Praktica Nova With Optomax Auto Wide, Above Haggate Burnley.
- Kamera Ostalgie
- Jan 23
- 6 min read
It is two days before Christmas, I'm out and about above Burnley again, this time with my old Praktica Nova, the one without the light meter. We start our little ramble below the Haggate crossroads this time, the first interesting old building I came across was this Baptist Chapel, yes the non conformists were very strong in this part of Northern England in the second half of the 1800's as can be seen by the number of Chapels still left standing.
I'm guessing that this one though originated as the Church School for the now demolished Chapel half a mile up the road? It's a guess, but it looks more school like and many Chapels took to their school rooms and abandoned their big Chapels when England gradually turned its back on Christianity and weekly congregations fell in numbers and they could no longer afford to upkeep the lovely big old Chapels.
The Standard lens on the Nova was succumbing to the bitter cold conditions with a slow returning Iris, just like my Domiplan lens did on my previous post, so I had swapped over at the start to the Optomax Auto Wide 35mm f2.8 a product of Japan. Its a bit numb and ugly, but it does the job, and never fails! I bought it last February off eBay, it cost me the vast sum of £12.43, including postage. I have used it a lot since acquiring it, the results are excellent for a lens that nobody rates or cares about today. In fact lets just say it's an excellent lens full stop.
The picture above is of the Hare and Hounds Public House, it sits right on the Crossroads at Haggate, an awful blind set of crossroads to get across by car, that up until very recently had two great pubs sat on it. Sadly the other pub, the Sun Inn has finally closed its doors. The surviving Hare and Hounds is said to be Haggates oldest building.
I could not resist taking this shot of the very early signpost next to the Hare and Hounds, with the 'shadow' of the WW1 soldier on the wall of the pub. Though trying to avoid the traffic whilst being stood in the middle of the road taking it was a bit hairy to say the least.
I crossed over the road and headed to the site where once the original main Haggate Chapel stood. There is no lovely Chapel now, just the burial ground remains.
The only part of the once beautiful Chapel that remains on site today is this damaged foundation stone.
There are lots of gravestones here, still standing, battling 800 feet up on top of this windswept hill high up in the Pennines. Its bitter cold so I decided to carry on with my walk and see what else of interest I could find.
So back to the crossroads and up the old Halifax Road, heading towards Lane Bottom and Hill Lane.
This nice row of old buildings stands on the crossroads right opposite the Hare and Hounds. To me the first house on the left looks a little odd, the date stone on the roof level and the chamfered off corner suggests to me originally the front door would have been here not a window and where the door is now sort of looks tagged on. But I could be wrong. The large building in the middle of the row looks interesting, lets take a look.
The building turned out to be the old Haggate 'Reading Room' Though not looking as good as it once did. Look how much better it looked in 1910!
This is a typical Victorian concept, a reading room so that the local people could better
themselves, improve their education and not surprisingly it was built by the local Baptists. Here in Victorian Britain it was not the Government that helped the people, the people helped themselves, usually through independent societies or religious groups.
The clock was added in 1897, twenty years after the building was constructed, dedicated to James Corrin, the local schoolmaster. What a pity modern Britain looks to the state to do everything for them, instead of like the Victorians who tried to improve their own lot. I think they had the right idea.
The horrible white render that the building now wears, is a later addition, originally the building showed just the lovely local millstone grit like the surrounding houses. Look at the picture above that I've just this minute found on the internet, it was taken before the First World War. Look at all the detail in the stonework that has now been covered up. Why would anyone do this? The intricate structure on the roof has gone and the tall chimney lowered.
Good job I had the Optomax Auto Wide with me, to fit everything in.
The shutter on the Nova is by now starting to slow, slightly overexposing the right side of the picture, but it was very cold!
Time to get walking, I was going back to Hill Lane Baptists with the wide angle lens on, as there were a couple of shots of the Chapel that I could not get with the standard lens on my last visit. If you have read my previous post, you will recognise this tree, though this is not as good a picture with the wide angle!
I like this particular view, this is the wide angle version, a slight fall off in sharpness at the edges, but I'm happy with the result. The black sheep here are quite unusual.
Lane Bottom ! That's an odd name. The names in this area are rather blurred, or should I say the boundaries are. We are in Burnley, three miles above the town centre, the area is called Briercliffe, the village is Haggate, which leads into Lane Bottom, then as the road rises the area is Hill Lane! This shot was over exposed, so I had to adjust this before using, all the other shots are as taken.
This is the slightly later part of the Church and is still used for Sunday services. I like the sign and its use of the letter 't' as a cross ! I have not seen that before.
The date stone above the door says 1886. The once buff coloured local sandstone is now almost black after nearly a centaury and a half standing in this harsh climate.
The path above leads to the graveyard at the back of the Church, it invites you to take a look! So lets have a look!
And this is what you find, a peaceful well kept tidy graveyard. Credit must be given to the Church congregation, Hill Lane Baptist Church is a very pleasant place.
Well that was it, the end of the film. The film used was Fomapan 100, I think it is a nice film but maybe slightly too contrasty? I like my Agfa 100 better, but it was a very contrasty lighting, deep shadows and a very bright low winter sun, difficult for any film to cope with. The old Praktica Nova did not like the extreme cold and would benefit from a service I think, the right side of some of the frames are a little over exposed than the left. However I loved using it again, they are a nice camera to use, solid, heavy and functional. There is no mistaking the shutter going off, its loud. But I like the Teutonic very German feel of this Praktica. The Optomax Auto Wide I really like, for a cheap unknown lens it really performs, no sticky Iris here, the focus is really smooth and well weighted, it gives you confidence, you know it is going to perform. It's bulk sort of fits the Nova, if this was fitted to say a Pentax S1a it would not look right, but here on the old Nova it looks like it belongs!
I have rather enjoyed these outings with the Praktica Novas, I think it's worth spending some money on them and getting them full serviced ready to use for the next 60 years!
Take care,
Phil
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