Now I have become fascinated by the history of Whalley Range.
It is a place I could never have afforded back in the 1970s and with the continued hike of prices across south Manchester still remains a place out of bounds and in the late 19th century when the area was being developed I know it would have been out of my reach.
Back then I guess I would have been lucky to rent one of the smallish terraced houses on the edge of flood plain here in Chorlton.
And that I think marks the difference between the two places. Chorlton was small rural community clustered around the green with the two outlying hamlet of Martledge and Hardy and was predominantly made up of agricultural labourers, a few tradesmen, market gardeners and farmers.
True there were a few wealthier families who lived in comfortable houses but during most of the 19th century there were not many of them
When the big urban development started in the 1880s it was concentrated on the area around the Four Banks, and off along Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Road with the Sandy Lane colony.
And most of these tall rows of semi detached and terraced houses catered for the middling people who worked in the city and wanted to live on what was then the edge of the countryside.
By contrast chunks of Whalley Range catered for a slightly more up market group of people and that is reflected in those large detached properties which Andy Robertson photographed on one of his recent walks.
Sadly some have gone, victims of the change of lifestyle which meant that large 12 and fifteen roomed homes were just too big.
Some were converted into multi occupancy and others demolished during the middle decades of the last century to make way for blocks of flats.
Now that trend continues but more and more developers seem to prefer the alternative of retaining the building but redesign the interior to accommodate a series of flats.
This way that grand sweep of later Victorian houses is retained and continues to mark Whalley Range off as something slightly different.
At which point I fear this is sliding into the sort of copy found only on estate agent’s sites.
So I shall as I promised earlier begin researching some of the families who made Whalley Range their home during the late 19th century and in the fullness of time fit their stories with Andy’s pictures.
Pictures; Whalley Range in 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson
Back then I guess I would have been lucky to rent one of the smallish terraced houses on the edge of flood plain here in Chorlton.
And that I think marks the difference between the two places. Chorlton was small rural community clustered around the green with the two outlying hamlet of Martledge and Hardy and was predominantly made up of agricultural labourers, a few tradesmen, market gardeners and farmers.
When the big urban development started in the 1880s it was concentrated on the area around the Four Banks, and off along Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Road with the Sandy Lane colony.
And most of these tall rows of semi detached and terraced houses catered for the middling people who worked in the city and wanted to live on what was then the edge of the countryside.
Sadly some have gone, victims of the change of lifestyle which meant that large 12 and fifteen roomed homes were just too big.
Some were converted into multi occupancy and others demolished during the middle decades of the last century to make way for blocks of flats.
This way that grand sweep of later Victorian houses is retained and continues to mark Whalley Range off as something slightly different.
At which point I fear this is sliding into the sort of copy found only on estate agent’s sites.
So I shall as I promised earlier begin researching some of the families who made Whalley Range their home during the late 19th century and in the fullness of time fit their stories with Andy’s pictures.
Pictures; Whalley Range in 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson
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