Kemp’s Corner, meeting place for three generations and a lesson in how places get their name

I am fascinated by how places get their names, and often despite the attempts of landlords, planners and the well meaning, a name seems to come out of nowhere, fits the place and is adopted.

So it is with the junction of Balow Moor and Wilbraham Roads. In the late 1990s it was officially designated Chorlton Cross which I suppose sort of made sense, given that it was a crossroads in Chorlton.

But for perhaps three generations it was known as Kemp’s Corner, taking its name from Kemp’s the chemist. Harry Kemp was a Liberal politician, and his chemist’s shop stood from the beginning of the 20th century on the corner of Barlow Moor Road where it joins Wilbraham Road. The clock above the chemist made it a local landmark, and as such it was a recognised meeting point. Today the same spot is referred to as the Four Banks which given the fact that there is one on each corner makes sense which just repeats its even earlier title of Bank Square.

My old friends Tony and Ida remember arranging to meet people there. In an age before the mobile phone you had to fix a point and a time to meet up, and Kemp’s Corner with its clock and central position made.

In the same way I recently overheard a conversation in which one young woman was describing Chorlton and as she said, this is the “four banks and we tell people where we live in relation to the corner.”

So we are back to photographs as clues. Here is the junction looking south down Barlow Moor Road and there to the right is Kemp’s Corner. The roads are empty which could mean it was early in the morning or perhaps a Sunday.

I am sure there will be someone who can date the picture from the tram and maybe even suggest a time of year by looking keenly at the way the light falls across the pavement, sadly not being an expert I can only go on the information on the back of the postcard which says “sometime before 1914.” And maybe the chap on the bike is in shirt sleeves which as one of the shops has its awning down could suggest summer.

The shop front underwent rebuilding after a road accident in which five people were killed in 1959 and today the garden has vanished and been replaced by a car park.
Now I first visited this story back in November http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/kemps-corner.html and much of what I wrote then reappears in this post but given Bronwen's wonderful picture I hope I will be forgiven for returning to Kemp's Corner.

Picture; from the collection of Bronwen Bhabuta