I moved to the Manchester area in 1976- and have lived here ever since. The old north of Plater and Barstow was on its last legs when I arrived- and is now almost completely gone. Oldham in its heyday had God know how many cotton mills- and now they've all closed. A majority of the buildings have been demolished- the rest converted to other uses. You look round and where once there was a forest of tall chimneys, now there's maybe one.
It was a very brief period- the period of the mines and the mills. I guess it lasted about 150 years. Now that its detritus has been largely cleared away you are more likely to notice the remnants of the culture it replaced- the stone built 17th century farm houses, the modest 18th century Wesleyan chapels...
I'm too up close to the culture of the contemporary north to really figure what it's all about. It's still in the making I guess- and by the time it's sufficiently well fixed in our minds for us to memorialise it, it will already have turned into history.
no subject
It was a very brief period- the period of the mines and the mills. I guess it lasted about 150 years. Now that its detritus has been largely cleared away you are more likely to notice the remnants of the culture it replaced- the stone built 17th century farm houses, the modest 18th century Wesleyan chapels...
I'm too up close to the culture of the contemporary north to really figure what it's all about. It's still in the making I guess- and by the time it's sufficiently well fixed in our minds for us to memorialise it, it will already have turned into history.