Pendlebury Bridge

The family house at 117 Station Road, Pendlebury still stands. The move there in 1909 was to prove instrumental in consolidating Lowry's vision. 'Pendlebury - one of the most industrial villages in the countryside midway between Manchester and Bolton. At first I detested it. And then, after a few years, I got pretty interested in it and began to walk about. Vaguely in my mind, I suppose, pictures were forming, and then for about thiry-odd years after that I did nothing but industrial pictures ... All my material was on my doorstep' (see A. Andrews, The Life of L.S. Lowry, London, 1977, p. 44.). The present work, dated 1919, is an early example of the artist recording the harsh reality of the community in which he lived.