ABC Wednesday: King's Road

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is K for "King's Road".

The photo shows part of King's Road in Ashton, which runs from Hurst Knoll, through Hurst Cross towards Hazelhurst. This section of the road was once a busy shopping street with a wide range of small shops, from grocers to clothing shops. There are still quite a few shops here and the area is still quite busy, which cannot be said for all small local shopping areas in this era of supermarkets.

The vacant plot of land on the right was, until recently, occupied by the Miners' Refuge pub, which can still be seen on the Google Street View (link below).

This stretch of road has undergone a few name changes over the years. At one time it was Hurst Knowles Lane, then Hurst Knoll Lane. Then it became Lower King Street and finally Kings Road! One common factor is that all of these names have elements beginning with K, making this a particularly suitable subject for today's "K" post!

See Google Street View of this location.

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"King's Road" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "K" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Roaches

This week's Sky Watch is a sunset view at Roaches in Mossley.

The view is looking across the Huddersfield Narrow Canal close to Roaches Lock. The steeple of St John's Church, in the Roughtown area of Mossley, can be seen on the hillside on the right. The photo was taken from a footpath that runs through the woods on the opposite side of the canal from the towpath, which gives some interesting views of the canal through the trees.

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!

Junction

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is J for Junction.

The picture shows Dukinfield Junction, the junction of two canals at Portland Basin in Ashton. The canal that runs into the distance is the Ashton Canal, heading down towards Manchester, six miles away. The channel under the bridge on the left leads to the Peak Forest Canal, which goes through Hyde to Marple, Whaley Bridge and Bugsworth. It was built to transport limestone into Manchester from the quarries around the village of Peak Forest, between Chapel-en-le-Frith and Tideswell.

The two canals now form part of the Cheshire Ring cruising route and during the warmer months many narrowboats are to be seen negotiating this junction.

The chimney is Junction Mill Chimney, all that is left now of Junction Mill, a cotton mill which stood on the site now occupied by the modern apartments. Portland Basin Museum is out of shot to the right of the photo.

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"Junction" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "J" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Bow Street

Today's view of the world of Ashton under Lyne shows Bow Street, alongside the Market Hall, seen from Market Street.

Bow Street is a fairly unremarkable street running alongside the Open Market and the Market Hall but it has seen some notable changes over the years.

Today it is a pedestrian zone, with access for traders' vehicles only at certain times, making a more relaxing experience for shoppers. It hasn't always been like that, of course, and I can remember when it was possible to park your car near that phone box and nip into the Market Hall for something. Earlier still the street was a busy bus route (and trolley bus and tram route before that) with several services calling or terminating at stops alongside the Open Market.

The row of buildings along the left hand side has undergone various changes as well. B&M Bargains was previously a Kwik Save supermarket and before that I think it was a Liptons' store. Maybe someone has a better memory than me? The New Market Hotel stood on that spot until around the 1960s.

The pharmacy hasn't always been Boots. I remember it being something else not too long ago. Was it Hibbert's? Pound Busters Superstore, the yellow building in the centre of the photo, hasn't always been a shop. For many years it was the Nag's Head pub and then more recently the Chute Bar. Perhaps someone reading this knows how long Holloway's Travel Goods has been there. I suspect it is rather longer than the others!

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

"I hope I die..."

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is I for "I hope I die...".

I don't often post photos of graffiti here. After all, it is not something that I would want to condone or encourage. However, I was amused by this message that has appeared in Stamford Street in Ashton.

"I hope I die before I become Pete Townsend" is a wry reference to the 1960's pop group The Who. Their song "My Generation" included the line that seemed shocking to some at the time: "I hope I die before I get old."

Unfortunately the graffiti artist has mis-spelt the name of Pete Townshend, guitarist and song-writer with The Who, performing alongside Roger Daltrey, John Entwhistle and Keith Moon. Townshend is still very much alive and is approaching 67!

The graffiti has appeared on the wooden shuttering that surround the former Stamford Street Methodist New Connexion Chapel which had started to have re-development work done to it, but this work has been abandoned and the building left in a state of limbo.

A fine photo of the chapel in better times can be seen here (14th photo down).

See Google Street View of this location.

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"I hope I die" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "I" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Tramway

Today's view of the world of Ashton under Lyne shows the new Metrolink tramway being constructed on the approach into the town.

Last week's photo showed the construction of the tram terminus in Ashton. Here we see the lines being laid alongside Lord Sheldon Way as it passes Sainsburys. The roadway here was deliberately built with a wide central reservation to accommodate the tram lines.

The site currently looks a mess but when the work is finished a strip of grass will be reinstated alongside.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

Colourful Cloudscape

This week's Sky Watch is looking across the Tame Valley in Mossley, just over the hill from Ashton.

I was fascinated by the colours that the clouds above the moors were taking on a few days ago, and was pleased to be able to capture something of it with my camera. This view is looking eastwards so the clouds are reflecting the glow from the sun setting in the west, out of sight because of the hill behind me.

See Google Street View of this location.

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!

ABC Wednesday: Henrietta Street

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is H for Henrietta Street.

Henrietta Street runs northwards from near to the Market Hall in the centre of Ashton to the Old Ball pub in the Smallshaw area. It is named after Henrietta Cavendish-Bentinck, the wife of George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford. The name was originally given to the street that is now Stamford Street, but when the main street through the town was renamed to honour the Earl of Stamford, the name was transferred to what was then a brand new street leading out of the town.

Anyone familiar with Ashton may notice that this first part of Henrietta Street now carries two-way traffic again, after having been one-way as far as Camp Street for many years. This change has come about after the opening of Ashton's northern by-pass road, which now carries the through traffic. The lower end of Henrietta Street is now used mainly for access to car parks and local businesses.

See Google Street View of this location.

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"Henrietta Street" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "H" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Tram Terminus

Today's view of the ever-changing world of Ashton under Lyne shows the construction of the new Metrolink tram terminus in the town.

Later this year Manchester's modern tramway network will be extended as far as Droylsden. The remaining section from Droylsden to Ashton is expected to open about a year later. However work on the line into Ashton is already fairly well advanced and, as you can see, the platforms for the terminus is Ashton are already taking shape. There are even sections of tram rail in place on each side of the central platform. The bus station is immediately behind the tram terminus.

Unlike most tramway systems in Europe, Manchester's trams require high platforms, taking up a lot more space than those of other systems such as those in Sheffield, Nottingham and the new trams in Blackpool. This was because the original Metrolink line used former railway lines between Manchester and Bury and Altrincham. In view of the size the network will be by 2015, it would probably have worked out much cheaper in the long term if they had re-built all the former railway platforms as low platforms!

A plan showing the layout of the new tram terminus can be seen here. A map of the tram route from Droylsden to Ashton can be seen here. Links to maps of other parts of the route and to the other new tram routes can be found on this page.

See Google Street View of this location.

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

Lily Lanes

This week's Sky Watch is looking down Lily Lanes towards Lees Road and Hartshead Estate. As the sun disappears behind a hazy horizon, the colours of the sky and the land merge together.

Pike View can be seen on the left of the land and the tall buildings in central Manchester can be made out to the left of and behind the tree.

The Google Street View car didn't quite make it up this bumpy section of Lily Lanes but you can see this Street View from just a little way down the hill, near Pike View.

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!