At this rate, this could become the first of many 'local' then & now's as we all continue to adhere to lockdown rules. Luckily for me, I live in an area absolutely steeped in history and I'll be the first to admit to having overlooked much of it in recent years. Crescent Row, Runcorn Old Town. Original photo presumed around 1890. This is the only one to survive of three rows of dwellings built by the 1st Duke of Bridgewater for workers on his groundbreaking canal at a time when it passed by here under the Waterloo & railway bridges towards top locks eventually reaching the river Mersey. It seems as though the row once housed several families all linked to the keeping of the infamous ten lock flight, but now exists as just two homes. The owner of the furthest from the camera tells me how he is the third generation to live there, and how much change it has witnessed in the town centre through the years.