A look into some
of Bacup and Stacksteads past history.
By clicking the drop
down links on the top menu bar you can take a historical journey of discovery.
Find out what the home life
of the residents of
Bacup and Stacksteads entailed.
The shops they visited and where
they worked, rest and played in days gone by.
Today's Houses, Homes and
Streets would probably be unrecognisable to our Bacupian and
Stacksteads ancestors. Indeed some of the Streets they lived on are no longer there.
From Drapers to Jewellers, Pork butchers to Watchmakers, Hairdressers to
Musical instrument makers and beyond....Bacup's selection of shops
provided an excellent selection of local stores that satisfied the needs
of everybody many of which you can read about in Gone Shopping. A
Woman's World looks at some of the hardships women faced and how one
woman lost her baby because she had no choice but to leave it alone to
go to work, whilst others took solace in a Tipple Too many ending up in
court. .
Perhaps you remember Sgt Martin
otherwise known as " Felix" or Nurse Kelly the School Nurse.
Today there are very few
remnants of Bacup and Stacksteads main transportation system left to
be seen (at least by anyone who didn't know where to look)
a bridge at Waterbarn that my brother fell off of ( luckily
the train wasn't coming ) is still there as are the tunnels at Waterfoot that have fascinated children with tales of them
being haunted for decades, no tram tracks remain, just a few cobbles. No
more mill chimneys belching out smoke or hooters calling the
workers to their daily grind. Landscaped beauty that now hides
what was once back-breaking work at the Quarries of Brandwood and
Lee Mill. Quarrymen were renown for being hard working, hard
drinking, hard hitting men so is it any wonder there were
so many Pubs in the area.
On November 11th
1918 Bacup celebrated, as the Armistice was signed to
end the most appalling war the world had ever seen and
whilst Bacup suffered many loses to the war the people of
Bacup never faulted in their courage and loyalty to King and
Country. Whilst many men passed through the doors of
Fernhill to be mended and put back together not one soldier
died in the hospital.
Six months after the Armistice was
signed and the peace talks in Paris ended Bacup and
Stacksteads celebrated the end of the war with a Peace
parade celebration. Wearing their dead fathers medals
children wait in the pouring rain to see the War Memorial
unveiled.
All Photographs Copyright of Bacup Natural History Museum.
With
thanks to Bacup Natural History Society, Harry O'Neil, Janice and
staff at Bacup Library, Maurice Priest and Dr Greenwood for all the
help and support you've given me in my research making this website
possible.
References Used W. G. Taylor
Bacupian Mills and Quarries
Ken Bowden Book Of Bacup
Bacup Miscellany 1 & 2
Consists of various
links to websites and organisations that I have used whilst tracing my
family history, which you may also find useful in tracing yours.
