Fidler's Ferry Days - by Ian Hannah

As secretary of the Society, Peter Keen was approached by a one time inhabitant of Penketh asking for photographs of the old house boats at Fidlers Ferry. He replied to say that we had none and a lengthy correspondence ensued. The outcome has been an article about life in the Penketh area, including of course the canal, along with local people and local life.

The writer, Ian Hannah, is interested in both family and local history and would like to appeal for any snippets of information on these topics which our readers can contribute. If, therefore any members can shed a light on any of the content or has more information to offer Ian, or, for that matter, ourselves, would they please contact Peter so that we can forward the information on.

"I was born in 1951 and though brought up in Penketh actually came into the world in Manchester in a nursing home in Chorlton used by my father's employers ICI, and my birth certificate does in fact bear the legendary name of Moss Side.

To all intents and purposes I was however bred if not born at No 71, Chapel Road, Penketh. My parents had married in 1942 and until moving to Poplar Avenue in about 1958 we lived with my grandparents Mr and Mrs Hanstock in Chapel Road. This was a magical time of my life, and the source of many happy memories and which has formed the basis of this article.

My grandfather had been the ostler and chauffeur for the owner of Penketh Tannery, Charles Edward Parker, and had seen active service in motor transport in World War 1 and my grandmother, who hailed from Sandbach, had left school at 12 and, prior to entering domestic service, had been employed in a silk-mill in that area. They had come to Penketh in about 1910 and had met in Altrincham where they originally settled in Cobbler's Square.

Prior to coming to Penketh my grandfather had worked on the land and had briefly been a jockey. Family rumour had it that he was present at Epsom in 1913 as a spectator when the suffragette Emily under the King's horse. I cannot vouch for the veracity of this but do have a very faded photograph of him in the company of some very lordly gentlemen at what is obviously a race meeting though that could be anywhere and cannot sadly be checked now. The photo was only found after his death and rescued by me with others from the top of a bin.

The Parker family lived at Penketh Lodge, which in my childhood days was still standing, though empty, and is now the site of Rothay Drive. The family had died out before the Second World War and my grandfather still had keys to the house and parts of the grounds. The orchard provided a source of sweet apples and the house which still had furniture in it had an eerie atmosphere and just looked as if the occupants had been scooped up one day by an alien vacuum cleaner and never returned.

Mr Parker was a prominent man in the business affairs of Warrington and is listed as being present at the launch of the concrete ship Elmarine in 1919 - which I think is the correct date though no doubt I can be corrected if this is wrong!! Even after we moved to Poplar Avenue I spent most of my weekends staying with my grand-parents until sadly they both died within 10 weeks of each other in December 1962 and March 1963.

The station and lock at Fiddlers Ferry were a favourite Sunday afternoon walk. This would usually be by way of Shoots Lane, opposite the entrance to Penketh Lodge, and through the fields of Warburtons Farm and down to the old brine pumping station by the canal, crossing over to the towpath at Marsh Lane and along to Hall Crossing near Ditchfields Farm and back along the fields and past the station goods yard and back up Station Road to No 71. Notable on these walks and of interest to the Sankey Canal enthusiast were the then inhabited crossing cottages, the animal meat processing factory at Quennells on the site of the old sheep dip works and the small community of inhabitants who lived on the wooden, flat roofed green painted houseboats which were moored at intervals from the station towards Widnes and ending roughly opposite the former site of the old Mersey Golf Club.

I knew one of the families who lived on the boats, the Ellison's and from recollection there were about 5 or 6 of these boats whose origin I do not know but they were there until about the end of the 1950's and the waterline remains were probably excavated when the Marina was made. There were 3 derelict ones, one of which was out of the water and near the present Marina Boatyard and one in water further further up the Canal near the Golf Course, with another being across the river. These were eventually kindly set on fire by persons unknown. I would be interested to know whether any of your readers possess any photographs of these boats or the "whaler" mentioned below as I would appreciate copies if any exist.

Further attractions included what was described as an old "whaler" being moored at the Canal end of the lock and again I do not know the origin or fate of this vessel though its size used to frighten me a bit as did the shaking movement of the footbridges as the canal was still in limited commercial use at that time to the Sankey Sugar Works. Swimming in the Canal was also a favourite pastime and the old waiting room at the Station was used for drying and changing. I remember the old LMS holiday poster boards advertising Great Yarmouth, Cleethorpes and Skegness blocking up the windows. These would probably be very valuable today and have seen them valued at several hundred/thousand pounds each on Antiques Roadshow -no doubt all destroyed when the station was demolished.

After all the exertion of walking there was refreshment available at the sweet and ice-cream shop owned by Burthem's, I think, who also had the Ferry Inn. This shop stood by the Lock and is now the site of a picnic area. There was a Traveller's Rest stone or mounting block dedicated to the Prince Consort on the tow-path above an old well then and this now stands in two pieces on the river bank We used to drop stones through a hole at the base of it and wait to hear them plop below. I think they were at intervals along the Canal and it has been featured before in Cuttings.

The site of the Concrete Seacraft Company was a lot more discernible then and my grandfather had been present with Mr Parker at the launch of some of the ships. The Lock cottage had gone and there had been a row of terraced houses called Marine Terrace on the golf course side of the old shipyard which had also gone by then.

One of the houses in Marine Terrace had been the home to a legendary local character known as Tommy Sharples who was used by my mother as a deterrent to stop me going to the Ferry on my own (which failed miserably!!). She would solemnly pronounce that Tommy used to live in a mud hut on the edge of the marsh and would chase and "have" me if he saw me round there. She reckoned again without my grandfather who knew Tommy who had by that time been re-housed from his hut into Marine Terrace. My grandfather told me that Tommy was as harmless as the day was long and so the strategy of trying to keep me away from the Ferry failed again. I was also by then also very friendly with Henry Lowe whose family lived at the Station House, and who may still be in the area, along with his brother Peter. In fact Peter may still be involved in the Sailing Club though does, I have heard, live part of the year in France.

The old Mersey Golf Club was still just functional then until a fire destroyed the clubhouse. The chimney was all that was left standing as a reminder for years after. A shepherd from Hale in Widnes, Harry Hatton, later kept his sheep and his daughter's horses there. He used to shear them by hand and one summer offered me a job for the summer season to help him. The decaying remains of the sheep pens were still at the back of the existing old cottage until a few years ago at least and may still be there partly though overgrown and invisible now. It is thought that the cottage may be the lock-keeper's from the original river lock and in my childhood was tenanted as a small-holding, though not lived in, by Jack Ellison who was a relation of the houseboat family referred to. My grandfather used to tell of skating on the frozen brooks and drainage channels on Cuerdley Marsh, most of which have probably now disappeared under the Power Station Lagoons. I had his skates for many years.

These times now seem, and are, very long ago and after my grandparents' deaths the years drifted along the path of school, exams, University and employment and marriage. I now live in Wigan and have recently ended one phase of my working life. I now find that I have the time again to take up local history interests and visit Penketh and Fiddler's Ferry several times a week. It is a source of regret that I was not aware of local history matters as a child, as few are, as I would have used the short time with my grandparents more profitably to find things out. This is particularly true of my grandfather's experiences in the Great War as his records were lost in the 1940 bombing and I have spent a lot of time in research on that.

I hope the above may be of interest to members and I could possibly provide a sequel but the subject matter of that might be getting away from the Canal. Apart from the SCARS membership who may read this the only realistic possibility for photographs of that era and the house boats might be Peter Lowe, if he is still in the area or connected with the Sailing Club. The family lived in the Station House and the father, Harry, was an amateur photographer who I recall may have taken some photographs in the 1950's of various things down there no longer extant.

With thanks to Peter Keen for his work so far on this, Ian Hannah.

Ian's final thoughts are that it is a great pity that there are not more contemporary photos of the Penketh and Fidler's Ferry area around but, who knows, someone out there may surprise us yet - so please ask about, and let us know if you hear of any such photographs.

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