One old picture ….. a mystery location ….. and the Chorlton debate

Now I have Lee Hutchings to thank for this image.

He posted it today on a Chorlton Facebook site and it invites intriguing questions of just where we are, and the identity of the three individuals.

I doubt we will ever know their names but with a location we might be able to check on the occupants of the house and make a guess using the historical records.

Which of course just leaves the hunt for that location.  We are looking out on a well-established front garden with a lane and fields beyond, with just a suggestion of open water in the distance and a date of 1898.  There is furthermore a reflection of another house in the windows of the front door, which must have been opposite ours.

The lamp would perhaps indicate that the lane was well used or important enough to have public lighting at a time when this was not common in Chorlton.  

The first four street gas lights date from 1875 and a trawl of the records of the Withington Local Health Board and its successor the Withington Urban District Council might reveal the onward march of lighting provision and in turn reveal possible locations which match our picture and the date.

And I rather think our house might be one of a pair, which could narrow the hunt slightly.

So, with an address we could hit lucky and find occupants who resemble the people in the photograph.

The three look as if they are posing with that uncomfortable attempt to “look natural” which is rather negated by the artificial pose of the dog on the chap’s shoulder.

Already and rightly so there has been some speculation on where we are. The consensus so far is Beech Road with the Rec directly opposite.

It is plausible.  The Recreation Ground was opened in 1896, and our picture is dated two years later, but I think not.

This stretch of Beech Road facing what is now Beech Road Park down to Ivy Farm was undeveloped and remained so until Joe Scott built the row of terraced houses in 1915.

Wilton Road could be an alternative but there were no houses matching that reflected building nearby.

All of which leaves Cross Road, its houses are all in situ by the late 1880s and just maybe that reflected building has a mirror in the tall mid 1870s buildings on the corner of Cross Road and Beech Road.

But I am unconvinced, leaving me to think we still have a mystery.

And of mysteries I am fascinated by the thumb print on the picture. It is fruitless to wonder how we could identify it but it is one of those exciting but intangible bits of history which march alongside speculation on the identity of the last person to handle the grave goods of Tutankhamun or the strand of hair placed in a locket beside the ancient burial of a young bride.

But enough of such romantic tosh ….. bring on the debate on the location of our house.

But answers will only be judged worthy of consideration if like John Anthony Hewitt you make out a compelling case.

It maybe just be that we should be looking elsewhere and that open land in the distance is not the Rec but open fields yet to be built on.

We shall see.

Location; as yet unknown

Picture; the mystery house the unidentified people and a street gas lamp, courtesy of Lee Hutchings, 1896, restored and colourised 2026

A history of Chorlton in just 20 objects number 8 ....... a railway ticket circa 1920

A short series featuring objects which tell a story of Chorlton in just a paragraph and  a challenge for people to suggest some that are personal to their stories.

The railway had come to Chorlton in 1880, and provided a quick service into the heart of the city. It took just seven minutes to travel from Chorlton into Manchester and was one of the factors which helped the development of new Chorlton allowing people to work in the commercial heart of the city but live within a few minute’s walk of the countryside. I can’t tell you when the ticket was issued but I think it must have been between 1892 and 1947. I can be fairly certain because the Fallowfield Loop line to Fallowfield and Guide Bridge was opened in 1892 and the Cheshire Lines Committee or CLC which ran the lines out of Central Station through Chorlton ceased in 1947 when the railways were nationalized. Had we travelled on that ticket it would have taken us just seven minutes to get to Fallowfield, passing through Wilbraham Road station. And had we elected to go all the way to Guide Bridge we would have been on the train for just 22 minutes having passed through Levenshulme, Hyde Road and Fairfield, but our ticket was only valid for Fallowfield so I suppose that was where we would alighted.

 Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Taking the curve into Shude Hill ………….

Now I am a fan of our tram network, and I never tire of watching them move across the city at a stately pace, taking the curves and twists bequeathed by our old road network.

Taking the curve into Shude Hill, 2022

All of which says much for the skill of the Metro engineers who managed to plot routes using those roads some of which date back into the late 18th century.

And one of my favourite spots is Balloon Street where trams effortlessly take the bendy way up from Corporation Street crossing Dantzic Street before sliding into the Shude Hill stop.

Before the tram Balloon Street was just a cut through up from Victoria Station which I sometimes also used to visit the Co-op archives.

But now the route is closed to traffic and is exclusively given over to the trams which emerge from the canyon like street flanked by tall buildings with a bit of grace.

Location; Manchester

Picture; taking the curve into Shude Hill, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Eltham …… no. 1 Elizabeth Terrace

I don’t think I ever took a short cut and walked down Elizabeth Terrace.

Elizabeth Terrace between Boots and W. H. Smith, 2014

It’s that unimpressive thoroughfare sandwiched between Boots the Chemist on one side and WH Smith’s on the other.

If you do, and apparently a lot of people use it to get to the Community Hospital it leads onto Philipot Path which connects Court Yard with Passey Place.

But Margaret Huntley remembers “going to a friend's little house after school. There was a garden opposite which we thought was an orchard and we used to go scrumping in there. Really tiny little place”.

Soon after she recorded her memories of the place, Matt K Minch posted a picture of the terrace taken in 1911, which showed a long line of houses fronted by a row of gardens and decorated with bunting for the coronation of King Edward Vll.

The photograph was taken looking up towards the High Street and as still happened at the time , the arrival of a photographer brought everyone out of their houses.

The eight faces that stare out of us are a mix of grown up and children, and some at least it might be possible to identify, because 1911 was also census year, which means that by working back from the High Street end it should be possible to locate the people in their doorways.

But more of that later.

For now I know that the houses were two up two down and there were 25 of them.

Elizabeth Terrace, 1875, west of  Park Place

A decade earlier in 1901 these 25 houses were home to one hundred people who gave their occupations as laundresses, brick layer, dressmaker , and carpenter and even one agricultural worker, along with a “Telegraph messenger boy” and junior clerk.

So, a mix of jobs, and ones that span neatly Eltham’s rural past where farming had been  an important activity, contrasted with the future, marked by the telegraph and the office.

Most of the residents in 1901 were from Eltham or close by, but there a few from Sussex, Surrey, and even the Midlands and Norfolk.

Not unsurprisingly there are some households which were living in overcrowded conditions, like James and Sarah Slopes who squeezed themselves and five children into the four rooms of their home, while at number 19 the family counted nine individuals.

And we know more about Mr. Slopes, including that he described himself as “a Sexton labourer”, raising the possibility that he worked at the parish church.

By contrast at number 2 Mary Tabley, and Ann Thorn shared the house.  Both were widows, and both took in laundry, although Mary recorded that she worked on her “own account” and Ann was merely a “worker”.

There is more, and I rather think Elizabeth Terrace will become a research project, spanning the years back to 1851 and possibly back another decade.

The street was listed in the 1851 census although it is not clear yet whether we are dealing with the same properties.

We shall see.

Location; Eltham

Pictures; looking east up  the High Street, 2014, with Elizabeth Terrace beside Boots, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick, and the High Street in 1875, OS for Kent map 6inch

Fires over Oldham .... July 2026

I woke to the distinctive smell of smoke this morning.   

"Fires in the distance", 2018

It had been there last night and at the time I put it down to someone close by burning unseasoned wood as part of a BBQ.

After all England were two hours away from playing Norway in the World Cup and across the country families were preparing for the event with a pre match get together over warm beer, singed sausages and sad looking salad.

But no, this was another of those Moorland fires which may have been caused by a spark from a careless BBQ, discarded cigarette or just the action of the sun on a piece of broken glass.

The Manchester Evening News tells me  that "last night Emergency services are on the scene following reports of a huge moor fire near Dovestone Reservoir, in Oldham, this evening.

Burning hills, 2018

Smoke can be seen billowing into the sky close to the beauty spot. According to reports, the clouds can be seen for several miles.

Members of the public have been advised to avoid the area. And those living nearby should keep all doors and windows closed.

The cause and extent of the blaze are not yet known".*

We are in that season of such events, and I was reminded of that devastating fire above Stalybridge eight years ago which lasted for days. 

At first, it was just a hint of smoke but as that first day continued it became noticeable, and there was just a slight haziness, like looking out through a dirty window.

We were a full 16 miles away from Stalybridge and yet for days it was an ever-present reminder of the inferno which had taken over the moors.

There were many images of that fire, but Peter Armistead’s taken from Spinneyfields, a full ten miles away of the hills on fire to the east is a powerful reminder of those few days.

Dig, cut and burn, 1958

And as the smell from the recent Oldham fire lingers, I am reflecting on how wood smoke would have been an everyday part of how we lived.  

In the autumn into the winter back in the 1950s, every garden would have its share of regualr bonfires, when the dead branches and finished flowers would be burnt with piles of leaves.

And long before the use of coal, logs and branches and twigs  burnt in the castles and halls of the great and the good down to the mean dwellings of the poor were essential for cooking and keeping warm.

Wood, peat and the smell, Middle Ages

On a good day using dry and seasoned wood it must have been a dream, but on dank and wet days when the smoke from the open fire refused to disappear up the chimney or out of the vent in the roof the experience will have been very unpleasant.

It will have lingered across the open living space giving off that pungent smell which stuck in your throat, stung the eyes and made it difficult to breathe.

Added to which it worked its way onto and into your clothes and followed you around.

Coming in to Manchester, 2019

The consolation is that the fire will eventually be brought under control through the work of the Greater Manchester Fire Service, and in the meantime leave you with a happier picture taken by Peter a year later, as he flew in from western Canada, 

Enough said.

Location; Spinneyfields, Manchester, 2018

Pictures; fire on the hills, Stalybridge, June 29th, 2018, “Coming into Manchester”, August 19th, 2019, from the collection of Peter Armistead, Dig, cut and burn, 1958, Looking at Other Children, Jean and David Gadsby, from the series Looking at Geography, 1957 and Norman houses, from A History of Houses, R.J.Unstead, 1958

*Emergency services are on the scene in Saddleworth, Rachel Vickers-Price UK and World News Reporter and Ian Hughes, Manchester Evening News, July 11th, updated July, 12th, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/dovestone-moor-fire-live-huge-34277110

A history of Chorlton in just 20 objects number 7 ....... a plough 1894

A short series featuring objects which tell a story of Chorlton in just a paragraph and  a challenge for people to suggest some that are personal to their stories.

This was the last time the land opposite our house went under the plough.  The year is probably 1894 and the field was Row Acre.  I can be pretty sure that the chap at the plough was Alfred Higginbotham whose family had farmed here since the 1840s.  Row Acre stretched down from Cross Road to what is now Acres Road and was divided into strips.  Along with the Higginbotham’s parts of Row Acre were farmed by the Bailey family, Thomas White and John Brundrett, and perfectly echoed the medieval idea of a community each working a strip of land.  And of course the plough reminds us that we were a farming community. The image was originally dated 1896 but that was the year the Rec was opened, so I think we can push the date back by two years

Picture; Ploughing Row Acre before it became the Recreation Ground, 1894 from the collection of William Higginbotham

Eltham Park Railway Station ........ the one I never visited

So, despite living in Eltham for an important chunk of my childhood I never visited Eltham Park Railway Station.

Eltham Park Railway Station, 1908

But then we lived on Well Hall Road and there seemed very little reason to stay on the train.

On the rare occasions when I did visit the next station on the line it was part of those adventures which led me wandering across Eltham on sunny Saturdays or in the school holidays.

All of which means I have no idea what it looked like, and so I am grateful to that smashing little book Eltham Village published in 1984.*

More so because one of the authors, Paula Richardson has given me permission to reproduce this picture, and as we all know it is always correct to seek the permission of those who first reproduced the image.

Likewise, I shall credit that excellent site Disused Stations for the history of the railway Station, which opened in 1908 by South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company and closed on March 3rd, 1983.**

By then I had done a decade in Manchester and remember my surprise when on going home later in that year the train from Charing Cross deposited me on the platform of entirely different railway station.

Not much of a story I suppose, but sometimes history is made up of the little things.

Location; Eltham

Picture; Eltham Park Railway Station, 1908, from Eltham Village

*Eltham Village,  Gus White, Ian Murdock and Paula Richardson in 1984 and published by G & Pi Publications Eltham

**Eltham Park, Disused Stations, http://disused-stations.org.uk/e/eltham_park/index.shtml