Après le deluge 2

I'm not sure that I have ever shown this view of these houses on Hirst Mill Crescent before. It's an interesting old row of very disparate cottages and larger houses, with an old mill converted into flats right at the bottom of the lane. The hamlet is tucked in between Hirst lock on the canal, with access over the swing bridge, and on the other side of the mill the River Aire goes hurtling past over the weir. (See here for a view from the other side). Some of the houses date back to the 1860s, when there was a farm on the opposite bank of the canal and a lock-keepers cottage on this side. There has been a mill at the end of the lane since 1740, at first a corn mill, later converted to paper making. The mill and hamlet were bought by Sir Titus Salt in 1872 and let to tenants. It was used by a firm who washed industrial cloths (their sign is still visible on the brickwork), then a mattress maker and finally a textile combing firm. It closed in 1968 and was made into flats in 1970.

With so much water surrounding them, it is hardly surprising that some of these properties were flooded in the deluge on Boxing Day. Skips full of soggy furniture and ruined possessions are an all-too-common sight round here at the moment. Heartbreaking.