Wednesday 28 January 2015

What was Mrs Lomax doing in Hough End Hall in 1931?

Now I wonder what Mrs Lomax was doing in Hough End Hall when this picture was taken in 1931?

By then she was 68, a widow, and had another nine full years ahead.

The Hall had been a farmhouse from the late 18th century and her family had run the farm and lived at Hough End Hall since the 1840s.

And she was still working although the farm had shrunk from 220 acres employing 13 labourers to just over 3 acres.

A decade or so before she had advertised for a young lad to live in and help with the milk round and after her death those 3 acres along with the Hall were rented out to the Bailey family who continued to work the land.

I like this picture which comes courtesy of my friend Sally from the City Council’s Annual Review which is a cornucopia of hidden treasures.

In the fullness of time I will ask Sally if there was a story attached to the picture, but for now I will leave you with the hall in 1932 at a moment when it still looked as it had done for a century.

Picture; Hough End Hall in 1931 from Manchester City Council’s Annual Review, 1932, courtesy of Sally Dervan

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