What’s not to like about these bright red doors of the old fire station in the nearby village of Singleton? (Even the fact that it now functions as an electricity sub-station doesn’t much detract from their magic). I think I need to do some digging to see if I can find a picture in some local archive of the fire engine it housed. It must have been very small! Maybe the firemen were too? Maybe it was horse drawn? I feel an overwhelming bout of curiosity coming on……..
……which I hope google can satisfy…..
Made a start to finding something out. It is called “Fire Engine House” and was built in the late 19th Century, and is one of several listed buildings in the Lancashire village of Singleton.
How about this gem of information for painting a mental picture:
The first fire engine was horse drawn, and the speed of response to an alarm was determined by how quickly the fire-crew could catch the horse.– Lancashire Cycleways: A comprehensive Guide.
There loads more about the history of the village, dating back to 1168, on the website: “British History Online”. Typically it’s a history with a cast of kings, dukes, land boundary disputes, English Civil War and, of course, the obligatory (for NW England) mention of Lancashire witches:
The village is said to have been the residence of Mag Shelton, a famous witch. ‘The cows of her neighbours were constantly milked by her, the pitcher in which she conveyed the milk away, when stolen, walking before her in the shape of a goose.’ A neighbour, suspecting, once struck the ‘goose,’ and the pitcher was broken, the milk flowing out. – British History Online: Lancashire
Thanks as always to Cee for this week’s Fun Foto Challenge: Doors & Drawers, without which I wouldn’t have passed a very pleasant half hour just now finding out about this. I’ve lots more investigating to do too!

Fire Engine House in Singleton Village ©HelenBushe
8 Comments
Arkenaten · 19 March 2017 at 11:13
The mental image can not but make one smile – not for those unfortunate folk waiting for the Fire Engine, of course, I’ll hasten to add.
The picture that formed was along the lines of some of the scenes from Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines – All Terry Thomas and Eric Sykes!
HMB · 19 March 2017 at 17:32
Aye. Village life!
Cee Neuner · 8 June 2016 at 16:09
How very colorful and charming. 😀
HMB · 8 June 2016 at 20:16
Thanks Cee
cwaugh212 · 8 June 2016 at 03:19
That is ‘knock your socks off’ bold. Great picture.
HMB · 8 June 2016 at 20:17
Thanks Charles. I do like to think of my readers are sockless
cwaugh212 · 8 June 2016 at 20:19
I’m sockless right now.
HMB · 8 June 2016 at 20:48
That’ll do nicely, thank you!