Summer Cottages, the hidden homes behind Beech Road

I was talking to my old friend Ida about Summer Cottages. They were probably the last one up one down cottages in Chorlton and were only demolished in the early 70s. They stood just off Beech Road behind what was J.Johnny’s.

And in the November of 1958 they were photographed by R.E. Stanley who added the caption, "Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2 cottages behind No. 115 Beech Road, known as Summer Cottages 1 and 2, At the end of a narrow passage about 30 yards, small yard and garden in front of cottages, very confined, no room to take picture further back".

Which I suppose makes them what we call court dwellings. These could be found in the heart of cities like Manchester and consisted of a few houses around an open court. The courts were often dark dismal unsanitary places reached down mean ginnels which in some cases were no wider than an arm’s length. Locked away and hidden from the attention of casual passersby they were small island communities. The open space in front of the houses would contain the privies and perhaps a water pump.

Summer Cottages were to be fair a little different. The courtyard seems to have been bigger and according to one record included a grassed area and garden. Opposite the two cottages was a pump and water trough and there was a view across the court on to Beech Road.

But there is no disguising that these were cramped places. In 1911 the Richardson’s were living with their four young children at number one while a decade earlier the widow Isabella Gresty was living with her daughter and grandson at number two. And the occupations of the residents ranged from charwoman and cowman to labourer.

Now there are those who bemoan the demolition of such places, but I doubt that these could have been saved and modernised. Such properties had brick or tile floors which rested on the bare earth and were often just wearing out. The slightly larger houses off Sandy Lane had according to the report accompanying the Compulsory Purchase Order in 1972 damp walls with perished bricks and plaster, sagging roofs, broken window sills and chimneys which were leaning or bulging.

In a way it surprises me that Summer Cottages survived into the second half of the 20th century with people living in them. Ken Allan who ran the second hand furniture shop which is now Hurricane grew up in one and his mother was still there in 1961 and both cottages were still inhabited as late as 1969.

The City Council had identified 65,000 houses in what they called Clearance Areas in 1951, but the priorities were to be places like Hulme so ours waited another 20 years before they came down.
And today few I suspect even know that they ever existed.

Picture; Summer Cottages, R E Stanley November 1958 m17666, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council