Monochrome Moment: Canal Bridge

April starts with another "Monochrome Moment", fitting in with the April theme day of "Cobblestones".

The bridge carries the towpath over the canal junction at Portland Basin in Ashton and can be seen from a different angle (and in colour)in this post which appeared a couple of weeks ago.

You could almost imagine that this was an archive photo taken a hundred years ago, but the modern apartments give the game away!

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"Canal Bridge" is my contribution to this month's City Daily Photo Theme Day of "Cobblestones". Please check out the other blogs taking part. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants. (Also check this temporary link set up while CDP website was down.)

"Canal Bridge" is also my contribution to "Monochrome Weekend". Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Tudno Mill

After a little holiday break, the photo blog returns with another "Monochrome Moment".

Today's photo shows the Tudno Mill, in Smith Street, off Manchester Road in Ashton. This was built in 1894 as Hill's Bakery. It is now Hill's biscuit factory, as can be detected by the nostrils of those passing through the area!

The building's clean lines and angles make it appear particularly dramatic in black and white.

See Google Street View of this location.

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"Tudno Mill" is my contribution to "Monochrome Weekend". Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Town Hall

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Our Monochrome Moment for Christmas shows Ashton under Lyne's Town Hall, with snow covering the market ground in front of it.

The town hall is decorated for Christmas and a Christmas tree stands near the foot of the steps. Last Christmas I showed you a night-time image of the Town Hall complete with the Christmas lights.

"Town Hall" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

A  Merry   Christmas  to all followers of this blog! Thank you for visiting.

Monochrome Moment: Mossley Hall

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Photographing in the snow at night is experimental photography for me! This shot of Mossley Hall was taken with very little light apart from one street light and the light reflected from the snow.

One problem with photographing snow at night is that everything has an orange cast from the street lights, but this disappears when the image is monochrome!

The combination of low light and an inexpensive pocket camera means that the image is not sharp but nevertheless I think it looks dramatic. The snow on the ledges provides pleasing highlights and the drama is enhanced by the perspective.

See Bird's Eye View of this location.

Mossley Hall was built in 1864 as the home of a wealthy mill owner but later became Mossley's Town Hall. Although now back in private ownership the grounds remain public, which was why I was allowed the plod up the snowy drive in the dark!

"Mossley Hall" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: St Michael's Square

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See Google Street View of this location.

What better time for a monochrome photo that when most of the colours have been replaced with a blanket of white snow?

Today's black-and-white view shows St Michael's Square, the old heart of Ashton under Lyne, with the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels on the left. Not quite all the angels, as The Angel Inn is on the right of the photo!

"St Michael's Square" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Egret Mill

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Egret Mill was built on the corner of Old Street and Bentinck Street in Ashton. It was opened in 1823 as Lees Mill, a five-storey spinning mill. It was later bought by the Egret Mill Company, who added weaving sheds to the site.

In 1881 the original spinning mill was destroyed by fire and the weaving sheds were then extended over the site. However, the mill ceased cotton cloth manufacturing in 1887.

The area is being re-developed as part of the St Petersfield scheme and now all that remains of the mill is a small two-bay portion of weaving shed and this building facing onto Old Street, which probably accommodated the mill offices.


See Google Street View of this location.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

"Egret Mill" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Clarence Arcade

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Clarence Arcade is a short covered Victorian shopping arcade of the sort that were the fore-runners of today's modern traffic-free shopping malls!

Clarence Arcade was built in 1894 and is Tameside's only covered Victorian shopping arcade. It ran parallel with Stamford Street, at that time the town's main shopping street, with a decorative entrance at each end.

For the first half of its existence it would have been a thriving honeypot for shoppers but, as Stamford Street's importance as a shopping venue waned, so did the fortunes of Clarence Arcade.

The Arcade has had a refurbishment in recent years and the former shop units are now mostly occupied by offices. While this means that this little corner of Victoriana has been saved, the Arcade which once echoed with the voices of crowds of shoppers is now eerily silent.

"Clarence Arcade" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Trafalgar Square

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This week's Monochrome Moment is a view looking upwards in Trafalgar Square.

Before any of our visitors from distant places start to be confused, I should point out that this is not the Trafalgar Square in the West End of London, but the Trafalgar Square in the West End of Ashton!

You won't find Nelson's column or the National Gallery here, but you will find Hugh Mason's statue and the Twelve Apostles.

This photograph looks up at the facade of "The Twelve Apostles", a terrace of twelve grand Victorian houses that makes up the south side of Trafalgar Square.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

See Google Street View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Cotton Mill

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This week's Monochrome Moment shows Guide Bridge Mill, alongside the Ashton Canal on the town's western boundary.

In fact, the mill shown was Guide Bridge No. 2 Mill. Built in 1884, this five storey cotton spinning mill was the largest in Ashton. It had more than 150,000 spindles all powered by a Musgrave steam engine with a 32 foot diameter flywheeel.

Guide Bridge No 1 Mill, built in 1876, was demolished around 1938 but No. 2 Mill still stands although is used for other purposes than the manufacture of cotton cloth. It is one of just over a dozen mills that survive out of over 80 that once operated in Ashton as part of its thriving cotton industry.

This is actually a sepiafied version of a recent photo but a photo taken a hundred years ago at this spot would not have looked so different except that you would have seen No 1 Mill in the background to the right and you might have caught a horse-drawn narrow boat pulling away from the wharf at the side of the mill or a train crossing the bridge behind the tree!

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Henry Square

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This week's Monochrome Moment shows various ages of building around Chester Square at the western end of Ashton's Stamford Street.

The modern building is part of the St Petersfield re-development. To the left of that is the old Friendship inn, awaiting a new use. In the background is Bentinck House, one of Ashton's 1960s tower blocks.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Canal Boats

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This week's Monochrome Moment shows canal boats at Portland Basin on the Ashton Canal. The boats are moored outside the very good Portland Basin Museum, which is free and well worth a visit if you are in the area, as long as you remember that is it closed on Mondays.

You can see the stern of Hazel and the bows of two other historic wooden canal narrowboats that belong to the Wooden Canal Boat Society. Behind that is the modern trip boat Still Waters.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Albion Sunday School

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One of the grandest brick buildings in Ashton is the former Albion Sunday School on Penny Meadow. Unsurprisingly, when it opened in 1862, it was the largest Sunday School building in England.

Brick buildings often look well in black and white and this one, with its lighter banding and patterning, looks particularly good.

You can compare this image with the colour version here, where you will find a little more history.

The school is now an office furniture shop. Some visitors to this blog are not comfortable seeing fine old buildings being used for modern commercial purposes. However, they are no longer needed for their original purposes and, without a new use, would fall into dereliction and be lost. As long as the architectural character of an old building remains, I am happy to see it being put to s new use.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Ryecroft Mill

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The bulk of Ryecroft Mill dominates the view along Hamilton Street in Ashton's West End.

Ryecroft Mill was built in 1837 as a cotton spinning mill. It was the second of a complex of four mills built close together in the area. It now produces Weetabix and other foods.

The neat terraced houses are typical of many such rows built in Ashton to house the mill workers.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Dukinfield Town Hall

Only a mile away from the centre of Ashton is the Town Hall of Ashton's near neighbour Dukinfield.

Dukinfield, across the old county boundary in what was Cheshire, developed much later than Ashton. Its late Victorian Town Hall was opened in 1901. The tower has five bells from the famous bell-makers Taylors of Loughborough and the clock was made by Joyce of Whitchurch, the same manufacturer that made the clock at Stalybridge Station.

The Town Hall is built of Accrington Brick with stone banding, the colours of which can be seen in this photo which appeared earlier.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Market Street

The Great Thaw is definitely under way and most of our recent snow is now disappearing. However, as a further reminder of the magic that snow lends to a scene, here is a photo of Market Street and the Market Hall in Ashton from a couple of weeks ago.

The fresh snow coats the evergreen bushes, the head and shoulders of The Pieman statue, the ledges of the Market Hall's walls and the branches of the trees. The scene looks striking as a black and white image. A case of less is more?

See Birds Eye View of this location.

This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Huddersfield Canal

As a bit of variety in the long sequence of snow photographs, I thought I would take advantage of the lack of colour to share a black and white image.

This photo shows the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Micklehurst, with Wharf Cottages on the left and the canal lock behind the bridge.

According to the weather forecast, you'll be seeing snow photographs of the area around Ashton for a little while longer...

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This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.