Rain stops play today, so it's computer work. ( this isn't work)
Sandycroft has a rich industrial past. I see little of it recorded.
This is the Sandycroft docks on the River Dee early 1900's I think. Sandycroft is from where I originate. This was a parents nightmare. My father's brother drowned in a Chester Canal during the blackout in the war. I am named after his brother.
We used to fish in this dock for fluke and eels. The building on the right with the curved rood used to be an entrance for us into the burnt out factory (1960's). The roof by now was missing and it was relatively easy to climb up to roof level to get inside.
Inside large glass vats of acid and various unknown chemicals across the floor.
We always made sure we didn't stand in anything ......
Fred Knowles the boss used to play merry hell.
I spent most of my child hood on the river bank between Queensferry and Saltney. There was a boat to take people across the river at Saltney. At Queensferry I used to go out with the salmon fishermen in their boat who used nets to trap huge salmon.
To the left of the dock in the main river was a large sand bank which in summer would cause the river to contract in width. We would strip down to our underpants and wade across with water reaching chest high to the other side of the River near Bees nurseries. You had to keep an eye on the tide coming in. Other wise it would be a long bare foot walk to the Queensferry bridge then back to our clothes.
In 1962 when I was 8 years old, the River Dee froze over it was a foot thick. You could walk on it. Didn't tell dad about that either ...............
keyword: International Electrolytic Company, Fred Knowles,
Pity you had not fallen in!
ReplyDeleteThere was another comment here.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why it isn't here.
Must be a google issue
I've worked out where it had gone.
DeleteThe reply and delete buttons are right next to one another. Why the delete button can't be miles away from everything I don't know.
I've put it back up. Taken it from the email side. I get an email of every comment. It balances the other comment.
ReplyDeleteTimes a 1000 fold.
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I enjoyed reading this post very much Colin. Those were simpler times when as kids we could play outdoors, the rivers streams and woodlands were our classrooms and we learned to appreciate nature, the environment and the world around us.
Thanks for sharing.
Never saw Buzzards ever. Now I see them everywhere. We have a couple that fly very high above Penyffordd. The crows and the like give them a hard time near the ground. Competitors in the same food chain. They have a nest off Terrace Lane each year.
DeleteDo you know if the old dock is still there Colin?
ReplyDeleteI can see a feature on google maps just off factory road that looks like it could have been a dock at some time
I haven't been down there for a few years. I've had a look on google maps like yourself. Where the crane is in the photo there was a large round metal plinth affair, 7 foot high.. This must have been the remains of the crane base. I presume it has now gone back to the blast furnace.
ReplyDeleteWe fished in the dock when the tide came in. When the tide was out we fished on the out crop to the right of the dock and off the jetty. On the way to Queensferry was an outcrop of rocks which had lug type worms underneath. These were good for catching fluke.
The fluke when cooked tasted of mud !
Never bothered with the eels lol
Thanks for the info Colin
ReplyDelete