Bimble: Red Bank Farm Steam and Tractor Rally: Haydock, Newton and Winwick.

Kieran makes his way the scenic route to Red Bank Farm in Newton-Le-Willows.

Tickets Wallasey/New Brighton………
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Good morning, Bimblers. And you join me on top of a great big hill. We’re at Lyman Woodpit Country Park, which used to be a coal mine. And I think we stood on top of the old slag heap. We were supposed to be going to Presstatin today for some unfinished business, but I heard that there’s a steam and tractor rally happening at Redbank Farm here in Newton just around the corner from me house. So, we couldn’t miss that, could we? So, I think we should talk about some roads, some old coal mines, and the history of Red Bank Farm amongst other things. So, let’s stop messing about. Let’s bimble. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] You talk, all your thoughts on your mind. Are you listening? You still won’t figure it out. What we’ve just been bimbling down would have been the old road to Wood Pit, linking it onto the A- road behind me, which according to the ordinance survey has had many different names. It was once Wigan Road and at the moment it’s Ashton Road leading onto Lodge Lane. At one point it would have been called Cole Pit Laneing you directly from Newton High Street to Woodpit. But going back nearly 2,000 years, it would have been the old Roman road. Lodge Lane makes up that old Roman road. But where it curves around near the sign for Newton Willows, it would have carried on straight right through the housing estate and right down my street would have gone through next door but one’s garden. It was the Roman road from Wigan or Coxium as the Romans called it and it would have gone all the way to Howley in Warrington where it would have crossed over the river Murzy and carried on to Wilderspool which I believe the Romans called Veritinum. There’s a little bit of dispute where the road went as it left Newton and how we got through Winnick. Some chaps in the Victorian era, you know, some posh chaps and some reverends, people who had time to do that kind of thing. Well, they did a survey of it. And in the 1970s, some archaeologists did some digging around in the farms around there, found evidence of the old Roman road. But we do know one thing for sure. It went right down my street and down past my house. That’s been born [Music] out with a simple frame of mind and a little time. You can protest all you like. We both know with good will on your side. time. You can have just what you like. Both easy better off this time. Have your own way. Life easy. Just try. I know you heard every word. every line, but you’re missing it. Why won’t you figure it out? Figure it. Though I talk really loud and you heard, “Oh, it’s definite.” You still won’t figure it out. Figure it with a simple frame of mind and a little time. You can protest all you like. We both know [Music] We’ve gone from a very old road to a very new road. This one only opened a few weeks ago and I’ve been itching to ride my bike down itates. You see, this used to be Parkside Collier and as coal mines go, this was quite a modern one. Was only opened in 1957 and the first buckets of coal were only brought to the surface in 1964. You think a nice modern coal mine would be a lot safer than them old Victorian ones? But apparently someone died before they’d even brought any coal to the surface. A total of 84 people died here at Parkside Collure. At its peak, 1,600 people would have been working on this site, and it cost the National Coal Board£13 million to build. That’s about £270 million in today’s money. However, in 1992, it was closed pending review. The Secretary of State, Michael Hesseline, spent a grand total of 36 hours seeing whether Parkside collery was profitable, which it was. They just found a new seam of coal and bought £6 million worth of mining equipment. But he still closed it. It was officially closed in 1993, and such was the rush to close it and demolish the pit egg gears. They left all of that mining equipment under the ground, £6 million worth. clearly didn’t mind spending the money on the coal mine or wasting it when they closed it. The land around the coal mine was left to nature for about 30 years. But in more recent times, it’s set to be used by Liverpool Free Port. So basically, it’s going to be a car park for lorries and trucks. Nothing very interesting, but we did get a new road out of it. Opened a few weeks ago, although it hasn’t been officially opened, has it? cuz I haven’t rode me bike down it yet. Let’s bimbo [Music] better time easy. Just try [Applause] [Music] with a simple frame of mind and a little time. You can protest all you like. You both know with good will on your side a little time. You can have just what you like. No [Music] is trying to better off time. And so we reached the little village of Hermitage Green just over the border into Warrington. It’s part of Winnick. The name Hermitage Green has its origins going back to 642 AD. According to folklore, King Oswald, the king of the North Umbreans, that’s everyone north of the river Murzy, he’s said to have died in one of the farmer’s fields around here. That would be Wood Head Farm. And according to legend, the exact location where he died sprang a spring, a holy well, which would cure you of all your ailments. Because it was a holy well, a hermit came here and looked after it, thus giving the village its name, Hermitage Green. But as another curious historical fact about Woodhead Farm was once home to the Pennington family, in particular, a Sarah Pennington. She married an Edward Smith who became the captain of the Titanic. They were actually married in St. Oswald’s church just down the road. As another fact about Woodad Farm to do with the Titanic, when the White Star Line stopped sailing from Liverpool and started sailing from Southampton, the Smith family moved down to Southampton and had a big house built and they named that house Woodhead after the farm where Sarah used to live. Let’s bim [Music] way. [Music] Easy. Just try [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and so bimlers were tantalizingly close to the steam fair. Can hear it in the background. But we had to stop and talk about the end of the Second Civil War. That happened here in August of 1648. You see, Parliament didn’t like Charles I. They thought he was too big for his britches. And Oliver Cromwell decided he was going to get rid of him. So, they had a civil war, which didn’t really work. So, then they had a second civil war that ended here in Winnick. 6 to7,000 royalist soldiers were stationed here believing they would have some kind of advantage over the 5,000 parliamentary soldiers but it didn’t really work out for him. They run out of gunpowder and what gunpowder they did have was all wet from the previous battle in Preston. They had to hight tail it out of Preston and leave all the supplies there. Whereas your Oliver Cromwell’s army had loads of supplies. They’re all fit and ready to fight. A thousand royalist soldiers were killed here at the battle of Redbank aka the battle of Winnick whereas only a 100 parliamentary soldiers were killed. So that meant that Oliver Cromwell won and he rounded up all the royalist soldiers and marched them into Warrington. And any of the stragglers were killed by the locals cuz they didn’t really like the royalists either. Any of the royalist soldiers that had actually volunteered to fight were all enslaved and became indentured servants. They were sent over to the Caribbean to Jamaica and Trinidad and Barbados. Sounds like a nice holiday, but they were sent there to work in the cane fields. And they earned the nickname Red Legs cuz they’re all ginger like me. But don’t get it twisted, they weren’t slaves like the African slaves were slaves. They were just indentured servants. They were actually paid and given places to live. Whereas your African slaves were bought and their children and their children’s children were all owned by people. Whereas your indentured servants, well, they were kind of free. They were just made to work in the sugarcane fields. And you think that those red legs would have a little bit of sympathy for the African slaves. But when slavery was abolished in the 1830s, they refused to work with the African slaves. They didn’t believe that they should get paid the same as the red legs got paid. So the red legs were all rounded up and placed in places like Saint Vincent and Grenada. But anyway, that’s enough about wars and kings and slaves and things. We need to get to this steam rally. They’re all having steam based fun without me. That’s been more Heat. Heat. Heat up [Music] here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Good evening, Bimble. ByeM this month, the Oakland Gallery in Wallacey on Thursday the 17th of July. Tickets are £10 plus a small booking fee and they’re only available from Mr. Bimble following the QR codes on the screen or from the links in the description. You’ll get to see Kieran perform his live show International Bimble. It’s the story of how he got from his old back gate in Warrington over international borders. It’s not to be missed. Let’s bimble.