A place to show my photography and videos with more information and somewhere for me to show the pictures and postcards I have collected over the years.
I have recently been going through some of my postcard collection with the intention of selling a few off, and whilst in the process of sorting and listing I thought it might be of interest to feature some of the postcards on here. Todays selection is 2 from Lancashire and 1 from Cheshire, all counties in the north of England.
Blackpool.
The card although unwritten and undated was probably from the 1950's and was published by Sandman Brothers of Blackpool. The images features are of Blackpool Tower, a gondola, Starlight Parade and Gynn Gardens.
Chorley.
The Chorley Postcard was posted in 1986 and is a typical example of a 1980's quite boring postcard. The card features images of St Marys Church and Chorley Town Hall.
Compstall.
Compstall is a suburb of Stockport in Cheshire and although it has been written on, it appears to have never been posted. The images are names as the Watermeetings, and the Aquaduct and Viaduct.
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Part of my collection of postcards is this set of 3 featuring mixed images of Southsea and Hayling Island, both areas to the south east of Portsmouth, England. All 3 have been posted and still have the stamps attached.
Postcard 1 Southsea.
This card features a set of images including the Rock Gardens, Beech and Canoe Lake, HMS Victory moored at Portsmouth and South Parade Pier. It was posted on the 14th June 1967 to the Daily Mirror and includes the following intriguing text "Don't you trust my judgement then". I'm guessing it was something to do with tips for horse racing or greyhound racing.
Postcard 2 Hayling Island.
This card features 9 images of the area and was posted on the 24th June 1965 to Scotland. The scenes included are Sandy Point, Salterns Creek, the Beech, a general view of the island, the Boating Lake, Eastoke Bungalow Town, the Ferry and Manor Road.
Postcard 3 Southsea.
The final postcard is another from Southsea and features 7 images from the area. It was posted on the 22nd September 1960, sadly I can't make much of the writing out. The images show South Parade Pier, the Miniature Railway, HMS Victory, the Rock Gardens, the Canoe Lake and the Hole in the Wall, Sallyport, Portsmouth.
The postcard fronts can also be seen on Flickr. Thanks for looking and please take a moment to share.
Reddish South Railway Station is a stop that serves the community of Reddish, Stockport. Frequently amongst the 10 least used stations in the whole of the UK, Reddish South currently has 2 scheduled stops per week both on a Saturday morning in each direction.
Reddish South opened in October 1845 when the line between Stockport and Guide Bridge was completed by the Manchester & Birmingham Railway, barely a year later the line passed into the ownership of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) when the M&BR, Grand Junction Railway and Liverpool and Manchester Railways merged.
The station was a busy stop in it's early tears and consisted of 2 island platforms, a signal box, engine shed and large goods yard. The station was busy throughout it's first half century until trains were redirected in May 1899, reducing much of the passing railway traffic.
Reddish South continued to decline and by the 1960's, British Rail was under large scale downsizing as part of the Beeching cuts and despite many stations like Reddish South and lines like the Stockport-Stalybridge closing they survived the cuts. Despite surviving the station continued to be run down with a lack of investment with the line reduced to single track status, the 2 island platforms reduced to 1 and the the track bed filled in, the station buildings and engine shed demolished and eventually the sidings and land around the station sold off and redeveloped.
Use the arrows to navigate the album or view on Flickr. The pictures below are from the same set.
By the 1980's Reddish South had become a request stop only and even this was eventually reduced to a parliamentary service of 1 train per week at 9.22am on a Friday from Stockport to Stalybridge. In 2007 proposals were made to close the station along with Denton to the north, but keep the line open. This prompted a campaign to get more services and investment at Reddish South and a local group has added a mural, flower bed and picket fence to brighten the station up.
The station today suffers because of a lack of investment, no facilities and only 2 scheduled stops per week, both on a Saturday morning in each direction. Whilst there you could see plenty of house buildings adjacent to Reddish South and a large Morrisons store is located just behind the mural that are potential customers to the stop. Just 158 passengers used the station in 2019/20, an average of 3 per week, the stop is just 1 mile from Reddish North Railway Station which served 242000 in the same period, over 1531 times the amount that used Reddish South.
The pictures were taken on the 15th December using a Nikon d3300 SLR, there are a total of 8 that can be seen here, on Flickr, YouTube and Clickasnap where they can also be downloaded. The YouTube video lso features images of the much bigger station, they are public domain and creative commons licenced with credits where possible.
The station's only entrance. To the right is the now infilled former trackbed.
Looking down on to the station from the top of the entrance steps. To the right can be seen the overgrown former 2nd platform, the former sidings and goods yard is where the house buildings is currently ongoing.
The remaining island platform looking north, the disused platform can be seen to the right.
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I am currently working through some of my previous post that the pictures have been lost from and today updated 3 post's that feature images taken in and around Portinatx, Ibiza. I won't repeat the information in the post but will put a link under each photograph below so that you can see the original post and full set of pictures linked to it.
I was in Portinatx in July 2014 and these pictures were taken using a Polaroid IS2132 bridge camera.
Part of my collection of postcards this set of 4 is one I currently have for sale and feature various images from Buxton, Derbyshire, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. Oakham, Rutland and March Cambridgeshire. They can also be seen on Flickr.
Buxton.
The card I have a Buxton actually features a fold away set of pictures that pull down to reveal another set of pictures from Buxton. I haven't scanned these yet but will do shortly. The main pictures are of Buxton from the Town Hall, The Pavilion Gardens, The Crescent and Serpentine walk at the Pavilion Gardens.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
The pictures featured in the Ashby-de-la-Zouch card number 5 and feature the castle ruins, Bath Street, Trinity Church, Elizabethan House and the Loudoun Memorial.
Oakham.
The 4 images shown here are All Saints Church, High Street, Market Place and the Castle.
March.
The final card featured in this post shows March, Cambridgeshire in a set of 3 pictures that include St Windreda's Church, River Nene and Broad Street.
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Part of my collection of collectible postcards, these are part of a collection I am currently listing on Ebay. The all feature multiple pictures of the location featured and can be seen here and on Flickr.
Hereford.
There are 2 postcards featuring scenes from Hereford, card 1 features The Old House, Cathedral Tower and bridge across the River Wye.
Card 2 features images of the Cathedral, Wye Bridge and the Old House.
Evesham.
The images features in the Evesham card include the Hampston Ferry, Gaiety Boat, Bell Tower and Evesham Lock.
Stoneleigh.
Stoneleigh, Warwickshire features images of Park Avenue West, The Broadway, Stoneleigh Hotel, Ewell Court House.
Blenheim Palace.
This card contains images of Sir Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace, The Great Hall, the room in which Sir Winston Churchill was born and the Lake.
Stratford-on-Avon.
The final card in this post features images from Stratford-on-Avon. The pictures include the River Avon and Clopton Bridge, Shakespeare's Birthplace, Ann Hathaways House, The Gower Monument and Basin and the Avon & Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.
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Holmes Park is a recreation ground that sits between the Rochdale Canal and River Calder to the east of Station Road, Luddendenfoot. The park was opened in 1932 and features a children's play area, football pitch, gardens and woodland walking area. The park is also home to the Luddendenfoot War Memorial which was moved here in the 1950's from the Mount if Remembrance, that still stands on Burnley road today although is now overgrown and abandoned.
There are a total of 11 pictures that were taken in the park on the 20th August 2016 using a Nikon d3300 SLR camera. They can be seen here, on Flickr and Clickasnap.
Use the arrows to navigate the album. The pictures below are selected form the same set.
The war memorial and shelter.
J.W. Crossfield fountain at the parks entrance.
War memorial and gardens to the parks south side. The River Calder flows just behind the monument.
The full set can be seen full size on Flickr and Clickasnap where it can also be downloaded from.
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Part of a series of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh created in June 1888, when he took a trip to the area from Arles where he was then living. He was there for a week long trip to recover from health problems he had suffered from at the time.
The picture is also known as Fishing Boats on the Beech at Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer, according to Wikipedia Van Gogh described to his brother the following
"I made the drawing of the boats when I left very early in the morning, and I am now working on a painting based on it, a size 30 canvas with more sea and sky on the right. It was before the boats hastened out, i had watched them every morning, but as they leave very early I didn't have time to paint them."
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I have previously posted about the Woolshops, most of the pictures from that post have been lost to time so I thought I would update them and post about the centre again.
The Woolshops is a shopping centre in the heart of Halifax, West Yorkshire. Named after the Grade II listed timber building built in 1670, that can be found to the north west of the precinct. The centre was originally planned as an Arndale Centre in the mid 1970's, this development would have seen the Woolshops or Tudor house building disappear with many of the other long standing properties nearby. This plan was abandoned by 1979 when a number of the anchor tenants withdrew from the project leading to the building of the Woolshops as an alternative. Phase 1 was completed in 1983 and the centre was popular from the beginning. Phase 2 saw additional shops added opposite Marks and Spencers and towards the north gate of the Piece Hall on the site of the car park. Sadly like all retail now the centre is suffering from a footfall reduction, even more so during these Covid times and a couple of units are now empty.
These pictures were taken on an early Sunday morning in May 2018, the emptiness shows what the streets around the Woolshops have come to resemble since the multiple lockdowns that have effected the UK and Halifax area this year.
Use the arrows to navigate the album of 14 images. The ones below are selected from the same album.
The centre looking north from the Piece Hall entrance.
Woolshops looking west towards the town centre. The steps at the top of the cobbles now house the Duke of Wellingtons statue which was added in 2019.
The centre looking eastwards.
The pictures can also be seen as a photo slideshow below and on my YouTube channel.
The pictures can also be seen and downloaded from my Clickasnap account via the link in the sidebar.
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I previously posted about the Queensbury Tunnel in December 2017, a number of the pictures that were featured in that post were lost over time so I recently thought I would go back and have a look at what I had and repost them. The full set can be seen here, on Flickr, and on Clickasnap, with some put together to make the following video available to see here and on YouTube, please take a moment to subscribe to my channel.
The video features modern and vintage images taken along the trackbed from Strines Cutting to the former site of Queensbury Station. The Historical images and ones inside the tunnel that are not mine are all Creative Commons licensed or copyright unknown. Credits are given were possible.
Strines Cutting was a railway cutting on approach to the southern portal of Queensbury Tunnel. It was approx. 1030ft long and 59ft deep and ran through solid rock. The cutting was crossed by an Aqueduct that carried Strines / Ovenden beck over the railway. This bridge is still standing today although the ground below is now infilled and it looks more like a wall across some waste ground. The cutting is now largely filled in with only a short section to the tunnel entrance still remaining although this is mostly flooded as drainage along the cutting and in to the tunnel has always been an issue.
The Aqueduct now.
Queensbury Tunnel was built by the Great Northern Railway to provide a link from Holmefield Station, Halifax to Queensbury Station allowing travel beyond to Bradford and Keighley. Construction was started in May 1874 and took over 3 years to complete opening to goods traffic on the 14th October 1878. Passenger trains not being introduced until December 1879 when the station at Queensbury was completed. It was to be another 5 years before those same passengers could complete the journey to Keighley, the line from Queensbury to Keighley making slow progress due to financial issues.
Once completed the tunnel ran for 7503ft making it the longest on the Great Northern Railway and also one of the deepest in the country. There had been plans to have 8 air shafts, the plans changing then to 7 and finally 5 due to significant water ingress (the tunnel and cutting has always suffered issues due to water drainage). The deepest shaft completed was 379ft deep, although shaft number 5 would have reached a depth of 414ft had it been completed. Around 700 men were involved in the tunnels construction and at least 10 are thought to have died during the build period with many more injured.
Once opened the tunnel was operational until the 1950's, the line suffering as passenger numbers declined, but freight traffic remained busy until after the 2nd World War. The high cost of maintaining the tunnel and cutting made the tunnel an early favourite for closure during the post war economy measures and the now with hindsight short sighted decision was made to close the line to traffic. Passenger services were withdrawn on the 23rd May 1955, with goods traffic withdrawn on the 28th May 1956. The line through the tunnel was then mothballed until 1963 when it was finally uplifted.
There is now a campaign for the tunnel to be reopened as part of a cycleway connecting Bradford with Halifax. Engineers are currently trying to push through a scheme to abandon and fill the tunnel with concrete. I am hoping the people campaigning to save the tunnel are successful in the fight. To find out more please take a moment to view the site at http://www.queensburytunnel.org.uk/
Use the arrows to navigate the album. The images below are taken from the same set.
Strines / Ovenden Beck Aqueduct. Strines cutting used to run to a depth of approx 59ft beneath where I was stood to take the picture.
The southern portal of Queensbury Tunnel after it had been drained to allow engineers to asses the damage inside. The entrance rocks are what remains of Strines Cutting.
This is what the entrance to Queensbury Tunnel normally looks like.
The tunnels northern portal.
Taken on the former Queensbury - Thornton - Keighley trackbed looking towards the former site of Queensbury Station. Opened in 1879 the station was triangular in shape, when opened being one of only 4 shaped that way in England. The station had connections with Bradford, Halifax, Keighley and beyond. The station was 400ft lower than the town and closed to passengers in 1955, and goods, excursion traffic in 1963, other than trackbed nothing of the station now remains.
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The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is the place where I call home and because of this is also the place where the majority of my pictures are taken. 40 Places you can only see in Calderdale is a set of pictures that were on my hard drive that I had previously posted to Flickr and Clickasnap and I thought why not make a short video for YouTube with them.
A little abut Calderdale, it was formed in 1974 when the districts of Brighouse, Elland, Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden merged together. There are many other smaller settlements within the district and it has a population of approx. 204000. The area takes is name from the River Calder which runs through the district from east to west. The main commercial and administrative centre is Halifax which is also the largest town within the area with a population of approx. 88000. The area features many buildings and areas of interest which can be seen in the following video and I have probably posted about previously if you would like more information.
The picture below are some of the ones featured in the video.
All souls Church, Boothtown.
Willow Hall Dam, Sowerby Bridge
Lumbutts Water Tower
Former chapel at Luddenden Dene.
Lumb Falls, Crimsworth Dean.
This is just a small selection of the images featured in the video.
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