This is a view of Scarth Gardens in Morley, with Morley Hall behind, now a private residence. The gardens were also known as the Maternity Hall Gardens as many Morleians were born in the hall for over fifty years. (I was once told that the hall was gifted to the people of the town in perpetuity but that the NHS flogged it off when it was no longer required.)
Note that the flag of England is now past its best, with most of the white flowers gone. (Here is what it looked like just before St. Georges day)
I was born in Morley Hall as were my siblings and most of my generation 40+
It lay empty for years until someone bought it and did it up.
Comment by John — May 22, 2008 @ 11:03 pm
I’ve only been in Morley fifteen years so don’t know the subtleties. It is a grade 1 listed building and the new owners ran foul of the law when they do some unapproved alterations.
Comment by Shades — May 23, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
This is where the law is quite stupid. Kids used to go along and vandalise it and nobody seemed to care. Someone came along and bought and there was a fuss over the alterations - big deal! Its not _that_ great a building.
The buildings that _should_ have been preserved as they were the mills. I remember as a boy (and I’m only in my mid 40s) going past the mill at the back of peel market and hearing the looms in the inky blackness. We used to run in and grab bobbins to use as pea-shooters.
We also used to play in the abandoned mills up on High Street, swinging out of the buildings on the chains they used to brings the bales up on. Looking back now it was quite astonishingly dangerous.
We used to run across the rail tracks at Morley Top Station (we lived on Great Northern Street) and climb up the ladders to the water tower before we go caught. Sneaking in the coal yard and sliding down the coal “mountains” on our bums! My mother was asaint because she only had a twin tub to do all the washing.
Comment by John — May 23, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
John, the hall dates back to the 17th Century (well, bits of it do)whereas the mills are 18th/19th Century and we have a lot of them (the same goes for chapels).
What do you do with an industrial building that is very common and surplus to purpose? There are excellent examples preserved around Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Did you ever get caught doing the Morley tunnel, I wonder?
Comment by Shades — May 23, 2008 @ 9:57 pm
My brother was born in Craigtoun Hospital, near St Andrews, which was a park and maternity hospital at that time. Then it became an old folks home/hospital and my grandmother died in it. Now I understand that it is a golf course.
Comment by Colin Campbell — May 23, 2008 @ 10:45 pm