All quiet up the junction (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

All quiet up the junction

1:02pm Thursday 14th January 2010

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THIS week, we look back at a view of Besses Junction featured in a photograph taken from Bury Old Road during the 1960s.

On the right of the picture is Findlay’s the grocer, situated on the corner of Clegg Street, which was named after the Clegg family.

They had a weaving shed which fronted the right side of the street.

Findlay’s grocer shop was originally the Rose and Crown Inn, which was kept by Robert Francis.

Mr Findlay later moved to 5, Clegg Street, where he ran a small coal merchant’s business.

He obtained his coal from the pit at Outwood and would loan small trucks for customers to take their coal home.

The double-decker bus in its green and cream livery was part of Salford’s bus fleet.

Municipal provision of public transport continued until 1969 when it was replaced by a passenger transport board for Greater Manchester.

On the left of the picture is the Junction Inn, which was rebuilt in 1956.

It was at this time that the landlord of the Junction, Harry Bernard Allen, had become Britain’s most famous landlord.

He was, in fact, the country’s official hangman.

Mr Allen was born in Yorkshire on November 5, 1911.

After a previous job as a bus driver, Mr Allen went on to become a hangman from 1941 to 1964, being chief executioner for 29 hangings and assistant execution for 53 others at prisons in London, Manchester and Leeds.

He always wore a bow tie at the time of his executions as a sign of respect.

Mr Allen’s most controversial hanging came in April, 1962, when James Hanratty was hanged for murder, despite efforts being made to clear his name.

Mr Allen died on August 14, 1992.

* Information and photograph courtesy of local historian Ian Pratt.

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