Godley Hill and Walls

Pictures From 1938

Room with a View

This fab shot was taken from Chartist House - looks like from the top floor to me !!
It shows Hyde Uniteds Ewen Fields before it turned blue and became the home to Hyde FC !!
Notice Walls Factory (Kerry Foods) behind and Hattersley in the distance !



Thanks to Elsie D for sharing with us :)

T.Wall & Son - Big Night Out

Many thanks to J & D Morris
Much Appreciated. :)

MEMORIES OF GROWING UP IN HYDE by Roger Chadwick

1945 – 1950  Part 4

Halfway down Station Road Godley there is a tunnel under the line which in my young days led through the back of Wall’s Ice Cream factories.   On the back road towards Godley Hill War Memorial you came to the pie factory.   The smell of pies cooking and the view through the window of all the operatives preparing the pies would have me slavering like a dog!    My mother worked there briefly but never came home with samples!   Some of my contemporaries had holiday jobs at “Walls” but I remember Unilever as a mean company towards its employees and their rates of pay were not good. I found other more lucrative work!

Those were the days when one could pick and choose – even for temporary jobs.

Godley Hill, with its old Inn and cottages was a quaint and interesting place.    In one such I had a friend whose mother ran the Ice Cream Kiosk at the foot of Godley Hall Road.   The War Memorial was our last stop on the Whit Friday Church Procession and I see from the Blog that it is still there. 

 

Godley War Memorial

There was another track from the “tunnel” which led to Godley Golf Club where both my parents were members. Both were active “athletes” and excelled at golf and other sports.     Although I learn to swing a club and play reasonably well for my age, sport was something that my parents did not pass on to me.    I preferred to follow the wisdom of Winston Churchill who is reputed to have said, “When I feel like sport, I lie down until the feeling wears off”.   But the Golf Club was an interesting ramshackle affair until it was re-built and the source of veal sandwiches, pork pies, home made scones and tea after matches.  I became friendly with the Professional, Alan Brown, who let me share hair raising rides with him on the old jeep as he mowed the fairways and the Greens.  The 9 hole course was really an assault course with no need for artificial hazards – the terrain provided that – like the similar course on Werneth Low.  Sand bunkers were for the flat lands!   I cannot imagine what it looks like now because the Club closed in the early sixties to make way fore the Hattersley Overspill.

Our milk was delivered by horse and cart from Osborne’s Farm at the back of Godley Reservoir.  This farm had the lovely name “Tetlow Fold” (“tetla fowt”) and was quite an old construction, 16^th century in parts,  with the farmhouse, a second home, the byres and the shippon constructed in the form of a square with a cobbled yard.  The kitchen always smelt of milk for that was near to the cooling room.  Hay barns and cattle stands gave that lovely sweet aroma that one associates with the rural setting.    There was a “copper” in one of the barns where we would sit and eat freshly boiled pig potatoes with hard margarine.  Harvest time saw us stooking and riding the hay cart back to the barns.    Mrs Osborne’s mother was a Highland lady with the lovely old surname of “Christiansen” so there must have been Nordic roots in the family.  She was famous for her soda scones which I love to this day!   I would accompany Farmer Osborne and/or his strapping son, Ian, on some Saturday mornings with the milk deliveries around Godley, Hoviley, Cheapside and Mottram Road.    I learnt about jills and quarts and pints as the appropriate steel measuring implements would brings the milk out of the cool churn and into the waiting  milk jugs of the folks standing around.   The approach of the milk float (and indeed the Co-op Horse) would have gardeners ready with shovels, gambling that the rich brown horse muck might fall at their doors!  

Nowt was wasted then!

Tetlow Fold

I became a choirboy after my sixth birthday.  Under the tutelage of Fred Whyatt, the head chorister, I learnt how to pronounce the Latin tags of the canticles and “point” the psalms.  Discipline was strict and a clout at the base of the neck from a Psalter was standard practice if we misbehaved.  Fred was a lovely kind “older brother” to me and I recognised him immediately some years ago in a “You Tube video” of Hyde Grammar School, where he is seen playing football.     I gather he returned to the school as the PE Teacher.       Godley Church was big for the size of the village but was well attended and it was the scene of the ministry of Canon Samuel May who was Vicar of the parish for over thirty years.    He had a huge influence on young men, had a wonderful preaching style and a powerful delivery and was full of fun.  I have an abiding memory of standing at the Lych Gate in 1947 for the Armistice Day Remembrance, watching the villagers standing silently, some of them weeping profusely, as 1100.a.m. struck, the Last Post and Reveille was played and the Fire Station siren went off and all the mill chimney hooters of the town blared a Remembrance Day sound I shall never forget.  

But choirboys are not little angels and that topic starts the next chapter.

Happy Days!

 

   

The Lych Gate at St Johns, Godley.

Thanks to Carls Cam for the photos and Roger for another great account !!

Much appreciated ! 

Walls delivery van

 

The following post includes a couple of rather charming photos of a Walls delivery van !

They were sent to us by Ken Charles ! 

 

Over to Ken....

 

"I had some  great memories at Walls .

We had to phone orders in every day for next day delivery  by 1pm or we would not get a delivery.

I must say the company was very professional in its business in those days you would get approached by other companies to go and work for them as  all Walls staff were thought a lot of by other companies".

I bet I wasn't the only kid to do the "W" sign to Walls van drivers when they drove past in the street. I was always chuffed when they did it back ! :D

Many Thanks Ken !

Much appreciated!

Memories of Walls

 Below are a couple of photographs and a great account of working for The Walls Meat Company by Ken Charles...

 Over to Ken....

 

"Hi

I worked for T. Walls Meat & Handy Foods (changed name to The Walls Meat Company) for 11 years from 1968 to 1979 on van sales in Cheltenham

We had five vans parking at Walls Ice Cream Factory and three in Worcester

I had some great memories .

I was taking £1,100 per week in sales of just sausages and pies.

The company were slaughtering 40000 pigs a week  !!

 

We were supplied with  a trilby hat, overalls, ties, and shirts. We also had van boys who had blue and white striped overalls.  We were the envy of our competitors.

No refrigeration in the vans we used to get dry ice from the ice cream cold store in the summer to put over the stock we had left and the company supplied a blanket to go on top.

I have attached a couple of photos of the van we had just had a new van with refrigeration the one where you can see the back of the van was one without refrigeration

I also have a model of one of the first T Ford sales vans yellow top blue bottom, advert Eat Well- Eat Walls

 

We used to in the early days have a conference every year in London with an over night stay..

One funny story we used to have auditors who would come and audit you stock some times over night .

The one auditor (I remember his name)left his weighing scales and when we all came back at night he had a bit of the scales in each hand and wanted to know who had run over it with the van .

No one saw that.

 

I have many more great memories."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much, Ken. :)

Please send us a picture of the "Eat Well - Eat Walls" van if possible !

 

Godley train turntable.

 This fabulous photo was lent to us by Joe Lloyd and comes via David Stafford.

What a quality photo. I hadn't ever seen a train on the turntable before !
Am I right in thinking that men used to push the turntable by hand, as shown on the photo?



The CLC turntable in use at Godley Junction with much other activity. In one of the early air raids on the Manchester area, a bomb exploded some 25 yards to the right of the turntable, just in the field beyond the railway boundary fence. Extreme left behind the main line up-side sidings, stand the Signal Shop the building of which was authorized by the MS&LR Board in 1873 and completed in 1875. The newer brick building was Walls Meat Products Factory, now Kerry Foods and the extensive housing development on the skyline is the Hattersley Housing Estate built post-war by Manchester City Council.

This week we received these photos and this letter off Meglet....

"Hi All @ Hydonian Blog

This is more of an alert rather than a trip down memory lane.

But, this is a 'Heads up' I think all those who visit the blog should know about.

I've known for a number of years Kerry Foods have been in negotiation with Tameside Council, to create a new access road for their factory at Godley.

No one who knows Godley Hill Road, can deny they desperately need it.

The narrow, curved, single lane, they have at the moment has been inadequate for decades, and the precarious traffic light system they operate from the security lodge is problematic at best.

Well, now planning permission has been given the go ahead, and groundwork has already started, but the plans approved means that one of the least known, but possibly the most awe inspiring, remaining buildings of Hyde's history is about to be demolished.

I know Godley Hill Road, and the current access road have been captured by 'Google Street View', but the old railway sheds on the car park approach can only fleetingly be seen.

So, I have included some quick snaps I took recently, and one from Godley East Station from 1979, where the side of the sheds can be seen in the distance.

I must admit that I know really nothing of the building other than what is seen in the photos.

The building was part of the old railways sidings and marshalling yards of the long closed Godley East Railway Station, and as you can see, it stretches the full length of the Kerry Foods car park approach road, about 100 meters in length.

To me it looks very much like a fortification, with it's tightly packed small stone blocks construction, and so, gives off a wonderful aura of indestructibility and history. So, I was not surprised at all when I spoke to a very old Walls' (now Kerry Foods) employee who told me, that when he was a young lad at the factory he was told that the building was used, during both World Wars, to store munitions prior to transportation.

It's generally considered by those I have asked that the building was built around 150 years ago, which I feel also.  It's roof is in very poor shape, and it has evidently had some repairs done with standard bricks over the years, but it is still very awesome to look at.

At the moment (July 2012) the only work that has commenced is the clearing of trees around the building, as can be see in one of the photos.

I believe work is due to begin proper in October 2012, and the whole project will take 12 months to complete, as the access road is planned to carry on through and up towards Hattersley.

If this building is to be razed then I will try and get as much video & photos of it as I can from all sides, but I'm not sure how much access I will be able to get.

I think the inside will be well off limits, and dangerous, but I would love to explore it.

If anyone is in the vicinity, I recommend you take a look in person, it is a magnificent structure.  There is no problem walking up the road, but walking into the car park around the back of the sheds is not advisable, as they are under CCTV.

Anything on the building true history and function would be fantastic to know, I will update about the demolition process when it happens."

 



Many thanks for letting us know, Meglet. :)

If anyone else knows anything else about the demolition of this building or any other building around the Hyde area , please let us know !!

Walls Remembered

From the Hyde Official Guide, about 1965

The extract from the guide reads:-

"Renowned through the country for its sausages, bacon, pies, hams and canned meats is the firm of T.WALL & SONS (MEAT & HANDY FOODS) LTD.  Starting in 1786 in a small shop in London's Jermyn Street the business grew steadily and by 1939 its trade covered the whole of southern England. Since 1854 it has expanded to cover the rest of the country and in this the Hyde factory plays an important part. Wall's hold the largest single share of the branded sausage market and Royal Warrants have been held for most of the reigns of monarchs since the 18th century. Future plans include the extension to the factory at Hyde to give still further coverage in Northern England."

The Administration Buildings

Our friend Marjorie Robinson made this post possible, which we thank her for. 

Marjorie mentioned that some of her school friends had part-time jobs at Wall's in the summer holidays. They told her they'd never eat a walls pie again... ha!  This reminded me of a school trip to Walls from Greenfield Street School... we were led around different bays and one or two lads started to feel ill... by the time we had got to the black pudding making section they was a rush for the doors. I can still see one of the workers laughing and waving a black pudding about. Needless to say Black Pudding were given a wide berth.

Please add your comments and memory's of Walls and the products... I'm sure many of you will have some. 

T. Wall & Sons Advert

An advert on the back of an old Hyde map.
Walls as a meat product company has ceased to be - It's just the name of the product now.


In 1786, Richard Wall opened a butcher's stall in St James's Market, London. Selling meat and meat products, he gained a reputation for being a fine pork butcher. In 1812, Richard received the first Royal Appointment to George, Prince of Wales as "Purveyor of Pork," continuing to serve him through his later reign as King George IV.

In 1817, Thomas Wall was born, followed by a daughter Eleanor, in 1824. Richard's business boomed, and in 1834 he moved to new premises at 113 Jermyn Street. However, shortly afterwards Richard Wall died leaving his widow, Ann, and 19 year old son to run the business. Trading as Ann Wall and Son, Ann also died very shortly after the death of her husband.

Thomas Wall took sole charge of the business, plus the care of his 14 year old sister. After the birth of his son Thomas Wall II in 1846, Thomas Wall incorporated the business as "Thomas Wall and Son Ltd." Thomas Wall II served his apprenticeship and joined the company board in 1870, and after second son Frederick had followed the same path, the company name was changed in 1878 to "Thomas Wall & Sons Ltd." Throughout this period, the business maintained its high level standards and resultant recognition, gaining a series of Royal Appointments from Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George IV and King George V.

The business had always faced a problem in the summer, when sales of meat, meat pies and sausages fell, and the company was forced to lay-off staff. Now led by Thomas Wall II, he proposed developing a line of ice cream in 1913 to avoid the lay offs. But the onset of World War I put the plan on hold due to shortages.[4] Thomas Wall II decided to retire, and so sold the business in 1920 to Mac Fisheries, which itself was acquired in 1922 jointly by Lever Brothers and Margarine Unie, the founder companies of Unilever.

Now under the direction of Maxwell Holt, ice cream production commenced in 1922 at a factory in Acton, London. As ice cream grew in significance, Unilever split the company into two, T Wall and Son (Ice Cream) Ltd and T Wall and Son (Meats) Ltd. In 1959, Wall's doubled capacity by opening a purpose built ice cream factory in Gloucester, England. In 1981 Unilever merged T Wall and Son (Ice Cream) Ltd with Birds Eye Foods Ltd to form Birds Eye Wall's Ltd. Following a review of production facilities, the Gloucester factory was expanded and updated, and the Acton factory was closed ("Project Phoenix" 1983).

After the purchase of sausage and pate producer Mattessons in the early 1980s, Unilever merged the two companies to form Mattessons Wall's.

Following a review, in 1994 Unilever sold off Mattessons Wall's, the ownership to the Mattessons brand, and a licence to sell meat products within the UK under the Wall's brand to Kerry Foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall%27s_%28company%29

Walls Ice-cream lorry

I recall Wall's Ice-Cream vans and lorries coming through Hyde and like a lot of other kids at that time I would make the 'W' sign with my thumbs and index fingers, and more than often the driver would do it back with a smile on his face. I cannot imagine that happening today... it would not be seen as 'Cool' unlike the Icecream.

Updated 22/05/11

Mo's Picture

Mo' sent this picture in which he believes was taken in Godley as he thinks he knows one of the men. I wonder if there are any more vehicles we could add to this post...