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Highfield

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Miners cottages in Billinge Road being demolished
Miners cottages in Billinge Road being demolished
Photo: Fred Foster
Views: 3,404
Item #: 4961
The old miners cottages in Billinge Road being demolished. This area was known as Thwaites Delph, after the old quarry that was there in the 1800s.

Comment by: fred foster on 17th June 2012 at 19:50

I noticed on Forum that there was an argument over the whereabouts of the various quarries or delphs as they were known locally. Thwaites Delph stretched right across the present Billinge road into the back field. If you walk round there you can see the edge of it. On Billinge Road, all the houses from 126 are built on the old quarry and across the road the Spinney is also on the quarry. The builders had to pile drive before building commenced. The quarry where the dog training took place was filled in with rubble from the slum clearance in Wallgate and Cox Lump. Before this however, Summersales colliery dumped their waste there. That is where coal picking took place. The colliery waste ignited and the Coal Board had to smother it with stonedust. This quarry was still working up to the start of WW11. We could hear the stone saws as we went to school.

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