OUTLINING THE HISTORY OF BRIGG IN 40 MINUTES

Brigg Blog enjoyed giving a recent talk about The History of Brigg to a group based in nearby Barton.
More than 50 people attended this event, including some who had lived and worked in Brigg.
In addition to highlighting the town's past, it gave us a golden opportunity to promote today's Brigg's shops, markets, eateries and licensed premises to the audience (modern social media hashtag #LoveBrigg).
We made reference to a Town Trail leaflet setting out the location of historic buildings of interest including the Grade One listed (17th century) part of what is now Sir John Nelthorpe Upper School, and the Grade Two Star (mid-18th century) Exchange on Bigby Street, famously visited by Prime Minister Winston Churchill who stayed the night.
We circulated a couple of leaflets from our archive for Barton group members to read, but wonder if other copies of this very informative guide are still available to Brigg visitors, perhaps from the Buttercross or the Angel Hub.
If not, we suggest a 2022 reprint might be in order. And/or a digital version shared on the web.
The same applies to a Brigg Civic Society leaflet about Brigg Fairs.
Any groups in North Lincolnshire that are looking for a guest speaker (morning, afternoon or evening) can get in touch by emailing scoopfisher@aol.com
The Barton audience showed particular interest in Spring's Delights - jam, marmalade, honey, lemon curd and other products made at the riverside factory in Brigg. A Spring's catalogue from the 1930s, listing some of them, was passed around the audience.  
An outline of everyday life in Brigg's various town centre courtyards was also well received, together with information about George Henry Layne's sizeable garage business on Bigby Street.
Public health improvements in the latter half of the 19th century included the initial piped water supply. However, most families living in small courtyard properties then had to make do with a solitary cold tap located near the front door, under which a bucket was a permanent fixture.
Last Wednesday night's talk in Barton tasked us with outlining The History of Brigg (since 500 BC) in 40 minutes.
Even though we exceeded the time limit, many items of interest failed to get a mention, including the Corah clothing factory, off Bridge Street, which closed in the 1970s.
We've given illustrated talks over many years about The History of Brigg, The Lincolnshire Times Newspaper 1867-1985, The Scunthorpe Telegraph (founded in 1937), Railways of North Lincolnshire, The Humber Ferry, the History of the Scunthorpe Iron & Steel Industry, and Lincolnshire Cricket Memories.

We look forward to giving some more during 2022, as the past two years (due to the Coronavirus emergency) have seen such events put on hold.


PICTURED: Pamphlets about The Brigg Town Trail, the old Courts & Yards, and Layne's Diamond Jubilee, together with a photo showing the crowning of a May Queen at Glebe Road School. These featured in The History of Brigg talk. We also catalogued some Spring's Delights (example below).