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Hinkshay Rows a Shropshire industrial community by Heather Duckett On a remote piece of agricultural land at Hinkshay Farm in Dawley parish, Shropshire, three rows of houses were built in the 1820s, first 48 back-to-back dwellings called ‘Double Row’, then ‘Single Row’ and ‘New Row’, bringing the total to 78 houses. They were built by the Botfield family to house workers for a new ironworks, Stirchley Forge and Mill. Families moved there from the iron-making areas of the Midlands, from small rural hamlets, and some from Dawley itself. The settlement was in existence for 144 years and, at its height, the population of the Rows reached almost 500. A close-knit community developed with many finding a marriage partner from neighbours. Large families were the norm and work was plentiful, including for women and girls – the Shropshire pit girls. The nearby White Hart Inn together with Hinkshay Mission Church provided a focus for community activities. Gradual decline in the iron and coal industries in the late 19th century meant that many Hinkshay families decided to leave. Communities of Hinkshay migrants became established in Scotland and South Wales and Durham. But others stayed at Hinkshay, some until the end of the Rows in 1968 when they were demolished and the community of Hinkshay was lost. This unique and detailed account tells the life stories of those families who came to Hinkshay, those who migrated and those who stayed. It is the product of many years of expert research. a Shropshire industrial community. Heather Duckett was born at Charlton, a village near Wellington and after attending Wellington High School for Girls joined Shropshire County Library service. In the late 1960s and early 1970s she was librarian at Dawley where she first heard of Hinkshay. For 26 years she was librarian at New College Sixth Form College, Wellington. In 1998 she gained a Bachelor of Arts with Honours (first class) degree from the Open University. |
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Reviews of Hinkshay Rows... The Local Historian Volume 55 No 3 August 2025 review by Martin Speight until recently chairman of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society Heather Duckett has produced a fascinating and detailed study of this small corner of East Shropshire, which will be of interest to local historians in other industrial areas.
The author is to be congratulated on an excellent and detailed piece of research, which she has drawn together into a very clear and readable study. East Lancashire Railways
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The Railway Town of Ramsbottom Past and Present by Nigel Jepson After George Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ caused a sensation in 1830 by travelling at the then miraculous speed of 30 mph, “Railway Mania” took a grip on the nation. This book focuses on East Lancashire including the meteoric growth of the original East Lancashire Railway Company which tragically though went out of business in 1859. The phrase “survival of the fittest” - associated with Charles Darwin and his 1859 book ‘Origin of the Species’ – proves itself a telling means of accounting for how some companies survived the burst of the rail bubble and others did not. By the mid-20th century, with steam engines becoming a threatened species themselves, the story is told of Alan Pegler and how he saved the Flying Scotsman from the breaking-yard but ended up dying virtually penniless himself. In the wake of the Beeching Cuts of the 1960s, a brave rearguard action was mounted by the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society (ELRPS) which ultimately bore fruit in 1987 with the opening of a heritage line from Bury to Ramsbottom. This book contains a wealth of stimulating first-hand accounts, photos, maps and diagrams to make it a must-read for rail enthusiasts and all those keen to learn more about the fascinating human element to the railway story as a whole. Nigel Jepson lives in Ramsbottom and is a keen supporter and member of Ramsbottom Cricket Club. He first came to the local area in the mid-1990s when taking up post as Headteacher at nearby Haslingden High School. As far as the broader community was concerned, it didn’t take long to pick up the vibes regarding the longstanding rivalry between Haslingden and Ramsbottom, much of it existing on a cricketing front as traditional close rivals in the Lancashire League. Nigel’s last UK Head’s post was at Kearsley Academy in Bolton from 2010 to 2014. ‘Retired’, he has though carried out interim Headteacher work in Dubai during 2016 and has also conducted teacher training programmes in New Delhi in 2018. Although having always been keen on team sports, he developed a passion for long distance running which started with the London Marathon in 1982, moving through other events to New York in 2001. More recently, over 2017 to 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic kicking in, he ran four more marathons in Dubai, Belfast, Manchester and Liverpool. |
Recipe for Life
Hugh Thomson
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Recipe for Life Reflections on food in the Bible by Hugh J Thomson Many of the key events in the biblical narrative are pictured by different foods. From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden all the way to the tree of life in the final chapter of scripture, foodstuffs carry deep significance. Items come in pairs, ranging from the thorns and thistles of the curse in Eden which blight food production, through to the milk and honey which picture the lavish blessings of the Promised Land. We learn important theological lessons from considering these foods. Christians will be most familiar with the bread and wine taken at the Lord’ Supper. | |
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Hugh Thomson was born and brought up in Aberdeen, and graduated from medical school there in 1977. He subsequently worked as a doctor in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Cambridge, North Carolina and Hong Kong before being appointed as a consultant surgeon at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham in 1994. He was one of the founding elders of City Church in Birmingham in 1999, and stepped out of medical practice to work full time for the church in 2002. He is now retired and living in Birmingham. |
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Beyond the Sandbar
Nick Gosman
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RISK Peril can become an addiction by Nick Gosman A tale of courage and fortitude from World War II. Based on true events, Beyond The Sandbar tells the contrasting stories of identical twin brothers. While George rescues downed pilots during the Siege of Malta, Fred suffers deprivation as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany. The story follows both men through a series of intertwined snapshots in which the action unfolds in real-time to give a gripping, fast-paced narrative that captures both the horror and heroism of total war. | |
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After a career in the high-tech world of bioscience research, Nick recently took a chance to change gear and refocus his creative energies. Working from his home in the wilds of the Norfolk-Suffolk border, Nick divides his time between writing and running workshops promoting the mental health benefits of wood carving. |
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The Silver Bird
Suzanne Jones
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The Silver Bird by Suzanne Jones Sarah, a young Jewish woman, is on holiday in the Austrian Alps, trying to come to terms with the death of her parents. She has an accident and her two handsome rescuers become rivals for her love. Eventually she must choose between them, but will she make the right choice? Hans, a successful silversmith and Max, a talented violinist, both live in Vienna. Sarah has a home in London and the story moves between the two cities. The characters are caught up in a passionate love triangle beset with overwhelming challenges: religious differences, conflicting morals, illness, betrayal, tragedy and heartbreak. Will Sarah eventually find the love she needs? |
Callum’s Quest to Fly
Malcolm Vine
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Callum's Quest to Fly From The Books of Yahxes by Malcolm Vine Callum has never had an opportunity to fly in an aeroplane or anything else for that matter, but he has an insatiable interest in anything to do with aeronautics. He spends a rainy day in the loft and his interest gets peeked by being able to see into the next-door loft where an old man has left a interesting-looking box. This is the start of his adventure and soon he finds a friend to join him in his quest for the power of flight. There are many hair-raising challenges along the way and being chased for the knowledge they gain is all part of the world they find themselves in. Set in the Wiltshire countryside of the 1950s, this tale of two young innocent boys gives lots of fun and some sadness, all coped with as only young boys can do. | |
RISK – Peril can become an addiction
Nick Gosman
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RISK Peril can become an addiction by Nick Gosman For the lucky few, mountaineering provides an alternate realm of experience and consciousness that frees them from the conventions and routine of everyday life. Growing up in nineteen-sixties Edinburgh, I found solace in the mountains and in climbing that became a restorative balm for the frustrations of a stifling home life. With the beauty and grandeur of my beloved Scotland forming an eternal backdrop, I found a soulmate in my climbing partner and we fell in love. Our love of mountains and the intoxicating thrill of climbing became inextricably interwoven with our love for each other so that we risked both our lives and our hearts in a journey that was to take us to the very limits of our physical and emotional endurance. In a collection of thirteen true short stories about mountaineering, RISK attempts to explain some of the motivations that drive a climber’s compulsion to test themselves in the mountains. Filled with cultural and locational references to a forgotten Edinburgh of the nineteen sixties and seventies, RISK is as much the story of a love affair with Scotland as it is with a Scottish woman. When the English language fails, as it often does, to convey the searing intensity of feelings I have for Scotland’s people and places, I reflect on the Celtic idiom, “cuisle mo chroi” a uniquely Irish Gaelic endearment that literally translates as ‘pulse of my heart’, a sentiment which still carries an electrifying emotional power to move me. “In any argument, the mountain will always have the last word.” Stig the lorry driver | |
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Born in Glasgow and brought up in Edinburgh by parents from Tyneside, Nick fell in love with mountains and rock climbing at the age of sixteen on Scout and Army cadet training camps in the Scottish Highlands. Now living in the flatlands of East Anglia, Nick still finds time to roam in the wilds of Scotland enjoying the sense of freedom in this last vestige of wilderness in our crowded British Isles. |
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The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton
David Leece
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The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton Whispers of the Industrial Revolution by David Leece Revolution, war, machine breaking, assassination and abduction; how one wronged inventor and his family navigated the tumultuous change and challenges of the industrial revolution. The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton looks at this period of history in terms of the people that played their part in it. Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule which heralded the factory system, allowing Britain to grow as an industrial power. His life became a fight for recognition. How could a principled man deal with a duplicitous and calculating world and gain a just reward for his invention? The reader is taken on a journey from the early days of mercantile trade to beginnings of industrial change, then through Georgian England and beyond with insights into the nature of business partnerships and the struggles of working people, Myths, legends and events are interwoven to create the feel and spirit of the times. Cotton and Samuel Crompton’s invention are brought back into the foreground of our understanding of industrial and social change. All of this is based on detailed research using a unique archive, the Crompton Papers. This biography is different because it has the exploration of human behaviour at its heart. | |
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David Leece was born in Bolton in 1950. He has held professorships at both Keele University and Manchester Metropolitan University. He has worked for the Open University, involving the writing of teaching materials and making and presenting radio and TV programmes. He has published widely in Economics, Finance, and Social Policy with an international reputation for research. This book reflects his passion for history and determination to re-establish the reputation of Samuel Crompton. David is currently Professor Emeritus, Keele University and lives with his wife, family and their dog Molly in Staffordshire. |
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Reviews of The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton We Love Reading - Ambassador 1 a fascinating read into an interesting and ever changing part of our history. We Love Reading - Ambassador 2 Samuel Crompton’s story flows and even those like myself that were previously unfamiliar with the inventor could gain a decent understanding of his life, a credit to the author’s writing and in depth knowledge of the subject matter. I can see this being an essential foundational reading for anyone interested in the start of the industrial age and the people behind the machines that lead to the industrial revolution. |