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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted -  28/10/2011  :  09:33

HORSE POWER PART TWO

Last week we looked at Barlick just after the First World War noting that there was one horse for every five people in the town and that the streets were crowded with horse-drawn transport. The armies had gone to war using horse power with a small number of requisitioned buses, taxis and ex-beer wagons thrown in because motor transport was in its infancy. By the end of the war the army was relying to a large extent on motor vehicles for transport, the battlefield tank had been invented and the world was moving into the Age of the Motor. The army had been quick to grasp the advantages of new technology but in civilian life the horse was still supreme, there wasn't the money or the stability to allow a quick transition. Horse-drawn transport was still the norm in the 1920s. The early trigger for the adoption of the new-fangled wagons was when the army started to sell off surplus vehicles after 1919.

From what I can make out, one of the earliest trades in the town to take advantage of the technology was the quarry industry. They were still using tramways down to the canal wharves from the Salterforth Lane quarries but had long had a problem with local stone deliveries. Remember that Kelbrook New Road wasn't built at the time and the only practical way into Barlick by road was up to the top of Salterforth Lane and then down into the town via Tubber Hill. This was cruel work for horses, apart from the fact that it was impossible for one horse to draw a loaded stone cart up the steep hill to the top road, the equally steep hill down into the town was very dangerous as the carts had no effective brakes. Jack Platt worked in the quarries and told me about one horse in particular which was killed when the cart ran away and hit the bank at the top of the lane down to Lane Bottom. The shaft broke and pierced the horse's side and it had a terrible slow death. This was a common occurrence.

In the early days extra horses were yoked up to get the stone carts to the top of the hill but before 1900 a steam winch was built on the small triangular island at the top of the lane and dragged the carts up to the top road. Jack told me that the horses got so used to stopping for the winch hook to be attached that when it had to be shortened slightly due to wear it took a while to get the horses used to going the extra distance to hook up. During years of listening to the older end talking about life in those days I have come across many stories about the intelligence of horses. A milk horse knew which places to stop at for deliveries and would follow the milk chap up the road stopping at just the right places. One coal carter had a horse that knew that when he passed the back door of the Railway Hotel his driver would vanish inside for a quick pint and that he had to wait on the corner for him to come out of the front door. Many a carter has had a quick snooze while his horse went back to the stable at night, it knew the way as well as he did! All this was lost of course as the 'modern' wagons became common.

The quarry owners soon realised that a second-hand army wagon, inefficient as it was, meant that they could dispense with the steam winch and also have better, if still unreliable, braking on the way down into the town. By 1920, Sagar's, the quarry owners on Salterforth Lane had bought two ex-army wagons, a Dennis and a Roma. Other traders in the town followed suit and I suspect one of the first new wagons was the one bought by the Barlick Co-op Society for town deliveries. From what I have been able to discover it was the people moving the heaviest loads who were first to convert to motor wagons. I have lots of evidence of small traders still doing their rounds with a horse and cart right up to after the Second World war. Fish, vegetables and confectionery were still sold door to door. The last people to use horses were the milk chaps and the itinerant scrap dealers and rag and bone men. West Marton Dairy delivered by horse and float until the late 1950s and I saw one of the last rag and bone men in Salford in the 1980s.

There are reports of cars before the Great War but these were owned by the manufacturers, doctors and professional men. After the war the number rose rapidly but even in the 1930s it was only the better off who could afford them. Motor bus services were established and many haulage firms had special passenger bodies they could mount on a flat wagon for weekend pleasure trips. By the late 1930s these had been replaced by purpose built charabancs and haulage firms like Wild's on Cobden Street had regular trips and could advertise 'Travel with Wild's for Miles of Smiles'

One inevitable consequence of the rise of the motor vehicles was the need for filling stations and repair garages. In the earliest days petrol was sold in two gallon tins by ironmongers and cycle shops but this was soon overtaken by the roadside garage with at least one hand operated petrol pump. The last hand driven pump I know still survived at Bancroft Shed in 1978. Long disused, it had once served the mill's two motor wagons. As late as the 1960s ironmonger's shops like Elmer's still sold paraffin from a bulk tank behind the shop. As wagons became more reliable longer distances could be undertaken with confidence and they were used to deliver cloth to Manchester and bring yarn back. The canal suffered and after 1940 most coal was brought into the town by rail but this soon declined as well because it was cheaper and quicker to bring coal direct from the pithead to the mills by motor transport, domestic coal still came into the sidings until the station closed.

The end result was a sea change, the horse had a brief resurgence in the Second World War because of fuel rationing but the motor had triumphed and all the stables fell into disuse, the feed industry declined and the gardens lost their continuous top-up of free fertilizer, cars are bad for roses! As the car became accessible to the masses after 1960 we saw another consequence, car parking problems and eventually traffic wardens. Say what you will about the advantages of the car, I don't think parking was a problem for the 2,000 horses in the town. So, the next time you are fuming because you can't find exactly the right parking space or are delayed by traffic don't hanker for the old days of horse transport when the roads were less crowded. It may be that our streets were more congested in 1900 than today and there was certainly more horse muck to tread in!

The old hand driven petrol pump at Bancroft on a cold foggy day in 1980.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk

Author Replies  
cloghopper
Regular Member


88 Posts
Posted - 30/10/2011 : 08:22
Thanks Stanley, you reminded me of my favourite horse - Sally. I used to take a milkround with her before school in the early 50's. She knew where and when to stop, including the houses where she could expect a crust or a bit of apple. She also knew how to gallop back home if we were running late, and I might have missed the school bus. Salley continued her milk round, even after Dad finally bought an ex WD ambulance and converted that to a milk float. She was finally pensioned off about 1955. 

cheers,

cloggy 

 


Dyslexics untie Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 31/10/2011 : 06:30
Nice. Thanks for the comment Cloggy. Makes it all worthwhile.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Cathy
Senior Member


4249 Posts
Posted - 31/10/2011 : 07:54
Watched a program on tele recently that said 6million horses were sent from Britain to Europe to work in the war, apparently none came back because it was too hard to bring them back, and the horses were either too exhausted, unwell or diseased.  How sad after all their hard work. 


All thru the fields and meadows gay  ....  Enjoy   
Take Care...Cathy Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 01/11/2011 : 06:44
A lot came from the US Cathy and almost all went to the horse butchers after the war.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
wendyf
Senior Member


1439 Posts
Posted - 01/11/2011 : 08:09
Some were finally saved by Dorothy Brooke.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 02/11/2011 : 07:09
Nice site Wendy, I hadn't heard about her.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page


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