BRIGHOUSE ECHO – 27 JAN 2006

LOOKING BACK WITH CHRIS HELME I HAVE received a number of inquires from readers who have found their way to me via the internet - and these enquires have not just come from local people.

The first query comes from someone asking about the origins of the street name Granny Hall Lane. Where, who or what was Granny Hall - was she someone's Granny or is that too obvious an answer? This picture of the original Granny Hall dates from the 19th century and was copied from an illustration in the book ', Rastrick and Hipperholme', published in 1893. Granny Hall Lane took its name from Granny Hall, an old house which stood near the junction with what is now Granny Hall Lane and Blackburn Road. The site is now a pleasant area of well kept gardens. Some readers may be familiar with the name Joseph Horsfall Turner it was he who wrote the book 'Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme' along with many other highly collectable local history books. Horsfall Turner was born at Granny Hall on April 10 1845. In his adult life he became a schoolteacher and it is recorded on the Council website 'Glimpse at the Past' pages that he opened the Albert Academy. I believe this will be the Albert Place Academy, which was situated behind the present day Band. It is also recorded that he opened the YMCA in Brighouse in 1870. In 1873 he left Brighouse having accepted an appointment at Idle, near , where he was for the rest of his life. Although Granny Hall was not considered to be architecturally outstanding, it did however have a number of unique features. These included diamond shaped flagstones, oak panelling and one bedroom in particular, which had a very fine piece or ornate plaster work. The plaster showed the royal arms indicating the owner in 1648 was a Royalist. Why the name Granny? - the name might have derived from the word Grainey? - taken from the word Grain, perhaps? Over the last 30 years I have bought many of Horsfall Turner's publications and to describe them as fascinating is an understatement. We have all probably bought history books where you get a few facts on each page but is then usually supplemented with the rest of the page being made up of 'padding'. In Horsfall Turner's books every line tells you something new. If you have the chance of buying any of his publications, they will come at a high price (depending on condition) look out for them. The internet is a good source - try www.abebooks.com or www.thetollhouse.com which is an antiquarian book shop in Holmfirth or you could try www.ebay.co.uk, where you could find an individual wanting to sell some of his publications and you then have the opportunity of bidding for them. If on the other hand you have one and are considering selling it, please remember that the high price does not work the other way for the seller as well. Horsfall Turner's research interests made him a prolific writer and editor - more than 100 titles, relevant to his antiquarian and naturalist interests, and many of these can be found under his name in the Calderdale Central Library catalogue. These publications represent only a fraction of his work, which also included frequent contributions to local newspapers. He also took it upon himself to reprint a number of scarce local works - very much a labour of love, as it often involved personal financial loss. His research also attracted countless amounts of correspondence. It was because of the sheer volume he was receiving that he founded the quarterly periodicals 'Yorkshire Notes and Queries', 'Yorkshire Folk-Lore Journal', 'Yorkshire Bibliographer', 'Yorkshire Genealogist' and 'The Yorkshire County Magazine'. Joseph Horsfall Turner died on May 2 1915 in Idle. Part of his collection of books was acquired by Halifax Corporation for the sum of £50. This is a unique collection that has been carefully maintained and continues to this day encouraging people's interest in local history. Another enquiry this week came from Roger Holmes who lives at Pendennis, Knowles Road, Brighouse and is looking for a lost set of photographs and a little bit of house history. Roger says that he recalls there had been a photograph album of his house with old some early post-war photographs in. It is believed that this album was left at the house many years ago by a previous owner but the album later disappeared. Roger would like to find out a bit of history about his home from anyone that might be able to help. From his research so far he believes that it was built in 1932 for members of the Dews family, whose name is synonymous with the motoring trade in the Brighouse. One story that has come to light is that on VE Day the house was decked out with flags and bunting. Photographs of this event were believed to have been included in the missing album - did you attend that event? The garden has been well planned, and Roger has heard stories that the main lawn was originally designed as a lawn tennis court. Where did the house get its name from? Pendennis Castle is a short walk from Falmouth in Cornwall - could the house have been named after the original owner's favourite holiday destination? If anyone has any information about Pendennis' on Knowles Road could you please contact me in the first instance by phone on 01422 205763 or e-mail: [email protected] l Do you remember the story from last week - which included a photograph of an unknown man stood in the door way at Charles Wood's cab company offices in Briggate in 1909? Within a couple of hours, a relative of the man contacted me. I shall be visiting the caller and will be presenting her story about Charles Wood and his family later. 27 January 2006 Page 1 of 1