The Romans are back in Manchester ….. just as it should be

Now, the news that a bit of Roman road has been found in Manchester is the sort of news I like.

Two very knocked about Romans, 1975

I am and have always been fascinated by Roman history and yes, I fully accept the bits about slavery, conquests, nasty emperors and the exploitation of heaps of people but I remain fascinated none the less.

Down at the dig, 1979

And how much more fascinating to discover new Roman finds in the city.

It comes from an ongoing dig on Liverpool Road and is the missing bit from excavations done on the Roman fort and on the civilian settlement.

The digs in the 1970s were met with a lot excitement and provided a rebutal to the historian A J P Taylor who had dismissed the significance of Roman Manchester.

Indeed like many I made my way down to Liverpool Road and even took a party of students to observe the patient back breaking work of the team of archeaologists.

At which point I could quote from the article, but where would the fun be in that when here is the link.

Artemidorus, Hawara, Egypt, second century

I missed the story when the BBC first announced it so seven days later so here again is the link to the story.

Picture; portrait of Artemidorus, Hawara, Egypt, second century, British Museum, taken from cover image  of the Poems of Catullus, Penguin Classics, 1968, Digging for the Romans in Manchester 1979, and two Romans much knocked about circa 1974

*Roman road discovered in city centre, Angela Ferguson & Mat Trewern

BBC News, Manchester, July 12, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y74246pppo

Adverts … cheap remedies ….. and a step back into another time

 I am back in 1952, and it was the decade when I crossed from being a baby into a school boy.

That said I don’t remember much of it until well into the 1950s, but these adverts were the backdrop into my growing up.

These four all come from the News of the World’s Household Guide and Almanac and were sent up to me by Debbie Cameron who came across the book and “just had to have it”.

Now on one level there is nothing remarkable about them, all traded on maladies which with varying degrees of seriousness could be experienced by all of us.

And these remedies go back into time and were the staple of magazines, and periodicals in the 19th century while some were traded by quacks on street corners and travelling fairs as the answer to all your medical problems.

In 1919 at the height of the influenza pandemic which killed millions the firm Genatosan Ltd offered up Formamint, their “Germ Killing Throat Tablet” which would ensure “you will be safe from Spanish Influenza and other epidemics" and endorsed by some of Establishment "who had been ordered to take Formamint by their doctors which gave great relief”.*

Now I do not rubbish those who felt the need to resort to such “cures” nor to dismiss the seriousness of their complaints, only to reflect that for the genuine remedy there were and are countless others which at best do nothing and at worst should carry a Government Health Warning.

What is a little surprising is that in1952 in the age of the NHS and the relative cheapness of a prescription from a doctor people could resort to something they could buy from a postal address.

But then in the 21st century across the internet and as an introductory preamble to many a U Tube song there will be a “self-proclaimed expert” extolling everything from a way to cure short sightedness, to the solution the dangers inherent in tap water. 

Added to which many of those reading the News of the World’s Household Guide and Almanac would have grown to maturity against an absence of “free medical care at the point of access” and so would have turned  to Mr. Henry J River’s solution to “Weak Nerves, Worry, Depression, Sleeplessness, Fears, Shyness, and Blushing”, of that promise to “Calm those jaded Nerves” with “Dr. Niblett’s Nerve Sedative”.

And it is easy to forget that for most of the population even the cost of a visit to the doctor was a visit too far.

So, while I can smile at those “’Pick me Up’ Tablets” and sometimes rage at the quackery and exploitation of those who were too poor to expect better, these advertised remedies take us back to a time most of us would not like to see again.

Indeed, the protestations of some who would be happy with a totally privatised health system should be judged as an endorsement of bygone age of privilege and inequality. And they should reflect on the record numbers who in 1948 applied for a pair of NHS spectacles.  This was not because they were looking for something on the cheap but because for the first time, they were given the opportunity to correct poor or failing eyesight, banishing the need to visit Woolworths and try on pairs of glasses to till one pair allowed them to see the back wall.

Or in the case of toothache offered a visit to a professionally trained dentist, obviating that old practice of visiting the tooth puller who could be found practicing his skill in town markets across the country.

All of which means that those adverts in Debbie’s 1952 book are a powerful reminder of what we have lost and perhaps a warning about those who think the prevention and cure of ailments and diseases come in neatly packaged pills or the soothing words of a voice from the internet.

Location; 1952

Pictures; adverts from News of the World’s Household Guide and Almanac, 1952, courtesy of Debbie Cameron

*Simpson Andrew Manchester, Remembering 1914-1918, 2017

Looking out from Cross Lane ....... across the fields of Chorlton-cum-Hardy with Mr Samuel Walton

In the spring of 1877, Mr Samuel Walton would have had a fine view from his house on Cross Road out on to the fields which stretched down Beech Road.

Cross Road, 2018

He had moved in earlier that year and was the first occupant of the house built by a John Rhodes.

During that first year the annual rent for the property was £25 per year, which rose later in the next decade by three pounds.

By then Mr Walton had bought the house and moved out renting it to a succession of tenants.

I had always assumed that the houses on Cross Road dated from the early 1870s, but on being asked to do some research on one of them I discovered that they had been built in two phases.

The lower numbers were there by 1871 but the rest came along a little later.

They were some of the first new “posh” build in what was still a rural area.

Row Acre directly beside Cross Road, 1894

To the east of the long gardens of the houses on Cross Road was the large walled garden of Beech House which belonged to the Holt family along with a set of cottages which jutted out onto what we now called Beech Road.

The name Beech Road is relatively recent, before that and no doubt running back centuries it was called Chorlton Row, and by the 1840s, consisted of a few wattle and daub houses dating into the 18th century, two fine houses built in the early 1800s, a couple of farmhouses, a beer shop, the Wesleyan Chapel and the village smithy.

The Rate Books also show that Cross Road underwent a number of name changes, beginning with Cross Lane, then Cross Street and finally Cross Road.

Looking out from Cross Road, 1894, on all that was left of Row Acre

And for all those who never tire of telling the assembled crowd that Chorlton has no streets but only roads, this might seem a revelation, and one that I shall follow up with the fact that Acres Road was once Acres Street and the small stretch of road from the Chorlton Green past the Beech Inn to where there is a twist in the direction of the road was Lloyd Street.

And so back to Mr Walton and that house whose views out on Row Acre were changing.

By the late 19th century Row Acre was getting nibbled away till all that was left was a 2 acre patch bounded by Beech Road, High Lane, Cross Road and Wilton Road.

It was last ploughed in 1895 and was gifted to the people of Chorlton-cum-Hardy by the Egerton’s as a Recreational Ground.

And that is it.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; Cross Road, 2018, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, ploughing Row Acre, courtesy of Mr Higginbotham from the Lloyd Collection, and Row Acre, 1894 from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Sources; Census Return , Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1871-91, Rate Books, 1877-1900

The history of Eltham in just 20 objects ........Nu 8 a family photograph

The challenge is to write a history of Eltham in just 20 objects which are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Anyone who wants to nominate their own is free to do so, just add a description in no more than 200 words and send it to me.

This is a picture of Annie Morris sometime around 1911 outside her home at 25 Court Yard.

She was born in 1848 at 4 Pound Place, and almost her whole life was spent in Eltham.

She was a cook and may have worked for Captain North at Avery Hill and through her life we have a snap shot of what Eltham had been and what it was becoming.

Her grandfather had set up a farrier’s business in Eltham in 1803 on what is now the Library, and “attended the old Parish Church in his leather apron.”*

All of which makes her a little piece of Eltham’s history.

Pictures; from the collection of Jean Gammons

*Eltham District Times, June 1931

The forgotten story ………. a little bit of squatter history in Alexandra Park

Now the story of how the military buildings in Alexandra Park were taken over by squatters in 1946 has faded from memory.

The squatter movement was a direct response to the shortage of accommodation after the war much of which was because of war damage but also because some properties had been deliberately left unoccupied by their owners.

The campaign was nationwide and in London was co-ordinated by the Communist Party.

Here in Manchester the first successful squat was at “the gun site near Alexandra Park which housed one family at 8 p.m., but by the following day contained a community of over 20 families and all available huts were occupied.  

Among the first to arrive was Mr. E. Brent, a Dunkirk veteran and survivor of the sinking of the Lancastrian.  

Like Mr Herbert Pendleton, who was first on the field he had brought his wife and child from lodgings and was delighted to be in a place of his own.”*

Within a day the occupants "were visited by a butcher and a milkman and while conditions were primitive and the buildings lacked electricity” two huts have running water, one even boasts a bath and for the others there is a tap in the grounds.”

By the following week the occupants had elected a committee to look after the interests of community and collect money against future demands for rates and other charges, preparation were being made to bring in electricity and just eleven days after the squat began the residents were paying the Corporation rent.

For Mrs S. Middleton this amounted “to eight shillings a week for the hut where she lives with her husband now a clerk and their six year-old daughter, Jean.”**

In the great sweep of the park’s history the story of Mr and Mrs Middleton, and the Brent and Pendleton families may not amount to much, but they remain a forgotten episode which may now provoke a series of memories about that event.

And that would be something given that to date all we have are four newspaper reports and three pictures of a family and their home.


Pictures; outside one of the homes, 1946, Walters, m07247, inside the home, 1946, Walters, m07249 and m07248, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*A Sergeant Major ‘scares’ Salford Squatters, Manchester Guardian, August 17, 1946

** Another Squatters ‘ Victory', Manchester Guardian, August 28, 1946

There Was A Roman in Your Garden …..

 This is my summer reading. 

The press release tells me that, “It’s your LUCKY day! You’ve stumbled across an ancient treasure chest in your garden that was buried THOUSANDS of years ago by a child living in ancient Rome. 

And the chest is packed with 20 strange and curious items that tell us so much about their life, such as: Armour made of REAL crocodile skin, Twinkling TREASURE said to protect its wearer from evil, A fun game made of a PIG'S KNUCKLE, Evidence of the world's first PIZZA!”

So, I shall “Unpack the treasure chest and discover the objects that a child …. was using thousands of years ago. You’ll uncover fascinating facts and true tales about their school, family life, clothes, games, favourite snacks and so much more”.

It’s by “award-winning historian, broadcaster and bestselling author Bettany Hughes is here to dig up this newly discovered information for young budding historians everywhere”.*

I could quote more but the rest is all on the back cover, with of course all the Roman treasures contained inside the 215 pages of the book which costs £8.99.

I started it last night and was hooked.

As many know I still read kid’s books and regularly go back to the ones I read as child, from R.J. Unstead to the fictional ones by Rosemary Sutcliff, Geoffrey Treese, Henry Treece and Conan Doyle with a sidesway swipe at Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill.

Nor am I alone because I remember one of my English teachers confided to me that in term time that was all he read. 

*There Was A Roman in Your Garden, Bettany Hughes, Puffin Books, £8.99, available from Chorlton Bookshop, 506 Wilbraham Rd, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW, 0161 881 6374, https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/chorltonbookshop

On St Johns Street with a story that crosses continents

Now the way a story comes to light can be as fascinating and revealing as the actual story. 

St John Street showing the home of the Painter family, 2008

So it was when Julie picked up on a post about St Johns Street with the comment that “My great grandfather was David Arthur Keneally. I think it was actually 19 he lived at.” 

And that was how it began.

St John Street dates back to the late 18th century and remains a street of elegant houses which by the late 19th century had become the consulting rooms of fashionable doctors, surgeons and eye specialists.

A few were residents but most lived elsewhere.

Their rooms were on the ground floor and the remaining parts of the houses were let out to a mix of tenants who made their living from a range of occupations from service industries to clerical and industrial enterprises and quite a few working for the nearby railway companies.

There was even a blacksmith and a policeman, which is where our story begins.

Police Constable, Kenally, date unknown

This is Mr Keneally.

I don’t have a date for the picture but given that he joined the Manchester Police Force in the October of 1895 and he has two stripes I would have put the date sometime into the early 20th century.

Those service records also show that he was born in Cape Town in 1868 and had been in the Cheshire Regiment.

And that is a good starting point because although I can’t find any reference to him before 1891 I do know that in the April of that year he was in Salford Barracks on Regent Road.

The army seems to have been a natural career choice given that he was born in King William’s Town and that his father was in the 99th Foot Regiment which served in South Africa from 1865 till 1868 and again in 1878.

All of which explains why he appears to be missing from the records.

Looking down St Johns Street, circa 1900

But those records do throw up a few odd hiccups.  So while his birth was registered as 1866 his police records have him born in 1868 and those same police records describe him as single, when he had married the year before.

The marriage took place in St John’s Church on January 24 and the parish record  is a revealing document.

Mr Keneally was living at number 19 St Johns Street and gave his occupation as "musician" and that of his father as a clerk, while his bride was living two doors down the road at number 23.

She was Mary Ann Cross who was from Ireland and her father is given as James Painter and that of course puzzled me.  But according to Julie Mary Ann’s mother had remarried on the death of her father. “Sarah Myles married William Cross (he was in the Kerry Militia) and they had Marianne (Mary Anne / Marion?).  

Mary Ann Painter gets a present, 1885

William Cross died and Sarah married James Painter who was in the British Army and she came back to England with him.”

And that made the connection with St Johns Street because in 1891 Mr Painter was the caretaker in the Royal Eye Hospital which was situated at number 24, and there too was Mary Ann described as "house keeper.”

Mary Ann appears to have adopted her step father's surname by 1885 when she received a gift from her work colleagues, but gave her name at the wedding as Cross.

Now that will help in the search for her story.

In the meantime the romantic in me likes the idea of David and Mary Ann seeing each other regularly on the street and discovering that they were attracted to each other.

After their marriage they stayed on St Johns Street where they still were in 1901 living at number 23.  By then they had a son and employed young Minnie Day as a servant.

A decade later and they had swapped the imposing house on St Johns Street for the more modest 41 Carleton Street in Rusholme which was a a 4 roomed property close to Claremont Road.

Mr and Mrs Painter with John and Percy circa 1907

And what I like is that both homes are still standing.

There will be lots more research to do.

I know that Mr Keneally died in 1921 and Mrs Keneally in 1937 and  both were buried together in Southern Cemetery, but for now that is enough.

And this was pretty much the end of the story but then having discovered that Mr and Mrs Keneally were buried in Southern Cemetery I asked my friend David to visit the rave and take a picture.

Headstone of Mr and Mrs Keanlly

They were interred block U and it is fitting I think to close the story with his picture of their headstone.

Location; Manchester

Additional research Julie Smith



Pictures; St John Street in 2008 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, St John Street circa 1900, m04502, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass  the headstone of Mr and Mrs Keneally 2016 from the collection of David Harrop, and family images from the collection of Julie Smith