That metro stop at Deansgate-Castlefield and a hidden story of hotels, canals and vanished houses

Now something is happening on the corner of Whitworth Street West and Deansgate and it is all to do with the Metro.

Whitworth Street West and Deansgate, 2014

The new Second City Crossing has meant a redevelopment of the Metro stop at Deansgate-Castlefield with an island platform, a newly designed bridge to connect with Deansgate Station,  and the installation of a new staircase and lift for better access with a "living wall" for a greener environment*

This last bit is going on right now and will replace the brick staircase on the bit of open land on the corner opposite the station.

I have to confess I have never given this spot much thought and while I can’t remember I guess before the metro staircase the bit of land was hidden by advertising hoardings.

Whitworth Street West with Crown Street , now Century Street, 1907

But as you would expect there was more to this patch of land than I had thought and it took one of Andy Robertson’s pictures to set me off looking for the story.

“That hole to the left of this picture is roughly where the Railway Hotel stood at the turn of the last century

It's not often I get bossy but you must check out Local Images for Whitworth Street West, especially Gaythorn Improvements.

I've got my head around the geography now and that hole I photographed must show some of the Railway Hotel's foundations and the building next to it is beautifully captured on two images.”

And of course he was dead right.

Looking along the canal towards the Railway Hotel, 1902

Back in 1911, the Railway Hotel was run by John Bardsley who was 66 years old, single and shared the 16 roomed hotel with three staff.

Now I rather think there may well be some stories here not least that of Mrs Helen Cattermole who was 29 years old had been married for five years and had one child who had died.

But for now I am more intrigued by the two properties just a little further along Whitworth Street, just where it meets Century Street.

In1902 this was Crown Street and the taller of our two houses was listed as number 4 Crown Street.

Whitworth Street West  and Crown Street during the canal work, 1902

And in that year they attracted a lot of interest from Mr Bradburn, who was perhaps more interested in the work being done to the canal but came back five years later to record the houses all over again.

The three images he tool perfectly capture both the houses and the Railway Hotel but and there is always a but, number 4 and its companion have so far not yielded up any further information.

Neither is listed in the street directories for 1903 or 1911 and without a name searching the census record is a long complicated process, but I will go looking if only to see how much I can find out about them and the people who lived there.

In the meantime the work on that patch of land continues a pace and soon I will be able to climb the new stairs and look down on the site of Mr Bardsley’s Railway Hotel and its two near neighbours.

Looking towards the Railway Hotel, 1902

So with that in mind I shall close with a detail looking along the canal during that work showing just how large the Railway Hotel was and compare it with the same location today.

Of course there may be people who will be able to provide a date for the end of the hotel and may even offer up some names for those who lived at number 4 Crown Street.

We shall see.

All of which just leaves me to reflect that you can never take any little patch of land for granted.

I had no idea that this small spot had that much history or that trying to track the identity of those that lived there would prove more difficult that usual.

Almost on the same spot where Mr Bradburn snapped the hotel, 2014

Still historical detective work is never that simple, which is what makes it so much fun.

And for those that feel a tad cheated I can reveal that on the opposite side just past what had been Knott Mill Station and is now Deansgate there were a warren of small streets each with a heap of houses.

But those I shall leave to another time.

Pictures; the corner of Whitworth Street West and Deansgate, December 2014 and the roughly the same spot in May 1902, m05501, & April 1905,  m054595, and November 1907, m05508 by A Bradburn, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Metrolink,  http://transformationinformation.co.uk/transformation/deansgate-castlefield