Description
A loud speaker van at an open air election meeting during the January 1938 Farnworth by-election. We think that this sequence of photographs may have been taken at Burton’s Works.
Loud Speaker Van By Humphrey Spender - January 1938
- Copyright Bolton Council
- Image ref. 1993.83.26.13
- Page author:
This one really has me flummoxed. My Dad worked at De Havilland at Lakefield Mill which was almost opposite the Burton’s factory on Worsley Road North at its junction with Devonshire Road, Walkden. Worsley Road North is actually in Little Hulton.
Burton’s had another factory on the East Lancashire Road (now Shield Drive) at Wardley, Worsley. Both had Art Deco style frontages. There were no houses adjacent to either of those factories.
I have done some digging and was surprised to learn that the NEW Walkden factory was only opened in 1965! A bit deeper I found that the previous factory was in Granville Street, off Bolton Road, Walkden.
I worked in that area and remember the three cotton mills, north of the town centre, being demolished to make way for the Ellesmere Retail Park.
I suspect that the original Burtons factory was Park Mill, which is now the site of Total Fitness and Buckingham Bingo. That is bourn out by the sketch plan on the archive document, with the meeting being held in Granville Street, outside the Mill Offices at the corner with Dagmar Street.
The photo doesn’t quite match, though. I presume the sketch plan shows a second vehicle in the Granville Street, although that it might not have had anything to do with the meeting. If so, why include it in the sketch?
I have also tried adjusting the photo in an attempt to read the street names on the end house. I can’t see anything definite with my basic software, other than to say I’m sure the sign on the side of the house probably doesn’t say ‘Dagmar Street’.
I wonder if you could focus the negative, to make it more legible?
Sadly there is very little information to go on. I went back to the original scan of the image to see if I could make the street signs more legible but the photograph is so grainy that this isn’t possible even at the highest resolution.
I confirm that this photo was taken in front of Burtons office and main gate on Granville Street at the corner of Dagmar Street. I used to live with my family at 22 Granville Street which is the last house on the right in the photo. Also my aunt who lived on Bolton Road worked at this factory until it closed when she moved to the new factory on Bolton Road. My name is Peter Berry email is beripierre@gmail.com