Westonby, a lost house on Edge Lane

I went looking for Westonby yesterday.  It stood on Edge Lane in an extensive set of grounds which extended south to Turn Moss Road and back along Edge Lane almost opposite Alderfield Road.

It was built some distance from the main road and from the north and east there were fine views of open land which took in Turn Moss all the way down to the farm and the old road.

Some its grandeur can be got from the advert which appeared in 1905 announcing its auction, just two years after it had been built.

Now I can track the residents during the early years and with a bit of research could find out when it was demolished, for demolished it was, and judging by the style of the houses I would guess sometime in the 1940s or 50s.  It was just too big for that period and just like some of the other fine houses along Edge Lane fell to the developers who replaced these old rambling places with smaller town houses and blocks of flats.

I rather think there is a story here which says much about the development of Chorlton and fits with what I wrote recently http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in.html

Sadly I can find no pictures of Westonby and I doubt that there is anyone who remembers the old pile.  But I am a persistent sort of chap.  In time I shall trawl the directories for the years after 1911 looking for the moment the place disappears from the lists, have a go at looking at the story of the people who lived there and maybe just maybe come up another advert for the pace or even a description.  We shall see.
Picture; advert from the Manchester Guardian, May 20th 1905