O.K. its the '60s and we are heading towards and into our teenage years, do you remember these shops and popular sites, mostly all gone now.....
South Street was the place buy a 'Penny Loaf' from Gledhills bread shop or a ha'peth of chips from Queenies nearby. Just across the main road (Savile Road) - where the red Heavy Woollen Transport Buses passed (stairs at the back, making their way up to Thornhill) - was the Cricket and Sports field with its large majestic seated pavillion. Coming back up towards our school & on the opposite corner was the solid building of the Co-op with a clockmakers at one end. At the 'near' end of Thornhill Street you could get Iced Gems and other 'fancy' biscuits from the sisters at Sykes's Grocers whilst there was always a wonderful array of toys at the corner Post Office. Many a warm Summers evening was spent sat on those P.O. steps in the late sixties listening to Radio's Caroline & Luxembourg. Towards the railway bridge - Gaunts 'chip oil' usually provided Saturday lunch for me, my elder brother Arthur, mum Marjorie & dad Arthur - complimented by Ben Shaws Dandelion and Burdock of course. Towards the top of Wharf Street McNally's shop was well frequented for sweets, those triangular shaped Iced Jubilees and in season - Penny Bangers. The opposite side of Gaunts and near to the bridge was a little ginnell which led down towards a small barn type industrial building, the other side of which was the Scout & Brownies Hut. Back to the bottom of the hill of Cross Street there was a yard ( Ironmongers ?) to the left and years earlier a Barbers on the right hand corner, where I am told the owner left people waiting the minute his prescence at the dinner table had been requested !!. The last time I passed that way, there was a new Barbers on the opposite side of the road !. Just past the bridge on Wharf street there used to be a shed to the right where seasonal potato packing earnt pocket money and at the Savile Road end a small cabin tucked behind what was a garage, selling sweets .
Across the bridge from 'Gaunts' was my 'neck of the woods' in the two blocks that made up Scarborough Street and Leamington Terrace. Our Bonfires on the concrete patch were of course always rivalling the one's across the railway cutting in the two 'squares'. I can just remember the last few goods trains along what was the former Lancashire & Yorkshire line from the 'Market Place' passenger terminus which was opposite the Town Hall and operated from 1867 to 1930. This went over Mill Street East via a level crossing near the bus sheds before crossing the River Calder near the Feast ground.
At the very end of Scarborough Street, past the 'flats' where our friends the Halmshaw's lived, was a mystical area of waste land formed from a clay & sandy bank which had gulleys leading down to open access to the canal. Later to be a car-scrappers yard, this was a popular area to make little boats out of the reed stems and in the winter to walk across ( or fall-in) the frozen canal. It was also the start of the route to 'Skeleton Island' via tha railway and a precarious drop down to a tar covered pipe spanning the River Calder with a spiked gate at each end. In the 'sixties' a single track was actually re-layed to briefly enable a goods service to reach a siding near to the Town Hall.
The canal basin itself saw a decline in traffic to the coal merchants but now looks busy with barges being built & painted, also the main buildings now comprise of the Sluggers Arms pub complete with one of Dewsbury's two micro Brewery's. At the start of the basin on the opposite bank was a smaller wharf which used to belong to Hodsgons woodyard my Father, Arthur was foreman Joiner here for many years & later President of STWMC. Situated behind & 20 feet below Scarborough Street, it later became Checkley's Tyre yard.
Moving across to the Rec' - we had a football pitch ( we really did use jumpers-for-goalposts in the evenings ) then the allotments. On light Summer evenings we often heard the Ten O' clock gun at Wormalds & Walkers as we had a bag of chips on Thornhill Street. We were too young to appreciate these allotments, but not perhaps for our first 'ciggie' or a game of 'Doctors & Nurses !!!. Nearby the second 'newer Scout hut was later built and over the wall from that was Savile Town Working Mens Recreation and Bowling Club, opened in 1910 it is still in use today as a private club & as I write, home to one of 'our class'!!..
A path led past here to Bretton street where industrial units replaced open fields. Winding round these fields ( I once saw a glider/light aircraft in one that had made an emergency landing !) which were also used a a cycle track, was a popular route for an adventure to the lane by 'Tommy Ottewells' scrapyard where you could train-spot and watch the Barges go through Thornhill Lees Double Locks. An extended trip from here could take you on to Healey Mills railway marshalling yard, or a bit further to Coxley Valley.
Coming back down Headfield Road it was a straight stretch towards the Fountain at the Junction with Savile Road, near the top end of the cricket field. It was years before I realised that behind Headfield Road - over the old Midland Railway track bed that ran from a goods terminus on Mill Street West, then passed over the far end of Headfield Road and headed towards Coxley Valley - there was a place called 'Spuggy Wood' hidden on top of the hill. These were just a few of one persons memories of our 'little''Savile Town, watch the Guestbook to see if more appear !!.
