Alphabet Friday - Stockport Road

S is for Stockport Road, which is the main A6017 road from Ashton towards Guide Bridge, Denton and, of course, Stockport.

This photo is looking along Stockport Road towards the centre of Ashton from the bus stop in Trafalgar Square. The tower of St Peter's Church is seen in the centre of the photo. The Twelve Apostles terrace is out of shot to the right.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

St Peter's Church

St Peter's Church stands in the angle between Manchester Road and Stockport Road and its tower is seen prominently straight ahead when looking westwards down Stamford Street.

St Peter's was opened in 1824, built for the Church Commissioners (along with many others elsewhere) in response to the spread of non-conformist churches. It has a gothic-style tower 128 feet high and inside it has gallery seating around three. sides

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Little Madam

Another in the series of statues to have appeared in Market Avenue in Ashton recently is this young lady making faces at passers-by.

In the background can be seen the miner who featured in yesterday's photo.

Coming up for Air

Another new sight in The Avenue this week is this coal miner who appears to have lost his way and has surfaced amid the shops. He joins the other figures who are heralding the re-opening of the Market Hall.

I wonder how long it will be before someone falls over him?

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Cheeky Chappy

This cheeky chappy is thumbing his nose to passers-by on the corner of Market Avenue and Old Street in Ashton.

This fellow is one of six sculptures that have appeared in the area to mark the imminent re-opening of the Market Hall.

Click on the the photo above to see a wider view of the scene. (Click your back button to return here!)

Alphabet Friday - Rock

R is for "Rock" and this splendid example can be found in Stamford Park, on the border between Ashton and Stalybridge.

This lump of rock is an erratic boulder that was carried by a glacier and deposited in the locality when the the ice melted. It was moved to its present location after the park was opened. It was popularly supposed that this rock was a meteorite but that is not the case.

At first I was waiting for the young gentleman to get out of shot, as I thought his bright shirt would draw too much attention from the rock, but when he turned to look at it, there was suddenly a connection and I am rather pleased with the result!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn seems have have arrived all of a sudden in Ashton.

This was the autumnal scene this week in the small gardens at the top of Crickets Land and Penny Meadow (known to some as The Cats Park). It only seems like five minutes ago that I was showing you the spring daffodils here!

See Google Aerial View of this location. Just to the north can be seen the new Heys school and a little further north-east the houses built on the site of the old Heys or Mossley Road school.

Market Hall Clock Tower

Ashton Market Hall's clock tower this week after the new clock has been installed. Although the clock mechanism is new, the clock faces have been built as replicas of the original ones that were damaged in the fire that destroyed the inside of the Market Hall in 2004. In addition, a replacement bell rings out across the market to mark the hours.

The new clock is hugely symbolic and has been welcomed by Ashton's shoppers. The building is to re-open on 28th November.

See Google Aerial View of this location, which shows the Market Hall minus its roof after the fire.

Sorry for any problems with the photos!

I am sorry that some of you may currently be experiencing a lack of photos when you see this site.

I am aware of this. There is an ongoing problem with the server that houses the photos along with the ashton-under-lyne.com website and discussion board.

This is an intermittent fault. The web host is going to replace the server, which should be done by Wednesday.

If the photos are missing at the moment, please try again later.

I have got a new image of the Market Hall Clock Tower to appear on here for Tuesday, and the photo will be housed somewhere else, so that one should be displayed properly!

The ashton-under-lyne.com website and discussion board may also be out of action during these server problems.

Taunton Road

A view looking northwards along Taunton Road towards its junction with Newmarket Road.

Those who have been away from Ashton for a while may get the feeling that there is something missing from the scene - for it was here on the left that the Gardeners Arms stood for many years.

It dated from 1837 and was originally called Two Gates or The Angel, and then the Foresters Arms. It became the Gardeners Arms around 1854. It was demolished around 2004 and replaced by the large building left of centre in the photo.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Portland Mill

Portland Mill in Brook Street East is one of Ashton's surviving cotton mills. The building that stands today was a spinning block built in 1850 as an extension to an earlier mill that was built in 1824.

In 1884 there were 50,000 spindles in operation at Portland Mills. The mills later passed into the ownership of Whittakers of Hurst until production ceased in 1903. The original mill has now gone but the second (the one in the picture) still stands as a magnificent building, although no longer used for textile production.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Alphabet Friday - Quickwood

Q is for Quickwood and that is the name of this historic terrace of houses in Mossley, just over the hill from Ashton.

The three storey building was Quick Manor, sometimes called Mossley Manor. This was built in the 17th century as the manor house of Quickmere, one of the four divisions of Saddleworth. This part of Mossley was at that time in Yorkshire along with Saddleworth.

The adjoining two storey cottages were added in phases between around 1760 and 1820. At that time the whole area was very rural. The church of St John the Baptist was built on the hill a short distance behind Quickmere in 1878.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Hartshead Hall

Hartshead Hall is the name now now given to the former chapel of St Augustine, situated on Lily Lanes in the hamlet of Harthead.

This Grade Two Listed Building was built in 1886 but in 1989 was converted into a spacious home, retaining many of the building's features.

This former chapel is opposite Jeremy's Cottage which featured here in August.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

St John's Hurst

The church of St John the Evangelist is on Kings Road, not far from Hurst Cross. Built in 1849, the church is at an angle to the road so that it lies in a traditional west-east alignment. The steeple is a landmark that can be seen from miles around. The church has a thriving community centre close by.

It is a difficult church to photograph as it is set back from the road in a churchyard full of mature trees!

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Waterloo Street

Waterloo Street is off Kings Road, Hurst, rather than in the area called Waterloo. No doubt gets its name from the same battle but the houses were built rather later than 1815 when the battle took place. Perhaps someone out there knows why this street was given its name?

In fact the houses in this photo were built in a variety of periods, with the modern houses at the bottom of the hill being built on the site of Alger Mill.

The tall buildings in the distance are part of Tameside Hospital, with a backdrop of Hobson Moor, above Stalybridge.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Alphabet Friday - Park Gates (2)

"P" is for Park Gates and today's photo shows the gates of Stamford Park opposite the Sycamore pub at the junction of Mellor Road and Stamford Street, Cockbrook.

Inside the gates the main path divides and goes each side of the park keeper's house, with a smaller path going off to the left into The Dingle.

We saw a previous picture of Park Gates in February when the location was King George's Park.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Phone Boxes

This scene shows two modern phone boxes with a brick Royal Mail post box in between.

These are situated on a well-cared for pocket of open land on the corner of Whiteacre Road and Crickets Lane (at the top of Penny Meadow).

The traditional red British phone boxes are becoming increasingly rare as the more modern designs are easier to maintain.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Platform

Today's picture shows the east-bound platform of Ashton under Lyne's railway station. The station was originally known as Charlestown station, to distinguish it from Park Parade and Oldham Road stations.

The station is on the line into Manchester's Victoria Station, and is bypassed by the Trans-Pennine Express trains, which take the line to the south of the town towards Manchester's Piccadilly Station.

The two railway lines pass on either side of an island platform that houses a waiting room and ticket office. The photo was taken during a quiet period between trains.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Playground

This photo shows the playground at Stamford Park, between Ashton and Stalybridge. Many of the traditional things such as slides and roundabouts have been replaced by more modern playing equipment like pirate ships and bouncy things on springs, plus plenty of climbing frames.

Sorry, no close-ups of happy children having fun as this is not advisable these days. However, this distant shot gives a good impression of the colourful modern playground that today's youngsters can enjoy in Stamford Park.

See Google Aerial View of this location, although it seems to have been taken before the latest play equipment was installed.

"O" Dear! Who's taken the "P"?

I suppose it proves that some of you out there are paying attention, even if I'm not! A few people have asked me why there have been two "O"s for Alphabet Friday when they were looking forward to finding out what was going to be the "P" photograph!

Sorry - I got a bit mixed up - I was going to use the photo of the old tram depot as the "T" picture in a few weeks and I forgot that I had done "O" last week!

So I shall have to make up for it by having a week of "P" photos!



So, today's photo is of pies. R G Fish's stall in the Phoenix Market Hall, which has featured here previously, has a counter-full of mouthwatering pies of various sorts - pork, pork and apple, meat and potato, cheese and other varieties. It may not satisfy a real pie eater from Wigan but it certainly kept me going for a while!

Alphabet Friday - Old Tram Depot

"O" is for "Old Tram Depot" and that is what this building on Cowhill Lane used to be. It was used by the Manchester Carriage and Tramway Company between 1881 and 1901. When Ashton's tramway system was taken over by Ashton Corporation, a new, bigger depot was built on Mossley Road, which became the town's bus garage.

The depot in Cowhill Lane was used by horse-drawn trams. There was stabling for the horses on the upper level, accessed from the rear of the building. This building is adjacent to St James's Church.

I wouldn't like to imagine exactly what "Impregnation Services" has to offer.....

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Down The Line

October's Theme Day is "Lines" and so the photograph today shows the railway lines that pass through the southern fringes of Ashton, between Stalybridge and Guide Bridge stations.

The train in the photo is the Trans Pennine Express that departed from Middlesborough at 9.00 am and travelled by way of York, Leeds and Huddersfield. It is heading for Manchester Piccadilly station and Manchester Airport. Sadly, the train does not pass through Ashton under Lyne station.

The photo is taken from Granville Street, Cockbrook, which was also the scene of this photo.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

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