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Photo-a-Day Archive
Photo-a-Day Archive

Photo-a-Day  (Thursday, 1st April, 2021)

Mystery Brickwork


Mystery Brickwork
Mystery Brickwork in Haigh Platations.

Photo: Mick Byrne  (Panasonic DMC-TZ100)
Views: 2,372

Comment by: Helen of Troy on 1st April 2021 at 07:24

They look like well covers but maybe not, they are very close together.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 1st April 2021 at 09:19

That was my thought, Helen, but odd if two wells were so close together. I don't think they are capped-off pits as I have seen quite a few of those and, again, they wouldn't be so close together. I'm sure someone will know.

Comment by: lock lass on 1st April 2021 at 09:19

Are they ventilation shafts of the old mines in that area ?

Comment by: Veronica on 1st April 2021 at 09:23

Just guessing as I haven't a clue about mine workings - is it anything to do with clean air being pumped into the mine. Or some sort of an extractor?

Comment by: Mick on 1st April 2021 at 09:36

A lady friend just emailed me saying that they could be cesspits, the smaller one for the ladies and the bigger one for the men

Comment by: DTease on 1st April 2021 at 10:07

When I was a kid and I asked my grandma what something was and she didn’t know the answer, she would say it was “ Lay holes for meddlers” I didn’t know then and I still don’t know now what “Lay holes for meddlers” are. I suppose it did get her off the hook though.

Comment by: Mick on 1st April 2021 at 10:39

Ley holes would have been at the beginning and end of the Ley Lines

Comment by: Bradshaws Girl on 1st April 2021 at 11:34

DTease, my grandma used to say exactly the same thing and like you I still don't know what it means.

Comment by: Poet on 1st April 2021 at 11:49

I have visions of the tops being slowly unscrewed like in the Aliens have landed type films .

Comment by: Mick on 1st April 2021 at 11:58

Wigans Mr Hotpot made a video about these two mystery objects.

https://youtu.be/_IZd3AzuiGY

Comment by: DerekB on 1st April 2021 at 12:01

My grandma used to say the same thing but not in the context as not knowing the answer to a question. If she was looking in a drawer or cupboard and I said "What's in there?" she would always reply" lay holes for meddlers". Along with everyone else contributing I have never known what this meant.

Comment by: Anne on 1st April 2021 at 12:07

Same here, mother and grandma. Wonder if it's a Wiganism.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 1st April 2021 at 12:24

My Mam used to say Lay-holes for Meddlers too, and also Crutches for Lame Ducks!

Comment by: DTease on 1st April 2021 at 14:18

Thank goodness it’s not just me! I was getting a bit worried!

Comment by: Rainh on 1st April 2021 at 15:48

May be the assembly and access point for a fire hydrant . Has Haigh ever caught fire ?

Comment by: John on 1st April 2021 at 16:04

I always thought it was "layers for meddlers" - that's how it sounded to me. It sounds nicer than "keep your nose out" anyway. It's not just a Wigan expression though apparently it's even used in the southern states of the USA.

Comment by: Gary on 1st April 2021 at 18:16

Wiganisms - I do remember "lay holes for meddlers" and the mantelpiece was always "t' cornish." Irene has mentioned this a few times.
As a child if I was asking where someone had gone, and they didn't want to tell me, the reply would be "Hell hob." That phrase had a follow up, not really fit to print!
A parting au revoir mimicked Cockney rhyming slang eg "Aw reet, morn neet." Or "Aw reet, pigs' feet."
That lot will be reverberating round my head for days now!

Comment by: DerekB on 1st April 2021 at 18:37

Just remembered another of my grandma's replies. This was her answer to the question from me "How old are you, Grandma?" " As owd as mi eyes an a bit owder than mi teeth"

Comment by: DTease on 1st April 2021 at 20:09

If you mentioned to my grandma that you didn’t like the food she had served up for you, her stock reply was “Shurrupungerritetten” and she said it in such a way that you knew for certain that further questioning would be extremely unwise.

Comment by: Irene Roberts on 1st April 2021 at 20:14

Gary. I only remember "Hell Hob in a bucket". I also remember "Hell's bells and buckets" and "Hell's bells and little oranges". I recall asking where someone was and the answer was "Up a nick i' Russia"! What a diversion of topics p-a-d brings! And if you were standing in front of the telly, "Shift eawt t'road....tha weren't made at Pilkington's!"

Comment by: Anne on 1st April 2021 at 20:23

Derek......as old as mi tongue an a bit older than mi teeth was how it went in my family.

Comment by: Edna on 1st April 2021 at 22:07

When I wanted to know where some had gone, ie my dad or brother, the answer was." To see a man about a dog."

Comment by: Veronica on 1st April 2021 at 22:14

If I ever gave cheek to my mam she'd say "Hey Mrs Keck - less of your lip"...
Where on earth did these sayings come from?

Comment by: Edna on 1st April 2021 at 23:05

There's one thing for sure about this post.Its got us all going.!!!

Comment by: DerekB on 2nd April 2021 at 12:15

Another one of my grandma's sayings if she was not impressed with something that had supposedly been greatly improved but turned out to be only cosmetic was: It;s still't same dog washed! Washed was pronounced to rhyme with mashed. Another when I was a little lad was "Get thi hurr combed , it favvers a boater's mop. Took me years to work
out that a boater's mop was something sailors swabbed the decks down with.

Comment by: Veronica on 2nd April 2021 at 15:59

What about
" you con go' un run a duck".... if something didn't impress. I had never heard that for years until an old woman well in her eighties said it. It cracked me up.
That was really funny Derek B I have never heard that one - it must have originated from a sailor...;o))

Comment by: PeterP on 4th April 2021 at 15:13

When we were little if we were getting under the feet of our parents . Mother always said go play with Robinsons kids. Never did find Robinsons kids.

Comment by: Cyril on 4th April 2021 at 16:20

Gary, Hell Hob is another name for The Black Bull, Hall Lane Mawdesley, so nicknamed because of the big cooking hob (fireplace) in the pub when built in the 1580s. Interesting info on links below.

http://chorleyinnsandtaverns.blogspot.com/p/mawdesley-black-bull-inn.html#:~:text=The%20pub's%20nickname%20is%20%22Hell,Helen%2C%20hence%20Hell's%20Hob%22.

https://www.lep.co.uk/news/spirits-and-spooks-behind-bars-lancashires-haunted-pubs-674586

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