MARIA CLISSITT: I was born 1951. There was me mum and dad, me three brothers and me little sister Penny. Peter was born in hospital but the rest of us were born at Aufhole. Uncle Arthur and Aunty Kathleen lived in the end cottage with our cousins: grandad and grandma lived in the other end house, nearest the barn.
Maria Clissitt as a baby at Aufole Cottages
FRANK CLISSITT: I was born in 1955. We lived in the middle cottage. Me grandma and me cousins were O’Roukes – Kevin, Michael and Darleen. My brothers and sisters were Peter, Maria, Tony, Carl and Penny. When my sister Penny was born there was something wrong with her. She was very fragile. She went to Airedale Hospital a lot. Penny and me had yellow jaundice when I was eleven. I got over it but she died. Then we moved to Ripponden and we had another four (Clive, Alan, Yvonne and Barry). We always said it was the drinking water from the well that made my sister poorly. She was in Seacroft Hospital for ages and we used to go and visit her. She got to the stage where she couldn’t walk, so she had to be carried round on a cushion all the time. She was given till six years to live but she died of yellow jaundice when she was nine.
From left to right: Frank, Maria, Darleen, Peter, Tony and Carl
Our dad, Peter, came from Wales and our mam was Joan. Uncle Arthur and Grandpa came from Liverpool and Auntie Kathleen came from Ireland. Grandma’s name was Grace.
We rented our cottage off a local farmer who owned all the land the cottages and the barn. The part of the barn where the hay came down was haunted. Round the back it was all mucky with the cows going round. From Clapgate Lane you came down steps with a massive wall and railings. At back there were a bit of a yard and some outhouses where we had to go to the toilet.
Me granny’s house was big. We had two rooms and me granny had three big rooms. We had to walk through me mum’s bedroom to get to ours. Maria and Penny had a bed in me mum and dad’s room and us four lads slept in the other bedroom.
Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Grace, with brothers Frank, Carl and Tony
In’t 19th Century there were other houses on the end of our terrace. Our cottages started near the well. Me grandad used to do a bit of gardening and found the foundations of the other cottages. Our cottage was condemned because we were over-run wi’ rats and we had no water. We had to get our water from the spring. At bath time it was one in, one out quick before school on Monday. On bath night there would be four-five sharing the bath with Star Drops shampoo for our hair. Me mum would pour water over our heads from a big jug.
Grandpa Arthur with Maria
We had to tip our rubbish on the bank. People came to empty toilets but nobody took any rubbish away. We’d burn the rubbish and then bury what we couldn’t burn. Some rats were the size of a cat. We’d put our rags in cellar and when rag man came he would bag some rats as well. He’d tie up his sack and say ‘I wonder how many I have today’. At night time we could hear the rats running across the ceiling. I were that scared I couldn’t sleep wondering if they were coming to get me. One night I was coming through me mum’s bedroom and I saw a rat on me mum’s breast. I went to me dad and he whacked it.
You went in the side door [of me grandma’s house] into the living room and there was a staircase to one bedroom. When you came in the other door, which we hardly ever used, there was another massive staircase and brought you up into another bedroom and there was a big living room to the front which she didn’t use much. That’s where she kept all her tea and sugar under lock and key. At times I’d be sent down to ask her for a cup of sugar or tea. We had little gas mantles with chains for light. Mum made everything clothes-wise because she couldn’t afford anything else. She would go to jumble sales held at the Chapel. But we were happy. It was lovely. It really were, apart from when we had no water.
There used to be a little stone hut where we lit fires. We used to play there a lot but the landlord would chase us off especially at hay making. You can still see the old coal chute now. So, when they built flats in Ripponden me grandma was first to move and then Uncle Arthur moved to Rishworth and we moved to Brig Royd.
Grandad bred cocker spaniels and had homing pigeons in the attic. In 1962 grandad passed away. Mother worked at Lower Soyland Mill. She spent a lot of time there. That was 1963.
Joan and Arthur
We had a dog called Peggy, a lovely dog and our landlord shot it because it were on his land. Me mum and dad were devastated. We had police up but they couldn’t prove owt.
Peter with his pet dog Peggy
We’d walk everywhere. Our dad were a coalmanA man whose job was to deliver coal to people’s houses for a short time before working at Sagar Richards. He walked to Luddenden Foot and back every day. We had to walk to Sacred Heart School at Sowerby. I think we were the only Catholic family in Mill Bank.
One day, the snow was really deep. Maria put her socks over her wellies to stop slipping and halfway home it were so bad she collapsed crying ‘I can’t go any further’. Somehow we got her back.
Every Sunday without fail we’d all walk to church in Sowerby Bridge.
We had a wonderful childhood. The freedom was great. It was amazing in the woods. We would go to the ‘spoon and basin’ to swim and tickle troutTrout tickling is the art of rubbing the underbelly of a trout with fingers. If done properly, the trout will go into a trance after a minute or so, and can then easily be retrieved which we would eat if it was big enough. There were loads of fish in’t stream. Our older brother Peter caught one that were twenty-two inches long. He had a photo taken of himself and his fish in the Courier.
We’d play on the dam behind the water mill. When it got icy mum said not to go near the pond but we did and went skating. When it snowed me and me brothers went sledging down Foxen Lane, it were great fun. We amused ourselves; we had no fear; we loved it. We’d make rope swings across the stream and had three-wheeler bikes to race up and down the lane. Grandad made us a buggy from old pram wheels. Going round corners we’d put our feet out and wear our shoes out (braking). It were fantastic. If you did anything stupid you’d get a clout. That’s just the way it were.
Tony, Maria and Peter Clissitt
We used to go blackberry picking and bilberry picking at Cottonstones up on the top road, and we’d bathe under the bridge. There was a lot more water then. It was really deep.
Mam would wring the necks of chickens and make her own bread and cakes on the range. Before mum had new tiled fireplace we had the old black range. She’d keep nappies in one side and I’d sit there watching bread rise. I loved it.
Milk for all the cottages was delivered in a churn that was left near the spring and people would help themselves with jugs.
Once our dad took us to Hollingworth Lake. They had little ‘speed’ boats going round at five miles an hour and coconut shies. I don’t know how he got five of us in the car. If the car struggled on hills we would get out and we’d meet up again at the top of the road. The Stevensons were our friends further up the road and one day my friend slipped and fell over the waterfall. She was lucky she only had a graze. The Stevensons lived at the top of Foxen Lane off to the right.
Two brothers lived next to the Douglas’s Farm near the bridge. The’d frighten us peering out of their little windows. The Halls used to give them food. Another man lived in the corner cottage at Brookside Cottages. It were a tiny room. He lived on his own and he mended cuckoo clocks. If you passed on the hour you could hear a succession of ‘cuckoos’.
There were lots of public paths and we made a path down the field to the road. Mum and dad would visit a lot of neighbours. They were in and out of people’s homes all the time. Everybody knew everybody else in the village and it was so friendly. The doors would always be open.