General Chat

I had never travelled north until 1974 when I took a delivery to Rotherham and Leeds.Somewhere around Stewartby, I was hit by the smell of sulfur in the air which, I would assume, emanated from the brick works which stayed with me until I came back and, as I had expected, them to be, the buildings were grey when I left the M1.

Net time I travelled north, about four or five years later, the smell had gone and most of the buildings were a different colour, a sort of sandstone.

It was as if the north of England had found a new era!

Thank you all for replying. Guess I'm not the only one with a smelly back garden!!

My grandparents lived along the road from a maltings in Edinburgh.

An abiding childhood and teenage memory is of the strong yeasty smell pervading the whole area.
I can still "smell" it in my mind, and miss it whenever I go to Edinburgh.

The smell disappeared when the maltings stopped production in the 1970s, and the buuilding was later demolished to make way for a shopping centre.

There was a turkey farm round the road and, crucially, on the same sewer as us and they would swill out every evening.

For some reason, the sewer was not sealed in the road outside here and , not only would we get the stench but we would get the liquid filth floating past as it bubbled up through the manholes

ZZzzz, I'm not bothered by the smell of muck spreading but what a sound and dance on the local FB forum! "Eeew!! what's that smell" - every season! It only lasts a day FGS! They should sample some of the real pongs already mentioned here.

Ken..... :-0 :-0 :-0

A few years ago, at Bradwell-juxta-Mare, there was a maggot factory. That gave off an awful smell. I don't think the factory was there for very long.

When I visited my Aunt on the farm my Uncle would be muck spreading and we would be eating lunch, windows open and not bothered by the smell, that was life back then, not for the faint hearted snowflakes of today me thinks.

Yes, Sharron, there's nothing to compare it with or any words to describe it. The factory's only about a mile from my house so it's possible to smell it without the wind blowing in my direction!!

Island, I totally agree that it should be a criminal offence to allow such a stench to waft around. It's literally impossible to sit in the garden when they're doing what they do, but I don't actually know what the smell comes from-whether it's just the smell of tons of rotting flesh or if they burn it for some reason.

MotownGal, even I don't know half of Wellingborough and I've lived here for 62 years!! They're just building a whole new area called "Stanton Cross" near the railway station-pretty much a whole new town, which will have it's own schools, doctors, shopping centre and community centre. Of course, it's not the Arndale Centre any more, but Swansgate!! Apparantly they thought a new name would improve the image but I've yet to see any such improvements!!

Very near Kay. Yes, Chettles were the ones who delighted us with their perfume. Usually about 6pm. :-(

I used to shop in Wellingborough, in the Arndale Centre. I did Google maps the other day just out of curiosity. It has changed so much!

I'm familiar with stubble burning.
Both in Blackmore End, and Abbotts Ann, (early 1980's) we lived right by a field, and every year the stubble on that field was burned. :-|

The first time it happened, in both places, I had washing on the line.
I'm amazed at how loudly I can shout, when riled!
Both times, I received profuse apologies - apparently, no-one had complained before, they just accepted they didn't deserve any warning.

After the first time, in both places, they knocked on my door, (and the neighbours) to inform us of their intention to start the fire, which meant I could not only bring my washing in, but also the children, and close the windows!

ooo Kay, Chettles! I had to google but see they are/were part of the De Mulder group, in which case, you'll get my drift - pardon the expression.
It should be a criminal offence to pollute the air with such revolting smells. imo.

There was a place like that in Shoreham, called Dolphin Canadian as I recall.

Luckily, it was too far away for e to smell the plant but the lorries were a bit rich as they passed. It is a smell in a class of it's own isn't it?

MotownGal,
The fur and feather processing plant nearby is called Chettles. OMG nobody could describe that stench. When their lorries trundle past as you walk along the road it's nauseating. I'd rather smell Weetabix curry than Chettles any day! You must have lived quite near me then. I live in Wellingborough. Where abouts were you?

Thank you to everyone for your interesting replies. I envy some of you--I'm pleased I don't live near some of you!!! :-D

The hot summer of 76 was pretty fragrant here.

There used to be a bit of pig keeping enterprise down the road and piigies do soe particularly lovely droppings.

There was quite a large dairy far at the top of the village and they would empty the slurry lagoon from time to time and spread it lavishly upon their fields.They were being quite commendably green before their time but cow dung takes on a whole new depth once it has had tie to ripen a bit in a lagoon.

Now, here is a bit of totally useless knowledge fro the back of my head somewhere.

If your ancestors were ag labs, they would probably been familiar with stubble burning. It was known as Denshering in the early nineteenth century bt declined with improved farming methods until it was tried again in the 1980s.

You can't beat living within the gentle waft of 'animal by-product processing'. :-0 :-0
Trouble is, when you grow up with it you accept it as normal LOL
It wasn't very nice but it became utterly revolting once you knew what it was.

College beckoned at 18 from a good distance away and the air smelled so sweet :-D

No particular smells waft to my garden, but I do remember the Smiths crisps factory girls mentioned by Sharron.
If they happened to be travelling on the same bus as us, we used to try and guess which flavour they had been producing that day.

In our school playground we would sometimes get an awful smell of the fertiliser factory at the other end of the small town. The processing of animal bones was not at all pleasant.

Summer holiday journeys to Wales meant changing trains at Cardiff, where there was always a strong smell of brewing.

Back in early 80s we did used to get burning of wheat stubble in fields near here. Not only was the smell unpleasant, it was really annoying to find that a very fine layer of sooty ash had floated through any open windows.
Thank goodness that burning has stopped now.

Years ago when my sister lived in Guildford there was a roundabout that you always closed your windows for on the way to hers....the local pig farm could be smelt for miles........

For a couple of days every year when the kids were at primary school I would have to drive past a field of freshly cut coriander. Luckily I like it and would have to rush home to cook a curry.

Oh yes, also the pork pie factory, a whiff of hot fat lingered on the wind!

Vanilla from the Wall's factory, early 1970s.