Sometimes things don't change that much, nu 84 Chorlton Road

Now usually we end up looking at how things have changed, so here is the reverse.

We are on Chorlton Road and this is the building yard of Thomas Griffiths who have been trading from this spot from at least 1876.

I dare say with a bit of research I could push that date back even further.

The firm was established in 1845 and it should be possible to track them across the city.

But in the meantime here is Andy Robertson’s photograph of the premises on a Sunday in early April which compares with the picture taken by A H Downes in 1961.

Like Andy the building has long fascinated me but I have never bothered to follow up the interest and now I rather think it is time to see just what the place will reveal.

The surrounding area in the two decades after 1876 was a densely packed mix of residential properties, a brewery almost opposite the yard and the Tramways Company Depot next door.

And as you do I wandered off following up on things.  Our brewery was owned by Charles Robinson and Sons and the brewery was called Carlton.

Now here the link may well be with the Unicorn Brewery which was owned by the Robinson family which started up in Stockport in 1838 and are still going strong.

That said I have yet to come across a Charles in the family so it’s off to do some more research and turn back again to Mr Griffiths.

And as these things go just as I finished the story Andy sent me some more pictures of the yard and these will feature later.

After all both of us were intrigued by a mortar mill which the firm proudly displayed on the singage back in 1961.

It is a machine for making mortar and this one was still in use until 20 years ago when it was offered to the museum at Castlfield.

The chap Andy spoke to thought the buildings dated from 1845 when the firm was established.

Now they don't appear on the 1853 map but are there by 1876 so there is indeed more to do.

Not least will be a bit more investigation on the building itself which hints at many changes and additions and leads me to wonder if back in the 1890s this was actually not yet their yard but belonged to the carriage company but here I am getting ahead of myself.

Pictures;, 84 Chorlton Road, April 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and the same place in 1961, taken by A H Downes, m25762, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass