#textile town

[lydsnaylor]

PUBLICATION - Cover Art

[lydsnaylor]

Quick Cut - rapid progress initial cut

[lydsnaylor]

Beartown

Straight over J17 of the M6 and down the A534 past the Chimney house hotel and the sand pits on the left. I can time it just right to cross Arclid lights without dropping a gear, and then its smooth sailing at 60mph straight into West Heath, where we now live. I’m sure I could make this journey with my eyes closed, I learnt to drive on these roads. Lower Heath is out on the way to Manchester, Buglawton is just further down the River Dane and Hightown and Mossley are in the east of the town. All of these small parishes along with the town centre make up Congleton, a small market town more locally known as the ‘Beartown’. I don’t know the road names very well, but there’s landmark buildings all over that I’d recognise a mile off and often use to orientate myself or as a guide for directions. The grandeur of the town hall that mum used to work in. The church on Antrobus street where Mum and Dad got married. The shells of old mills and factories, some now used as office spaces or apartment conversions, others lying derelict a reminder of times and industries gone by. And two big water towers, the one on Lamberts Lane better known to me as Nana’s water tower. It may sound like I know this little town well but a lot has changed in the last 100 years, as I listen to my Mum and Nana talk about how things used to be, I can barely relate the town they describe as a hustling, bustling textile hub to the one I see before me. Community spirit that challenged two world wars, neighbours that looked out for one another and sat each other’s children, a booming economy driven by the meaningful work of textile factories where generations of families worked alongside each other. The typical British image of a nostalgic northern town at the peak of the modern industrial revolution throughout the 1900’s.  

[hfaumuina]

4月29日・日暮里の繊維街