EVEN MORE RAMBLINGS.
THIS WONDERFUL OLD POSTCARD ILLUSTRATES THE ANONYMOUS WRITER'S STORY VERY WELL . THE GRAND DOMINATES TANGIER STREET AND OFF TO THE LEFT ARE THE PREMISES OF DYER BROWN ON BRANSTY ROW . FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD THE FAMOUS BRANSTY ARCHES ARE VISIBLE THOUGH IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORM THERE WAS ONLY A SINGLE ARCH."
"HAVING NOTICED LAST WEEK THE
LEADING TRADESMEN OF KING STREET AND IN THE MARKET YEARS AGO, IT WILL, I HOPE, E
INTERESTING TO NOTICE OTHER TRADESMEN AT THAT TIME IN OTHER STREETS,
COMMENCING AT BRANSTY. ON THE GROUND UPON WHICH STANDS THAT COMMODIOUS
HOTEL , "THE GRAND'' AT THAT TIME STOOD THE BOATYARDS OF MR LAWRENCE AND PETER
SINGLETON ( AFTERWARDS SINGLETON & COWAN ) EACH OF WHOM WERE EXTENSIVE
BUILDERS,, EMPLOYING MANY JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES; AND AFTER THE
ERECTION OF THAT HOTEL, WITH COACH HOUSES AND STABLES ADJOINING BY THE RIGHT
HONORABLE HENRY EARL OF LONSDALE, WHOM WE MAY RIGHTLY DESIGNATE
WHITEHAVEN'S EARL AND FRIEND FOR, UNLIKE
MOST OF HIS SUCCESSORS, HE LOVED TO RESIDE AMONGST US IN HIS DAY. HE WAS AS WELL
KNOWN IN OUR STREETS AS ANY OF OUR CITIZENS AND MIGHT BE SEEN CHATTING
FAMILIARLY WITH OUR TRADESMEN. HE WAS THUS LOOKED UP TO AND BELOVED BY ALL.
DURING THE TIME THE RAILWAYS WERE CONSTRUCTING HE WAS NEVER MORE AT HOME THAN
WHEN ALONG WITH YORKSHIRE TOMMY HE WAS STUDYING THE PROJECTS AND
ENCOURAGING IN EVERY WAY THE TRADE OF OUR TOWN. WELL, AFTER THE COMPLETION OF
THE BRANSTY HOTEL BUILDING, WHICH WAS OPENED BY THE LATE MR JOHN
BALLARD, OF THE QUEENS HOTEL, LIVERPOOL, MR LAWRENCE RETIRED FROM BOAT BUILDING
AND WENT INTO FARMING SOMEWHERE ABOUT GOSFORTH. 
THE SAME MR BALLARD WRITING IN THE CUMBERLAND PACQUET IN 1857 WROTE....
" J BALLARD BEGS TO INFORM THE NOBILITY & FAMILIES VISITING CUMBERLAND & THE LAKES, THAT HE HAS OPENED THE SPLENDID NEW HOTEL AT WHITEHAVEN. THE HOUSE ADJOINS THE RAILWAY TERMINUS WHERE ALL THE PASSENGERS TRAINS OF THE MARYPORT & CARLISLE , WHITEHAVEN JUNCTION , WHITEHAVEN & FURNESS JUNCTION & WHITEHAVEN CLEATOR & EGREMONT RAILWAYS ARRIVE & DEPART & FROM WHICH THERE IS A COVERED PASSAGE TO THE HOTEL. THE APARTMENTS ARE NUMEROUS, WITH EXTENSIVE SEA VIEWS. THE COFFEE ROOM FOR FAMILIES & GENTLEMEN IS ELEGANT & SPACIOUS & IS NOR SURPASSED BY MANY OF THOSE IN LONDON. ALL CHARGES ARE MADE IN THE BILL. COMMERCIAL GENTLEMEN WILL FIND THE HOTEL PARTICULARLY CONVENIENT FROM ITS PROXIMITY TO THE RAILWAY STATION. A LARGE ROOM HAS BEEN SPECIALLY RESERVED FOR THEIR ACCOMMODATION AND EVERY ATTENTION WILL BE PAID TO SECURE THEIR COMFORT. THERE IS ALSO A GOD SMOKING ROOM. HOT, COLD & SHOWERBATHS ALWAYS READY.
THE MESSRS BROWNS WORKS ARE A VERY OLD ESTABLISHED BUSINESS, AND I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT IT IS STILL IN FULL SWING ON THE OLD GROUND, UNDER THE ABLE MANAGEMENT OF THE SON OF MR W. BROWN, THE DYER OF 50 YEARS AGO.
PASSING JANE SCOTT'S PUBLIC HOUSE, WE HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT ARCH WHICH , BY THE WAY , HAD ONLY THE CENTRE OR ROADWAY OPEN THEN, FOR IT WAS NOT UNTIL AFTER THE RAILWAY WAS OPENED TO MARYPORT THAT THE TWO SMALL ARCHES WERE CUT THROUGH FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF FOOT PASSENGERS, AND IT MADE A GREAT IMPROVEMENT. AND SOME OF OUR YOUNGER READERS, OR A STRANGER, MIGHT THINK THAT BRANSTY ARCH, WHICH CERTAINLY GIVES OUR TOWN A CITADEL APPEARANCE, HAD BEEN ERECTED FOR SOME PURPOSE OF DEFENCE, IN THE TIME OF THE OLD FEUDAL OR CIVIL WARS, BUT LET ME TELL THEM THAT IT WAS BUILT BY SIR JAMES LOWTHER AND WELL BUILT TOO, FOR IT IS A SOLID PIECE OF MASONRY, PUT TOGETHER WITH HOT LIME AND FREESTONE, AND WAS USED AS A MEANS OF CONVEYING THE WAGGONS FROM JAMES PIT TO THE NORTH WALL BY A TRAMWAY OR INCLINE."
THE FIRST OF THESE TWO IMAGES CLEARLY SHOWS THE ORIGINAL BRANSTY ARCH WITH IT'S SINGLE PASSAGEWAY AND THE SHIPBUILDING YARDS OFF TO THE RIGHT, WHILST THE OTHER SHOWS THE REMNANTS OF JAMES PIT WHICH STOOD BEHIND ST NICHOLAS CHURCH ON HIGH STREET
WHERE ARE NOW THE CAB OFFICES AND STABLES WAS MR HILL'S IRON ORE YARD AND OFFICES, UNDER THE CHARGE OF MR JAMES DAVIDSON. AFTERWARDS WE HAD MRS NELMAN'S TEMPERANCE HOTEL, AND THE SHOP OF MR JOSEPH WALKER, PLUMBER, WITH THE BUILDING YARD OF MR YEOWART, NOW OCCUPIED BY OUR ENTERPRISING RADESMAN OF TODAY , MR RICHARD COUSINS. IN BLUE BELL LANE WE HAD THE PAINT SHOP OF MR OLIVER HODGSON, A VERY RESPECTED AND OBLIGING GENTLEMAN, AS ALSO THE JOINER AND CABINET WORKSHOPS OF MR THOMAS BELL, AFTERWARDS MR JOHN MERRIES'S.
OPPOSITE TO THE BLUE BELL, IN THE PREMISES NOW YOUR PROPERTY, WHEREIN IS PUBLISHED THE " ADVERTISER ", WAS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ONE OF WHITEHAVEN'S CLEVEREST TRADESMEN, MR ASKEW THE WOOD CARVER. IT WAS HERE HE CARRIED ON FOR YEARS A STEADY AND THRIVING BUSINESS ESPECIALLY AMONGST THE SHIPPING OF OUR PORT. HE WAS NOTED FOR THE REMARKABLE LIFE LIKENESS OF HIS FIGURE HEADS, AND I AM GLAD TO SAY THAT MY OLD FRIEND, MR JAMES MARTIN , OF NEW STREET, ONE OF HIS WORTHY PUPILS, WHO HAS SINCE CARRIED ON THE CARVING BUSINESS , HAS IN HIS POSSESSION SOME VALUABLE WORKS OF ART. IN THE EXECUTION OF LARGE PICTURE FRAMES OR CARVING IN GENERAL MR ASKEW WAS A THOROUGH GENIUS. THEN WE HAD MR WATSON, THE WHOLE SALE GROCER, A GENTLEMAN WHO WAS MUCH RESPECTED .
BLUE BELL LANE WHICH REMINDS US OF ONE OF THE MANY TAVERNS ON TANGIER
STREET AT ONE TIME.
OPPOSITE WAS THE TOBACCO SHOP OF MR JACKSON WHO LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THAT VAST MANUFACTORY MESSRS GEORGE JACKSON & CO. NEAR TO MR JACKSON'S WAS THE SHOP OF MR KILBRIDE, JOINER, WHO WAS FOR MANY YEARS EMPLOYED IN MESSRS BROCKLEBANK'S SHIPBUILDING YARD. CLOSE TOO WE HAD THE COACH BUILDING ESTABLISHMENT OF A WORTHY AND HONOURED TRADESMAN, MR JOSEPH RICHARDSON OF THE TURK'S HEAD. IT WAS THE ROOMS OVER THE STABLES OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT THAT THE ODDFELLOWS HELD THEIR MEETINGS FOR MANY YEARS AFTER THEIR REMOVAL FROM THE ROOMS IN DUKE STREET NOW THE WORKSHOPS AND CABINET MANUFACTORY OF MR McCARD. NOTICING BY THE WAY THE SHOPS OF MR DAVIS THE TEA DEALER AND GROCER.
THE CHUSAN TEA WAREHOUSE OF MR DAVIS
THE AUTHOR CLEARLY HAS A GREAT RESPECT FOR BOTH THE TOWN AND IT'S BUSINESS FRATERNITY.HE SPEAKS HIGHLY OF THE KNOWN LANDMARKS WITH SOME PRIDE, A CHARACTERISTIC WHICH IS ALL TOO OFTEN MISSING THESE DAYS. MANY YEARS AFTER HE WROTE HIS "REMINISCENCES | THE EDITOR OF THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS WROTE ABOUT TANGIER STREET IN THE FOLLOWING WORDS..
" THE DEVELOPMENT OF TANGIER STREET IS AN OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF POST WAR WHITEHAVEN. THAT IMPOSING STRUCTURE , THE NEW GAIETY PICTURE HOUSE, THE CUMBERLAND MOTOR SERVICES HEADQUARTERS, WITH THEIR NEW GARAGE, NOW IN THE COURSE OF ERECTION , AND MESSRS T. S. BELL'S NEW BUILDING, ALL CONTRIBUTING THEIR QUOTA TO THE NEW IMPORTANCE TANGIER STREET HAS ASSUMED. WE A RE ON COMMON GROUND IN SAYING THAT THE MAIN GATEWAY INTO THE BOROUGH SHOULD BE ONE OF SUITABLE DIGNITY, AND WE HOPE THAT LOCAL ENTERPRISE WILL CONTINUE TO EXERT ITS INFLUENCE IN THIS DIRECTION . AS AN INDICATION O0F WHAT CAN BE ADDED TO THESE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS WE MENTION BRANSTY ARCHES. A NOBLE STRUCTURE WHICH REMINDS VISITORS OF THE ANCIENT GATES OF THE CITY OF CHESTER. THEY ARE ON THE VERY THRESHOLD OF OUR BOROUGH & SEEM TO BELONG T NO ONE. THE CENTRAL ARCH BEARS TRACES OF WHAT WAS EVIDENTLY A LARGE COAT OF ARMS EITHER OF THE EARL OF LONSDALE OR MAYBE THE BOROUGH OF WHITEHAVEN. SOME TIME AGO WE URGED THAT THE TIME HAS COME TO FOR THE DEMOLITION OF THE ARCHES, BUT IT IS QUITE EVIDENT THAT SUCH A COURSE DID NOT COMMEND ITSELF TO THE OWNER, AND THEREFORE WE NOW VENTURE TO SUGGEST THAT WITHOUT DESTROYING THE ANCIENT AND DIGNIFIED APPEARANCE OF THE STRUCTURE , A WELCOME IMPROVEMENT WOULD BE AFFECTED IF THE POWERS THAT BE COULD HAVE IT DEALT WITH AND ITS ANCIENT GLORIES RESTORED.'
SADLY THE 'POWERS THAT BE ' DEALT WITH IT BY DESTROYING THE ARCHES IN 1927 DESPITE A GREAT OUTCRY FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC.......
I WONDER WHAT THE ANONYMOUS WRITER ,AND THE 1922 EDITOR, WOULD MAKE OF TODAY'S TANGIER STREET WITH ITS TWO DERELICT BUS STATIONS A BOARDED UP GARAGE AND EMPTY SHOPS???????