tarboat's photos with the keyword: pott shrigley

This farmstead is built around a central courtyard with arched entrances. It must have beem built as an estate farm by the Downes family who owned the estate and lived at Shrigley Hall. The access track used to pass through the middle but now the public footpath has been moved around the outside.

The National Coal Board spared no expense whilst capping the open shafts on Bakestonedale Moor, Pott Shrigley during the 1980s. The indentation once held a sign stating "Danger Old Shaft, Keep Out".

You would have thought that the die maker would have spelt the name of one of the principals correctly, but in this case Gardiner has become Gardener. In 1870 William Hammond went into partnership with his brother-in-law Robert Gardiner to work fireclay in Pott Shrigley and they established their brickworks on the north side of the Bakestonedale road opposite that of George Lambert. 1875 saw Mr Lawrence Gardiner succeeded his brother in the business. He died in 1886 and Mr Hammond took over the works entirely, so this firebrick must date from 1870-1886.

This may just be a humble firebrick, but it is rather special to me as it represents a product from one of our local yards that must have been made in the nineteenth century. James Hall made firebricks at Bakestonedale, Pott Shrigley, possibly having taken over the works from George Lambert who is listed there in 1857. The fireclay was obtained from the many coal mines under Bakestonedale Moor. Hall appears in the trade directories for 1878 and 1883, but is absent in that for 1896 as the business had by then been absorbed by neighbouring brickmaker William Hammond. I suspect that the Hall family went on to manage the firebrick works at Furness Vale after this. This is the only firebrick I have seen from the Hall era and I am grateful to Lance Bates at the Chimneypot Museum in Longton for letting me photograph this example from his collection.

William Hammond's advertisement in the 1896 Kelly's Directory for Cheshire lists the usual range of products for a firebrick manufacturer. The statement that the business was established in 1849 is an indication of the time (actually 1848) that George Lambert moved his business to Pott Shrigley from near Brink Farm which was higher up the road and just in Rainow. Lambert operated his works for many years and eventually it was taken over by James Hall before 1878. In 1870 William Hammond went into partnership with his brother-in-law Robert Gardiner to work fireclay in Pott Shrigley and they established their brickworks on the north side of the road opposite that of George Lambert. 1875 saw Mr Lawrence Gardiner succeeded his brother in the business. He died in 1886 and Mr Hammond took over the works entirely. He erected a glazing plant that promptly burned down, but the business continued to grow and by 1896 he had taken over Hall's works as well. In 1900 the business was converted to a private limited company which continued to manufacture firebricks until 1966.

Another of those interesting bumps in the ground that need to be researched and explained. This lies in a narrow isthmus of the Parish of Pott Shrigley which bumps up against the three adjacent parishes of Lyme Handley, Poynton and Adlington and makes for some interesting coal mining development on the different estates. In the late 1840s the land here was in the ownership of the executors of the late William Turner, textile manufacturer from Blackburn who had purchased a lot of Pott Shrigley from the Downes family in the early nineteenth century and then moved into their ancestral home at Shrigley Hall. The 1848 tithe map shows a trackway from a wharf on the canal to the site of this pit and I suspect that coal was being trammed up to the boats at this time by the lessees Samuel Hunt & Co. By the early 1880s the pit was being operated by the Needham family who had originated in nearby Worth but had for many years operated collieries in Hurdsfield, Macclesfield. George Needham is listed as owner and manager in an 1884 list of collieries, but he had died in 1880 and I suspect that by then the colliery was being run by his son Joseph who was living with his family at Red Acre at the time of the 1881 census. He stated his occupation as Engine Man as he had been since the 1850s at Hurdsfield. By 1888 operations appear to have ceased and the tramway is noted as disused. Joseph went off to Chorlton to become a coal merchant. The tramroad embankment is seen running in from the right side of the photograph and the spoil tip of the pit is left centre. The extract from the 1882 Ordnance Survey map has the tramroad alignment running up from the bottom and the position from which the photograph was taken marked with a red X. The shaft here was 255ft deep to the Arley seam which is locally known as the Redacre Mine and is about 2ft thick. It is a good quality coal and burned well when I tried the pieces collected from the spoil tip.

Whilst rooting about on the site of the alleged brick/lime kiln at the Kerridge Wharf on the Macclesfield Canal, I came across this firebrick. I reckon that it was lettered G L SHRIGLEY. In c1820 George Lambert and Abraham Bury started a small brickworks near Brink Farm with one kiln to fire the bricks. When they needed to expand they moved to the site in Bakestonedale.By 1848 George Lambert was operating a coal and fireclay mine with associated Pott Brickworks on the south side of the road at Bakestonedale, Pott Shrigley. Lambert was still working the Pott Shrigley coal mine in 1884 but had relinquished the firebrick works to James Hall before 1878. By 1896 all had been absorbed into the business of William Hammond on the north side of the road. This firebrick must therefore date from between 1848 and 1878.

This building was erected in 1887 by Miss Eleanor Lowther, a member of the Lowther family who owned the village of Pott Shrigley during the 19th Century. It is said to have been built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee but whether it was meant to be some sort of community hall or something else I have been unable to find out so far. During World War 1, the building was let as a Coffee Tavern and Tea Room, and later, during World War 2, was used for storage of bombed out goods by a Manchester businessman. After a period of disuse it has been renovated and reopened as a coffee tavern. This business has successfully operated for a number of years and is popular with walkers and travellers exploring the area.

The Boxing Day walk this year was across Bakestonedale Moor to Bowstones and the conditions underfoot are best described as wet and slippery! On the descent from the moor on the way back the sun appeared from behind the clouds silhouetting the trees and, if you look carefully, White Nancy on Kerridge Hill in the background.