The smells still there......or at least the glue factory on Bridge Street still is & depending the wind and what they're producing the smell can be awful.

However, I don't think they go in for Rat massacres these days.....I must admit, I'd never heard of that one before.

My late mother was born in Church and her working days were spent at steiners my grandfather was groomsman to the steiner familyalso among his duties was bellringing at church kirk and for his loyalty and service when he retired he was given one of the one up one down almhouses facing the queens hotel I remember going in the green grocers across the road owned then by a family called caple later in life I became friendly with there son kenneth who became a inspector with the manchester police force and was involved in the moors murders for which he got a commendation my mothers family were called Parr she had two brothers Wilf and Jack who unfortunely died in his twenties and one sister

Small world and Church is even smaller.

I have a picture of my Granddad who was an electrician at Steiners at the turn of the 19/20th century. My mum once worked there in the 50's in the calico dept., and I use to wait for her to finish work at the end of the entrance at the bottom of Dill Hall.

I remember the almhouses opposite to the Queens Pub, it seemed a real pity to pull them down as they use to be kept ever so neat and smart. I didn't know that they were linked to Steiners.

Didn't know the Capel family, but I spent a lot of time in Church when I was a kid. Did you know the Houston Family...Bert his wife Mary and their kids Dave and Ann?? I'm sure they lived a bit further up Church Kirk Road near the Cross Guns. I still see Dave occasionally.

[Keith] I remember those houses,my grandma lived in one of them next to the archway
I cannot remember your mother but i do know Wilf.He use to be manager of
Aneley's on Broadway.My dad also worked at steiners he was a bleacher before
and after the war,when he worked nights i had to go down at 10pm with his dinner
in a basin with a red hankerchief round it.

to darby Sorry but only my grand parents lived in church and to be honest I was slightly scared of grandad parr he was very strict so I was never keen on visiting and I left it to my brothers to go but over the years I have been friendly with people from Church in fact I played alongside George walker yes George member on this forum with the Church Lads Brigade drum and bugle championship in accrington in fact half the band lived in church but I remember the name of one girl who lived in church but worked at a electric distributers shop up Abbey street and everyone in accrington fancied her but could not get near her I believed she lived on Lion street her name Betty birtwistle does that name ring any bells

Sorry Keith...the name Betty Birtwistle doesn't ring any bells....maybe I was too young for girls at the time....or too old, and was otherwise occupied.

betty birtwistle
 

re,betty birtwistle.Keith,i remember betty birtwistle and her brother barth.
their father use breed birds.Yes you are right they did live on lion st,her
brother i know is dead.He was manager at EJ Rileys,for long time.

Re: ORIGINS OF STREET NAMES
 

This thread has been dormant for twelve years, though there have been others which are sort of linked to it.......About thirty years ago, the staff in Accrington library started a card index in which the reason for the names of streets in the town was explained. Since then the reasons for the origins of the street names has been added to the index, mostly by Atarah Hindle and myself. The cards are kept in a wooden filing cabinet in the local studies (upstairs) room, In recent times, Robert Cunliffe has transferred the information on them to a digital database and this too is available in the library on a memory stick. Soon it is hoped that it will be available on the internet. When this happens, I will report about it on here

Re: ORIGINS OF STREET NAMES
 

Not really true Bob, as you now know. The card index in the library was started off by a member of this website and then added to by staff members.