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Wigan Album

CRISPIN ARMS

7 Comments

"Long John"'s pipe 1952
Photo: Keith
Views: 2,342
Item #: 22962
I took this photo outside the Crispin Arms around 1952. I apologise for the poor quality but this is the only image I have of what to us kids at that time, seemed a mysterious figure - "Long John" as he was known, we never got to know his full name or hear him speak - he kept himself to himself, always had the same appearance, flat cap, white moustache and smoking a pipe.
He lived in the Lodging House on Birkett Terrace just a 50 yards or so up Birkett Street, from the pub. I notice now, he seems to be smoking a clay pipe - I've looked on e-bay, I think it's best described as probably a 9 inch English Style smoking pipe. The gentleman with the dog I cannot recall his name but if I guess at Riley, Burgess or Prescott I don't think I'd be far out.

Comment by: Keith on 20th March 2013 at 12:43

It’s only with hindsight I now appreciate that Long John’s clay pipe, Rosie, who was a frequent customer in the Snug room, where she would partake of her snuff and the spittoons and sawdust that were found in the vault were all the last features of a bye gone age. The last vestiges of a past era were still being carried forward, just, into the middle of the 20th century.

Comment by: Jarvo on 20th March 2013 at 19:22

Read Part One of Orwell's 'The Road To Wigan Pier' which actually describes (by Orwell himself) the filthy state of the Lodging Houses of pre-war Wigan. He stayed in Wigan some 15 years or so before this photograph was taken; his prose is both vivid and very entertaining. Alas, a terrible embarrassment on the town itself, and one that has become an unwanted stigma that still sticks 70 odd years later.

Comment by: Loz on 20th March 2013 at 19:41

Didn't quite understand your last comment, Keith. Do you mean that the clay pipe was called Rosie? By the way, the type of clay pipe that John is smoking is termed a 'Cutty'. This was the shape most commonly produced at the time. Clay pipes only lasted a short time dut to their fragile nature, they turn up all the time in old rubbish dumps. The pipe bowl went black with use, and they would be returned to white by placing them in the coal fire, which looks to be the case with John's pipe.

Comment by: Keith on 20th March 2013 at 20:56

Thank you Loz, I was hoping some expertise on pipes would emerge and I'm grateful for your comments. Apologies for my poorly constructed sentences and my complete ignorance on pipes - Rosie was a customer who I remember taking snuff, she was to be seen in the Snug room, a very small front room where it seemed to me regulars had their "favourite" seats.

Comment by: Loz on 21st March 2013 at 00:05

No problem, Keith. By the way, I remember your Dad very well when he had the Wellfield.

Comment by: Keith on 2nd April 2018 at 21:54

Five years on and I can now add a little to this post. In 1939 number 11, Birkett Bank Terrace was "home" to no fewer than 28 men! Strangely it was not listed as a Lodging House nor was the "Head" of the establishment available. "Long" John left two possibilities John McDonald or John Smith, not able to determine which one is "ours" at the moment.

Comment by: Veronica on 25th October 2022 at 15:45

I love this photo Keith. I imagine ‘Long John ‘ was a veteran of the 1st WW. I have no way of knowing that but perhaps he ‘kept himself to himself’ because of that. Who knows what preyed on his mind….makes me think did my Grandfather know him. He looks content with his pipe anyway.

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