Ihagee Exa IIa first film

Trying out this mid 1960's offering from Ihagee Dresden, at the hamlet of Wycollar near Trawden East Lancashire.

Inside Wycoller Hall

As the weather was nice I thought I would try out another 'first film' camera for the blog. I picked up the Ihagee Exa IIa, gave it a quick check over and loaded it with a film, another roll of Agfa APX 100, which I quite like at the moment. To be fair to the camera, I have not had this recently serviced, in fact I probably have not used it in thirty years or so! Anyway everything seemed to be functioning so off we went!

Todays subject was going to be Wycoller in East Lancashire, quite near to the border with the West Riding of Yorkshire. Unless you are from this area of the North West of England you may not have heard of Wycoller, it's not even a village, just a hamlet a few ancient houses and a Hall built in the late 1500's. But it has a famous connection, the Bronte sisters! As we shall see shortly.

Wycoller Hall

I first visited Wycoller in the mid 1960's aged about 5 years old, I went their with my Father and Grandfather, who were very interested in local history. Wycoller or Wycoller Dene as it was more often called at the time, was an old farming and hand loom weaving Hamlet which had been virtually abandoned. The handloom weavers who all worked from their own homes in the hamlet, could not compete with the weaving mills that sprung up in the local towns of Trawden and Colne at the start of the industrial revolution. It fascinated me as a young lad, that everyone had just left! I can still remember the row of houses just down from the Hall on the far side of the beck, I stood there in the front room of one of the empty houses, looked up, and could see the sky! It was completely abandoned with massive holes in the roof and no ceilings! This started the interest that I have in Wycoller, a place I have kept going back to and photographing over the years. Sadly I no longer have the pictures I took however luckily against all odds Wycoller itself still remains.

The row of once abandoned houses, now all restored and lived in.

So today I came to Wycoller down the old green lane off the Laneshaw Bridge to Haworth Road. A modern carpark and a massive black rubber mushroom construction now spoil the once secluded old coach road or drive to the Hall, which when I was young swept down to the old Hall through a massive stone gateway, into a deep cutting edged by Vaccary walls on one side and weather beaten Oak trees on the other. After getting my bearings, I managed to find the original entrance slightly downhill from the modern car park entrance that now scars the landscape here and headed down to Wycoller that way.

Vaccary Walls Wycoller .

These walls are ancient, some say 13th or 14th century quarried from local millstone grit which tends to be naturally slabby. They were built by local farmers or landowners to enclose cattle which at the time had become big business.

Vaccory Walls Lead To The Valley Floor.

I think the walls are best viewed from the high ground stretching down to the valley floor below. Though they are more often taken straight on, like I did in this picture below.

Vaccory Walls

The light was poor on my way down to the valley floor, so I left the walls behind and went down the massive flight of stone steps into the ruined Hall, which was in full sunlight.

First Glimpse Of Wycoller Hall

The inside of Wycollar Hall is roofless, but still majestic, even as a total ruin the Hall still has a presence. I think this image could maybe have been a little sharper, however the lack of bite from the Domiplan lens gives it a soft vintage feel, so I think I have just about got away with it!

AnOld Window

Imagine that for a view from your front room ! Looking over the village in direction of the stream.

The Packhorse Bridge From The Hall

Another window another view! This time the old packhorse bridge. Imagine eating your roast beef dinner looking out over your estate, with the log fire burning away.

The Fireplace

Talking of fires, how is this for a fireplace? You could even sit behind it if things were a little bit chilly.

Inside Wycoller Hall

The Hall must have been an imposing place in its heyday This was a large residence as far as houses of that period go in the border country between the West Riding and Lancashire. I mentioned earlier a link between Wycoller Hall and the Brontes.

The View Of The Hall From The Track

The tale goes that the Bronte sisters passed Wycoller Hall on their walks from Haworth, to their friends house called Gawthorpe Hall. On route they followed the Dene down stream, along the rough track down into Wycoller. This picture above is the first view they would have got of the Hall, then fully roofed and lived in. It must have been an imposing place, so much so that it was the inspiration of Fearndene Manor in Charlotte Bronte's book Jane Eyre written in 1847. Wycoller Hall would have been about 250 years old when the Brontes knew it. It also makes you think this was a fair walk for the sisters, they set off from Haworth over rough footpaths and lanes, wild hill country, open moorland, wet conditions, and their ultimate goal was Gawthorpe Hall on the far side of Burnley, where they stayed with their friends, Sir James and Lady Kay-Shuttleworth. This must have been an all day walk, more like an expedition, a tough one too, no hiking boots or rucksacks then, so maybe they actually stopped at Wycoller Hall for a break, it is roughly mid point, maybe that is why they knew it and described it so well? It would make sense to me. In my opinion this would not have been a casual walk as some sources make out, the distances and conditions would say otherwise to me.

The Packhorse Bridge

Leaving the Hall behind you come to this ancient 15th century pack horse bridge with its uneven arches! Here today the Exa is now giving uneven spaces coming out in sympathy with the old bridge. Shortly I would have further problems with the Exa. You can see here on the far left of the picture how the spacing is going awry.

The Packhorse Bridge

I crossed the bridge with it's wonky arches, made famous as it was used in the 1970 film the Railway Children, and headed off down the track, the first building in the Hamlet I photographed was Chapel Cottage, then disaster the Exa jammed mid wind on! I knew I should have still a few frames left, a quick glance down at the film counter confirmed this, I was only on image number 31! I gave the lever a tad more pressure and felt the sprocket holes tear! It was the end of the film all right! Something was amiss!

Chapel Cottage

Well that was it for the day, no more film with me and a vintage camera playing up, with most of the hamlet still to photograph.

Chapel Cottage

Oh well nothing I could do apart from rewind the film and drop it off at Hippo in Burnley for processing, then I could see what had gone wrong.

We can see from the negatives that something had gone wrong right from the start. The really wide spacings at the beginning of the film is why I ran out of film so early, but the even odder thing was that the film was not traveling parallel across the gate. On one side of the film the image was right into the perforations.

So I started checking the camera, the take up spool was rather loose and looked to be going about a millimetre further up on the shaft than it should, but why? I checked it against a dead Exa that I have and this seemed to be the case, thus allowing the film to ride high. Thinking about it, the take up spool had dropped out when I first opened up the camera back, they are loose, but normally you have to pull the spool off the wind on shaft, they don't just drop out.

This is where the take up spool sits. Inside the shaft is a spring clip which holds two ball bearings, which give the clip some tension, this seems to hold the take up spool tight and stops it moving up and down the shaft. However on this camera there is no spring left in the clip! I think this is why the images have entered the perforations and maybe causing the uneven spacing. So one more camera for the repair man, when I can afford it that is! It may have to wait a while !

A Track From The Hall.

I hope you liked this post, it was a shame the camera played up a little, still it is 60 years old, it has not been serviced, so I was pushing my luck to be honest!

Wycoller is a fascinating place, I will go back there soon with another camera and finish off photographing the rest of the area. It is well worth a look if you are ever in the vicinity.

Camera Exa 11A, film Agfa APX 100, (£8 for 36exp.) Developing and scanning onto disc, Hippo Burnley.

Take care,

Phil