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Withnell
Withnell maps
Historic maps of Withnell and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Withnell maps
Withnell area books
Displaying 1 of 17 books about Withnell and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Withnell
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Withnell.
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Growing up
This is actually Withnell Fold. I grew up here from 1962 until 1977 when I left to get married. It was a fantastic place to live. My dad Terry West was a maintainence joiner originally, at Wiggins Teape paper mill until it closed. My mum Glenda worked for a while as a cook at the old folks home, which had been built by Thomas Blinkhorn Parke in the early 1800s. He built the mill and the village originally. My sister Sandra and brother Andrew also grew up there. We could go out to play - as most children could in the 1960s and 1970s - for hours until meal times. The whole village knew each other well. There was lots of involvement in the cricket club, Dad played, and for a while captained the first team and he was also the groundsman. My mum took her turn for a couple of years organising the sandwiches and cakes for the tea for the team on saturdays. I used to be the... Read more
Lancashire memories
Winstanley Family History
Grand parents, aunts, uncles with Winstanley surname buried at St John's.
Staying at Tootle Terrace with relatives.
Recent visit July 2010 met with octogenarians and older ones who have lived in this area all their lives.
A photograph of my dad and some friends in a club house of some kind. Has been identified as Whittle Cricket club about 1930/35 when no catholics were allowed to join.
This catholic non-catholic divide is still vivid in those of vintage years.
Would like more information about Whittle-le-woods and the Cricket Club from its inception.
If this communication is successful I have many photographs and records of my interviews.
Pheasant Beating
I spent many a Saturday, walking the woods of the tower, beating sticks and making noise.
After a good 8 hours trudging up and down slopes and in the mud, they feed us a bowl of bad stew and beer. There was always a joke about who got the only piece of meat. I was the lucky recipient once, had to eat it quick tho.
I remember all the shooters in the next room having a meal and trying to catch a glimpse of the glamourous life, thru a crack in the door.
Not an old memory yet, but it will be eventually.
Education And Faith For Holy Trinity.
I attended Holy Trinity Primary School, Church of England, at Darwen in the year 1955, when I was six years of age. There was a spiritual bond between the school and the Holy Trinity Church, as it was then called.
On a certain day of the week the class of children I belonged to were given religious instruction. A picture still present in my memory, is that of the outline of the Holy Trinity Church, as drawn on the classroom blackboard by the teacher. It was explained that the outline shape was that of a cross on which Jesus was crucified and that the church was built in the same shape for that reason.
On religious days of remembrance, for example, Good Friday, all the children at the school would be paraded across the town centre and up the hill to attend a service at the church.
My grandfather was 23 yrs of age when he died, having succumbed to wounds he endured during the... Read more
This is Hilton Street.
I was born at No 4 Hilton Street (in March 1955) which was the shop on the very corner at the end of the street nearest to the chimney. Darwen Paper Mill is the mill opposite the houses, with of course India Mill at the end.
Primary School
I attended St. John's Primary School from age late 8 to 11, we used to go to church on Monday morning where we would walk round from the school to Sough Road where the church was.
Clogs
I remember the sound of the clogs at 6am as people came past 6 Hilton Street (second house from mill).
