Bimble: Old Billy: Warrington Born and Bred

Kieran expores the life of the worlds oldest horse. Born and Bred in his home town of Warrington.

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Warrington’s famous for quite a few things. George Form is buried here, junior and senior. The UK’s first canal came through Warrington. That’s the Sanki Canal. Plus, you’ve got this behind me, the Manchester Ship Canal. The UK’s first IKEA opened here in Warrington in 1987. We hold the world record for the longest ice cream van convoy and the fastest half marathon run by a woman dressed as a gingerbread man. And we also have a world record-breaking horse, or at least we did, up until 1822. That was old Billy. He lived to be 62 years old, making him the oldest horse that ever lived. It’s quite the story. That’s been born. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Only this time things to show me. But life just keeps turning back to the way things were before. All new this time. You would still see all that became attached from the way things were before. It just proves to me how it’s meant to feel. We have motive. We have the time. We were meant to lead extraordinary lives. It changed with time. You still know me. [Music] Back in 1760 when old Billy was born, this all would have looked quite different. There have been numerous changes to the course of the river Murie here in Wolston. In fact, this bit of it behind me isn’t actually connected to the river anymore. That’s why it’s full of green algae. Prior to the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, this loop in the river Murzy would have wound its way through the wall. But it wasn’t a modern idea in the 1890s to chop off a loop of the river Murzy. It all started in 1720. An act of Parliament called the Murzy and Well Navigation Act of 1720 said they could do whatever they wanted with the river Murzy and the Riverwell. Chop it up as you liked as long as it furthered industry and made them more money. It’s the same act of Parliament that gave them permission to build the Manchester Ship Canal. And it was the Manchester Ship Canal that changed the landscape around here completely. This bridge wouldn’t have been here. Wolstonized nature reserve. Well, that’s made of the dredgings from the canal. There wouldn’t have been all of these trees. This would have been farmland. It would have been a farm called Wild Grave Farm, which became the Will Graves Farm on the Ordinance Survey maps. It was owned by a chap called Edward Robinson. And in 1760, this is where old Billy was born. It would have been young Billy back then. Know we have a motive. We have the time. We were mentally extraord [Music] lines. Days keep moving, but time just keeps falling back to the way things were before. It just proves to me how it’s meant to feel. We have motive. We have the time. We were meant to leave extra horny lives. It just proves to me how it’s meant to feel. We have to. We have the time. We were meant to live extraord life. [Music] Billy would have been trained to use a plow at the Will Graves farm by a fellow called Henry Harrison. He would have been about 18 at the time, just a couple of young books figuring things out. Young Billy was bought by the Mury and Airwell Navigation Company in around 1763. That company would have been about 40 years old at that point. We have a rich chap called Thomas Patton to thank for that company. He had a copper smelting works on the banks of the river Mury near Bank Station in Warrington Town Center. He paid a couple of chaps to mark out the river Murzy between Runorn and Warrington. putting boys there, you know, showing where all the banks were and the tidal range, showing the problem areas. It’s quite successful. It’s also he could get copper ore to his factory from the mountains of Wales and he could smelt it down and turn it into black manilas, their copper bracelets, highly priced in the port of Bonnie in Nigeria or what we call Nigeria these days. The Liverpool merchants would have bought thousands of these black manilas, took them over to the port of Bonnie in Nigeria and swapped them for slaves and those slaves would have been taken over the Atlantic to big cotton in America. The charting of the river Murzy was such a success between Runorn and Warrington that the Mury and Navigation Company asked Thomas Patton to chart it between Warrington and Manchester and they put him on the board of directors. Old Billy would have been employed as something called a jin horse. Not jin as in tonic, but jin as in engine. He would have worked all the pulleys and the cranes and opened the locks. It’s often said that he was a barge horse pulling the Mury flats up and down the navigation, but he didn’t actually start that position until he was in his mid30s. Most horses only live until they’re between 25 and 30. When Billy was that age, he was working in a new department. Such an incredible horse as Billy was. He’s got a cycle path named after him, the old Billy Trail. It follows something called the Wolston New or where the Wolston New Cut used to be. It was opened in 1821. But old Billy never would have walked down that new cut. He’d been retired for 2 years at that point. The thought was nice, though. [Music] [Music] Big plans are easiest to make. Aim for the stars. It’s yours. Just wait. You do your best along the way. Well, it’s those arms that told me I don’t care if it’s yours or mine. Without you, it’s just a waste of time. You show me from the start. Such inspirations need a heart to bring you around. [Music] Big aspirations need a heart to hold you. Hard to hold you down. Some get lost along the way. As sure as night design day as long as I’m allowed to say. It’s my heart that told me I don’t care. You just disagree. Without you, it wasn’t meant to be. You showed me from the start. Such inspirations need a heart to bring you around. It could be ours. When you have navigations and canals and things, it tends to spark industry. Take the Sanki Canal for instance. That was initially dug to get coal out of Sintellins into the river Murzy. But halfway along they built a sugar works, then a chemical works, and then a lead works. Here on the Wolston new cut, they had that same explosion of industry. They opened a brick works, dug a big hole to get all the clay out, then filled it in and turned it into a slaughter house. Then they built another brick works where Wolston Tip is these days. That big hole that they dug for all the clay, they left that. That became Grey Miss Mir, the private fishing lake. Next to where we stood right now would have been Paddington Soap Works. And it’s the soap works that gave this area its name. I’m not too sure what the relationship is between Paddington and Padgate just next to each other. Whether Paddington came first and they named Padgate as in the gate to Paddington or whether they named Paddington Paddington after Padgate. I might just be talking rubbish. I’ve only just thought about it. Soap was becoming very popular in the 1800s, but as more people started buying it, they started to tax it and they actually monitored the soap works very closely to make sure everything was going through the books. Paddington Soap works was opened by a Robert Holton and a Jonathan Jackson and their bars of soap were half the price of everybody else’s, which seemed a little bit suspect. The authorities actually had a raid on the soap works and they found in the vaulted seller beneath another soap works. They were making twice as much soap and only putting half of it through the books. Hence why they could sell their soap at half the price. When the authorities found out they were taxed heavily. They actually went bankrupt. Paddington Soap Works became a chemical factory and then a glue factory. But don’t worry, that’s not what happened to old Billy. Let’s bimble. Say what you like. I’m a peace loving person, but I know I’m right. It’s as easy as right from wrong. I’m a lover, not a fighter. So I wrote this song. You showed me from the start. Such inspirations need a heart to bring you around. It could be ours. Big aspirations need a heart to hold you hard to hold you down from the star. Such inspirations need a heart to bring you around. Could be ours. Big aspirations need a heart to hold you. Hard to hold you down. [Music] Old Billy served the Mury and Airwell Navigation Company for about 56 years. He retired when he was 59. It’s not bad going considering most horses are dead by the time they’re 30. A select few live to the 40s and even less to the 50s. Old Billy was the oldest horse that ever lived, 62. Like I’ve said previously, old Billy never would have walked down the Walston new cut cuz he was already retired. But you can still walk where he would have told the Mury Flats along the Murzy around something called Paddington Meadows named after Paddington Soap Works. Old Billy retired to the estate of one of the board of directors that was a William Earl and his estate. It’s just down the way. Let’s bimble. [Music] Maybe it didn’t work at the time. Maybe it never did. [Music] A mistake that made the distance or a trying way to live. [Music] Maybe it’s the time that you grabbed at my arms and electricity flowed from my shoulders to palms in a white hot glow. Leave them white cold scars. They’re bare and un show just to prove they were ours. Maybe it worked. Maybe it never did. Maybe it never was [Music] quite like how it is. This is a very well-known building here in Latchford. It’s called the Old Warps and it’s in what is now Victoria Park. I watch no Gallagher play here just over there. These days it’s a posh restaurant called Spirits. It’s a bit rich for my blood. £43 for a Phillips steak. Prior to it being a posh restaurant, it was a maternity hospital. And before that, it was the posh country pile of a fellow called William Earl. That’s William Earl of Everton. William L of Everton was the brother of Thomas of Speaklands and the uncle of Sahardman of Allaton Tower. Sahardman is whotown’s named after town. Sahardman invested heavily in that railway, the one that went between Liverpool and Manchester, you know, the world’s first intercity railway. Whereas William invested in all the canals and they got all their money to invest in all of these companies from the slave trade. When slavery was abolished in 1833, the Earl family were heavily compensated cuz they had sugar plantations in Jamaica and Trinidad and Barbados. Hence why the Sanki sugar works opened in 1855. They stopped getting free labor overseas, but they gave old Billy a nice place to retire. And they brought back his Bzy mate, Henry Harrison, and he looked after old Billy here at the old warps until he died in 1822. The navigation company made a big fuss of Billy in his retirement. They got people to come and do portraits of him and lithographs, some of them featuring Henry Harrison, his busy mate. Old Billy was set to meet George IV, but on the day he was supposed to trot down to Manchester in 1821. He didn’t want to leave his stables. You see, old Billy was quite a grumpy horse, apparently. Wide, the man that got in between Billy and his evening meal. Once he’d finished his shift, you better shift. If you seen him coming down the toe path, get out of his way. Otherwise, he’d end up in the river. Old Billy was said to have calmed down in his late 50s, but he hadn’t quite calmed down enough to be interrupted by the king of England. I think it’s time we put a face to the name. That’s Bimble. Maybe it worked. Maybe it never did. Maybe it never was. [Music] quite like how it is. Maybe it’s the time that I wanted to say that my limbs won’t move more than two feet away from your day. Glow side luminescent sparks. I could burst into flames from one beat from your heart. Maybe it worked. Maybe it never did. did. [Music] Maybe it never was [Music] [Applause] quite like how it is. Maybe it worked. [Music] Maybe it never did. Maybe it never was [Music] quite like how it is. And I quite like how it is. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Well, here he is, Bimble, in his rightful place here at Warrington Museum. such a notable specimen of a horse as old Billy was. They kept most of his bits and bobs. His skull is actually in the Museum of Manchester, but his taxiderermy head has made its way back here to Warrington. They had a campaign to bring him back to Warrington because he was actually in a museum in Bedford. Not really sure why, but he’s now proudly displayed in Warrington Museum. And I might be a little bit biased, but I think Warington Museum is one of the best museums in the Northwest. Where else can you see the world’s oldest horse and an Egyptian mummy all for nothing? [Music] [Applause] [Music] We were meant to lead extraordinary lives.