Challenges of old Mill Brow community

By Runcorn And Widnes Weekly News on Feb 26, 09 01:44 PM in 1900-1999

THE SPRINCH Boatyard, Rock Park and the old Ragged School will always be remembered as predominant features of Mill Brow, which survives - albeit in a different form - today.

This picture shows how the drainage of the Bridgewater Canal for repairs gave youngsters a chance to search the mud for coal which had fallen from the boats as they were being unloaded from Hazlehursts' soap works.

The people of Mill Brow were a closely knit little community who provided its character and colour, living as they did almost cheek by jowl, in row upon row of terraced houses and little cottages.

Most of those properties, together with its old landmarks, have long gone but fortunately the children of an earlier generation live on.

One such "youngster", Keith Leyland, now 65 and living at Firbank, Elton Village, kindly took the trouble to put pen to paper with his own recollections after reading a piece which appeared here last August and also included a remarkable aerial picture showing the Spring Boatyard and other features, including the old Lescher and Webb Works chimney in Gas Street, from around the turn of the last century.

Incidentally, that photo was provided by Glynn Dyer, of Holmfield Avenue, Runcorn.
Jackson's Lane, running down from Mill Brow to the Bridgewater Canal, housed many old Runcornians and Keith Leyland's family lived in one of a block of three cottages in a third of an acre of land at the bottom of the lane (No 24), facing on to the canal itself.

"In the 1950s," Keith writes, "I would watch from our garden as narrow boats, laden with coal, would pull in at the side of the towpath, loaded to capacity and low in the water.

"By the time I returned from Victoria Road School to come home for lunch the narrow boats would be much higher in the water, the coal having been unloaded by hand shovel.

"Once emptied, they were towed away and at that point a team consisting mainly of women, would be there with their buckets with holes in them (rather like giant colanders), and tied to a length of rope, then cast into the water and dragged along the towpath edge.

"When the buckets were hauled out they yielded the coal which had fallen from the boats when they were unloaded.

"To a young boy the women seemed fairly old (they were probably young) and they wore heavy coats, headscarves and boots. They were obviously poor and needed the coal to provide a warm fire for their families.

"The coal was put into sacks and onto old prams or home-made trailers."

Keith remembers looking out from their garden into the Lescher and Webb building and seeing men with white shirts and hats on, providing "a lovely, welcoming warm glow from the furnace. As a boy, I never asked what the works produced".

He recalls: "Viewed from our garden, the canal provided me with all I wanted - an ever-changing scene in which two days were never the same.

"I would see the Sprinch dry docks and watch repair work being carried out on the various craft.

"The working narrow boats went about their daily business, transporting goods and I would shout to the families on board and they would wave back."

One lady he vividly remembers was a certain Mrs Palin.

In addition to his reminiscences of a bygone age, Keith also reeled off the names of many of the families who lived in Jackson's Lane, including the Joneses, Furnivals, Morgans, Reads, Daniels, Lightfoots, Whittakers, Fish and George and Olive (from Preston).

Apologising for any he may have inadvertently omitted, he notes that neighbours would come and fish from the water's edge.

He said: "I caught my first roach there and kept it in a bucket for a few days before returning it to the water."

Many youngsters learned to swim in the Bridgewater Canal - and you will be able to read a little more about that in Keith's second piece next week.