Loftus Family History Group Images

Market Place, Loftus

Posted on March 6, 2016 by roddersMarch 6, 2016

The Market Place

“6: The Market Place: Earlier this century there was a wool warehouse next to the Town Hall. Our present Post Office was an ironmongers. Then came The Golden Lion leading to Race, the baker, and Cammell’s drapers shop. The latter gave rise to the old joke ‘a race between a camel and a lion with an angel (the Inn) looking on’. The low stone house with the narrow garden, towards the left of the photograph, is said to be Arbroath House and Fenby’s general dealers occupies the site of Barclays Bank.”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

The Town Hall

Posted on March 6, 2016 by roddersMarch 6, 2016

The Town Hall

“5: The Town Hall: Built by Lord Zetland in 1879 and described as ‘free Neo-Tudor’ with a polygon angle tower, the Town Hall was designed by architect E. R. Robson, of London. It replaced the Parish Church School built by Zachary Moore on the same site in about 1746. The Zetland coat-of-arms can be seen on the exterior. There is no south-facing clock on the Town Hall, because funds were low and this face was most out of sight, so expense was saved by only buying three faces. In its time the Town Hall has been used as a reading room and library. It was used as a Magistrate’s Court, Council Offices, for board meetings and for entertainment. It is said that services were held there while the Parish Church was being rebuilt. On the side of the Town Hall, where the notice board is now, was the Ancient Order of Foresters’ memorial to the Boer War, which had the names of the dead, a statue of Jesus on the cross, with the words ‘Is it nothing at all to ye all ye that pass by’ below. Opposite the entrance is an iron ring in the wall, which is all that is left of a drinking fountain.”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

Saint Leonard’s Church, Loftus

Posted on March 5, 2016 by roddersMarch 5, 2016

St. Leonard's Church

“4: St. Leonard’s Church, Loftus: Standing on the site of a much earlier wooden-built church, the church of Saint Leonard, built in 1811 at a cost of £1,300, was a simple oblong building with a recess at the east end for the altar. In 1901 it was rebuilt at a cost of £3,000. The 1811 tower was retained, but the roof and the north wall were removed. Other walls were raised and the nave and chancel added. A stone arcade was built with an open timbered roof and an organ constructed. It is said that parts of the earlier organ are included in the organ that replaced it. The tower contains the clock and bell chambers. Saint Leonard’s celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1975. All that remains of the earliest church is a Saxon font, which was discovered in the churchyard.”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

We have a hand-tinted copy of this postcard elsewhere in the archive – rodders.

The Lodge, High Street, Loftus

Posted on March 5, 2016 by roddersMarch 5, 2016

The Lodge

“3: The Lodge, High Street, Loftus: Built in 1869 by the nephew of Sir Robert Lawrence Dundas, the architecture of this house bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the Town Hall, which was erected in 1879. Perhaps Lord Zetland was so impressed by the Lodge that he commissioned the same architect to design the Town Hall later. The gates led on to a drive that curved past the stable block round to the main house.”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

The Rear of the Hall, Loftus

Posted on March 5, 2016 by roddersMarch 5, 2016

The Hall

“2: The Hall, Loftus: Memories of Fred Galilee, 107. ‘The building that is now called Kingdom Hall was the laundry and brewery, next to that were the boiler house and pump house. Water was pumped up to the house through a pipe that crossed the back at the bottom of the garden. There was a large tank outside the boiler house in which it was stored. Next to the pump house were the kitchens and butler’s hall (which is now a house) and on the high wall which goes down Church Bank grew pears, apples and peaches. At the front of the house were flower beds on a wide terrace. Then down some steps into the vegetable garden which went right down to the beck. At the top of the high wall, where there are two bungalows now, were large greenhouses. At the back came the stable yard, on the north side of which were stables with haylofts above and also the stag house. They had a stag to draw the sleigh in winter.'”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

The Hall, Loftus

Posted on March 5, 2016 by roddersMarch 5, 2016

The Hall

“1: The Hall, Loftus: After the death of the Lord of the Manor, Zachary Moore, who squandered his inheritance, his estates were bought by Lawrence Dundas of Fingask in Stirlingshire, ancestor of Sir Robert, a member of the Zetland family. Around 1840, Sir Robert decided to build a new Hall and enclosed a piece of land stretching from the bottom to the top of Church Bank, along the High Street, veering to the left of Jessamine Cottage and then back down to the woods, almost as far as the mill, effectively cutting off Liverton Road, which ran down behind our present library. The route to Liverton was re-sited on Station Road. Sir Robert died in Loftus on the 23rd of November 1844 and his estate then passed to his nephew, the Earl of Zetland, in whose family it remains today.”

From “Loftus in old picture postcards” by Jean Wiggins. Reproduced by permission.

A Moulder and his Crew

Posted on January 31, 2014 by roddersJanuary 27, 2017

A Moulder and his Crew

1st impressions are that this is the casting banks at J C Hutchinson’s Carlin How Ironworks (maybe by now called Skinningrove Iron Company). I believe that the man on the right in the front row is the Moulder (he’s wearing shoes, not boots), the rest are all wearing “rocker boots” so would be doing “hot work” on the casting sand (it was that hot that they had clogs made to strap over the soles to give them some insulation from the hot sand). I’ve been asked if the Moulder in question is Mark Ford, aged 39 in 1911. I’ve also been asked if the man 2nd from the left in the front row could be Robert Peter Watts (aged 52 in 1911).

I think that its very probable, but I’m asking the question anyway – the bonus is that if you can name any of the men in this image I’d be very grateful – rodders

Just goes to show that first impressions can be misleading! This is, so I’ve been informed, the charging platform of the ”Otto” Coke Ovens at the Skinningrove Iron Company Works in Carlin How. The row of pipes on the right of the men are the Coke Oven off-takes. The rails on the platform are for the coal charging cars along the top of the Battery of 120 By-product Chambers. The machine with the chain, part of which can be seen on the left of the group, was used for lifting and opening the oven doors for discharging the hot coke.

The clincher, for my informant, was the Soda Water Bottle in front of the men. Carbon Monoxide was a very dangerous by-product of the Coking Process, invisible and tasteless, but lethal in quite small doses. The men would dampen their scarves in Soda Water (which will convert Carbon Monoxide to Carbonic Acid) and hold them between their teeth while working (a practice which I remember seeing on the steel plant and the blast furnace when I was there – the Soda Water had long gone, but the practice remained – rodders). I am indebted to Eric Johnson for this explanation, I think it changes the date of the photograph a little, perhaps it is late in the Great War, or maybe just after.

Loftus Family History Group Images

Pictures from Bygone Times

Market Place, Loftus

The Town Hall

Saint Leonard’s Church, Loftus

The Lodge, High Street, Loftus

The Rear of the Hall, Loftus

The Hall, Loftus

A Moulder and his Crew

8: The end, not quite.

7: Dust Cloud

6: Gone