Chequerbent Days

Family photographs of Terry and Dorothy Riley

These photographs mainly relate to Chequerbent, part of Westhoughton, and a thriving mining community at one time.

Theckston's

Christopher Thomas Theckston was a hairdresser and he was Dorothy's mother's uncle. The photograph is dated about 1910. He had a shop in Manchester before opening one in Weston Street, Bolton. In those days he also sold and repaired umbrellas as this was a sideline for a hairdresser at that time. Dorothy's mother was Mary Theckston Matthews and she was brought up by her uncle and his family. Mary married George Austin, and Dorothy married Terry Riley.

The Manchester Shop

Brancker Street

Dorothy's mother, Mary, a weaver, worked at all the weaving mills in Westhoughton, finishing at Taylor and Hartley's. When she married she lived at 5 Brancker Street. The street was situated just near where the Chequerbent roundabout is today.

The houses in Brancker Street were built by the Hulton Colliery Company for their employees. At the back they were blocked by the private railway line linking the colliery with the main line, which ran in a cutting almost beneath their front doors. The street got its name because two Liverpool men, Richard and John Brancker, were early directors of the company. The street knew tragedy in abundance. After the Pretoria Pit explosion on 21 December 1910 there was hardly a house in the street that didn't have a coffin.