The Key Holder

"K" is for "Key" and today's photo shows the stone head of a lion, with a key in its mouth, above the door of the NatWest Bank on the corner of Warrington Street and Old Street in Ashton.

I have tried in vain to find some meaning to this. Presumably there is something symbolic about a lion with a key in its mouth, as there is a similar one in Stalybridge. The back of the old five pound notes at one time showed a lion with a key, although the key was attached to its mouth by a chain. Perhaps someone reading this can offer an answer?

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A close-up of the lion can be seen in the photo below.

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"The Key Holder" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "K" posts from around the world please follow this link.

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Crown Street

Today's photo shows Crown Street, just off Stamford Street, close to Ashton's town centre.

Crown Street was originally part of Church Street, which ran parallel with most of Stamford Street in the town centre, but was re-named when it became separated from the rest of Church Street by the building of an office block and the Post Office Sorting Office.

The houses in Crown Street are among the few remaining terraces of residential property still left in the town centre. Even the houses on the opposite side of the street have been demolished to make way for a car park.

The building at the far end is the former Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, seen here in 2008 looking for a new use.

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"Crown Street" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Weekend Reflections: Mill Race

This delightful scene with its watery reflection is in the village of Delph, in Saddleworth, around 7 miles from Ashton.

The tranquillity of the scene belies its industrial origins. The waterway on the left is an artificial mill race or leat, created to provide power for a woollen mill a little further downstream.

The water comes from the River Tame, which runs unseen below the bank on the right of the photo. A couple of hundred yards upstream, just below Delph Bridge, a weir across the river helps to divert some of the water into the mill race. By the time the channel reached the mill, its height above the river meant that it was able to drive a water wheel that could power machinery.

Waterside mills were very common in the hilly area to the east of Ashton before coal-powered steam engines were able to power a greater number of machines, giving rise to the large multi-storey mills built in Ashton and other towns throughout the Victorian era.

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For more Weekend Reflections from around the world, visit Newtown Area Photo.

St James' Church

"J" is for "James" and today's photo shows the church of St James the Apostle in Ashton. St James' Church is notable for its twin spires and stands in a prominent position at the highest point of Cow Hill.

Another view of this church, featuring a closer view of the twin spires, was seen here two years ago.

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"St James' Church" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "J" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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Sky Watch: Woodend Mill

Woodend Mill sits alongside the River Tame in Mossley with its tall stone chimney pointing towards the glow of the evening sky.

At one time there were more than 40 mills in Mossley. Woodend Mill is one of those remaining and its chimney is the only mill chimney remaining in Mossley. The interior of the mill is split up now and occupied by small businesses and by art and music enterprises.

As most of Mossley is situated in a steep-sided valley, it is in the shade of the hill while the low evening sun still illuminates the hills on the far side of the valley, with the clouds also taking on a slightly golden glow.

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Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

In The Way

"I" is for "In The Way" and today's photo shows a building that finds itself in the way of a new road.

The building was originally St Mary's RC Primary School and continued in use as such until 1970. The school relocated to a new building on Holden Street (now Our Lady of Mount Carmel School) and the old building was re-furbished and given a new life as the Markazi Jamia Mosque.

Now it is the Mosque's turn to move to a new building in Hillgate Street, just off Holden Street. When the new Mosque opens this building will be demolished to make way for Ashton's new Northern By-pass.

It would be difficult to describe it as an attractive building but it will still be a pity to see something with so many people's memories, as a place of education and a place of worship, become reduced to a pile of brick dust in the name of "progress"!

A view of this building from the other side of the railway cutting was seen here almost a year ago.

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"In The Way" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "I" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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Trans-Pennine Express

Today's photo shows the Trans-Pennine Express passing through Guide Bridge Station at the western boundary of Ashton. The train is heading for Manchester's Piccadilly Station. Being an express, the train doesn't actually stop here at Guide Bridge, but has to slow down where the line from Stalybridge joins the line from Glossop. (The junction can be seen in the distance if you look at the larger version of the photo.)

We saw a view of the station from the road bridge a couple of weeks ago.

See Bird's Eye View of this location.

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"Trans-Pennine Express" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Sky Watch: St Stephen's Church

Reaching for the sky this week is the steeple of St Stephen's Church at Guide Bridge. Although it is situated in Audenshaw, the church is just a few metres from the Ashton boundary.

St Stephen's Church was built in 1845 and like many English churches built at that time is in the early Gothic style with simple lancet windows rather than the elaborate tracery found on windows built in the later Gothic style.

The church, which is now a Grade 2 Listed Building, was built at a cost of £2,900 to accommodate a congregation of 750.

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See Google Street View of this location.

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Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Harper Mill

"H" is for "Harper Mill" and today's photo shows the rear view of this former cotton mill in Ashton.

Cotton was one of the main industries in Ashton, with many spinning and weaving mills around the town. The first mill here on Mossley Road was built in 1855 and was unusual at that time for not being built near the canal. After a serious fire, the building was re-built and enlarged in 1873. It was then occupied by the Harper Twist Company and, by 1900, had over 40,000 mule spindles in use.

The mill ceased cotton production in 1920 and was used for other industrial purposes until seriously damaged by another fire. However, much of the shell of the building remained in good shape so the mill was developed into apartments.

Previously this blog has shown views of this building from Mossley Road and from the railway line.

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See Birds Eye View of this location.

"Harper Mill" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "H" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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Dingle Terrace

Dingle Terrace is an unusual location. It is a short street comprising two terraces of elegant brick houses. However, rather than being located, as you might expect, in a town setting, Dingle Terrace is in a remote rural setting at Park Bridge, just within the northern boundary of Ashton.

Park Bridge today is a quiet backwater, accessible only along narrow and bumpy roads. However, when these houses were built it was a busy industrial setting with coal mines and the iron works of Hannah Lees and Sons, which supplied rivets for the Eiffel Tower. Most of the buildings of the iron works have now gone and their sites landscaped. The stable block has become a Heritage Centre and Park Bridge these days rings not to the sound of hammers on iron but of to the sound of walking boots on cobbles!

The houses of Dingle Terrace and nearby Dean Terrace were built to accommodate employees of the the iron works but these days are sought-after properties because of their enviable location.

See Bird's Eye View of this location to really appreciate the rural setting.

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"Dingle Terrace" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.

Guide Bridge Station

"G" is for "Guide Bridge Station" and today's photo shows this railway station which is on the western boundary of Ashton.

The train in the photo is on its way from Glossop to Manchester Piccadilly. At one time the line continued through Woodhead Tunnel to Sheffield. The Trans-Pennine Express trains pass through the station without stopping, turning left a quarter of a mile on, towards Stalybridge.

This station was the first railway station to open in Ashton and was originally called Ashton and Hooley Hill. It took its later name from the adjacent bridge over the Ashton Canal (not over the River Tame, as suggested in Wikipedia). The canal runs behind the trees on the left of the photo.

The station is a shadow of its former self, with the remaining platform-side buildings sealed up. Only the trains on the Glossop line stop here now. The regular service between Stalybridge and Stockport has been replaced with a so-called "parliamentary" train, running one journey a week in one direction only, from Stockport to Stalybridge, stopping at the platform on the "wrong" side here at Guide Bridge after emerging from the Stockport line.

A footbridge between the platforms burnt down five years ago and has not been replaced, necessitating a long walk round from one platform to the other.

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"Guide Bridge Station" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "G" posts from around the world please follow this link.
Please leave a comment below.

Portland Basin

Portland Basin is my favourite part of town! It is at the junction of two of the canals that radiate from Ashton.

The basin itself is the wide part of the Ashton Canal in front of the Portland Basin Museum, which started life as the Ashton Canal Warehouse.

An arm of the canal leads off under the magnificent stone footbridge, across an aqueduct over the River Tame, leading to the Peak Forest Canal.

The photo shows how this is a favourite location for fishing, boating, walking or just hanging around by the water. Not bad for a corner of an industrial northern town!

See Bird's Eye View of this location.

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"Portland Basin" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.


"Portland Basin" is also my contribution to the City Daily Photo March Theme Day of "My Favourite Part of Town".
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in the March Theme Day.