Orchard Street

A few moments before I took the photograph from which this image is derived a rat ran across the street from Lower Carr Mill (left) to Churchgate Mill (right).

Behind me is the access to Hopes Carr as shown in the second photograph in my post for Friday 13th.

The first factory built here in 1759 was a silk mill powered by a watermill on Hempshaw Brook. It was bought by Charles Davies in 1781 who added new buildings and moved production over to cotton spinning. By the 1790s it was owned by Thomas Hope who gave his name to the area and built additional mills, a tannery, hat works and workers' houses. Higher Carr Mill was demolished by 1907 but Lower Carr Mill continued to be used for cotton spinning until the 1930s.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

Fences around Hopes Carr

When I posted recently about the Air Disaster Memorials at Hopes Carr I wrote

The area has remained virtually untouched since the disaster but an area regeneration plan conceived in 2008 planned the creation of 350 apartments and 5000 sqm of commercial space with the memorials being moved to a "peace garden" overlooking the Hempshaw Valley. So far only 46 new homes have been built in the area and the memorials remain where they are.

Things have moved on since then and fences have been erected around the site and access to the site for anyone apart from contractors and their employees is blocked off.

This is the view from the opposite side of the site from Orchard Street off Lavanders Brow. The first factory built here in 1759 was a silk mill powered by watermill on Hempshaw Brook. It was bought by Charles Davies in 1781 who added new buildings and moved production over to cotton spinning. By the 1790s it was owned by Thomas Hope who gave his name to the area and built additional mills, a tannery, hat works and workers' houses. Higher Carr Mill was demolished by 1907 but Lower Carr Mill continued to be used for cotton spinning until the 1930s.

A contribution to Friday Fences.

Ghost sign on Hopes Carr

I came across this ghost sign on the side of a building on Hopes Carr last week.

As yet I haven't had chance to do any research to discover what it was originally.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Hopes Carr: Stockport Air Disaster Memorial

On Sunday 4th June 1967 a Canadair C-4 Argonaut aircraft owned by British Midland Airways, en-route from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester crashed at Hopes Carr, a small open area off Hillgate. Local people rescued 10 passangers, a stewardess and the pilot before flames engulfed the aircraft. The remaining 72 people aboard perished in the flames.

A memorial plaque at the corner of Hopes Carr and Waterloo Road was unveiled by two survivors of the crash in 1998. It reads:
IN MEMORY
OF THE
SEVENTY TWO PASSENGERS
AND CREW
WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
IN THE
STOCKPORT AIR DISASTER
4th JUNE 1967

A second memorial dedicated to the rescuers was unveiled in 2002. It reads:
This memorial
is dedicated to those involved
in the rescue and who gave aid at the
Stockport Air Disaster
4th June 1967.

All were faced with the true horror
of tragedy and did not turn away.

Their courage saved
twelve lives.

The area has remained virtually untouched since the disaster but an area regeneration plan conceived in 2008 planned the creation of 350 apartments and 5000 sqm of commercial space with the memorials being moved to a "peace garden" overlooking the Hempshaw Valley. So far only 46 new homes have been built in the area and the memorials remain where they are.

For ABC Wednesday.