This is Hyde Daily Photo Volume 1 (2006-2011) which is now in archive mode. For recent photographs please visit Hyde Daily Photo Volume 2. Additional material and links to blogger friends can be found at Hyde DP Xtra.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Haughton Green Village Post Office


Haughton Green on the Lancashire side of the River Tame is politically part of Denton.

Originally a rural area, with most of its built up areas along the main roads and in the old village, it became more built up when the Manchester (Beswick) overspill estate was located here in the late 50s behind existing housing on Two Trees Lane. There was also building of new middle class housing in and around the original village at the same time. This increased its size significantly as housing now extended down into the valley and next to wooded areas.

The Post Office is at the top of Gibraltar Lane which leads down to Haughton Dale and, across the river, the long demolished Gibraltar Mill.

Beyond the river Apethorn Lane leads to Gee Cross. On the far horizion is Back o' th' Hill.

For more H posts visit ABC Wednesday

30 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Always enjoy learning more about your country! Lovely photo for the H day as well! Hope you're having a great week!

Sylvia

Tania said...

Nice photo and H!
Wish you a great week;-)

Unknown said...

Oh! I love post offices! I was just at ours today. Such a fabulous place. Mail is so exciting!

Jane Hards Photography said...

First thing to note is a small village Post Office still open. I could rant all day about the closures but another time. It's too pretty a scene.

Christine H. said...

I would love to see Haughton Green in person, but this is the next best thing to being there.

Stan Ski said...

Post Offices seem to be the sole survivor of the traditional English village - even a lot of the pubs are disappearing.

Tumblewords: said...

Such a peaceful scene. Love the building!

photowannabe said...

Thanks for the tour of the small town atmosphere. I'm glad to see the post office still in use when so many are closing, especially in rural small towns.

Anonymous said...

Guess that it must be a joy to enter, buying stamps, starting a small chat with employees about weather, family and life in general.

Please have a nice Wednesday.

LeAnn said...

What a wonderful place to live! It is fun hearing all the details. ~

Troy said...

Haughton Green looks like a happy and healthy place to hang out, rich with History.

Great H post!

On behalf of the ABC Wednesday Team, Thanks for joining us this week. Hope to see you back next week too!

Troy

Roger Owen Green said...

Charming. The US seems to be losing its little post offices.

ChrisJ said...

Love that beautiful red pillar box (mail-box). Also I think I've been through Denton.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

It's so good to see a small post office still in use. It's such a shame there are so few left. Ours has moved into a shop so at least it hasn't closed completely.

jay said...

Good to see a small Post Office still in existence, but it's a sad comment on our times that they now need steel shutters in some areas.

x_pEpPeRoNi_x said...

Interesting post office. Looks accessible...small village, and everything else within reach.

I wonder if post offices are still as busy in this day and age... we only have one big post office left, where I live. And I myself do not send as much as I used to.

It sure is nice to see something like this.

Kate said...

Small town post offices are always fun to see. The US postal service is not in good financial shape right now thanks to our love for electronics, but I hope that it still remains a viable service in our country for years to come. Especially since I still believe in the art of writing letters (not email, altho I love that too), which appears to be a dying art!

annies home said...

my dad worked for the post system here in the state so this picture brought me back memories of that thanks

dana said...

Really like discovering little post offices. Nice H post! Have a good week.

Anonymous said...

My post office is the size of that whole block, yet only has one person working at any given time.

Unknown said...

I've been transplanted to florida, it's always great to see pictures of places I've been back home!

Many of the Post Offices are closing now is my understanding!

http://www.gardenersreach.com/post/H-is-for-Heron.aspx

Unknown said...

Nice picture, a simple functional post office.

Happy Thursday!

hugs

shakira

HOPE FOR GREAT LAKES NOW!

THEME THURSDAY-HATS

Anonymous said...

I remember that post office in the late 1960s and 1970s when it had wooden doors, and roll-down security shutters were nearly unheard of. I bought National Savings stamps in there when I was 10 to save up for a play tent that I couldn't put up at home on the council estate because we had no garden but I played with it in Haughton Dale. Gibraltar Lane dipped steeply down and went to dirt after only a couple of hundred yards. On the left as the lane drops away out of sight was a house occupied by a local identity called Burley Key. His house had a high thick hedge round it and a wooden bench he'd made sat in a cutout of the hedge facing the lane. Carved in the back of the bench was 'Coom sit tha down and rest thy sen, it winna cost thee owt'. An invitation to people walking back up the steep hill, it was a written version of the broad local dialect Mr Key still spoke. As a child I could barely understand a word he said though my mother would stop and have conversations with him on our walks up and down 'Gib' Lane. Oh - it meant 'come sit down and rest yourself, it won't cost you anything'. Thanks again for the memories!

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I forgot - it was said the doorway to the Haughton Green Post Office was level with the top of Blackpool Tower...

Lynne Clinton said...

That Post office is at the top of Gibraltar lane. My mum lived at number 11 in 1909. She was the eldest of 10 children and lived there until 1933. She has written a book about her childhood in Haughton Green and I am just about ready to go to print. Her name was Lizzie Barton and the book is called "Where's our Lizzie" -memories of a collier's lass. She died in 2007 , 2 days short of her 99th birthday. Lynne

Lynne Clinton said...

Since I posted the comment about my mother who lived just a few doors away from the post office on Gibraltar Lane, Haughton Green, from 1909 to 1933, her book has now been published. It's called
" WHERE'S OUR LIZZIE" and is avaiable from www.haughtongreendentonhistory.co.uk
The book is about her childhood and is an entertaining and poignant social history of the times.

Paul said...

Burley Key was my great uncle. I used to love visiting his house with my mum. It was full of such interesting things for a youngster like me. Mum told me that Uncle Burley built his house using second hand bricks from the blitzed areas or Manchester. He and his wife (May?) cleaned all the bricks by hand for ages before work could start. Haven't been down Gibraltar lane for years. Must pop down sometime. I still have a handmade bird table he gave my mum, with hand cut miniature tiles on the roof. Very precious to me.

Anonymous said...

I'm burley key's great grandson and have recently changed my middle name to his
He was a great man and I'm glad I found some one who knows him

Anonymous said...

Hi
I'm burleys great grandson (paul key) and have a picture hung in my house of that very bird house and him and my dad looking at it

I have also hread the story of his house from my dad but I thought that it was made from the bricks from the mill at the bottom of gib lane

Great to hear from someone who knew him

If you wish to talk more: p.b.key@kbep.co.uk

Anonymous said...

Burley Key was my gteat uncle. Visiting his house as a small child was magical. Uncle Burl had a pond in his garden with gnomes at the edge.He told me there were fairies living in the garden as well as the gnomes. Whilst I was in the house with Auntie Nellie and mum Uncle Burl would remain outside. When I returned to the garden the gnomes would have moved to new positions, proving of course that fairies and gnomes were real!!!

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