Yes, Rylands's was roughly on what is now the Sainsbury site and petrol station, though the streets have been somewhat reconfigured. Howley Lane has been totally erased, so that you can't even trace its location properly in relation to the rest of the wilderness around, as have the houses that ran between the pub and the top of Howley lane, and, of course, the Rectory, set back in wild unkept grounds behind church and lane together, towards the boottmo fo the lane before int turned into the wilderness we used to know as 't'Bonk' (the Bank, I suppose). There was waste land on the corner between Church St and Howley Lane, and a big advertising hoarding, presumably where the bomb hit in 1940. Edie Hough, whose father was the undertaker Henry Hough, lived at no 2 Howley lane, and at number 4 my grandparents, Isaac and Agnes Smith, until their death in the 1940s, their son Arthur and daughter Ellen and, after their death, Arthur, Ellen and Nelly's husband Henry Minshull. There was a builders yard across the road at the top of Howley Lane, owned by my mother's brother-in-law Jim Lawton (his grandson, also Jim, is now an international sports correspondent on the 'Daily Express' or 'Mail', I think). Mrs Waddington ran a small sweet etc shop in her front room across from 4 Howley lane. Her children and grandhildren lived further down the lane. My uncle Arthur Smith was a wiredrawer at Rylands's, and once saw one of his mates cut in half, literally, by a white hot wire that had broken loose and was flailing around. The 'Warrington Wolves', so-called, used to be frequently league champions, or in the top bracket at least (I was taken as a 10-yr-old 'up for t' cup' to Wembley, in what must have been 1953), and the Warrington war-cry, 'Now the Wire!', derived from the role of Rylands's in the town's economy. Rylands actually started out as sailcloth weavers and pin-makers in 1805, and apparently supplied half the Fleet's sailcloth in the Napoleonic Wars, starting at just about the time of the battle of Trafalgar. My g-g-grandfather James Smith appears to have moved to School Brow from Newton in the 1810s to work with them as a sailcloth weaver, and this is where he met his wife Mary Foster or Forster, also a weaver, marrying some time around 1820. Rylands developed the pin-making side into wire-drawing in the second half of the 19th century, as the steam ship replaced the old sailing clipper. Stan -----Original Message----- From: eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Alison Graham-Wells Sent: 24 February 2007 11:39 To: eng-lan-warrington@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LAN-WARR] Warrington Pubs of 1920 Ring O'Bells is still there looking somewhat quaint ion the edge of a rather horrible housing estate. I see every week when I shop at Sainsbury's - which I think from Stan's description must stand on the old Rylands site. I had no idea where Rylands used be so thanks for the info Stan - my father's family have lived in Warrington for the best part of 200 yrs and in the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century were wire workers. I'm a Londoner born and bred have only recently moved up here with my job so these e-mail exchanges are very interesting. Alison Graham On 23 Feb 2007, at 10:02, Stan Smith wrote: > There's a picture of the Ring o' Bells as it is now at a site > called 'Olde > Worlde Pubs'. I'm pleased to see that in updating it many of the > original > features of panelling, low ceilings etc have been retained, though > it is now > 'open-plan'. I'd forgotten the beer garden, which I don't recall > ever being > used. > > Stan > > -----Original Message----- > From: eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Stan > Smith > Sent: 23 February 2007 09:53 > To: eng-lan-warrington@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [LAN-WARR] Warrington Pubs of 1920 > > > The Ring o' Bells was, and I hope still is, right next to the > parish Church > of St Elphins, at the junction where Church Street turns into > Manchester > Road, an almost right-angle turn, opposite what used to be the > enormous > entrance gate of Rylands's wire-drawing works, where the red-hot and > sometimes white-hot glowing furnaces were sometimes visible from > the road. > One can imagine these gave its workers, one of whom until 1955 was > my uncle > Arthur Smith, a wire drawer, a thirst that the Ring o' Bells tried > hard to > slake. It is in the foreground (on a viewer's right hand) of > pictures of the > church back to the 18th century, and was originally, I believe, a > coaching > inn, just before the road left the old centre of Warrington based > on Church > St. As recently as 25+ years ago the pub retained many of its original > features, small rooms, low ceilings, a 'snug' bar and, if I recall > rightly, > an 'off-license', a small room accessed directly inside the pub > door where > children could collect ale when sent by their parents. I think the > pub was > being stripped out and 'modernised' at the time I last visited it, > which was > probably in 1980, when my dad died - it had been one of his locals > and ditto > of his family, who lived at the top of Howley Lane, just a stone's > throw > away. When this area was packed with terraced houses, both 'down > Howley' and > across the road in the wen of Streets off School Brow, many of > whose tenants > worked at Rylands's, it must have had a good regular trade, though > it must > be said there were a lot of other pubs within walking distance - the > Brickmakers' Arms on School Brow, the General Wolfe in Church St, > and the > Marquis of Granby a little further along Church St, and others in > the near > vicinity. There's a photo of church and pub circa 1955 in the Frith > Collection book 'Warrington: Photographic Memories', by Janice > Hayes, p. 47. > I don't know if this picture is on the Frith website, but it's worth > checking. The pub looks little different from its appearance in > 18th-century > prints, some of which are surely in the Warrington Museum collection. > > Stan Smith > > -----Original Message----- > From: eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:eng-lan-warrington-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Maureen > Sent: 23 February 2007 06:30 > To: eng-lan-warrington@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [LAN-WARR] Warrington Pubs of 1920 > > > Hello, I am most interested in Pubs of Warrington. My FAIR > family > were connected with both the "Millstone" and the "Talbot". > Licensees of > the Packet House Inn in Bridge for many years from around 1913. My > GREEN > family were at the Ring a Bells Church. On my Father's side we have > Cuerdley Arms, Wellington, & Commercial Inn in the Widnes area. > Do you have a special interest in the Pubs of the area and have > you any > information on any of the above. Would be most grateful for any > details. > Regards Maureen Qld Aus. > Researching Fair,Green,Chambers,Wright, Webster, Grace. > > > > --------------------------------- > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. > ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** > ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier > searching of the archives ** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** > ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier > searching of the archives ** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** > ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier > searching of the archives ** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN- > WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ** PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SUBJECT HEADING WHEN E-MAILING THE LIST ** ** PLEASE REMOVE "signatures" from your e-mails to facilitate easier searching of the archives ** ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN-WARRINGTON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message