It was this old envelope found behind a pipe at 45 Dale Street which set me going.
Now 45 Dale Street had been the showroom and factory of Mr Ralph Waller who was there from the mid 1850s until his death when the building appears to have been sub let to other businesses.*
And this is where William Henry Willcocks enters the story.
In 1893 the London Gazette announced the dissolution 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 continued trading from Dale Street occupying the building with other businesses and in the August of 1896 he received this envelope. Sadly the contents have long since vanished but it was the start of another little story which took me to Chorlton and back to Dale Street.
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 either 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 which I suspect hint that neither family skimped on the wedding.
And that is not the only connection between 45 Dale Street and Chorlton, because the present owners of the building also own the Lead Station and will be opening a new bar and restaurant in Mr Waller’s warehouse.
It will be called Tariff and Dale and draws from the history of the place as I discovered yesterday when I was invited down to explore the building in its last stages of renovation and conversion.
Now it isn't often that you get to explore a building which is giving up its history.
And as I will never be on the guest list of English Heritage, when you do get a chance to crawl over a mid 19th century textile warehouse and factory in the heart of the city you just have to accept.
And there was lot to see from the weighing machine which now stands at the entrance to the bale crusher.
It would have so easy to get rid of these but given that they are part of number 45 it seems fitting that they have been retained.
As have the layers of different paint on some of the walls which tell their own story.
And with one of those nice nod’s to the history of the place, that envelope and the bale crusher have influenced the design of the menu.
But that I shall leave for people to discover when they visit Tariff & Dale which will be open form early May.
Pictures; Mr Wilcox’s envelope and logo 2105, courtesy of Tariff and Dale, detail from the OS for South Lancashire, 188-93 courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the interior 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*Dale Street, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dale%20Street
**London Gazette, 1893,https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26361/page/95/data.pdf
 |
| To Messrs Willcocks and Son, 1896 |
And this is where William Henry Willcocks enters the story.
In 1893 the London Gazette announced the dissolution 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 continued trading from Dale Street occupying the building with other businesses and in the August of 1896 he received this envelope. Sadly the contents have long since vanished but it was the start of another little story which took me to Chorlton and back to Dale Street.
 |
| Hampton House, 1893 |
I would love to have been a guest at the wedding which may well have been held at either 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 which I suspect hint that neither family skimped on the wedding.
 |
| The bale crusher, 2015 |
It will be called Tariff and Dale and draws from the history of the place as I discovered yesterday when I was invited down to explore the building in its last stages of renovation and conversion.
Now it isn't often that you get to explore a building which is giving up its history.
And as I will never be on the guest list of English Heritage, when you do get a chance to crawl over a mid 19th century textile warehouse and factory in the heart of the city you just have to accept.
 |
| The logo, 2015 |
It would have so easy to get rid of these but given that they are part of number 45 it seems fitting that they have been retained.
As have the layers of different paint on some of the walls which tell their own story.
And with one of those nice nod’s to the history of the place, that envelope and the bale crusher have influenced the design of the menu.
But that I shall leave for people to discover when they visit Tariff & Dale which will be open form early May.
Pictures; Mr Wilcox’s envelope and logo 2105, courtesy of Tariff and Dale, detail from the OS for South Lancashire, 188-93 courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the interior 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*Dale Street, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dale%20Street
**London Gazette, 1893,https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26361/page/95/data.pdf
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