Selected Articles

Alwyn Davies and HMS Narcissus
HMS Narcissus Letter
God Bless You Jack
Last Days
Denton Local History Society (Background History) by Allan Arrowsmith.
The First 30 years by Allan Arrowsmith.

Alwyn Davies and HMS Narcissus

HMS NARCISSUS - On Thursday November 15th, 2OO1, Mr Alwyn Davies paid his first visit to Denton, since 1945. Now aged 76, he was at the time of his last visit, a crew member of the Corvette ship, HMS Narcissus, which was adopted by the people of Denton, during the war. The townspeople sent food parcels and messages of support to the crew at a very difficult time.

After the war, with the ship berthed at Preston, the crew members made their way to Denton, and after marching through the town, they visited local factories, and had lunch at the Liberal Club, where they handed over the ship's ensign to the town,

On this visit, Mr Davies, who now lives in West Yorkshire, presented a picture of
HMS Narcissus to Councillor Mike Craven, Chairman of the District Assembly, in the presence of the Mayor, Councillor Stephen Poole, members of the Royal Naval Association, and of our society.

Mr Davies has very kindly given copies of his very poignant poems to the society, and more of these will be included in friture editions of the Dentonian

(Information supplied by Clare Knott).

Further information wikipedia.org HMS_Narcissus_(K74) / naval-history.net Narcissus

 

HMS Narcissus

10th June, 1945

President,
Liberal Club,
Denton,
Nr. Manchester,
Lancs.

Dear Sir,
Accompanying this please find the ensignwhich was promised you on our visit to Denton.
All on board carried away very happy memories of their outing and are very appreciative of the very large part the Liberal Club played in their most enjoyable afternoon and evening.

Robert Stott.
Lieutent R.N.R in Command.

Background History

By Allan Arrowsmith

First,a little bit about the background of the society. We formed in 1978, at a time when much was happening in Denton. Work was going on in preparation for the M67 Motorway, with the demolition of many homes and factories, etc, resulting in the changing face of a large part of the town. You will no doubt remember the familiar sight, and disturbing sounds, of pile-driving, large lorries and excavators all over the place. We sought to record as much as we could, at this time.

In addition, the remaining part of Denton Hall, the East Wing,was threatened, and we tried to keep it for the benefit of the people of Denton. There were beautifully carved beams in the building, and it was believed to have been the chapel, to the hall, originally, although for many years it had been used simply as a farm building. The Holland family who lived at Denton Hall, which was built In the late 1400's, were one of the families who built St. Lawrence's Church. We lost that battle,in 1979, and the East Wing was demolished and re-erected in Cheshire.

The society faces another mammoth task now, with all the re-development going on around the town. A retail park is to be built on and around the site of Wilton Street, the main hatting area of the town. A Morrison's store is to be built near Crown Point, along Hyde Road, and Stockport Road, and Oldham Batteries site has been sold, although we do not know yet what will be built there. So we have much to do in photo graphing and recording the places that will disappear. The developers of the Wilton Street site are being very co-operative, in allowing us to go round vacated factories etc, under super-vision.

At the moment we have about fifty members, mostly local, but some as far apart as Torquay, Oxon, North Yorkshire, Lichfield, and even the USA and New Zealand. Dentonians in exile, of course.

We meet twice monthly, (sometimes extra meetings are necessary), once for a 'workshop' evening, preparing for exhibitions etc, and the other when we have a speaker. We also have visits to places of interest.
In future articles, I will keep you up to date with our activities, and write about some aspects of our town's history.

The first 30 years.

Nearly thirty years ago, Denton was changing rapidly. The M67 was about to cut a swathe through the town from east to west and whole streets, as well as important buildings, were being demolished. Among these were hat factories, Christ Church and Russell Scott schools, public houses, Russell Scott’s family home and many more.The task of recording all these was overwhelming and so, in June 1978, a small group met at the Festival Hall and Denton Local History Society was born.

Although the group was small, commitment was high. As well as recording all the motorwaywork, the society was asked to exhibit at Denton Show that same September. So began an annual contribution to the show.

At the same time,word came in that the last portion of Denton Hall was being vandalised and the fabric robbed. A long fight began to save the site and the remaining East Wing of the old hall. The next two years saw the society carry out an archaeological dig on the site, as well as recording the building, before it was removed to Alderley Edge, piece by piece. Some years later a final dig was carried out by Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit before the site was developed.

From the first it was decided that the society should not just be a group which met to listen to speakers, but a working society with an archive and collection of exhibits. Workshops have always been held monthly, so that members can carry out their own research and prepare for exhibitions and the society archive is open to other researchers. Outings, guest speakers, public meetings, school talks and exhibitions have all been high on the agenda. The society is proud of its increasing number of maps and books about Denton and Haughton and the surrounding area.

Recent years have seen further considerable development around the town which has kept members busy. In the early 1990s the area of Debdale Vale, including the two golf courses and reservoirs with their old farmhouses and other buildings, was to be developed as Kingswater. The society researched and recorded the area and produced a booklet called Kingswater. Crown Point North, a large shopping mall,was built around the Wilton Street area, formerly the main hatting centre of the town. That development included also the demolition of Wilton Street Unitarian Chapel as well as factories and houses.Much recording had to be done there, helped by the fact that the developers gave their full cooperation. The results of our research were two signage boards provided by the developers and our book Hats Off To Wilton Street.

Two coats of arms and a decorative pediment from local hatworks were saved and displayed in the new development. To the south-east of Crown Point, a Morrison superstore displaced other business premises, and some of the terracotta embellishments from the front facade of Booth and Moores’ hatworks, erected in 1862,were incorporated into the new building. Francis Kirk and Son Ltd, Mill Furnishers, who had traded from part of that site since 1868, had to be re-located.Morrisons worked with us to reproduce early photographs of that area and beautiful glass windows etched with scenes of hatting processes. Starting in 2006 and culminating in June 2007, the society undertook research into the history of Victoria Park,Denton, in readiness for the grand re-opening of the bandstand restored to its original state. Based on our research, two signage boards were erected in the park itself and school packs were produced. On the occasion of the re-opening members turned out in period costumes, since the park originally opened in 1913.

For those of us who were there at the start in 1978 and many who have joined us since, life has never been the same. A very busy, but enjoyable thirty years. The society is in good heart, although storage for our archives has always been a problem, which Tameside MBC and our District Assembly are currently trying to help us to resolve.

Attendance at meetings when we have a speaker is usually between twenty-five and thirty people, and they and members ‘in exile’ in other parts of the country and abroad, receive The Dentonian on a quarterly basis.

We miss the many friends who have made a significant contribution over the years but are no longer with us and we look forward to the next thirty years!

Allan Arrowsmith
Denton Local History Society