Cobbles and Clogs - our own local Archaeology project
Our school is built in a wonderfully historical area. Last summer , we uncovered a whole cobbled street beneath our playing field - Pritchard Street, which was last seen and walked upon in the 1970s and was one of the original 'Coronation Streets' of Ordsall. Together with Salford University, we are investigating the lives and times of the extra-ordinary people who lived there through happy times and hard times such as the expansion of the Docks and the cotton mills, the Great War and the terrible Depression of the Twenties, then the Blitz of World War Two.
We want to learn about the very different lives of the children who once lived where we live now. How were they different? How are we the same? Do we still share their steadfastness in hard times, their courage and gumption - and sense of being rooted in a supportive,close-knit community centred around the family, home, school and parish?
The picture below shows Pritchard Street as it was just before the wholesale clearance of the area in the 1960s and 70s.Thank you to Gemma's dad for this wonderful photograph. St. Joseph's school (right on the picture) still stands alongside the excavated cobbles.
If you have pictures of this area we would love to add them to our archive. Particularly: interior views of the houses and pictures of the people, showing the fashions and footwear or the times, especially any clogs!
We have a photo of the William IV pub, once on Robert Hall Street and now under our field. Was there a shop on Pritchard Street? or nearby?? Does anyone have a photograph?
We have found the names of the residents of our street in 1901 - and found that they settled in Salford from all over Britain and from Ireland, India and Nassau. They worked so hard as cotton mill operatives, dyers, ships' cooks, servants, builders, joiners, drivers and railway workers. (Scroll down for a picture of Pritchard Street before demolition)