A tram at St.Helens Junction station, near Pudding Bag

History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Sutton Beauty's History & Heritage Pages

Part 15) Pudding Bag in Sutton (St.Helens)

Written and researched by S.R.Wainwright for Sutton Beauty & Heritage © MMVIII

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The Pudding Bag area St.Helens Junction was a close-knit, thriving community, now long-gone. The derivation of the name is that puddings such as jam roly-poly used to be made in cloth, muslin bags and the houses in Woodcock Street and Railway Terrace resided in a triangle composed of two sides of railway lines. It was an enclosed cul-de-sac with a single opening which served both as a means of ingress and exit; like a pudding bag with an opening at only one end.

The Golden Cross pub in Woodcock Street, 'Pudding Bag', Sutton
The Golden Cross pub in Woodcock Street, 'Pudding Bag', Sutton

As many as 200 people lived in the Pudding Bag area and their houses were built exclusively for railway men who had their own pub, the Golden Cross (pictured above). Directly opposite was Burrows Foundry and many workers there would have a pint at the pub which in the late Nineteenth Century would cost them a tanner (2.5p). On 28/6/1889 in the St.Helens Lantern a correspondent referred to the Golden Cross as:

Pasted Graphic 1 The home of sixpenny for the isolated denizens of Pudding Bag Pasted Graphic 3
In May 1861 William Crooks was killed by a train whilst attempting to cross the line in Pudding Bag. As a result of recommendations made at his inquest, a bridge was constructed over the track from Woodcock Street into Penlake Lane to provide safer access for workers. It is thought that originally there was an engineer on the railway called Mr. Woodcock who lent his name to the street. The bridge and all the houses were demolished during the 1960s.

What life was like in Pudding Bag can best be described by this marvellous poem which was written in 1975 by a former 'Puddin' Bagger' who called himself / herself 'Foxy':

A story I will tell you of the folks of Pudding Bag,
They were not folks to grumble, nor were they folks to brag,
They were railwaymen and women, borne to serve the iron-road,
And they worked both long and cheerfully, whilst bearing life's hard load,
They lived close by the railways, which enclosed their village space,
Sounds of shunting and of whistles were a feature of the place,
The gradient of the railway on the Wigan - Widnes run,
Was hard for locomotives and for drivers was no fun.

At Sutton Oak, long coal trains were by a second engine pushed,
But still the haul was long and slow, it never could be rushed,
In the dark, when trains were toiling up the long, long weary hill,
The bonny lads of Pudding Bag would board it at their will,
Then from the loaded wagons, to the side of the metal road,
The lads would throw some of the coal, just a fraction of the load,
Other trains would pass beside, the lads would take enough,
To keep the village well supplied with tea and flour and such-like stuff.

All in all, in Pudding Bag, folks lived quite middling fair,
It was a place of peace and plenty, folks were happy there.
They were sort of modern Robin Hoods, though in motive not so pure,
They robbed the rich, one may well say, to stop themselves being poor.
But now that railway is not used; the houses are knocked down,
The folks who lived in Pudding Bag are spread throughout the town,
But the story of their exploits is a classic of our age,
It tells how people used their wits, to help out their meagre wage.

'Foxy' 1975

If you're a former 'Puddin' Bagger', do please contact Sutton Beauty & Heritage
with your memories (and pictures). Thank you!

Next:   Part) 16 Crime and Tragedy in Sutton;

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