algy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 What was the purpose of this building & where was it situated?. Name the streets at the junction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 That looks like what I think may now be the Co-op bank on the corner of Ryland Street but the road dosn't look right so I'm not at all sure. Don't know what the heck is on the roof, could it be some kind of huge telephone pole? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Gosh that's a hard one Algy I have no idea. Wondered if the thing on the roof may actually be behind the building rather than on top of it as old photos can be a bit 'odd' at times. Wild guess... was it somthing to do with the fire brigade and that was their training tower? (probably one of my more stupids moment there) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry hayes Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Pretty sure it was on the corner of Sankey and Winmarleigh street, though I don't recognise the 'scaffolding'. Guardian office next door but one, with a kind of warehouse in between. When I remember it, it was a tax office of some kind, - motor taxation and registration for Warrington.( all those ED's) Happy days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Harry is correct with the area, you wouldn't remember it though as it was built in 1877 and closed in 1908. Not the Coop bank or Rylands street Bill Not the Fire station Dizz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Maybe the tower was where they 'displayed' people who were found to be driving illegally (edit....oops that was in reply to Harry before you said he was wrong) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wireboy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Was it some kind of Telegram service building? The pole and the time would suggest this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Was it a bank?.... although not sure what the two large 'garage' looking doors would have been for on the left. If not that could it have been a post office (or is that classed as being the same as a car tax place which was wrong). Dizzy daft reasoning... the garage doors could have been for delivery vehicles or horses and carts. Not sure how they delivered post in those days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 What pole do you mean Wireboy ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Wireboy was going down the right track but Dizzy 'nailed it. Warrington's first purpose built town's Post Office built 1877 closed in 1908 when the 'New' Post Office was built in Springfield Street. In 1881 the Post Office started to convert some of it's telegraph service exchanges for use as telephone exchanges, the arrangement of the four masts on top of the buildings would suggest that that has taken place here in Warrington!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wireboy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 So can I take half of the honours alongside Dizzy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Your going to have to fight me first for that half point wireboy, I said telephone pole right at the start! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wireboy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Just a quarter of a point then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry hayes Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I amended my reply as an afterthought. In the 50 and 60's it was definitely the motor taxation office. Keys were lodged at the police station so that they could trace the owner of any offending vehicle during the night - in those happy days, most vehicles were local. A golfing friend told me it then became a housing department. Happy days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 The tower might suggest it was at one time a telephone exchange. ' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Oh bugger! Algy given the answer already! At least tht is one building still standing! Developers haven't got their hands on it yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Well I'll be damned and that's two I've managed to get now Mine was a complete guess though because Harry mentioned car tax which made me think of post offices and I couldn't think of anything else. Happy to donate my point as Harry knew where the building was and also what else it had been used for and without his comments I wouldn't have made a wild guess...so he can have 1/2 and Wireboy/Bill mentioned telegraph/telephone pole so 1/4 each to them as I thought it was a fire brigade training tower. Does that remind anyone of a Bafta speech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Cleo... are you sleepy today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 No Dizzy. Saw the topic this am, knew it was on Sankey Street/Palmyra Square, opposite the Old WG because I had passed it many times, but before I could answer was called downstairs. Been a busy day today, one way and another. No Dizzy, doesn't sound like a Bafta speech because you forgot to thank you mother and father and your husband and your son for their support and the cleaning lady and the man who cleans your windows and the person who walks your dog 3 times a day and the men who empty your bins and....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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