Photo-a-Day (Friday, 7th April, 2023)
Brock Mill
The old photo is from a postcard about 1920. First posted by Ron Hunt.
The man at the front looks very smart with his polished shoes, his westcoat, Albert Chain and his Trilby Hat.
Photo: Dennis Seddon (Sony DSC-WX500)
looks like they were both taken at the same spot. We used to call them sixty four steps, mind you I never counted them. Good photo as always.
Gentlemen dressed immaculately in those days, I would say up to the late 1960s and 1970s. Still smart today but different types of clothing, trainers and jeans seems to but the norm, no polish shoes or collar and ties. Now ladies were best dressed in my opinion in the 1960s, look at some photos of walking days around that time. They looked so elegant. Times have changed and not for the better in my opinion.
Very smartly dressed indeed, shame he's smoking but then, many people did, usually a pipe. Where did the step lead to.
Thanks Dennis.
Thats a really interesting set of pics Dennis.
The man smartly dressed probably knew he wouldn't have to wear hiking boots & the rest of the clobber people wear these days to take a
stroll through the woods & down those steps. Shows how well tended things were back then compared to now. The term that comes to mind is probably ' in natural surroundings' or that over used word 'conservation ' where the word neglect
would be better in some cases.
I love looking and comparing these dual photos. Not much changed apart from a bit of sinking on those steps and missing the handrail on the left and quite higgledy piggledy on the right with no railings left. The debonair young men will be long gone. I wonder what they would think of todays fashions. I wonder if they served in the Great War they look in great shape if they did.
A more serene look about the scene. Thanks Dennis for giving us something to think about.
Excellent photos both. I love places like that and can recall little rough steps like those in the grounds of Haigh Hall when I was a child, though only short flights, not like the ones at Brock Mill. To a small child, they were like something from the illustrations in my story-books. I'll have to get Peter to dress in his 1940s suit and trilby and pose for an updated photo!
I thought the first photo was around 1930s, judging by the gentlemen's suits and coats. The path looked picturesque and very well kept.
Garry you are right, I much prefer 1960s outfits than today..men wearing shirt and ties with polish shoes.
The steps were like a bloody mountain to me when I was a young lass.
I bet he was a James Cagney fan . The dangling cigarette was de rigueur for cool posing perhaps up until the 80s .
Now it's out of fashion even by rock stars (with the possible exception of a less dapper Keith Richards) .
Jimmy Cagney would have, done a ‘Yankee doodle dandy’ up and down those steps. He was a professional dancer when he started out. He had a peculiar
way of dancing though. His legs were stiff and his posterior stuck out. Must have been a throwback to his Irish heritage…stiff from the shoulders down. Great actor though…
Stiff legs and posterior stuck out ! He sounds more like Max Wall :-)
Cue drums .
Veronica, if our legs are supposed to be stiff and our rear ends stuck out then I think I've been doing it all wrong!
I wonder if that is David Robert Alexander Lindsay, the 28th Earl of Crawford and 11th Earl of Balcarres and his wingman chauffeur, he owned Brock Mill and probably everything else around there.
Look him up on Ytube
Dancing to ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy ‘
It’s 64 steps….do that walk many times u Sennicar and Pendlebury lane to the canal and back along Hall Lane ….a lovely 4 to 5 mile walk back to Thornhill Gardens…love it
See what you mean there Veronica . Amazing . He's sort of half Nureyev and half Douglas Bader .
Hahaha I told you…he was good though Poet. At first I thought it was meant to be like that but that’s how he dances in other films ;o))
The steps to me are more important than any other observation. They show how we once built things , simple ingredients, that lasted ! Now we are a throwaway society.
Brock Mill wasn't in Wigan, it was in Haigh.
Message received and understood Bruce .
Hitler wears green underpants .
Repeat . Hitler wears green underpants .
Over. .
The steps in the pic, Bruce, go down to the Douglas from the Wigan side - the river being the boundary. Brock Mill itself may have been in Haigh - but Brock Mill Cottages are in Wigan - as is Brock Mill Lane.
The steps come down from Sicklefield off Wigan Lane and join Wingates Rod at the bottom by the Dougie.