Lower Ince Post Office 2005
Photo: Rev David Long

I don't know whether this settles the discussion about Frank Orrell's pic of Ince Post Office, which looks to date from the late 60s or early 70s. The PO used to be across the road, on the bend after the Black Diamond - where the access is now to Claire House, which is just visible in the distance. In the 1925 Directory this appears to be one shop in the middle of a terrace of private houses. As I pointed out in my Comment to Frank's pic, this PO is on the end of the terrace (more modern houses are to the right of where I was stood, and they were built on the site of the coal Land Sales yard), whereas it looks as if the row carries on to the right in Frank's pic. Again, the 1925 Directory gives the PO on Manchester Road as being the 4th shop along from Grant Street towards Careless Lane - which looks to fit with Frank's pic of a row of at least three shops. Also, note the PO in my pic is called Lower Ince, not simply Ince PO - if Frank's pic was of the PO at Lower Ince, and it was called Ince PO, what was the one on Manchester Road labelled? Also, although it is possible that the shop-fronts may have been modernised between the dates of the pics, it looks to me as if the PO front is pre-1970s, even though the whole frontage of the take-away next door has clearly been rebuilt completely. It has, however, been rebuilt in a shiny, Accrington-style brick, similar to the facing bricks on the PO... which are very different from the common brick seen in Frank's pic.