Wigan Album

Ah..I recognize that don't I Ron..on the left the bottom of Great George St,on the right bottom of Clayton Street...thanks again Ron.

If this was taken in 1950, then I'd venture to say that yon lad was extremely fortunate to have had a bike like that one at that time. It looks like a Gresham Flyer to me. I had one of those bought for me in about 1953, after mythering for one for ages.
I can recall riding it home from St. Helens.
I also recall that it had solid tyres , and somewhat disappointingly, yet not unlike the one in the picture, lacked a box on the back , wot I really would have liked, in order to cart my rubbish around.
Nonetheless , I rode the blimmin' wheels off the thing , right up to the time that I was shamed into abandoning it and transferring my allegiance to a scrap two wheeler minus saddle, tyres or brakes.
.....Of course, there wasn't that much traffic on the roads in them days.

I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to leave a baby at the front of the house like that nowadays...according to my Mam,the lady fron the chippie further down the street was going to Wigan market for the fish one day on seeing me fast asleep in my pram shouted up the lobby.."does this child never wake up to be fed"..my Mam said "I have to wake her up,when she's been fed she just goes back to sleep"...and I still love my sleep.

It's a good composition showing two streets and the strange shape of the corner house. I wonder if a new 'telly' was squeezed in that space, or perhaps the wireless on a small table. If you were able to walk in that house these days, I imagine you would wonder how you managed especially if the children, bike and pram had to fit in! But they managed because they had to.

Have you not got that wrong Maureen. I think its Great George St on the right and York St East on the left.

I remember my childhood friend had one of those bikes Ozy. It was blue and had a box on the back, which was useful for me as a passenger. I recall blazing a trail down Higham St which was laid with small stones, came off the bike and grazed very badly one side of my face. I thought I would be disfigured forever!

GT,you may well be right,my apologies for that mistake.

Ps : all the skin of my cheek came away, blood red for days, but still had to go to school, with a cotton gauze and plaster dressing. In those days kids were interested in all the gory details and were especially kind and sympathetic, as was teacher!

Made mine Ozy from various tips , when a tip was an adventure playground and a free source of parts and materials. I still pause at a open skip .
Some things never leave you . Most though are covered up and roped , with cameras on houses ensuring the skip is in frame . Where is this skip going ? To a tip ! Oh , so sorry , it’s going to be recycled. What’s that saying , One mans .... I discarded sofa in my day was a chance in a sweet shop . Now ! it’s a political process , for which you can be arrested
I may be that kind of newt with the yellow and black spots on its belly , but from my rigged up bike to recycling seems a long way gone for my losing brain cells .
Sing your song Bob Dylan ...
Sorry Ron ,

Seems to me that we both belong to an endangered species me and thee XPat , as I can't go past a skip without experiencing the overwhelming urge to have a good root through it.
I still derive an enormous amount of satisfaction by cobbling together useful stuff from discarded bits of junk and other ' objects d'art ' that folk have just lobbed out, which probably explains why my back yard bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Arthur Bithell, and would probably also explain why so many people refer to me as Stig.
I could never hold down a job in a scrapyard , as nothing would ever get done, other than me taking stuff apart......That'll come in...so will that....no, put that to one side for a bit...etc.

My attention having been momentarily distracted by the Gresham Flyer, I almost failed to notice that the front of this building would appear to have been constructed using the Flemish bond pattern of brickwork, whereas at the end of the terrace , English garden wall bond appears to have been employed....for strength presumably.
I'm no bricklayer, so Im allowing ample opportunity here for anyone more knowledgeable than I am to criticise my observation.

Whizz.

Well spotted Ozy, you're correct, Flemish bond on the front and English garden wall bond on the gable. It would have taken a lot of concentration to construct that corner.

Interestingly, looking at the brickwork on the gable end, it looks as if there could have been a door there at sometime. I'm probably wrong but there is a slight difference in the darkening colour at the edges.

That could be the answer, the bond could be different because an opening has been blocked up.

Lending strength to Veronica's theory of a bricked up doorway, the brickwork above lintel level appears to follow the pattern of English garden wall bond, i.e. One course of headers followed by three course of stretchers , whereas the pattern below lintel level reverts to one of headers followed by four of stretchers.
I believe there exists a pattern whereby two course of headers are separated by five course of stretchers. It may be called the Sussex bond, but I could be wrong about that.......isn't this riveting?....also the area appears to have been recently, ( and quite badly ) pointed.
I must admit, I'd feel inclined to pass this one over to the lads from the agency.......if I only had a clue as to where the idle buggers are hiding.

I think they're variations of English garden wall bond, I've seen examples of six courses of stretchers to one course of headers. Sussex bond is, I think, a variation of Flemish garden wall bond, used in other parts of the country as an alternative to English garden wall bond, probably because it is more decorative. I've also heard English garden wall bond referred to as Scotch bond.

1891 Census has Michael Marks a Small-ware Dealer from Russia/Poland living at 152 Great George Street together with wife Anna, children Simian, Rebecca, and Brother in Law Jacob Cohen. Place of birth for the children given as Leeds. Is this the beginnings of a business empire?