Coppenhall

A Memory of Crewe.

I was born and raised in Coppenhall on a little farm just off Bradfield Road. Our farm turning was at the bottom of the Eighteen Step Bridge and was along-side the railway line.
At the back of the farm, there was the old Brickyard Pit. It was an old clay workings and my first memory of it as a small boy (I was born in 1943) was when it was full to the brim.
It was drained down by about 20 feet so that the town council could begin to use it for land-fill.
In those days, the bin men only collected fire ashes so it took years to fill it.
There was always water in the bottom and it was a magnet for us kids who play around it, fishing and sailing toy boats and even learning to swim!
As I remember, no one ever came to any harm although a few did fall in, can you imagine these days, you would be horrified if you thought that your kids were down there un-supervised.
In the fifties, my Dad, Bert Manifold, started in the scrap metal business, and before that, he had a wood yard. At that time, everyone was getting rid of the old pre-war cars, and Dad would buy them for five or ten pounds and break them for scrap. Looking back, I shudder to think what they would be worth today.