CADISHEAD WITHOUT GAS AND WATER SUPPLIES.1925.

Cadishead and Irlam Guardian 1925

 

 

THEN AND NOW

CADISHEAD WITHOUT GAS AND WATER SUPPLIES.

MORE INTERESTING REMINISCENCES

THE DAYS OF "THE VILLAGE PUMP" RECALLED.

TO-DAY'S CONTRAST WITH ADJOINING VILLAGE.

 

"Guardian" Special

 

If any of the pioneers of improved local government were to return to the scene of their activities 40 or 50 years ago they would be amazed with what has happened. When one looks upon the past it is not difficult to realise that facts may be stranger than fiction. We have an illustration before us in the growth and development of Cadishead and Irlam.

 

"What are the outstanding improvements in this 'wonderful village' you have been talking to me about." I asked of the veteran barber of "Owen's College" fame, and he answered without the slightest hesitancy. "A good water supply, public lighting, better roads, and very greatly improved sanitation."

 

Those who have had no experience of being dependent upon pump water and of having to grope their way about after nightfall cannot fully appreciate the benefits which the "villagers" now enjoy.

 

Formerly as Black as a Soot Bag.

 

Why bless you, it used to be as black as a soot bag in "Cadishead." I was only reading the other day of the utter confusion caused in Stalybridge through the electric light failing. Haven't we a contrast close at hand? How noticeable it is coming from or going into Rixton-cum-Glazebrook on a winter's evening. Good public lighting and a pure water supply are distinct features of civilisation.

 

Yes, the old Cadishead folk used to be dependent upon pumps for their water supply, as the residents of the parish referred to are this day. You have in my opinion, in the lack of these two most important essentials, the sole cause of the non-development of Rixton-cum-Glazebrook.

 

The Village Pump: Interesting Coincidence.

 

It was not a case of "The Village Pump" which has immortalised in song. There were pumps in "Cadishud" in the old days and plenty of them. Some of them used to play pranks too, and required a lot of coaxing sometimes before you were able to get a pailful of water. If I am not mistaken, what may be termed the "village pump," was in Heyes Road. There seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of good water to be obtained from this pump. The pump had served the requirements of far more than the immediate neighbourhood for many years, and a desire was expressed that it should be covered in as a protection against the weather. And it was so covered in, but in a comparatively short time afterwards it went dry, and this well, like others, had to be abandoned.

 

Town's Water First: Then Gas.

 

I believe town's water came to the village before gas. The dual boons were much appreciated when they were introduced. I can only assure you. You can scarcely imagine Cadishead and Irlam without a water or gas supply! It may be, that the enterprise shown by the villagers 40 years ago, or perhaps more, had much to do with the granting of urban powers and the creation of the District Council a decade or so later. Comparisons between "then" and "now," and the development of local government will be dealt with in later articles.

 

Outstanding "Village" Characteristics.

 

Mr. Owen and, with him, Mr. Aaron Whitfield, another of the old villagers, who was one of the first to build his own house in Fir Street, where he still resides, and is as familiar with the history of "Cadishud" as most of the old natives were agreed that one of the outstanding characteristics, of the village in the days of yore was the nicknames the inhabitants were mostly known by. "Billy Whiptop," for example, lived in one of the old cottages on Liverpool Road between "Owen's College" and the present railway bridge. He had a toffee shop and kept a guinea pig or two as a "hobby." There was his brother, old "Jemie," who lived down the green. "Scrutcher" and "Delver" were two other noted characters, nearly everybody was better known by some other name than their real one. And they answered to these nicknames without taking the slightest offences, in fact, they would have been most surprised to have been called by their correct names.

 

Whitfields, Taylors and Owens.

 

You expect to find a plethora of Joneses, Robertses and Davieses in Welsh towns and villages, look you! The surnames of Whitfield and Taylor and Owen are equally common in Cadishead. How is it?

 

I asked Mr. Aaron Whitfield if all the Whitfields were related, and he said he believed they were in some way or another. Old Aaron, as he is familiarly called was born in Heyes Road more than 74 years ago in one of the old cottages belonging to the Wesleyan School many years, and sold some time ago. His grandfather was a wagoner for the "Dukes" at Woolden Hall Farm, and lived in the farm cottage a long while.

 

When the Highway Rate was 2s. 6d.

 

The annual meetings used to be held in the old school, Lords Street - Chapel Lane it went by for a time. The highway rate was 2s. 6d. per year, and anybody who like could give a day's work on the road to pay it off. Old Jackie Jameson, who lived down Moss Lane, was the collector. He had a bit of ground attached to his house, and grew produce, for which he found a ready market among the villagers at home. John Howarth followed him, and he was a hard-working baker. "I have heard folk say," added Mr. Whitfield, "that old John would bake two, and sometimes three batches a day. Any baker will tell you that was hard work."

 

How the Money Was Spent.

 

Yes there used to be a good bit of "barging" at the annual meetings as to how and where the money had been spent during the year; and explanations were demanded as to why one road had received more attention than another. This feature of local government has not altogether died out.

 

As a boy, Aaron was a plough driver and later learned fustian cutting. Then he became a painter, and there are very few of the old houses in either Irlam or Cadishead in which there are no trace of his handiwork. He had only worked out of the village for one winter during the whole of his life, and to Aaron Whitfield, as well as John Cross Owen, there is no place to-day like Cadishead.

Done