tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post5911902310314290271..comments2024-03-26T23:09:17.902+00:00Comments on She-Wolf: Saving Bailey’s Wood, ManchesterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-85766881026309143232020-11-08T09:25:14.311+00:002020-11-08T09:25:14.311+00:00My mum and dad lived at knottley hill farm blackle...My mum and dad lived at knottley hill farm blackley . We are from several generation of farmers in Blackley area. They pulled down the farm and built Saint John Boscoes school. Still there today. Blackley is steeped in history. King Arthur. White walk. Ghost boggarts farms throughout blackley. Mum and dad in1953 moved onto Grange drive and spent there working life at booth hall children's hospital. We came from several generations of farmers have research/family tree. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-22396896663272466422019-10-28T15:56:48.966+00:002019-10-28T15:56:48.966+00:00Hi James, thank you so much for your comment! What...Hi James, thank you so much for your comment! What brilliant memories of the woods. I love it! Hopefully next year we'll have a Friends of Bailey's Wood website set up, with a guest book section for people to leave their own stories about the woods. It's great hearing people's stories - and I think from now on I'll be watching out for the grave of Dracula! :-)Hannah Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03242167746990058979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-84629351747836769842019-10-09T09:16:06.848+01:002019-10-09T09:16:06.848+01:00Wow, Hannah, reading about the woods I played in a...Wow, Hannah, reading about the woods I played in as a kid was a joy. Thank you. We got one of the new Dam Head council houses and around 1979/1980, the ten-year-old me discovered Bailey's Woods (we said woods, with an S). I guess I'd roamed further than I was allowed to. Again! We played commandos in there, we ran from bigger kids and we made dens using the milk-crates you'd find everywhere back then. At one part, facing Dam Head, the trees always seemed thinner and we could scramble down the steep hill there. Those trees often seemed full of magpies. More than you could count. We called that part Magpie Hill. Up towards the Cinder Path were the graves of Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy. It struck me when I was much older that these must have been four paving slabs a local must have thrown there, unneeded. One slab (Dracula's Grave) straddled the brook, which was just a dribble at that point. The tale was, if you stepped on it to cross the brook, you could never get back. Some strange power stopped you returning. We dared each other, but were too frightened to chance it. After all, we wanted to get home for our tea. And Battle of the Planets on the telly. From a hill at the edge of Dam Head, we'd sit and stare at that tower/chimney that rose from Booth Hall hospital, just its top visible over the trees of Bailey's Wood. We kids knew for sure that a murderer lived in there. Haha. Great memories of many a time in those woods. Something came back to me and it struck me to see if anybody had written about Bailey's Wood(s) on the internet. That's how I found your article. Good luck. My childhood on Dam Head is very dear to me and Bailey's Wood(s) features strongly in the best of times. James Wardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-61039463544373559412019-04-01T14:52:25.785+01:002019-04-01T14:52:25.785+01:00Hi Paul, thanks so much for your comment. Really p...Hi Paul, thanks so much for your comment. Really pleased you enjoyed my post. I think Bailey's Wood will be around for many years to come... we just need to give it a bit of TLC at the moment. :-)Hannah Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03242167746990058979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-70625702844820573152019-03-22T16:17:45.805+00:002019-03-22T16:17:45.805+00:00I grew up in White Moss in the 70's and 80'...I grew up in White Moss in the 70's and 80's and I used to play in the woods as a kid. I remember Damhead housing estate being built which must have been in the late 70's and as kids do, we used the building site as an adventure playground. I haven't been back to Manchester for decades now but am very interested in the history of where I grew up. I hope Baileys Wood is still around long after I'm gone for kids to enjoy; if they can pull themselves from their Playstations that is lol. Thank you very much for a pleasurable and informative read. Paul M. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13477980550082723035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-36264488464441718642018-08-12T12:53:49.803+01:002018-08-12T12:53:49.803+01:00I grew up in Blackley and Baileys wood was part of...I grew up in Blackley and Baileys wood was part of my stomping ground. I still walk up the Cinder path regularly visiting family who still live in that area. Thank you for a very interesting read. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-34817642838518162542018-07-31T04:18:19.867+01:002018-07-31T04:18:19.867+01:00Was Born and raised in the area, I remember the co...Was Born and raised in the area, I remember the cows walking on the fields from White Moss farm, and going through the woods on the way to see my dad, who worked at Booth Hall. Never realized the woods were that old. Would love to have a walk through,with my camera, but the idea of the local scroats who live in the area puts me off. <br />The council need to make an action plan, seeing as the woods are that old. Could you not involve the forestry commission as well?<br />The article is very well written, and very interesting.<br />Thanks for publishing it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-42617662783646367242018-07-31T04:17:15.817+01:002018-07-31T04:17:15.817+01:00Was Born and raised in the area, I remember the co...Was Born and raised in the area, I remember the cows walking on the fields from White Moss farm, and going through the woods on the way to see my dad, who worked at Booth Hall. Never realized the woods were that old. Would love to have a walk through,with my camera, but the idea of the local scroats who live in the area puts me off. <br />The council need to make an action plan, seeing as the woods are that old. Could you not involve the forestry commission as well?<br />The article is very well written, and very interesting.<br />Thanks for publishing it.saltshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04625338006059517115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-67717148848123926842018-02-21T23:47:22.461+00:002018-02-21T23:47:22.461+00:00Thanks, Carl. You'd be more than welcome to jo...Thanks, Carl. You'd be more than welcome to join us! Check the Facebook page for updates or to get in touch with us. :-)Hannah Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03242167746990058979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-53939543421635392432018-02-21T20:48:21.763+00:002018-02-21T20:48:21.763+00:00Excellent stuff - as a keen amateur local historia...Excellent stuff - as a keen amateur local historian from Oldham, I love anything like this and I`ve enjoyed many a nice walk around your way. Keep up the good work and I`ll help out on the odd weekend I have free - CarlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-38735570759398647512018-02-12T16:07:50.933+00:002018-02-12T16:07:50.933+00:00Thanks so much. We're still working hard to ge...Thanks so much. We're still working hard to get people involved in this project, and hopefully will make progress on the brook soon. :-)Hannah Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03242167746990058979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-85905600208711261902018-01-03T20:16:24.821+00:002018-01-03T20:16:24.821+00:00This is amazing stuff. Especially the unclogging ...This is amazing stuff. Especially the unclogging of the brook, obviously fundamental to the surrounding natural habitat. We need more of this stuff throughout the UK. Good Luck!! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-33722339153624554462017-07-24T23:14:06.834+01:002017-07-24T23:14:06.834+01:00Hi Pete,
Thanks for your comment. I'm glad yo...Hi Pete,<br /><br />Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed my post. Bailey's Wood and Boggart Hole Clough were all part of the same estate until 1894, when the Clough was sold to the Corporation. But Boggart Hole Clough was only a very small bit of woodland back then - most of what we now think of as the Clough was farmland. So much fascinating history here! :-)Hannah Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03242167746990058979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741080303395651095.post-28239095073991913682017-07-23T17:58:58.174+01:002017-07-23T17:58:58.174+01:00That was a fascinating read! I'd never heard o...That was a fascinating read! I'd never heard of Bailey's Wood before. I am, however, interested in the history of Boggart Hole Clough (I live on the other side near the market), which I believe Baileys wood would once have been a part of when the deer park was much bigger. According to an article I read a while back it was all part of the Forest of Arden that stretched from Broughton, in Salford, to Blackley back around 79AD.<br /><br />I'll certainly have a look at Bailey's Wood the next time I'm taking one of my little walks through the Clough.Petehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02886488379341647701noreply@blogger.com