THIS week’s mystery picture takes us back to a building, on the left, clearly constructed when this road was a little backwater and before the onset of the Industrial Revolution unleashed its wholesome for the very few but for many an unwholesome backdrop, where grit and grime could ruin the most beautiful of landscapes.

Last week’s photo harks back to a huge tip in Darcy Lever, which in 1971 when the photograph was taken and was known as the ‘forgotten village’

One resident of the time shopkeeper Mrs Kathleen Embra, said of the officials down at the town hall: “Oh they’ve been agreeing to that (a clean up) since about 1908.

“They’ll never clean up Darcy Lever. The dirt’s here to stay.”

Her reaction followed the news that Bolton Planning Committee approved plans for a detailed scheme in November of that year to improve homes, encourage new housing, eliminate scrapyards and clean up open spaces in the derelict Darcy Lever area. It was even suggested when the giant Maze Street tip, whose panorama of filth dominated the village, could be grassed over and turned into a golf course!