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Does anyone know which farm this might have been?
My mum remembers her aunt, Ada Lawson. taking her to this farm when she was a young girl. This would be early to mid 1950's. The farmer's surname, she thinks, began with a G but isn't one of the more common names. She can't remember exactly where this farm was, just that it was 'in the area'.
She does remember the farmer telling her that he was the first battery hen farmer 'round here' and that it was the thing of the future.

I'm not sure where Ada lived at the time but she did live for some years at Musty Halgh with her husbands family. Her husbands sister was Sarah Ann Brown, known as Seran, and also lived at Musty Halgh. She later lived in Granville Street.

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Mel

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The name might be Gosling.

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Mel

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A very apt name for a poultry farmer
David

I used to play with the daughter of the Lawsons, Kathleen, when we were kids and I spent my summers with my grandparents on Granville Street. The farm was just at the end of Granville Street. The farm house was divided and Kathleen and her mother lived on one side...and a 'spinster' relative (perhaps a sister of Mrs Lawson) lived on the adjacent side.
I remember the batteries of hens...and was fascinated by the farm (being a city slicker from Manchester!). I used to pop over and 'help' the farmer (don't know if he was Mr Lawson or not)....and he was most kind and let me feed the hens and the pigs. One day, I ran over to see him and found him walking along with a bucket of water. I skipped beside him, chatting away, until I looked down and saw tiny kittens floating in the bucket...which he then proceeded to fling onto the manure pile. I think I screamed. I know I ran hysterically back to #31 Granville street, boo-hooing to my nana. I never went back to the Lawson farm.
What a little sucky they must have thought I was!

Tom Lawson and Ada Sutcliffe married quite late for those days. I think they were both approaching, if not already, 40. Tom died about 1955. I'm not sure who the spinster would be...assuming of course that it was one of our lot. I'm also not sure where Ada lived after Toms death and the move from Musty Halgh. I know at some point she went to live in Weymouth with her sister-in-law but it didn't work out so she moved back to Briercliffe, after only a couple of years, into one of the Slaters Homes where she ended her days.
Ada's sister-in-law (in Weymouth) was a Briercliffe girl. She was Elsie Taylor and married Ada's brother Frank. Frank and Elsie moved to Coventry, possibly because of his work. He was a chemist for Courtaulds.

There is a picture of Elsie and Ada on the main site.
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/Photo%20Archive/Briercliffe%20People/Girls.htm

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Mel

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Does anyone know what happened to Kathleen Lawson? She would be in her early 60's now.......

The farm is now a nursing home.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Which farm Gloria? Musty Halgh or the one that was the first battery farm?

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Mel

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The first battery farm, it is at the bottom of Granville St before you go down the track to Mustyhalgh.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Mum thinks Kathleen was possibly John Lawsons daughter. Mum used to play with Kathleen when she was a girl.

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Mel

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The farm is Tattersall Barn Farm at the bottom of Granvile Street. It is now Oaklands Nursing Home. Kathleen Lawson still lives in Harle Syke. I believe she retired recently.
Pollyanna

Going back into the early 1960's I recall two farms down the lane at the bottom of Granville Street, if memory serves me correctly one was farmed by Fred Dent and the second was farmed by Billy Greenwood, although I don't remember there being any battery hens.

Pollyanna might know something about that Syke. I never did find out for sure about the hens.

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Mel

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Re: battery hens ...I visited this farm often, used to play with Kathleen Lawon who lived there. It was the first farm at the end of the houses....now a nujrsing home, Pollyanna tells me. I remember the batteries of hens....in a big barn. Row upon row of cages, stacked two rows high. The noise and smell was overwhelming. I remember 'helping' by going along the rows collecting eggs....and sometimes emptying food pellets along their feed trough. At the time I was fascinated....now, I believe I would be horrified!

That is why I only eat organic free range chickens and eggs now. Never thought of the cruelty at the time. Happy eggs from happy hens!