Now I like the way that when you think you have done with a building and its occupants it bounces back to take you off in new directions.
In the case of 45 Dale Street it is a place I explored a few weeks back and took me from the Northern Quarter by degree to Glossop, Withington, and finally Chorlton.*
It was owned and may well have been built by Mr Ralph Waller who was a successful textile manufacturer who lived in a fine house in Withington and pretty much paid for the Methodist Church which was opened on Wilmslow Road in 1865.
His first textile mill was in Glossop and the celebrations following the laying of the foundation stone of the church may well have been held in farmer Higginbotham’s barn opposite Chorlton Green.
Nor is that the only connection with Chorlton because the owner of the Lead Station on Beech Road is currently about to open a restaurant at 45 Dale Street.
And it was Hannah of the Lead Station who first drew me into the history of Mr Waller’s factory and showroom and the design team working on 45 Dale Street who I have to thank for the next twist in the story.**
They uncovered an entry in the London Gazette for 1893 announcing the dissolving of the partnership “between William Henry Willcocks and William Dockray, carrying on business as Merchants at 45, Dale-street, in the city of Manchester , and at 9, Foster-lane , Cheapside, in the city of London, under the style or firm of Willcocks and Dockray.”***
Mr Willcocks was to continue trading from Dale Street occupying the building with other businesses and was still there in 1911.
And that just takes us back to the connection with Chorlton because in 1881 William Henry Willcocks was living on Edge Lane and it was there that his son Clarence Smalley married Annie Muriel Kenworthy also of Chorlton in January 1900.
I would love to have been a guest at the wedding which may well have been held at Hampton House on Edge Lane home to Miss Kenworthy or Edgecombe House also on Edge Lane which was the home of the Willcocks.
So far no references to the wedding have come to light but both houses looked grand places and might well have hosted the reception. Hampton House was set well back from the main road in its own grounds while Edgecombe had 14 rooms.
In time I think I will go looking for that wedding account but in the meantime I shall be preparing to visit Dale Street where Hannah tells me there are some interesting bits left from the buildings earlier history.
Picture; 45 Dale Street, 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson, Dale Street, 1844 from the OS Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 and Dale Street. 1901 from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps, and detail from the OS for South Lancashire, 188-93 courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Dale Street, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dale%20Street
**Tariff and Dale will open for business later this year, Chorlton's Lead Station to open Northern Quarter restaurant and bar, Emily Heward, MEN February 5 2015, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chorltons-lead-station-open-northern-8584538
**London Gazette, 1893,https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26361/page/95/data.pdf
 |
| Dale Street in 2015 |
It was owned and may well have been built by Mr Ralph Waller who was a successful textile manufacturer who lived in a fine house in Withington and pretty much paid for the Methodist Church which was opened on Wilmslow Road in 1865.
His first textile mill was in Glossop and the celebrations following the laying of the foundation stone of the church may well have been held in farmer Higginbotham’s barn opposite Chorlton Green.
Nor is that the only connection with Chorlton because the owner of the Lead Station on Beech Road is currently about to open a restaurant at 45 Dale Street.
 |
| Dale Street in 1900 |
They uncovered an entry in the London Gazette for 1893 announcing the dissolving of the partnership “between William Henry Willcocks and William Dockray, carrying on business as Merchants at 45, Dale-street, in the city of Manchester , and at 9, Foster-lane , Cheapside, in the city of London, under the style or firm of Willcocks and Dockray.”***
Mr Willcocks was to continue trading from Dale Street occupying the building with other businesses and was still there in 1911.
And that just takes us back to the connection with Chorlton because in 1881 William Henry Willcocks was living on Edge Lane and it was there that his son Clarence Smalley married Annie Muriel Kenworthy also of Chorlton in January 1900.
 |
| Hampton House on Edge Lane in 1893 |
So far no references to the wedding have come to light but both houses looked grand places and might well have hosted the reception. Hampton House was set well back from the main road in its own grounds while Edgecombe had 14 rooms.
In time I think I will go looking for that wedding account but in the meantime I shall be preparing to visit Dale Street where Hannah tells me there are some interesting bits left from the buildings earlier history.
Picture; 45 Dale Street, 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson, Dale Street, 1844 from the OS Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 and Dale Street. 1901 from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps, and detail from the OS for South Lancashire, 188-93 courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Dale Street, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dale%20Street
**Tariff and Dale will open for business later this year, Chorlton's Lead Station to open Northern Quarter restaurant and bar, Emily Heward, MEN February 5 2015, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chorltons-lead-station-open-northern-8584538
**London Gazette, 1893,https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26361/page/95/data.pdf
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