Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout - Episode 42
Tue 2nd May 2017 | General | By Stewart Taylor
Our destination in Episode 41 was Bootle.
The photograph was of the wind generator at the side of a building on the industrial estate close to the ground and is something of a landmark.
The quick link followed the recent trend of obscurity in asking what links a less than glowing description of a village in Cumbria by the poet William Wordsworth with this town?
The description by Wordsworth which goes:
“Here on the bleakest point of Cumbria’s shore.
We sojourn stunned by Ocean’s ceaseless roar…
Grin neighbour! Huge Black Comb….”
refers to a village in Cumbria called Bootle.
And if you got that one – my congratulations (but no prize!)
Leaving aside football for a moment, what do these towns in the North West of England have in common – Stockport, Bolton, Warrington and Blackpool? And why is Preston not included in that list? The answer is that all five of the named towns have applied for city status since the year 2000 but only one, Preston, was successful.
City status has been granted to assorted towns over many years and it is the granting of city status to a polycentric town in 1925 which provoked something of an identity crisis in the place we are visiting today.
This identity issue can well be understood if this town is approached by road. All of the signs on the major roads indicate the name of the city. As the city is approached then we might expect to see road signs to indicate the town but there are very few.
For many, the town is considered to be the city centre but the name of the town is not the name of the city. Confusing? Yes, indeed it is and the considerable efforts made to resolve what seems to be a simple anomaly have largely fallen on stony ground due, mainly, to the civic pride which residents have in their own identity and issues relating to loss of heritage.
But when the visitor finally arrives in this place, what do they find? In common with many of the places we visit, this town boasts a large shopping centre. In addition, there is a Cultural Quarter comprising two splendidly refurbished theatres, The Regent, along with one of the country's best concert venues, the Victoria Hall.
But it wasn’t always like this. The town has a shared industrial heritage with many towns in the North West which is coalmining but the major claim to fame industrially lies with a specific manufacturing industry which, unlike many of the heavy industries of the Victorian era, still continues although on a much reduced scale.
Many of the old industrial sites were left derelict for quite some years following their demise, but significant work undertaken towards the end of the last century has created public parkland in these areas which has become a valued local amenity.
There have been a number of notable individuals with associations with this town and it perhaps worth considering a couple of these in a little bit of detail.
Many would suggest that a significant factor in the Battle of Britain was the development of the Supermarine Spitfire. Along with the, for some reason, lesser esteemed Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire will long be remembered whenever the Battle of Britain is considered although the alternative outcome to the Battle of Britain was the subject of the book SS-GB written by Len Deighton and recently serialised on TV.
The designer of the Spitfire was Mr. R.J. Mitchell who attended the then High School in this town – a quite rare example of a co-educational grammar school – which, after a number of changes in both name and location, closed in 2011.
There is a Spitfire in one of the local museums as a tribute to Reginald Mitchell.
The news of the day back in 1912 was the loss of the RMS Titanic after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. As we know, many died in this tragedy, including the captain of the vessel, Edward Smith, who was born in this town.
There are also a couple of famous footballers associated with this town. Terry Alcock played for one of the local professional teams before moving to Blackpool. One claim to fame is that he scored Blackpool’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Roma in the 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup – not a competition we hear a lot about these days.
The other famous footballer born in the town is so famous there are two statues of him. One is in the centre of this town.
The club we are visiting today was established in 1966 although there are references to a football side playing under the name of the town as far back as the 1880s. The original club folded in 1912 but returned to local football in the late 1940s before again disappearing as an entity.
The current club started by playing friendly matches on Sundays before joining a local Saturday league. There was a key moment in the history of the club in 1971 when their ground was lost to developers leading to something of a nomadic existence for five years until the current ground was taken on.
After success at local league level the club applied to join the NWCFL in 1988 but the application failed due to ground grading issues. The club applied to the NWCFL again in 2013 after spending the intervening years in lower Leagues and were accepted into the First Division.
Quick link - What links this town with the works of the famous author Arnold Bennett?
Turn Right at Mottram Roundabout - Episode 42
Tue 2nd May 2017 | General
By Stewart Taylor
Our destination in Episode 41 was Bootle.
The photograph was of the wind generator at the side of a building on the industrial estate close to the ground and is something of a landmark.
The quick link followed the recent trend of obscurity in asking what links a less than glowing description of a village in Cumbria by the poet William Wordsworth with this town?
The description by Wordsworth which goes:
“Here on the bleakest point of Cumbria’s shore.
We sojourn stunned by Ocean’s ceaseless roar…
Grin neighbour! Huge Black Comb….”
refers to a village in Cumbria called Bootle.
And if you got that one – my congratulations (but no prize!)
Leaving aside football for a moment, what do these towns in the North West of England have in common – Stockport, Bolton, Warrington and Blackpool? And why is Preston not included in that list? The answer is that all five of the named towns have applied for city status since the year 2000 but only one, Preston, was successful.
City status has been granted to assorted towns over many years and it is the granting of city status to a polycentric town in 1925 which provoked something of an identity crisis in the place we are visiting today.
This identity issue can well be understood if this town is approached by road. All of the signs on the major roads indicate the name of the city. As the city is approached then we might expect to see road signs to indicate the town but there are very few.
For many, the town is considered to be the city centre but the name of the town is not the name of the city. Confusing? Yes, indeed it is and the considerable efforts made to resolve what seems to be a simple anomaly have largely fallen on stony ground due, mainly, to the civic pride which residents have in their own identity and issues relating to loss of heritage.
But when the visitor finally arrives in this place, what do they find? In common with many of the places we visit, this town boasts a large shopping centre. In addition, there is a Cultural Quarter comprising two splendidly refurbished theatres, The Regent, along with one of the country's best concert venues, the Victoria Hall.
But it wasn’t always like this. The town has a shared industrial heritage with many towns in the North West which is coalmining but the major claim to fame industrially lies with a specific manufacturing industry which, unlike many of the heavy industries of the Victorian era, still continues although on a much reduced scale.
Many of the old industrial sites were left derelict for quite some years following their demise, but significant work undertaken towards the end of the last century has created public parkland in these areas which has become a valued local amenity.
There have been a number of notable individuals with associations with this town and it perhaps worth considering a couple of these in a little bit of detail.
Many would suggest that a significant factor in the Battle of Britain was the development of the Supermarine Spitfire. Along with the, for some reason, lesser esteemed Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire will long be remembered whenever the Battle of Britain is considered although the alternative outcome to the Battle of Britain was the subject of the book SS-GB written by Len Deighton and recently serialised on TV.
The designer of the Spitfire was Mr. R.J. Mitchell who attended the then High School in this town – a quite rare example of a co-educational grammar school – which, after a number of changes in both name and location, closed in 2011.
There is a Spitfire in one of the local museums as a tribute to Reginald Mitchell.
The news of the day back in 1912 was the loss of the RMS Titanic after striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. As we know, many died in this tragedy, including the captain of the vessel, Edward Smith, who was born in this town.
There are also a couple of famous footballers associated with this town. Terry Alcock played for one of the local professional teams before moving to Blackpool. One claim to fame is that he scored Blackpool’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat to Roma in the 1972 Anglo-Italian Cup – not a competition we hear a lot about these days.
The other famous footballer born in the town is so famous there are two statues of him. One is in the centre of this town.
The club we are visiting today was established in 1966 although there are references to a football side playing under the name of the town as far back as the 1880s. The original club folded in 1912 but returned to local football in the late 1940s before again disappearing as an entity.
The current club started by playing friendly matches on Sundays before joining a local Saturday league. There was a key moment in the history of the club in 1971 when their ground was lost to developers leading to something of a nomadic existence for five years until the current ground was taken on.
After success at local league level the club applied to join the NWCFL in 1988 but the application failed due to ground grading issues. The club applied to the NWCFL again in 2013 after spending the intervening years in lower Leagues and were accepted into the First Division.
Quick link - What links this town with the works of the famous author Arnold Bennett?
