Now earlier today I was on the corner of Whitworth Street West and Deansgate exploring the Railway Hotel.*
Back in 1911, it was run by John Bardsley who was 66 years old, single and shared the 16 roomed hotel with three staff.
And I have to confess I was a tad lazy and didn’t look to see if there were any pictures of Mr Bardsley’s place.
Had I gone to the digital archive I would have found this superb image dating from the year before.**
So I have Pubs of Manchester to thank for locating the photograph which also discovered that in 1849 it was called “the Runcorn, Wigan & Worsley Boathouse and later on the Packet House Tavern under the stewardship of Samuel Hague.”***
Now all three names shed light on the history of the area. Packet Boats plied our canals and were a quick and comfortable way of travelling across the country in the age before the railway.
And just a few minutes walk away was the terminus of the Duke’s Canal which had been constructed for the Duke of Bridgewater so that his company could transport coal from his mines at Worsley into the heart of the city.
All of which leaves me the task of tracking back through the street directories to fix the moments when its name changed.
In 1876 it had become the Boathouse and was managed by J & E Bardsley who may or may not be our John Bardsley who has proved somewhat elusive to find on the census records and in much the same way so has Mrs Helen Cattermole who was working the hotel in the April of 1911.
She was 29 years old, described herself as married with one child who had died.
Now I would be interested to know why she was living away from her husband but so far she too stubbornly has not come out of the shadows.
So we are just left with the picture of the Railway Hotel, not that I think we have finished with Mr Bardsley of Mrs Cattermole, but they will have to wait for another time.
Picture; the Railway Hotel, 1910, m50342, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*That metro stop at Deansgate-Castlefield and a hidden story of hotels, canals and vanished houses, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/that-metro-stop-at-deansgate.html
** Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
***Pubs of Manchester, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/
And I have to confess I was a tad lazy and didn’t look to see if there were any pictures of Mr Bardsley’s place.
Had I gone to the digital archive I would have found this superb image dating from the year before.**
So I have Pubs of Manchester to thank for locating the photograph which also discovered that in 1849 it was called “the Runcorn, Wigan & Worsley Boathouse and later on the Packet House Tavern under the stewardship of Samuel Hague.”***
Now all three names shed light on the history of the area. Packet Boats plied our canals and were a quick and comfortable way of travelling across the country in the age before the railway.
And just a few minutes walk away was the terminus of the Duke’s Canal which had been constructed for the Duke of Bridgewater so that his company could transport coal from his mines at Worsley into the heart of the city.
All of which leaves me the task of tracking back through the street directories to fix the moments when its name changed.
In 1876 it had become the Boathouse and was managed by J & E Bardsley who may or may not be our John Bardsley who has proved somewhat elusive to find on the census records and in much the same way so has Mrs Helen Cattermole who was working the hotel in the April of 1911.
Now I would be interested to know why she was living away from her husband but so far she too stubbornly has not come out of the shadows.
So we are just left with the picture of the Railway Hotel, not that I think we have finished with Mr Bardsley of Mrs Cattermole, but they will have to wait for another time.
Picture; the Railway Hotel, 1910, m50342, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*That metro stop at Deansgate-Castlefield and a hidden story of hotels, canals and vanished houses, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/that-metro-stop-at-deansgate.html
** Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
***Pubs of Manchester, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/
No comments:
Post a Comment