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Brindley Ford
Brindley Ford maps
Historic maps of Brindley Ford and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Brindley Ford maps
Brindley Ford photos
We have no photos of Brindley Ford, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Brown Edge| Goldenhill| Biddulph| Kidsgrove| Burslem| Stockton Brook| Endon| Porthill| Church Lawton| Wolstanton| Astbury| Hanley| Rudyard| Timbersbrook| Congleton| Newcastle| Alsager| Cheddleton| Wetley Rocks| Rushton Spencer
Brindley Ford area books
Displaying 1 of 4 books about Brindley Ford and the local area. View all books for this area
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Memories of Brindley Ford
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Staffordshire memories
Brown Lees Village
I was born in Brook Street, Brown Lees, within the civil parish of Biddulph. The village is situated about half a mile north of the site of the former Biddulph Valley Ironworks and the Brown Lees and Victoria Collieries, where many of the residents would have worked in the past. The Ironworks ceased in the 1920s and coal mining finished in 1982. I went to school in 1938 at Knypersley, walking through the fields by footpaths in local farms. In 1950, I commenced work at Victoria Colliery as a Dust and Air Sampler to monitor ventilation in the pit. Later, I qualified as a mine surveyor and worked at Victoria and Norton Collieries. I recall attending many performances of Handel's Messiah at Brown Lees Chapel which was a few yards from my home. Brown Lees is much enlarged now, and the air is cleaner with the demise of heavy industry, but I remember it well.
Postwar Childhood in Knypersley
Born in 1940 at Tunstall Rd, I spent hours of my childhood at the edge of Cowlishaw Walker's pool, reached through our neighbour, Mrs Sargent's garden, which sloped steeply up to the railings round the pool. I only had to put a jam jar among the rocks for a stickleback to swim into it. Pussy willow and hazel catkins hung around the pool and in spring it was a mass of frogspawn. The tiny froglets would find their way down the bank and into our gardens and even into Mrs Sargent's kitchen. I heard that there had been a tragedy in the winter I was born when 2 boys fell through the ice on the pool and one of them drowned. At school we skipped to a rhyme unique to the area: 'North Staffordshire Railway Loopline! I call number 1'. On the word 'Loopline' the rope was held aloft until the next skipper ran in. Another rhyme was 'I am a girl guide dressed in blue,... Read more
Amenities, The Good Old Days, And They Were!
Brown Edge was a brillant place to live, and I have fond memories of the village.
Perhaps in my youth I did not really appreciate what I had, the village store (Keiths), the butchers, Harrisons and Sammy Bratts., cake shop, Mountfords chip shop., the working mens club, the Holy Bush, the Lump of Coal and the Roebuck, what a selection and all thriving businesses, together with Turners buses, and of course the local youth clubs, Sandy Lane and Brown Edge Schools, just great.
As children we had a great time as we would go to the fields and woods to play, never damaging anything, it was safe and we would go for the day on our main school holidays, just enjoying our freedom, playing in the fields. Winter was great too as we would go sledging, all the energy and fun we had. We didn't have much but what we had we really appreciated. My parents lived most of their lives in Brown, and my father still does, however Mum... Read more
Good Old Days
I was born in High Lane Brown Edge and lived there until 1963. I have lots of memories, everyone knew each other, they didn't need to lock the doors in fear of unwanted intruders, in fact during the war years neighbours became family. I had a fabulous childhood - times were spent in the fields playing ball games in the summer and sledging in the winter. We also had great neighbours in the Steele family, and spent a great deal of time with David and John who both became talented cricketers, it was nothing to have a cricket ball hit through my bedroom window on a Sunday morning, and I myself learned to deliver a 'Good Over', Mr Steele would be there coaching the boys and of course I too had to join in. In 1949 I was elected to be the Church Queen, then in the late 1950s with Edward Selby I started up the 1st Brown Edge Cubs, this was a great time and I remained with the... Read more
St Johns The Scary
As a child I was terrified of the churchyard, we had to walk past it to get to Wilson Way where my Nan Lizzie Grocott lived. It wasn't so bad in the summer but in winter when it got dark early we would get off the bus opposite the Church and it would loom up like a big dark monster as we crossed the road towards it. My sister and me would grip onto Mum's hand so tight we would get told off. The Church yard backed on to my Auntie Frances' and if we were told to go across and visit her we would only go to the front door because we were terrified of what might be hiding just over that fence in the back garden.
One night at about half past six we walked past the church yard up the lane to go and get the bus home to Talke, we heard an owl hoot and fly across the wall above us, we took off up... Read more
Fishing Equipment And Cakes
Every year we would go to Pooles on the High Street to get yellow fishing nets so that we could go and collect tadpoles from ponds around the area. We would deliberate for a good while over what colour nets to get but we always ended up with yellow because our Dad said they showed the tadders up best.
Tiko Bakery was at the top of Elgood Lane (Church Lane) behind the Swan and we used to walk past ever so slowly just so that we could smell the bread and cakes cooking, on warm days we could still smell it as we turned up Wilson Way to my Nan's house.
Happy Days
Goldenhill (Happy days)
My first memories of Goldenhill are visiting my grandparents during the terrible winter of 1947, the snow was said to be five feet thick on Oldcott Drive where it had drifted from across the fields.
I also remember flying a kite my grandad had made, we flew it on starvation banks at the top of Kidsgrove bank, I think these were the waste tips from old coal mines which had been worked out, although there was still a footrill working, I remember it had an old ex US army truck which used its winch to pull tubs to the surface.
My grandad used to take me to the working mans club on a Sunday lunch time, it was on the High street close to Stoniers bus garage, he would treat me to a bottle of pop & a bag of crisps.
There were lots of bus companies in those days, Stoniers & Jeffreys... Read more
