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This album contains various images from around Rawtenstall taken from 2019 to 2023.
This gallery contains a number of images of interesting buildings and items seen in the in the town of Rawtenstall in East Lancashire. Note# - I have also included shots from the Crawshaboot, Goodshaw, Loveclough and Dunnockshaw areas in the gallery. |
764 photos
This album contains various images from around Rawtenstall taken from 2019 to 2023.
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This collection of images gives and update of the work that has been taking place on the redevelopment of the Town Square in 2021/22.
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Storm Ciara wreaked havoc on many parts of the country, particularly the poor folks in the areas around the River Calder, thankfully the Rossendale area got off fairly lightly, though there was some slight flooding, but not anything as bad as the Boxing Day 2015 floods, which was literally the 'high water mark for these in recent years. The River Irwell and 'Limey Water', the other river that feeds into it at Rawtenstall, was very swollen and was fairly roaring along, but it was the lower lying places where it flows to like Ramsbottom and Bury which copped the worst of it. New Hall Hey Cricket Ground was looking like an outdoor swimming pool, and I wasn't able to walk any further south than the point where the A56 bypass bridge passes over the River, as the footpath was well under water at that point and I would have needed scuba gear to get any further. Thankfully it did clear up for a few hours during the afternoon and the water level dropped quickly during that period, though it did start to rain again around 4pm. Well I'd been trying to get some shots of the River Irwell in flood for some years now, but they've never occurred on days when I was in the area, or in the case of the Boxing day floods, when the buses were running.
Unusually for me, I actually remembered to make a short film clip of the
raging river this time, apologies for the quality, I'm not a video man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aat5R6YCWjg
NOTE# - Storm Dennis which arrived a week later proved not to be anything like as bad in these parts, though the poor folks in Wales and Shropshire were not so lucky and suffered with a lot of flooding, we certainly dodged the bullet. As a comparison I have added some shots of how the river was looking during Storm Dennis, and again on the 19th of February, which was again a bit wet, but the river was almost back down to a more normal level once again, and showing just how much rubble had been washed down there in recent weeks.
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This particular category started out as a bit of a joke some 10 years ago, when I first noticed that there were always a lot of shopping trolleys floating in the River Irwell, particularly on Sunday mornings. Clearly slinging these things in the River after a Saturday night on the beer seems to be a popular sport in this area. Maybe the council should start a 'World Shopping Trolleys Throwing' contest, as I think they're definitely got a few potential world champions living in these parts! :-)
By far the biggest contributor to this problem seems to be the Tesco Store, but as it closes on January 13th 2019 for conversion to a 'Jack's' cheapo store, it remains to be seen whether they keep the same trolleys or change the system completely. With so many of their staff losing their jobs I guess they weren't exactly highly motivated to go and recover these items from the river.
My next visit was a week later on the 20th of January, and this time there was a record number of 11 trolleys in the section next to the B&M Store, which is pretty ridiculous. About half of these belong to B&M and the rest to the now departed Tesco, but no one seems to be missing them. Next time I'm up that way I'll take a look at where and how B&M store them after they have closed for the day. I did toy with the idea of having a walk up to Mohammed Arkwright's store and buying some washing line and a hook and fishing the whole lot out and dumping them on B&M's doorstep, but I doubt anyone would even notice them, and then the local wallies would just come along and sling them all back in again.
Wonders never cease, on Sunday 3rd of March there wasn't a single trolley in the stretch of river between B&M and the closed Tesco store, and it has been a long time since I could last say that. The fact was all the trolleys as far down as the old Tesco had gone, so someone has at last taken a bit of notice of this problem. If I'd thought that was the end of it though I was wrong, as on a visit over to the nearby Asda store I discovered that there were now 3 Asda trolleys in the 'Limy Water' culvert next to the store and this feeds into the Irwell near to B&M after travelling under the main road, so no doubt if it continues to rain like it did that day they will soon find themselves washed down there. That was the first time I'd seen any outside Adsa though, so obviously the Phantom Trolley Slingers must have been getting withdrawal symptoms due to lack of Tesco and B&M trolleys to sling in the river!
NOTE# - Well at least we now know who was responsible for cleaning all the trolleys and other detritis out of the river, well done to the Civic Pride folks for their efforts: http://www.rossendalenews.org.uk/civic-pride-latest-blog-tackling-river-rubbish/
After over a month without a single trolley in the river following its clean up by those nice Civic Pride folks, today it was back to normal again, with the Phantom Trolley Slinger having chucked another of the B&M trolleys into the section of river known as 'Limy Water', which feeds into the Irwell at that point. Still no trolleys from the new Tesco Jack's cheapo store in there yet, but then again with the lack of visitors using this very poor excuse for a supermarket there probably aren't many people leaving the trolleys down the river end of the car park anyway.
When the new (and not very good) Tesco cheapo store called Jack's opened on the 3rd of April 2019 I speculated as to how long it would be before one of their shiny new trolleys ended up in the river and we now know the answer to that question - 18 days! Since they don't seem to bother locking the gate over the footbridge at nights any more I suspect that the trolley slinging scrotes will be taking shortcuts through there from now on, so we will be seeing a lot more of them in this stretch.
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A terrible fire caused severe damage to the popular 'Old Cobblers' pub and carvery on Sunday 12th of February 2023, and the upper floor and rood were destroyed, thankfully it looks like the venue might be rebuilt again , so in this gallery are a collection of images taken as any work progresses.
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During June, July and August 2012, the Olympic Torch had been travelling around the British Isles, and since it passed through several locations where I was likely to be photographing railways at that time, it seemed like a good idea to take advantage of such a rare and colourful photo opportunity like that. On the first occasion, the Torch Convoy, which consisted of various coaches, which carried the Torch Bearers and support/security staff, along with the police motorcycle escorts, and a Metropolitan Police car (a rare sight in these parts), not to mention the various 'sponsor' vehicles supplied by Porky Pola, Samsung and LloydsTSB with their various singers and performers, passed by the Railway Station at Rawtenstall around 1.30pm on Saturday 23rd of June, before heading off over the moors to Rochdale, before it then travelled to Bury, where I again crossed paths with it at around 3.40pm.
The next day, and purely by coincidence, we were over at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in West Yorkshire, and discovered that it was due to pass through Keighley that afternoon, so we again managed to get a few shots of it as it made its way through the large crowds there. I was interested to see that one of the Torchbearers on this section was in a motorised wheelchair, and a Google search revealed an interesting story behind the man who was sat in it, his name was Jerry Ward, a former airline and fighter pilot, who had suffered an unfortunate spinal injury in an accident (something I have great sympathy with due to having suffered with a spinal injury myself, though nothing like as bad), and you can find his story on his website here: It's certainly well worth a read, and he was a fine choice of person to bear this honour for sure.
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In September 2010 the 'Tour of Britain' cycle race took place, and on the 11th of that month the tour passed through East Lancashire (in typical East Lancashire weather), and I was able to catch a few shots of them as they passed through the Rawtenstall area on their way to the stage end at Rochdale.
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This collection of images was taken during and after the service and parade at Rawtenstall in East Lancashire on Sunday 10th of November 2013. The service started at 3pm rather than the usual 11am, as all the services in the borough of Rossendale are staggered at various times throughout the day. This is very useful as it allows people to participate in more than one service and at more convenient times. Just for a change the Sun even shone on this year's parade!:-)
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These are a few shots of the 2009 Parade in Rawtenstall.
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After a certain amount of controversy, work is now going ahead to clear the site of the old Shopping Centre in the centre of Rawtenstall in preparation for the new 3.5 million pound Bus Station. This is only about a hundred yards from the old one, but requires the demolition of part of the old Town Hall and the now disused Police Station. Work started on the site clearance in June 2017, and the project is expected to take around 18 months to complete. As I pass that way quite often I will of course be keeping a visual record of the development as it progresses.
Work has been progressing, but due to major roadworks which had blocked the entrance to the site, things had slowed down in April and May 2019, though by mid-June things were at last cracking on, and the place was finally starting to look like a bus station at long last.
Another quick visit on Friday 21st of June, so I was at least able to get a few 'action' shots this time. Work is progressing fast now and the building is really starting to take shape, maybe it will make that late summer opening target after all.
As of mid-July the structure is looking largely complete on the outside, and no doubt the fitting out of the inside is taking place as well as completing the groundwork outside the building.
For my latest visit on Sunday 17th of November, there was still much cosmetic work to do around the outside if it is to be ready for its planned opening date on Sunday 24th of November, but as far as I could tell the inside looks like it is pretty much complete. The early darnkess at this time of year also provided me with a rare chance for some 'night' shots of the new bus station. It will be nice to finally get some without those damned security fences in the way when it opens.
Well the bus station finally opened on Sunday 24th of November, and the first bus departed at 7.55am, but sadly I wasn't there to record this momentous event as to get there I would have needed to catch a bus, and the first one doesn't leave this village until an hour after that. Being an obsessive I could well have either spent a fortune on a taxi or even walked the 7 miles there (and I did consider it), but with my new walking boots not yet broken in and my comfy old ones away being resoled, that probably wouldn't have done my my poor feet much good, and anyway I would have had to start out at around 5.30am, which common sense told me was probably not a good idea. Well it's the construction part I was most interested in anyway, and that still continues around the edges, though I have to say that having used the new station a few times now it's quite impressive and light years ahead of what we had to endure before, but I think it could still do with a few signs pointing folks arriving from Bacup Road towards the entrances, as I was quite alarmed at the number of elderly people who seemed confused and walked straight up the busway even when buses where in at the stands. Apart from a vehicle 'no entry' sign there aren't really any signs warning pedestrians off the busway and some people seem to be using it as a shortcut, and on one occasion a few of the local idiots decided it might be fun to ride their bikes around the busway, which led the station supervisor to get a chance to test his new tannoy system (in a far politer way than I would have done I have to say!) :-D
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Rawtenstall's old bus station is looking very tatty these days, and with a brand new multi-million pound replacement under construction just a few hundred yards away, it's unlikely to see any renovation again in the near future. It's rare to see it devoid of people though, so I thought I would take the opportunity to get a few shots before it eventually gets demolished.
On Wednesday 31st of July 2019 I'd been up at the East Lancashire Railway, but hadn't even noticed that the eastern end of the old bus station had been demolished until I passed by on the bus on my way home, and of course, I'm far too obsessive to not want to record such things, so I decided to come back the following day and get a few shots. After checking it out from various angles I came to the conclusion that they might just have removed this end because one of the access roads for the new bus station close to there might be a bit tight for any larger buses trying to turn on their way out, so it was removed to make more room for that. I could be wrong of course, but I'm sure we'll get a better idea soon, and it won't be too long before the whole thing gets the chop. There isn't much to this old building, so unless I happen to be up there on the day when it happens I will be lucky to catch it's removal, so I thought I'd better get as many pictures of it as I can while the opportunity is till there. It's hard to believe that 10 years have already passed since I photographed the demolition of the old bus shed which used to be behind there and is now Lidl's car park.
It also suddenly occurred to me that although many of the old individual bus shelters aren't physically located in the old bus station, technically they are a part of it, so I'd better record them while they're still there. Wish I had a pound for every time I've sat freezing to death in the shelter on Bacup Road and trying to avoid being splashed by the water in that hole in the road that seemed to be left unrepaired for many years!
With the new bus station planned to open in just 7 days time, this seemed like it might be my final opportunity to get a few 'after dark' shots of it before it gets demolished. Considering it was only put up as a temporary structure back in the 1970s it has served the town well, even if it is a bit old and tatty now.
Well I had hoped to get a few shots of the old Bus Station being demolished, but the demolition folks caught me out and did it early, and by the time I'd fought my way through all the morning rush hour, school runs and roadworks there wasn't much left which was very annoying to say the least. I'm a bit fanatical/obsessive about these things so wasn't too pleased, but I guess I really shouldn't beat myself up too much, as I don't live in the area, so it isn't easy for me to know what is going on without actually being there. Oh well, at least I've been able to get a few shots of the concrete base being removed and I will follow the project until whatever is going to take its place on there is completed. What with the new Bus Station and the Station canopy almost complete now I'm going to have to find myself some new projects to record in the new year.
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Following the surprise closure of the popular Tesco store in Rawtenstall in January 2019, and it's subsequent re-opening in April 2019 as a new Tesco Jack's' cheapo store, I thought I might as well move all of the photographs taken during that period into a collection of their own. Will the new store survive? It's hard to say, especially as there are already 5 other perfectly good cheapo stores within a 5 minute walk of the place, but only time will tell. Personally I'm just glad that I can now use the shortcut via the river bridge again now as it was a real pain having to keep walking the long way round on my way to and from the station! :-)
UPDATE# It has just been announced that this appalling failure of a store will be closed on October 20th and will reopen as a proper Tesco store again in November - hooray!:-)
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This gallery contains images taken at various events held at 'The Whitaker'.
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This album contains various images taken around Rawtenstall in the period from 2005 to 2018.
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Starting back in 2005 I began keeping a visual record of how the River Irwell was gradually washing away large chunks of the riverbank just to the south of Townsend Fold, these images show just how much it has changed there after various storms had swollen the river.
NOTE# - after the abnormally dry winter of 2018/19 it was more a case of the disappearing river than the disappearing riverbank, I've never seen the water so low in April before. Thought I'd better make a record of this for posterity, though if climate change is really happening this may soon become the norm and they'll have to re-name it the 'Stream Irwell' instead.
My updates for this section have generally been very occasional, but on Sunday 24th of December 2023, following a week of almost endless rain, I was down there photographing the railway when I heard the sound of a big generator, and saw some floodlights in the field near to the bypass bridge, and on investigation some quite major work seemed to be taking place there. There wasn't anything happening when I was down the previous week, so it looks like it is connected with the collapse of a large section of riverbank at that point, and the generator sound was for a number of very large pumps that had been set up there. I shall keep and eye on this in the coming days...
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With a certain amount of construction work taking place in the town I thought I would place the shots of this in it's own gallery, particularly as I still have a lot of images from my old Fotopic site of the work done back in 2008/2009 to add on this site.