Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 15th March, 2024)

He looks like he is hanging about .He must be clock watching.

Not my cup of tea.
Sky looks nice though!

The clock tower of the Trencherfield may not be the tallest structure in Wigan some day. My son has just sent me an article in the BBC News this am.
Everyone may know all ready, that a 6 storey, 144 roomed, prestigious Hilton Hotel is going t be built on the Galleries site....hope the would be patrons will be prepared for the delights of Wigan.
WMC is thinking big !

I wish they'd demolished every bit of this place, just flatten it and make a large free car park.

Scaffolding is a real art, it is scary being up there, but the real scary part for me is erecting every pole and brackets from the beginning.
They are indeed very skillful and brave people.

He's braver than me! I get dizzy on the step-stool I have for reaching into the kitchen cupboards because I'm so small! It reminds me of that Houghton Weavers' song about old people being moved from their old terraced homes to high-rise flats...."I'm sure to get to Heaven, 'Cos I'll be halfway there!".

Thanks Dennis, good to see that the former mill is being maintained, although you would not get me up there for love nor money!

I didn't know there was a clock at Trencherfield Mill Tower?

I get a strange feeling in my feet when I see anybody high up.
I hope this tower isn’t going to be demolished.
Surely not! It would have gone by now wouldn’t it?

I'm wondering how the scaffolders coped.

Dennis, imagine back in 1907 the scaffolding would have been wooden planks tied together with rope, don't bear thinking about. Great photo owd lad.

Irene,I love that song.

Happy birthday Walt, all those years since we started school at Aspull Methodists, who would have thought that we would still be plodding along. I reckon it must have been all that free orange juice and cod liver oil we got from the newly formed National Health that gave us a good start!
Is there anyone else out there who started Aspull Methodist School in 1952?

Fred Dinah would have done the job swinging on a rope....

Dennis, there's a tower as we can all see, but it doesn't have a clock i'm 99% certain of that.

Forgive me for being pedantic but this is not a clock tower. Just a tower.

If it doesn’t have a clock Roy then it should have, but I’m happy to stand corrected.

Re Clock Tower. I put a message up earlier but did not seem to appear!
I found a picture and there is no clock but wondered what the purpose was for such a high tower. Was it just to demonstrate the grandeur and wealth of the mill owner or perhaps some form of ventilation tower?

Thanks Dennis, been friends now since school days well over 70 years, goodness, where did those years go marra.

Many old mills had large towers. They contained a large storage tank at height containing water. This was for the sprinkler systems in case of fire.

I have had to work up on high structures and it never bothered me.The only problem I had was looking up at them from the ground.I always and still do felt dizzy and have to lean on something.

Good photo Dennis, what we miss when we're not looking up. The lad's probably having a minute as he's 'come o'er all mazy' with looking down.

In the link is a photo I haven't seen before of Trencherfield Mill when it had two towers, it's by wiki and from the Lancashire Cotton Corporation and is of the mill before 1951: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Trencherfield_Mill%2C_Wigan_0019.png

from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trencherfield_Mill

If like me you've ever wondered as to how it got the name Trencherfield Mill or any other information, then have a read of the history in the link:
https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/buildings/trencherfield-mill-wigan

Ste. That makes sense, the Victorian’s had a great way of disguising necessities, these days it would be a big ugly tank on the roof!
Thanks again Dennis for creating todays conversations and information.

Birds do it with much less of a Carry On !
Anyone working at height always brings to mind for me Time magazine’s Lunch on a skyscraper.

Are they re-installing the Lighthouse.
Mick Byrne made a short video of it 12 years ago.
Watch it it on Wigan Lighthouse.wmv
A Pier and a Lighthouse. How lucky are we?

Dennis, another good day ut mill!

I think Dennis has got confused with the Galleries Tower, it's been photographed on here very many times. Clearly the Galleries Tower has a clock.