The Trevor was my local from 1976 well into the middle of the next decade and was a busy and happy place.
At the time and until quite recently I gave little thought to its history, it was simply the pub run by Stan and Mona and their daughter Christine and always a place where you find someone you knew to talk to.
If I did give its past any thought I just assumed the date above the door of 1908 was when it was opened, but beer was being sold from this spot from 1879.
Back then the site was occupied by a row of wattle and daub cottages, one of which had been the home of Mary Crowther who was made to do penance in the church at the beginning of the 19th century.
It is unclear what Mary had done but during the closing decades of the eighteenth century she had given birth to three illegitimate children and it may be that it was for this that she was made to do penance.
She was the last person to do so, and lived out her life, with one of her sons in the cottage and was buried in the parish church yard.
By 1871 one of these cottages was owned by the Langford family.
Jonathan Langford came from an old Chorlton family and a decade earlier had given his occupation as a "gardener" and lived on Dark Lane.
In 1874 his daughter Elizabeth was living there and running the shop and by 1879 she was renting it out to a succession of “beer housekeepers.”
The last of these tenants was William Downs. By 1897 the property was transferred to Groves and Whitnall which had taken over the Regent Road Brewery in 1868 and began a rapid expansion which by the time they were registered in 1899 included nearly 600 pubs.
Now there is a lot more I want to know about Mrs Langford as well as William Downs who in 1898 was superseded by Miss Mary Catherine Hayes.
But that is for another story.
Picture; the Trevor early 20th century from the collection of Tony Walker
If I did give its past any thought I just assumed the date above the door of 1908 was when it was opened, but beer was being sold from this spot from 1879.
Back then the site was occupied by a row of wattle and daub cottages, one of which had been the home of Mary Crowther who was made to do penance in the church at the beginning of the 19th century.
It is unclear what Mary had done but during the closing decades of the eighteenth century she had given birth to three illegitimate children and it may be that it was for this that she was made to do penance.
She was the last person to do so, and lived out her life, with one of her sons in the cottage and was buried in the parish church yard.
By 1871 one of these cottages was owned by the Langford family.
Jonathan Langford came from an old Chorlton family and a decade earlier had given his occupation as a "gardener" and lived on Dark Lane.
In 1874 his daughter Elizabeth was living there and running the shop and by 1879 she was renting it out to a succession of “beer housekeepers.”
The last of these tenants was William Downs. By 1897 the property was transferred to Groves and Whitnall which had taken over the Regent Road Brewery in 1868 and began a rapid expansion which by the time they were registered in 1899 included nearly 600 pubs.
Now there is a lot more I want to know about Mrs Langford as well as William Downs who in 1898 was superseded by Miss Mary Catherine Hayes.
But that is for another story.
Picture; the Trevor early 20th century from the collection of Tony Walker
I look forward to the next episode!!
ReplyDeleteNice to see the windows are back.
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