BarnsleyandFamily

BARNSLEYANDFAMILY

 

Welcome to my website, I hope that you enjoy reading my memories of growing up in Barnsley, during the 1940's and 1950's and looking at the photographs

 

 

 

Barnsley Town,  to the right of the Town Hall is the old College of Technology, on the front right hand corner is the Barnsley Building Society.

 

To the side of St. Mary's Boys' school, is Churchfield Terrace, where my cousins Jack and Tony lived, when we were children.

The above photo, shows the "Black Boy" pub (white building) bottom left.  St. Marys' boys school, in front of the large expanse of land which was Churchfield.

The area above is where I was brought up with my cousins.  No 1 is Churchfield Terrace, No 2 is St. Mary's Boys' School, No 3 is "The Black Boy" pub, which was where our dads had their pints of beer, No 4 is High Street Barnsley (in front is the Manse Chambers, which were flats). No 5 is the air raid shelter, Nos 6 are the outside lavatories, No 7 is the piece of waste ground where we played, nipsy, cricket and had our annual bonfire and No 8 is Highfield Terrace, Churchfield Barnsley.

 The side of the Town Hall, facing Shambles Street.

Barnsley Town Hall, to the right is the Barnsley College of Technology.  The road at the back of the Town Hall is Westgate and on the corner of Westgate is the old Magistrates' Court, which later became the computer centre for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

 

        Town Hall, Barnsley.

Welcome to my website, I hope that you enjoy looking at the photographs and reading about my growing up in my home town Barnsley.

I was born on the 8th August 1939, my parents were James (Jim) Feeley and Norah Feeley ( nee Waterson).

My first home was a little cottage, No. 4, Court one, Church Lane, Barnsley.  My mum and dad were lucky enough to be able to rent this, their first home, shortly before they were married on the 19th February 1938.

 This is the cottage, it had one room down and one room up, there was a stone sink in the corner of the downstairs room, no hot water, no electricity and just one gas mantle.  The photo above is of Church Lane, near to the middle you can see the ginnel, which led to our cottage.  To the left of the lower photo is the other end of the ginnel.

 From the top of the ginnel, we could see Becket Hospital, a path runs down the side which leads to what was Barnsley School of Art.  On the other side of the path is the Old Burial Ground, where I and my two cousins used to play for hours.  Somewhat irreverently jumping on the grave stones and the tombs which were situated there, I am horrified by this now, but we were too young to realise what we were doing was disrespectful.

The corner of Church Lane and St. Mary's Gate, I used to stand at this corner and wait for my dad coming home from work, this was before he went into the army, World War 2.  I can remember clearly, him throwing me up in the air, he was so glad to see me.  ( I must stress, he did catch me).  This is situated at the front of St. Mary's Church.

 

Although we lived in Barnsley town, it was like living in the country, there was a lovely piece of green grass, which was quite large, and a stone wall.  On the other side of the wall was and still is the Cooper Park, a short  path separates the park and the side of St. Mary's Church.

A view of St. Mary's church taken from the top of Old Mill Lane, Barnsley and below two different views of this beautiful old church.

St. Mary's Church on a lovely day in Spring.

Inside St. Mary's Church at Easter.

Pentecost.

  If you are a praying person, please will you say a prayer for our dear cousin Tony, who is ill with a brain tumour.  Thank you

St. Mary's is the Mother Church of Barnsley, any Barnsley Council Services are held here.

 Our grandson, Kieron, with Fr. Mark, he used to love to go to church with us.

 

The above is St. Mary's Old Burial Ground, where me and my cousins used to play as small children.  The grave stones which line the path are some of those we used to play on.  When the graves were disturbed in the building of the park, old bones were unearthed, causing some distress to passers by.

To the left is Church Street, leading to the town centre, to the right is Church Lane, where we used to live, the trees in front of the church are the same ones which were there when I was a little girl, all those years ago.  On the right of the photo, standing on the old Beckett Hospital Site, is Berneslai Close, which is sheltered housing.

 

 

This obelisk used to stand at the junction of Old Mill Lane, Huddersfield Road, Victoria Road and Church Lane.  It was demolished C1932, my mum wrote about it and had the article published in the Barnsley Chronicle, when she was 16 years old (1932).

 

The obelisk was erected  at the top of Old Mill Lane by the resident, of The Rectory, William C. Mence. It was  built as aid to travellers arriving in Barnsley, who regularly asked at the house for directions to the various parts of the town. The Mence family provided two or three generations of Rectors of St. Mary's Church, Barnsley, St. Mary's being the Mother Church of the the town.  All council services are held there and usually the "Mayor's Sunday Service", the first Sunday after "Mayor Making" in Barnsley Town Hall, when the new mayor for the coming year, takes office.  There are memorial plaques in St. Mary's Church dedicated to the Mence Family.

 

St. Mary's Church, photograph taken from Church Street, Barnsley

A different type of photo of St. Mary's Church, taken from Church Stree, Barnsley.   This photograph was taken by my Auntie Lottie and sent to us as a Christmas Card.

Barnsley - South Yorkshire.

Barnsley was once the heart of the coal mining industry, until the pits were closed down in the early 1990’s. Pit villages were decimated and Communities split up, working down the pit was a very arduous and dangerous job, but for many men, it was the only option for them to work. My dad worked down the pit as a bricklayer and whilst he hated being underground, he loved the companionship of his fellow workers and the jokes which they shared.

Barnsley Main Colliery, my dad worked here for quite a long time.