Who would you have to be polite to in 1848? .... A walk down Beech Road in the mid 19th century

Now I can be a bit of a bore when it comes to talking about Chorlton in the 1840s.

It has got to that point where I often wander down a local road lost in recreating what it was like in the 19th century and friends just avoid me, preferring the long route to the pub rather than listen to another history story.

But just now and again I actually get asked to share those stories.  So this Wednesday which will be June 13th I will be walking down Beech Road fully prepared to tell you what you could have seen in the summer of 1848 and more importantly who you’d have to be polite to.  And there were a fair few of those, starting with the Holt family who lived on their estate at the top of Beech Road where it runs into Barlow Moor Road, and assorted other rich people along the way.

But there were also some farmers, the blacksmith William Davies and Samuel Nixon who ran the Travellers Rest which was the small beer shop at the end of the Row* not to be confused with the Horse and Jockey the slightly larger beer house on the green.

So, we start at 7.30, at the point where the Row joins Barlow Moor Lane, by the gates of Beech House, and for those who don’t live in 1848, it’s the junction of Beech Road and Barlow Moor Road, hard by the tram terminus.

*It’s still there although it hasn't sold beer for over a century, now number 70 Beech Road,  the premise is Franny and Flier.   The Row was the name for Beech Road

Picture; the village and the Row in 1845, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/