Letter from A. Borrow.

Well, first an apology for not posting on here for such a long time, real life has got in the way of my obsession. But that does not mean I have been idle, just not had the time to compose any new postings. I have had a busy summer but not totally with the Remington branch. I managed two trips over the summer, one to London to the British Library to look at a book and one to Ingleton to find Scar End farm. I shall post later about the Ingleton trip.

Margaret told me about this book : Valley of the Wild Stream: A History of Wildboarclough by Antony Borrow. It is where the information so kindly passed on by Sheila came from. I tried to borrow this book from Manchester library and was advised by them that there was a copy of the book available for reference at the British Library in London. Well, not one to be daunted I had to contrived to get there. Joseph could be persuaded with the prospect of a train trip and Cariad very kindly provided an extra reason by flying back from the USA after a choir trip and wanted to be 'met'. We stayed at the youth hostel, which was very convenient - opposite the British Library and close to three London main stations. However as usual things did not go smoothly. I had planned to spend a full day in the Library looking at this book but when we got there, and we were there for opening time, I was told under 18s could not go in the reading rooms. Disaster!!!! I had to rethink and re plan. You have to have a readers card to use the library so decided to get that and order the book for the following day - I must say I was not impressed with the British Library - I thought they were most unfriendly. I know they must get fed up with people who do not know the routine but it is quite overwhelming and different to other libraries. Firstly they appeared quite indignant that I was unaware of the rule about under 18s, then you have to go through a quite rigorous procedure to get your readers card- providing not just identification and proof of your address but also the reason you want to use the library, luckily I had the letter from Manchester Library. They then very 'kindly' issue you with a card with your photo on valid for a month. So if you go again you have to go through this all over again. Part way through this procedure their computers 'went down'......this was a good thing for me, people were turned away with the helpful advise that they did not know when they could register and the room emptied. As we were at a loose end this did not matter and the room became nice and quiet. You have to fill in your details on a computer and order books by computer. Not being very good on computers I found this difficult to do. Again I think the library could have made this easier. The actual building itself I did not like - big empty modern and soulless. A huge entrance hall, impressive but cold and empty and useless. I think it would have made more sense to have larger reading rooms. Mind you, I was probably being all negative because I was disappointed. Anyway we ended up spending the day walking about London and getting absolutely drenched. Joseph saw Waterloo, Kings Cross and St. Pancras stations so he was happy. The following day, I managed two hours in the library and Joseph stayed with Cariad.

There are two volumes to this book. They are hardback and about the size of a large old fashioned bible. I liked the look of them straight away and I think I was so excited I was shaking. Now I really did just glance through the pages and it was just the kind of book that I love. Not only does Mr. Borrow provide all his research details he also gives lots of background detail and tries to explain why things happened. He has an 'easy' (by that I mean enjoyable) to read writing style and the layout of the pages is good. I used the index to quickly look at the references to Remington. I have written to Mr. Borrow to ask him if I could quote from his book and I have received a lovely letter back. He has told me that there are other reference copies of his book at Macclesfield Library and in the library of the Cheshire Family History Society at Alderley Edge. So I am planning on going to Macclesfield at half term to have another more detailed look and check the notes I made in London. I will then posted them on here.

The general impression that I got from Mr. Borrow's book was that when William and Henry moved to Wildboarclough it was a time of investment and improvement in the valley but when the estate was inherited by the son he did not have the same attitude. So the fortunes of farmers not only depended on their own hard work but were subjected to the will of the landowners. Mr Borrow also wrote about agriculture in general and the difficulties faced.

There is a section in the book about Gamekeepers which is very interesting. I wonder how many gamekeepers there were in the valley at one time. There is reference to Henry in his capacity as gamekeeper being involved in the prosecution of a poacher.

Another interesting avenue of thought - both Remington brothers were involved in the Conservatives (? need to double check this, as I was running out of time and my notes by this time were a scribble - you are only allowed to use a pencil in the British Library). I had not thought about political leanings before.

To bring this post to a close a message to Mr. Borrow, if you manage to find your way here. Welcome and thank you once again for publishing such an inspirational book.