skywatch Friday;
Weekend Reflections;
Scenic Weekends

ABC Wednesday: H is for Haughton Green

Haughton Green is an ancient locality in South-east Lancashire. In 1894 it merged with neighbouring Denton.

Originally a rural area, with most of its built up areas along the main roads and in the old village, it became more built up when the Manchester (Beswick) overspill estate was located here in the late 50s behind existing housing on Two Trees Lane. There was also building of new middle class housing in and around the original village at the same time. This increased its size significantly as housing now extended down into the valley and next to wooded areas.

I first posted some photos of Haughton Green here in September 2009.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and signs, signs.