Halton memories
Here are memories of Halton and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Halton or a Halton photo.
Halton Gorse Cottages And Castle Road
I too spent my school holidays in Halton village, my grandparents were Lillian and Benjamin Atkinson, they lived in Gorse Cottages, you had to go up the steps from the underpass to get to it, or down the steps from Castle Road. My aunt and uncle lived at 16 Castle Road, Ted and Mildred Appleton. I spent many happy days there from around 1955 till I was married in 1969. I remember all the times I had round the castle and playing in the fields and Dicky Done's shop and also Gamons the food shop where everything was on the book and you paid at the end of the week. Happy days that I will always treasure.
It is so Nice
It is so nice to see my family-run shop from before the time I was even born. I spent much time visiting my grandparents there, and then grew up there. The shop has now been in retirement since the end of 2007.
Yesteryear
If you ever wondered what it was like before the shopping city, this picture says it all. This was it before the overspill. If you was to stand and take the same picture you would be somewhere around Castle Rise/Boston Avenue, a view lost forever.
The Under Road
The space between the houses and shed was the beginning or the end of the Under Road, it went round to the other side of the village, and finished opposite the chapel on Main Street, a nice walk or bike ride in the summer, or a short cut to the common, or the steps that went up to the castle. The old smithy was on the right if you went from this end, I suppose it was named the Under Road because the castle loomed over the top of you as you walked along, a nice quiet road in those days.
Going to School
This path was a lifeline to me when I was going to school on my bike. As you look at this picture there was houses to the left and Halton Brow and corn fields to the right. I came down this path on my bike and up Boston Avenue to Grange Sec Mod. The downside was going back up it, it was very steep in those days, the opening in the village was easily missed if you didn't know it, a very small entry between to buildings, a well kept secret to the villagers in those days.
Summer Home
The house behind the telephone pole is number 73, my grandparents, Jim and Annie McQuillan lived there from the 30s until the late 60s or early 70s. I used to spend all summer there travelling from Middlesbrough on the bus via Warrington, on my own from age 6. Can you imagine the reaction these days to such an adventure? The shop on the left was Dicky Dones newsagents - the local bookie before betting shops were legalised. I was known as "that kid from Yorkshire". This was before the shopping city and the conversion of Halton to a Liverpool overspill. Happy days.
Memories of Cheshire
My Childhood in Astmoor
I lived in Astmoor with my grandparents. My grandma sold sweets, pop and cigarettes. I went to Halton School and walked down Astmoor Lane which we called Summer Lane. Grandad worked at Astmoor tannery. We lived next to Ivy House, it used to be a farm. I have pictures of Astmoor before Astmoor bridge was built, and of Astmoor tannery. Gran used to take me down a path to the ship canal and we used to watch the boats. Mr and Mrs Lou Varey lived in a little wooden house that we called Ferry Hut. I remember the tannery being demolished, and all the houses in Marsh Lane, to make way for factories. I have so many memories, some good and some painful. We used to walk to Sandy Cove where boys went swimming till a boat came past and they swam to the side to avoid the waves. I also went to play at Wardles Farm, Mr Wardle was a dentist and his sons ran the farm. My childhood... Read more
Astmoor my First Memory
I was born in the bottom house in Marsh Lane, in 1931. I came from a family of six boys and four girls. My father, was called John, and my mother, Sarah. I went to Halton School. There was a sweet shop at the top of our lane, which I think was called Johnsons. We moved to 3 Warrington Road before moving to Runcorn, when I was six years old. I am 80 now, and Astmoor will always be a great memory for me.
Building The Bridge
I was sat in my classroom at the parish school in church street and I had just put away my plastic counters after a hard maths lesson ,I was only 5 ( and 1+1 was very hard)my teachers name was mrs oats she was lovely and as I sat gazing out of the window I noticed this huge construction being built in the distance ,I asked my dad when I got home that evening what it was , now , as we traveled on the transporter bridge every saturday to visit my grandparents in simms cross Widnes this was of great concern to me and dad explained as best he could to a 5yr old what it was and that we would have to walk over it instead of using the transporter The next day in school I noticed the big arch hovering in the sky and I cried my eyes out . The teacher called for my parents to take me home as I was inconsolable, when... Read more
ICI Recreation Club And Grounds
When I look at this photo it brings back happy memories of when the club was a hive of activity of bowling greens, tennis courts, football pitches (middle of photo).
As a young girl growing up in Weston Point I always looked forward to the Annual Rose Fete Shows, that were laid on by ICI. Every Thursday evening we would attend the ICI Club and Mr Dunning and our next door neighbour Mrs Rees would take us through our routine around the room, until we were perfect for the day of the show, and Mrs Bellfield on the piano (I was carrying the train for the queen along with six other young girls). When the day finally arrived the field was full of stalls, all the locals came along, the band was playing, the air was full of laughter, the smell of hot dogs, candy floss, and we never seemed to have rain. We would take our places at the top of the field by the white gates, the band... Read more
Oh Happy Days
Yes I remember spending most of our (my brother John and I) summer holidays playing on Runcorn Hills. Both parents worked and so most mornings, weather permitting, we would head off to the hills from our home in Weston Village, armed with a bottle of water and usually a jam butty and an apple. We would spend the day there, often meeting up with other kids who were on a similar day out. One very powerful memory that I have is the smell of the ferns that grew in abundance on the hills amongst which we hid and built our "dens", the smell of the ferns has lived with me since those days to the extent that I have many of them in my own garden due to the nostalgia that they generate. On those hills I was John Wayne, Davy Crockett, Cochise, Geronimo and Billy the Kid, all heroes from the many black and white films that we had seen on the screens of the Scala and... Read more
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