Dirty Old Town ?

These chaps posed whilst I took this pic. I asked what the tree was - “a gleditsia, which they say was used for the thorny crown” said the chap on the left. If my googling is correct, and I heard right in the first place, it is a honey locust tree. It’s a North American tree by origin so I think that’s an arboricultural tall story. But maybe it will be a tall tree.

This tree and it’s companions sit yards away from an old canal immortalised in these words by Salford born Euan McColl, in Dirty Old Town, which begins:

“I found my love by the gasworks croft

Dreamed a dream by the old canal

Kissed my girl by the factory wall

Dirty old town, dirty old town ....”

The gasworks croft is nearby (a future blip). The dirty old town is transforming rapidly. The gleditsia tree is located at “Middleton Locks” , and the very new mid rise apartments are looking good (extra). They’ve been given names to reflect the heavy industry which used to be located here (“charcoal”, “foundry” etc), and the surrounding landscaping is taking shape and will look good ( lots of young silver birches in the blip). Not the dirty old town of the 1940’s and 50’s which McColl remembered.

Post-script:
* the Pogues version of Dirty Old Town is my favourite. That, and the Dubliners version, is why lots of people think it’s about Dublin
* Middlewood Locks is virtually next to the expanding City Centre. A brown-field site, I remember seeing lapwings displaying here a few years ago. Quite extraordinary.