This Is London ........ a unique guide to the London of 1959

Now I have no idea why I never got a copy of This Is London.*

Cover of This is London

I guess that there are only so many books that you can get for Christmas, and with the Eagle Annual and the odd history book that was enough.

Not that I think I would fully have appreciated it back then when I was only ten all of which is so different now.

It is a witty, informative guide to the London I knew as a child and is full of marvellous images in the style of the period and these alone take me back nearly sixty years.

But it is also the humour which shines through and marks it as something original.

It starts with a page of brown sludge with the occasional splash of yellow accompanied with “Well, this is London. 

 But don’t worry, it is hidden in fog like this only a few times a year in winter. Most of the time it looks- like this!”

And that is the start of a wonderful series of bright colourful and exciting paintings of London with a text to match.

All of which is a riveting read and one that has now become a history book in itself.

So much so that the new edition which was published in 2004** has updated some of the entries,  pointing out for instance that “Today the Billingsgate fish market is located in the Docklands, a rejuvenated section of the London Docks.  It moved there in 1982.”

Now that move passed me by and while I have no doubt it was for the best I have vivid memories of the market, the over powering smell and the debris left on the streets on a Saturday morning only hours after the traders and the fish had left for shops across the city.

Three million passengers are carried daily in Underground trains

It is just one of the moments which bounced out of the past along with those electric milk floats, old Routemasters and a river which was still a working river full of ships from every corner of the world unloading their cargoes under the shadows of tall cranes and massive warehouses.

All of which I remember and for those like my own lads who never knew that London, Mr Sasek’s book has it all.

And so as you would expect I have gone looking for other editions in the same series which included, Paris, Rome, New York, and San Francisco.

In time I might order up the reprints of New York, and San Francisco, but at present I am content to wait for the arrival of This is Rome which was originally published in 1960 and reprinted in 2007.

Like This is London it has an page of updates which will be fun to match with the original text and my own memories of a city we regularly return to.

Now ever one to respect copyright I held off posting and substitute the same story but with images drawn from the collection.

However after contacting the publisher it appears at present no one knows who owns the copyright to the illustrations, so as the blog is no commercial and this is about encouraging everyone to buy read and share the booksof Mr Miroslav I can't think anyone will object, but if they do I shall revert to the original.

And for those intrigued by the books there is a site dedicated to the author and his books.

Picture; cover from This Is London, and Underground train page 42 courtesy of Universe Publishing

*This Is London, Miroslav Sasek, 1959

**Universe Publishing, a Division of  Rizzoli International Publications, New York, www.rizzoliusa.com

***This is M Sasek, http://www.miroslavsasek.com/index.html

A day out on the meadows ..... circa 1910

The caption reads, “the footbridge over the stream at Brook Road entrance to the meadows. 

 From this bridge there was a diagonal path across Boat Meadow to Jackson’s footbridge which was part of the normal path from the green to the pub by the Mersey.” 

It is dated 1910.

The picture is a perfect reminder that the area was farmed as meadow land which involved regularly flooding the land from a series of irrigation ditches.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Lost and forgotten streets of Salford nu 58 ................. Booth Street

Now Booth Street is just what you would expect of one of those twisty little streets off Chapel Street which make their way down to the river.

Unless you have business down there I doubt that you would give Booth Street a second glance.

Today there are a few apartments along the stretch and that is pretty much it.
Back in 1850 the street directory lists just five addresses, starting with Mary Farren, shopkeeper at number 5, George Lord, mechanic at number 12, Daniel Gaskil who was an overlooker at 20 and John Blomeley next door who also an overlooker and finally the firm of James Aspinal Turner & Co, cotton spinners.

There were plenty more properties along with a closed court and a timber yard, but none of the residents of these were worthy or wealthy enough to get a mention in the directory.

Booth Street, 1849

Of course the turnover of occupants in this bit of Salford would have been high and indeed just a year earlier at the bottom of Booth Street there was the Eagle Roller and Spindle Works who likewise is missing from the 1850 list of businesses.

Still there were always the pubs.  On the corner of Booth and Chapel Street there was the Punch Bowl, while back down on Barlow Croft you could have ordered a pint at the Lord Nelson , while heading in the opposite direction there was the Royal Oak and finally starting on the corner of Blackfriars Street there was the Saddle Inn and the Crown.

Now I suspect that both Mr Gaskil and Blomeley who lived on the west side of the street could have worked at James Aspinal Turner’s but it is just speculation as is the notion that they may have been regulars in the Punch Bowl.

But armed with their names I shall in time go looking for them on the census returns  and that will also offer up the names and lives of some of the others who lived on Booth Street.

And that is all for today, but I shall be visiting  the streets on either side over the next few days.

Location; Salford 3

Picture; Booth Street from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Booth Street in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

A book called Alice …. a thunderstorm ….and the lazy buzz of visiting bees … the non-history story

August into September used to be known as the silly season when with Parliament in recess along with the law courts nothing much stirred leaving the media to fall back on trivia to sell newspapers and generate income from advertising.

Driven from the Rec ... hot days, 2026

It would be the time of “man bites dog”, “looking for the sea at Southport” and “spotting the first onion sellers from France”.

And despite that it is only June, and recent stories of earthquakes in Venezuela, wars in the Middle East and that unfolding speculation on who will be Britain’s next Prime Minister, here in Chorlton it all seems to be what the Americans would call a “slow news week”.

All of which I guess is down to the heat wave which has driven me into the coolest part of the house.  Shutters and curtain drawn, windows closed and the admission that the last time I went out was Monday.

It has however given me more time to reflect on smaller bits of history and to explore phrases like “Piffy on a rock bun”, “Black as New gate’s knocker”, and “looking like Reggie Page”. Some are very personal and arise from our own family while others have a wider context and some are rooted in historic events. *

And there are those which like me and my friends have used for decades and no doubt were picked up from our youth.  One such was when my friend Lois responding to the present heatwave describing the moment as “boiling” while many of us have and do say I am “starving”. 

Now neither can logically be true but they perfectly describe a moment.

Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo, 1865

And that brings me back to one of my favourite bits from Through the Looking Glass where Humpty Dumpty remarks, “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less’”.

An absurd comment but one which chimes in perfectly with the utterances of some politicians and much of what is peddled on social media and is just “fake news”, although even the word fake news has been hijacked to rubbish what has been verified as accurate.

All that said there is nothing fake about the heat wave.

Inside our house it is currently 29° while outside its 32° but which pales when set against the 34° being suffered by one of my sisters in southeast London.

Alas the promised thunderstorms passed off with just three claps of thunder and the accompanying streaks of lightening at 5 this morning.

It was enough to get me up, water the garden and enjoy the lazy buzz of some friendly bees who were more active than I have been all day.

All of which is very unhistorical so I shall close with a review of the summers from the mid-1840s.

Back then we were still a rural community with most of our population deriving a living from the land or in associated trades. So, the weather was more than just a hot day to endure.  

Hot days looking for bees, 2026

My copy of “Agricultural Records” reports that 1842 and 1843 were “fine dry summers with a good harvest” while 1844 was “a year of drought with disastrous harvest", followed by a year when the summer was “cold with a fairly poor harvest”.***

Happily, 1847 and 1848 offered up mixed weather but the harvests were plentiful although the quality was low.

And anyone who has studied social unrest will know that a succession of poor harvests brings hardships to the poor and anxiety for the people of plenty, who well remembered that the bumper French harvest of 1787 gave way to two bad years and a revolution.

Location; where ever  it is hot

Pictures; Driven from The Rec, Beech Road, empty at midday, 2026, and hot days looking for bees, Royal Horticultural Gardens, Bridgewater from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo, John Teninel, 1865, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol, 1865

*"'When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.

'The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

'The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all’”.

Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, 1871

**Piffy on a rock bun …………… and other travels with my past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/06/piffy-on-rock-bun-and-other-travels.html

***Agricultural Records, AD 220-1977, J.M. Stratton and Jack Houghton Brown, 1978

Ordinary days in St Ann’s Square …..

It is often the ordinary picture you take and discard as boring that comes back and shows a place as it was a long time ago.

I was reminded of that almost banal observation when I came across a picture of St Ann’s Square from 1983, posted by the historian Brian Groom.*

It was taken by Anthony O'Neill and appeared in the Manchester Evening News as the Square was going through one of its makeovers.

It’s an untidy and messy scene and perfectly captured the place on a day when it was full of shoppers and piles of construction stuff. 

Now I can remember a time when the square was not a pedestrian haven, and crossing from the bookshop to the Lufthansa office meant picking your way through parked cars and watching for passing traffic.

Sadly, my collection of pictures from the late 1970s and 80s doesn’t include any of the place when the car was still king in the square, but I did find some from 1980 when it was on the cusp of change.

Or so I thought because amongst the images is one of a chap taking in the sun which might postdate 1980.

And that is pretty much it, other than to say it is hard to think that on a summer’s day in the 1980s, shoppers and seekers after the sun had to contend with “meter maids” busy taxis and vans dropping off.

Location; St Ann’s Square

Pictures; St Ann’s Square, 1980 and perhaps 1984, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Brian Groom, Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day HarperNorth, 2022

Made in Manchester: A people’s history of the city that shaped the modern world HarperNorth, 2024

Mr Gratrix's clay pipe lost in our garden in 1845

The pipe found in the garden, 2014

It is not much of a piece of history but I found it in our front garden which makes it special and takes me back to sometime in the 19th century.

It is a bit of clay pipe and was probably thrown away by some one working this bit of land, or by someone passing along what was then called the Row.*

It is even just possible it came from night soil brought in from Manchester to spread on the fields of Chorlton.

'Like any time in history some of the most revealing clues to how people lived are contained in the rubbish they threw away.  Across the township one of the most common items to resurface is the humble clay pipe.

Found in the parish churchyard, 1980

Usually they are broken and often turn up on their own, although sometimes a whole batch has been unearthed over a period of time all quite close together.

They were the pipe of the working man, and some working women.  

Inexpensive, easy to make and made in huge quantities, they are a true example of a throw away product.  

They were smoked in the home, in the pub and at the work place.  

The evidence from sites in some of the poorer parts of London show that the owners smoked heavily.**

Clay pipes come in many different sizes, some with long stems and decorated bowls and date from anytime from the 17th through to the 20th century.  The last clay pipe manufacturer in Manchester only ceased trading in 1990.

The most interesting pipe to come back out of the earth was found in the archaeological dig of the church in the 1980s.  It can be dated to between 1830 and 1832, and may have been bought to commemorate the coronation of William IV.  

The William IV pipe, 1830-32

It bears the inscription “William IV and Church” around the rim and is highly decorated with the royal coat of arms flanked by a lion on one side and a unicorn on the other.  

It is also unusual because it was found in one of the graves inside the church.  

The final burial in the grave was that of Thomas Watson aged 54 in 1832.  

There are those who might well imagine the pipe being placed alongside the coffin of Thomas Watson in imitation of the ancient practice of placing grave goods alongside the departed.  

The less romantic will counter with the obvious observation that it was the casual act of one of the grave diggers.  

Either way it is unusual for the bowl to survive.   More commonly it is the stem which is turned up and even these are found as fragments.

Detail of the pipe

Clay pipes were never expected to last.  At best they might survive for a few weeks and in many cases just days.  But then they were cheap.  

Very little has been published on the price of pipes but adverts dating from 1799 have unglazed ones selling at 2s 6d [12½p] a gross.  Just over 130 years later the 1930 Pollock catalogue was selling them at 4s [20p] a gross.  Longer pipes did cost a little more but these were not the choice of the working man in the fields.  

Shorter pipes could be smoked while working and it is these that turn up in the fields around the township.'***

So I wonder about my bit of pipe.

I would like to think it belonged to Samuel Gratrix who was farming this bit of Egerton land in the 1840s, but chances are it was discarded by someone passing along the Row, or worse still dropped into a privy somewhere in Manchester, only to make its way with a cart load of night soil along the Duke's canal to Chorlton.

But that along with Mr Gratrix and his field belong to another story.

Pictures; clay pipe, 2014  from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and other pipes from the report on the Archaeological dig conducted by Dr Angus Bateman during 1980-81


*The Row or Chorlton Row is now Beech Road

** Pearce, Jacqui, Living in Victorian London: The Clay Pipe Evidence, 2007, Geography Department at Queen Mary, University of London

***from the Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy,   http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 26 ........ at Salford Cross in 1875 with Mr Henry Nelson

Now sometimes it is best just to stay with the image and keep the words to the minimum.

The Bulls Head, 1875

The caption just says, “old houses, Salford Cross”  and it was taken by James Mudd in 1875.

I could have gone looking for Mr Mudd but instead looked up Henry Nelson who was running the Bulls Head at 47  Greengate.

He was there in 1871 with his wife Mary and four children.

Only the youngest who was seven had been born in Salford which suggests that sometime between the birth of Sarah in 1857 and Alfred in 1864 the family moved to Salford.

Up to 53 Greengate

And we can be a bit more precise because in 1861 Mr Nelson gave his occupation as "Oastler" and the family address as 33 St Simon Street.

For those wanting even more detail I can tell you that in 1871 his near neighbours were James Major at 51, and the landlord at the Old Shears Head at 53.

The street on the corner was Bull Street which ran down to Duke Street but also gave access to Bull Court which was surrounded by eight properties of which some were back to backs.

And that is enough for now.

Location Salford

Picture; Old houses, Salford Cross, James Mudd, 1876, m79430, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Enu 15 55, Greengate, Salford