Discovering a lost Seymour Grove

Broom House, 2014

I have to say it is almost impossible to recognise Seymour Grove in Thomas Ellwood’s description of the road as it would have been in the early 19th century,

“Trafford Lane, now Seymour Grove; was formerly nothing more than an old lane or rough cart road, with deep ditches at each side, overshadowed by trees, and used chiefly by the farmers and foot-passengers of the village.”*

Back then it was one of the routes you might have taken out of the village and up along Manchester Road towards Chester Road.

Of course you could have taken the new route which had been cut by Samuel Brooks which at first carried his name before becoming Upper Chorlton Road but you would have had to pay for the privilege and so for many the rough cart road with its deep ditches and overhanging trees was the chosen way into town.

And the journey would have been a fairly lonely one with not a house insight till you got to the upper end.

That cluster of houses with fine sounding names in 1854

Here there were a cluster of house with grand sounding names like Limegrove House, Broom House and Green Bank along with Brainerd Terrace, Seymour Cottages and Garrow Hill.

And the occupants of these fine sounding properties had equally impressive occupations ranging from “land agent” to “Cotton merchant” and “Cotton dealer.”

But all these houses have long since vanished with the exception of one which was perhaps not the most striking of the collection.

This was Broom House and it stands a little back from Seymour Grove sandwiched between a row of late 19th century houses on one side and a modern office block on the other.

Now I can’t be sure when it was built but it was there by 1851 when it was occupied by Mr and Mrs Burbidge.

Sixty years later in 1911 it was home to Mrs Emma Lawton who lived on “private means” and shared the seven roomed house with Martha Ann Swarbrik and Mr John Edwards who described himself as “a master butcher and employer.”

But by then our few select houses had been joined by other and even grander properties.

And yet there were still plenty of open spaces which would not have been filled until well into the century.

The entrance to the Ash, 2014

That said once this new development began it was not that long before those grand properties began to vanish and in their place smaller houses and later still blocks of flats.

Walk down the road today and all that remains of them are the gate posts like the Ash on the corner with Rye Bank Road.

Back in 1911 this was the home of Miss Alice Welsh who lived in this 13 roomed property with her sister and three servants.

Now even the entrance on either side of the posts has been blocked up and the more modest and modern properties are hidden behind trees and bushes.

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson and detail of Old Trafford Lane, later Chorlton Lane and now Seymour Grove from the OS map of Lancashire 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Roads and Footpaths, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Chapter 6, Thomas Elwood, South Manchester Gazette, December 12 1885