You go away for 30 years and they devastate the place.

[mez]

went past the tanpits pub (now plough) yesterday & the place is now up for aution we should buy it & turn it back into "the tanpits " again, i well remember one of the old dears that used to live up oswald st going down every nite with her jug for the nightly sup of mild ///

[Darby]

Hiya Mez,

Do you know I'd totally forgotten about things like that. Now I think back I can remember mi mum taking a Quart jug down to t'Tanpits and coming back with 2 pints of mild. Then putting a red hot poker in it, and sharing it with my grandma.

Freddie Parkinson and I use to play across from t'Tanpits. One landlord I can remember was called Badderly, and he had a daughter Angela (about our age). They moved from the pub to Basra(Iraq)!!! The tanpits area use to be like a little enclave, with everybody knowing everybody else, and we use to watch the Navvys getting thrown out blind drunk on Friday nights (about 7 o-clock as they went straight from work into the pub.) But didn't the beer smell good!!! even to us kids!

[mez]

oo yea my dad used to go to the tanpits club on friday nite & get 2 bottles of stout & my mum would put the hot poker in & i had to drink one of them, i was only 13 at the time, it was apparently because i was coming into " woman hood" & needed the iron, probably cheaper than buying stuff from chemist, but it did taste good ha ha ha ha

[Tealeaf]

OK folks...another Church Lad speaks.....

1) Tanpits road......this is actually one of the oldest throughfares in Hyndburn, originally connecting Antley Hall with Church Kirk (our oldest building) via the Stag (our oldest pub), albeit not in a straight line (think of land ownership at the time)

2) The Injun(Engine site) at Tanpits was the steam engine bed for Providence Mill (demolished 1930's)which occupied the entire site between the back of the Tanpit's/Plough pub all the way back to the old Sacred Heart School; the bed, comprised of massive blocks of Millstone Grit, wwas not actually removed until the early '70's, when the new school was built ( I played there as a kid,too)

3) The Church windows are covered in mesh because of vandalism & break-ins - usual story. There were 4 incidents last year alone. Check out the Observer website.

4) Plough or Tanpits......I don't mind the name (well, yes I do)....but I would'nt drink in the place anyway....it reminds me of having a pint in a mens public urinal while bun fights break out all around you.

[Darby]

Originally Posted by mez

oo yea my dad used to go to the tanpits club on friday nite & get 2 bottles of stout & my mum would put the hot poker in & i had to drink one of them, i was only 13 at the time, it was apparently because i was coming into " woman hood" & needed the iron, probably cheaper than buying stuff from chemist, but it did taste good ha ha ha ha

Tanpits Club (Pioneer WMC), now there was a place to avoid on Friday nights. Was a real rough house, no wonder they built it on the tanpits. Full of Cowboys, and Navvy's.

Makes mi smile just thinking about it!!

[Doug]

Janet and Darby, Thanks for the information on the books, I’m heading back over on Thursday so I’ll take a look.

Tealeaf, - Why as now’t being done about the state of things at St James’s it an historic building for Christ’s Shake, (oops, no offence).

Why is there no CCTV, wardens or spirited members of the public with nice long pick axe handles? But seriously, nearly six hundred years of local history….what are you people doing about it.

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by Doug

Janet and Darby, Thanks for the information on the books, I’m heading back over on Thursday so I’ll take a look.

Tealeaf, - Why as now’t being done about the state of things at St James’s it an historic building for Christ’s Shake, (oops, no offence).

Why is there no CCTV, wardens or spirited members of the public with nice long pick axe handles? But seriously, nearly six hundred years of local history….what are you people doing about it.

Unfortunatley, there is little that can be done with the available resources..the last theft that occured there was during the church service when a guy walked in and pinched the proceeds from the collection box then ran out and legged it over the fields and motorway towards Rishton....the time proir, the art deco stained glass windows had been smashed through...I agree CCTV would be a good idea but I don't know who would be available to monitor it 24hrs a day (I know Ossy mills are due to monitor Church & Ossy railway station, but I don't know if thats 24/7)

[Doug]

Cheers Tea, It's shameful that this is allowed to happen when lesser buildings have money thrown at them. I will be writing to Hyndburn Borough Council, The Churches Conservation Trust and those b******* at English Heritage. This is not acceptable.

[pendy]

The one with the jug from Oswald Street was Gladys. You could almost set your clock by her! My mother christened her "The Lady with the Utensil".

Also The Tanpits used to do off sales, presided over by Joyce Whittaker.

We used to play on the Injun beds as well - anyone remember the sense of achievement the first time you plucked up courage to jump across from one to the other? The canal was strictly out of bounds, and the most forbidden place was the swingbridge - terrible tales were told of children crushed and mangled - guess where we always played?

[Uncle Mick]

Hi Doug,

If you go up Burnley road you`ll certainly notice the changes. Massive amounts of new house building on the old reservoir and all around the bottom of the Coppice, (which the`ve put a motorway through) and industrial units round the back of Accrington Cricket Club, where we used to go catching tadpoles!
Oak Hill Park has remained much the same... except last week some cretins burned the bandstand down. Just makes your blood boil!

[Gobsmacked]

So which came first? The road or the pub name?

I don't frequent Accrington enough to be able to pop into the library but I'll try to do so when I'm next in the area.