Welcome to Fairburns Old Trades and Shops

Fairburn was served by a wide variety of interesting tradespeople working and living in Fairburn during the late 19th and the early 20th century. We learn from the Parish Register that several cardwainers, or shoemakers, lived in the village during the last century. There also used to be a nailmaker, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a basketmaker, a tailor and a tinsmith. The tinsmith had a shop at the side of the road on Silver Street, and on a summer night people would watch him working on buckets, pans, etc; The nailmaker's cottage and shop was in Top-Fold and we understand that the basketmaker's was one of a row of cottages in Gauk Street. The barber's was in Top Fold, where you could have your hair singed with a taper, as well as a conventional trim. Several of the butchers used to kill their own pigs in sheds which were

At one time there must have been about a dozen shops selling groceries, nowthere is only one. Newcastle Farm used to have a small shop at the front of the house which sold most general provisions. Mr. Graces' shop (a greengrocers and general store) was next to the church. The Post Office has always been on the same site, opposite the blacksmith's shop. China ornaments decorated with the Fairburn crest were purchased from this shop many years ago; these were collectable items though only one or two people still have them. The crest depicts miners, quarryworkers, and farmers. Returning now to Top Fold, there was a shop and yard owned by W.E. Dresser, which was an undertakers, joiners, and glaziers. This was taken over by Mr. George Dean. Dressers also ran a local bus service. Today the shop sells brushes, paint, bowls, buckets and cleaning materials. On the corner of Gauk Street there was a large house (near the Cross) which was owned by two sisters, Miss Mary and Miss Hannah Bramley. They practiced dressmaking in the front room, many people recall buying bundles of lace, ribbon and strips of material from them. They also sold different kinds of spices and provisions; you could buy lucky bags; the floors were stone-flagged and behind the door was a large bell. The shelves contained rows and rows of huge flour bins and on the counter there was an enormous pair of brass scales. By the side of the old school house Dudley's ran a fish and chip shop, in Pinfold Yard; these were cooked on a coal-fired range in a shed in the corner of the yard. Fred Hunter's grocery and provisions shop on Cliffe Hill Terrace also sold delicious treacle, and many people remember taking their containers to be filled from the treacle barrel. A shop in Lumby Lane provided villagers with loose flour and Indian corn.

An important event in the development of the village's shops was the day that the Co-op began taking orders and deliveries. The wagon was pulled by a dray horse.

We hope that this short summary will give you a glimpse of some of the trades of the distant and not so distant past, and will perhaps spark off many memories.