Laundry Yard

A Memory of Uxbridge.

Laundry Yard was the narrowest and quaintest of the Yards in Uxbridge. Located between Windsor Street and Lawn Road it ran from the High St to The Lynch. There was still a laundry there when I was a boy (The Sunlight Laundry, I think it was called ), which belched steam from an extraordinary number of small pipes and chimneys. After dark it was the scariest place ever. The entrance from the High St was a narrow dark archway at the end of which hung a large victorian gas lantern on a wall bracket. After that there was no more lighting until the back corner of The Providence Church at the other end, where there was a similar lantern. There were no windows from other buildings that backed onto the yard that might have shed some little light. On winter evenings I used to stand in the archway peering into the cobbled blackness beyond the feeble gaslight imagining all kinds of horrors.Then after several deep breaths I would set off with a yell and run as fast as possible all the way to the bottom where I stood panting, hair standing on end and thoroughly spooked. To add to the atmosphere there was a small dark window belonging to The Providence Church that let onto the alley. Under this window was a faint and age-worn sign saying 'Ancient Lights'. What could this mean I wondered? Did this always darkened window hide some ancient lamp (of the Aladdin variety?) Would I one night see something eery flickering behind the heavily soot-grimed glass? This game got even better when there was a thick fog that gave an acrid taste in the mouth and reduced visibility to a few feet even with a torch! Amazes me looking back that we were allowed out after dark alone from a quite early age. Not late though, bedtime was at 7pm during the week. But it says alot about how safe people felt back then.