Chorlton’s history on display at the bookshop on Wilbraham Road

Now Chorlton has more than its fair share of historians which stretch back to the Rev John Booker writing in the 1850s to John Lloyd in the 1970s and Cliff Hayes at the turn of the century.*

My own favourite is Thomas Ellwood who wrote 26 articles in the winter of 1885 through to the summer of 1886.

They appeared in the South Manchester Gazette and have been plundered by everybody since.

Some of what he wrote was drawn from the Reverend Booker’s research but in the winter of 1885 he also spoke to several old residents whose direct memories went back to the early decades of the 19th century and who in turn drew on the memories of their parents and grandparents taking Mr Ellwood back into the late 1700s

Added to his work have been the private accounts never meant for a public readership or if they saw the light of day were limited to parish magazines.

Of these Mr N Fife and Miss Nora Templar deserve special recognition.  Mr Fife left a hand written account which includes lost descriptions of the farms on Beech Road and the green, while Miss Templar who lived almost her whole life at Dog House Farm also produced some fascinating accounts of our past.

And I couldn’t leave out my dear friend Marjory Holmes who was born in what she called Old Chorlton and who never quite accepted that other bit up by the “Four Banks” which she often dismissed as that place which was all “fancy cakes and silk knickers,” and when she wanted to be very disparaging was written off as “fancy cakes and no knickers.”

Modesty of course prevents me from mentioning my own book but if you are reading this then you may well already be familiar with it.**

So I shall just draw your attention to the new window display in Chorlton Bookshop which includes a selection of history books about the township including Hough End Hall and an exciting set of picture postcards painted by Peter Topping.

And in an age of online book buying it is easy to forget that a bookshop is a pretty neat place.

Not only can you look at the books before you buy them, but Vicky and the team will offer up their own informed suggestions of what to look for and  if  Chorlton Bookshop hasn't got what you want they will get it for the following day.

Now what could be better than that?

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; Chorlton Book Shop, 2016 courtesy of Peter Topping

*Chorlton Historians, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%20Historians

**The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 
https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton