Photo-a-Day  (Saturday, 5th March, 2022)

My garage doors came from down there

What a lovely view, and what a contrast in names....Barkers-de-lane sounds very "ooh-la-la" French and Ephraim's Fold sounds very "Sunday-go-to- Chapel" Lancashire!

Back in the day, 1966 or 67, someone tried to set up a hunt on that land - horses, riders, some flash coats. I'm sure it only happened once.
Good photo Dennis, as usual.
Last saw it on the upper deck of the number 16 Wigan Corporation bus to Horwich.

Proves there is a little bit of green spaces left

What a lovely view but what a contrast in names .....Barkers-de-lane sounds very "ooh-la-la French" and Ephraim's Fold sounds very "Sunday-go-to-chapel" Lancashire!

I hope the land grabbers don't get at all that lovely greenery in the foothills of Winter Hill.

Apparently, the farm and land go back to Elizabethan times and one of the early owners was hung, drawn and quartered as a traitor.
I met the present owner a couple of years ago when out on one of my walks and we got chatting. He told me that he had researched the history of the site and he had all the deeds of the land going back hundreds of years.
The original house is at the back of the farmyard and I think he said that it is now used as a barn.
Being interested in family history myself I could have stayed there all day!

I always say the same about deeds to properties going back hundreds of years. I would love to see them. My house is only 60 years old with one owner but it was farmland with interesting info of 2 old ladies who owned the land

My aunt and cousins lived in Ephraims Fold in the 1950’s when they were the old terraced houses.
Happy Days.

Have memories of walking to Rivington with schoolfriend in the 1960's, we had eaten our packed lunches by the time we got to here ! Lovely area. X

Going back a few years,..back to the early 60s in fact, I'd cycle from Garswood to Blackrod and back almost every Saturday in order to spend a few hours changing wheels on Fred Rose's ERFs.,...this among many other menial tasks that the jokers in the garage could find to offload onto a naïve 14 year old that is.

You may even have seen me passing through Finger Post Dennis. The bike was an orange coloured Armstrong sports model with a six speed Benelux dérailleur.....ring any bells?

There was never any question of renumeration, I did it merely in order to have some kind of association with wagons.....a sixteen mile round trip just to play with wagons, closely followed by another 44 years driving the damn' things.
Once a mug, always a mug I suppose;....but few regrets.

Still, some people get their kicks by knocking a titchy ball around a big field with a stick before dropping it into a titchy hole for pleasure,...never could quite figure that one to be honest.....but each to his own I suppose.
Live and let live I say.

I discovered quite early on that by cutting in at Barkers-de-lane, I would eventually emerge out onto the A6 almost opposite Fred Rose's garage, thereby having saved myself...ooh!,...let's see.....probably 200 yards of pedalling had I carried on to Scot lane end.
Even back then I thought Barkers-de-lane was an odd sounding name for a farm.
The cast iron nameplate at the entrance is still up there though.

Just reminiscing,....nothing more.....not unless perpetuating the legend of Fred Rose haulage of Blackrod counts as something more.

Elizabethan Dennis! I read traces of dinosaurs are in Preston and Runcorn - why not Wigan ?

Ozy: Your post was nice to read, it expressed the innocence of a fourteen year old boy who was aiming for something bigger and hopefully better in his life, it may have been naive, but that was irrelevant.
It echoed my experience of early life in to manhood and work, and I’am sure most Seventy year old somethings would have felt that tug of the heart as they read it.

Elizabethan Dennis! I read traces of dinosaurs are in Preston and Runcorn - why not Wigan ?

We spent a lot of our courting day's up Rivington in the 60s Elizabeth. May have passed you on our walks.You never know.xx

I agree John G - Ozy can relate a good tale.

When he's not busy cooking on his Aga - has he told you about his Aga?

Dave, most of the dinosaurs in Wigan have been voted on to the Council many years ago! I imagine they are still in storage somewhere.

Ozy, I can’t say I remember seeing your bike I’m afraid. Mind you from the way you describe it I think it would have been too far up the scale to attract my attention.
My bike consisted of an old abandoned frame with attachment’s courtesy of the local Council Tip.
Your interest in lorries must have been extreme to get you to do a sixteen mile round trip.
My bike was a wreck, but I remember the sense of freedom that it brought.
Places like Parbold Hill and Rivington became easily reachable. The canal grew in length by a factor of three.
I still have a bike in the shed but I doubt if I will ever ride it any distance again….still can’t bring myself to get rid of it though.

Yes,Edna,there's every chance.xx

Lovely picture, Dennis.