Now the collaboration between local artist Peter Topping and me is well under way. He paints pictures of Chorlton and I tell the story behind the pictures.
The Royal Oak on Barlow Moor Road is one of our biggest pubs. It was built in the late 1920s and replaced a smaller beer shop of the same name which had been in business from before the mid 19th century.
The second Royal Oak was at the centre of “New Chorlton” which was that part of our township which had developed in the 40 years before the pub was built. It was a mix of tall terraced houses for the “middling sort” along with shops and the railway station.
I suppose it perfectly reflected this new Chorlton. The building is a large solid block with white facing stone and when new there were glazed tiles and coloured glass, which complimented the entrance columns. And then there was that staircase which greeted customers as they walked in. It was wider than most staircases that could be found in private homes and grander than that of the Lloyds or the Oaks which specialized in the cemetery trade.
The Royal Oak remains a landmark, but equally impressive in its way would have been the building torn down to make way for the pub. This was Renshaws Buildings which had stood on the same site from the early 1830s. They were one of the first blocks of brick built cottages in the township, may have been one up one downs and were built by one of our local farmers.
By the beginning of the last century part at least of the buildings had been converted into a cycle shop and later a garage. Today all that remains is the thin strip of pavement and kerb stone which ran the length of the block.
The original Royal Oak was a little west of the present pub and was much frequented by our farm labourers and the Sunday trade which made their way from the city to drink amongst the fields. Not as notorious as the Black Horse at Lane End it could still boast robberies and saw riotous mobs from Manchester disturb the peace. These and tales from Renshaws Buildings can be found in my new book http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20the%20Book and will appear during, the new year on the blog.
Peter’s pictures hang in a number of venues across Chorlton and can also be seen on his facebook site Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures
Picture © Peter Topping 2011 http://www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk .
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