RICHARD Waring has been looking for old photos of a row of long gone cottages.

He wrote: "I was wondering if you could give my email to Kevin Henegan who mentioned Back Lane. My great great grandma lived an 50 Back Lane which was then in the parish of Windle. This threw me off for a while when searching for Back Lane. Then I remembered a sign at the bottom of Woodlands Road at the junction with Merton Bank Road (near the mini island). The sign read 'Woodlands Road late Back Lane'.

"I used to service TVs in this area and never thought much about the wording. As the 1851 census shows there were five living at 50 Back Lane, so they must have been a bit overcrowded. Their name was Charnock. I followed Rebecca's history back to 1825 but am still struggling to find her birth date in Dublin. I also unearthed a link to Doneraile in County Cork.

"I was wondering if Kevin had ever seen any photos of the cottages in Back Lane. I can't remember what was in the spot where Finchley Drive is. All I can remember is a fuel delivery company with smaller type tankers in that area. I think it was owned by Reynolds.

"I also remember the old Chain Lane which had a very rough surface. We used to call them iron stones. When we went fishing at Carr Mill Dam with uncle Joe Waring, we cut up there from Parr. On one trip I got a six inch nail in my front tyre then got tangled up in the trees while casting out at the Dam. Uncle Joe ended up getting my hook stuck under his nail. When it came to drawing the pegs for a fishing contest he said 'I want these two lads as far away as possible'. When he drew the peg numbers 19, 20 and 21 what a day for uncle Joe.

"Is it possible to forward this email to Kevin in case he knows of any photos of Back Lane cottages?

"Ps. on a sad note my cousin also called Richard Waring from Peasley Cross passed away. He was a hard worker in the local history society and helped me a great deal over the years with his knowledge of family history."

I endorse Richard's comments about his cousin who made vital contributions to the PALS project. I forwarded his email to Kevin who responded: "I do not have any photographs of Back Lane though I remember Woodlands Road as a country lane with just a few cottages on the right where the Woodlands pub is today. He mentioned Chain Lane's rough surface with what he called iron stones.

"They were also used along Carr Mill Lane and the lane to Stanley Bank Farm. They were the slag from Stanley Copper Works in Blackbrook. There was another copper works at Ravenhead. The Stanley Works, I believe, made copper bangles for export to Africa.

"I was also intrigued by his mention of Rebecca Charnock and Doneraile. He'll be interested to know that this was the parish run by the celebrated novelist and poet Canon Patrick Augustus Sheehan from 1895 until his death in 1913. Carr Mill Dam of course is where the months long freeze was in 1879. The 19-year-old Billinger Jack Hill, known as Our Nell's Jack, beat the English skating champion Fish Smart from Lincolnshire by a matter of inches, cheered on by more than 500 locals. He was later landlord of the Brown Cow."