ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

THE dark shadow of the slave trade once hung heavily over the St Helens area, with two local factories turning out combs and bangles with which to barter for human misery in Africa.

This comes to light following a query from David Williams of Burtonwood who asked (this page December 11) why Croppers Hill, the long slope descending from the West Park area towards St Helens town centre, was once known as Comb-shop Brow.

And now, retired teacher Kevin Heneghan, a frequent and welcome contributor to our local history knowledge, comes up with the complete answer.

Quoting from the authoritative Barker & Harris publication 'A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution -1750 to 1900', Kevin explains that Comb-shop Brow ("to the old folk, by the way, it was Comb-shop Brew") was so named for the simple reason that the manufacture of combs went on there.

"These combs," he adds, "were linked with the African slave trade. The Dagnalls, a family who produced them in St Helens and sold them in Liverpool, were signatories to petitions opposing the abolition of the slave trade.

"Professor T.S. Ashton, in his biography of Peter Stubs, a Warrington businessman, tells how Stubs sold horn and ivory combs for the firms of Butler & Bate and for Banner & Doke.

"This," observes Kevin, "makes me wonder if Banner & Doke had their premises on Comb-shop Brow, as one of the streets running off it is called Banner Street." There were other local connections with the slave trade.

Says Kevin: "Bangles, called 'manillas', used as currency in this trade, were manufactured at the Stanley copper-works at Blackbrook. The bottom end of the lane leading to Stanley Bank Farm, where the workers' cottages once stood, is still known to Blackbrookers as Copperhouse Row."

I hear that Kevin has been giving the benefit of his local history knowledge to a new generation of enthusiasts.

Of his recent visit to speak to a class of 10 and 11-year-olds at Blackbrook RC Primary School, Kevin says: "One hears and reads so much these days about schools where the pupils are in charge that it was good to find at least one school where the discipline is friendly but firm."

Still on the Blackbrook beat, he adds: "Odd to think that there are more people living in the area covered by St Mary's parish today than there were in the whole of Liverpool in 1740."

GOLD star each for those attentive young pupils, and full marks to Kevin for giving them and the customers of this column the benefit of his keen researches.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.