Burnley (Treacle row)
BURNLEY too had treacle connections. On Coal Clough Lane in Burnley there was a long row of cottages stretching from St Matthew Street to Scott Park Road where now stands a library (a branch of the Burnley Central Library) the row of cottages was called 'Treacle Row'. Treacle Row is no longer there, the first demolition was in 1897. The cottages that remained, known in the 1850's as 'Further Row', took over exclusively the name Treacle Row.
These cottages had stood there since the end of the 17th century, a time when treacle mining was carried out in many parts of England. These houses had an interesting construction. Behind the two front bedrooms ran a gallery from which one could look down into the kitchen. In the deeds of the property it was stated that the cottages were in Habergham Eaves on the road to Manchester. The property formed part and parcel of the Coal Clough House Estate.
In Coal Clough House there once lived a manufacturer called Veevers and he used to have cloth made in various parts of the town. The folk of Treacle Row were thought to have been hand-loom weavers. Many well known people have occupied the cottages; the Stockdale family occupied more than one of the cottages for over a century, and one of Coal Clough Lane's best-known characters - Mr Nathan Heap lived in one of the cottages for many years.
In the 1940's Sam Hanna, Burnley's well-know cine photographer, used one of the cottages for trying out some of his photographic inventions. At the end of Treacle Row, where the library now stands, was a 'Police Box' with a candle-stick telephone, used in emergencies. During the second World War the area was used as a public Air Raid Shelter. Children played there (without permission), entering the underground shelter saying they "were going down the mines".
This is "Treacle Row", pictured on a nice sunny day.
But no one is going to remember it looking like this, as the homes were demolished in 1890.
[Treacle World] [Treaclemaster]