Now you won’t find these two properties.
Once and for a very long time they stood with a collection of similar buildings just down from Charles Street on Princess Street.
They vanished sometime between May 2011 and September 2012 and all that remains is the outline of the roof on the neighbouring building and a fine view across the vacant space to the skyline of Oxford Road.
They were so much a part of the landscape that like many I took them for granted and gave little thought about their history.
If pushed I suppose I did wonder about the people who might have lived in them.
But at a time when access to rate books, census returns and old maps was more difficult the chances of personalising these properties was beyond me but all things change and today it is much easier explore a street or a house and so it is with these.
They will postdate 1819 and were well established when the surveyors of the Manchester and Salford OS map completed their task in 1849.
Two years later Slater’s directory recorded the residents of the row and Mr Adshead featured them on his colour map.
All of which means I can confirm that along the stretch there were a motley collection of businesses and householders, from James Carruthers beer retailer and Lydia Dodson, tobacconist to Edward Hooper of the Medlock Inn.
In total there were twelve buildings running down to the Brook Street Bridge from Charles Street which neatly brings me to the fact that back in 1851 the bridge and our houses stood on Brook Street rather than Princess Street.
At which point I could have gone off and explored the rate books where the details of Mr Carruthers beer shop are listed but instead I will just reflect on just how much easier it is today to research properties like these.
Starting with the maps and then the directories it is possible to locate an individual householder, and armed with a name find them on the rate books and census returns.
The rate books will tell you not only the rateable value and the annual rent but whether the householder was a tenant or the owner along with what the building was used for.
And the name will also offer up the possibilities of finding them on the census return which will reveal their occupation, date of birth and their family.
That said the census return for Mr Carruthers has been badly damaged, but I travel in hope that some of the others on the stretch will come to light.
We shall see.
For now I have Ray Ogden to to thank for finding the two images and Mike Peel who gave permission to use what are two of his photographs.
And in\turn a thank you to Nick Rusthon who took this picture of the rear of the two houses after they had been demolished.
I like the detail of the original stone work with the brick of the two houses above.
I am guessing that the stonework will predate the properties.
The small aperture in the brickwork might suggest that the building had cellars which were common enough but now I am not sure given the height from the stonework to the street level.
But then I am no experts so I shall leave it to others to make a judgement.
 |
| Brook Street as was |
They vanished sometime between May 2011 and September 2012 and all that remains is the outline of the roof on the neighbouring building and a fine view across the vacant space to the skyline of Oxford Road.
They were so much a part of the landscape that like many I took them for granted and gave little thought about their history.
If pushed I suppose I did wonder about the people who might have lived in them.
 |
| The rear of Brook Street |
They will postdate 1819 and were well established when the surveyors of the Manchester and Salford OS map completed their task in 1849.
Two years later Slater’s directory recorded the residents of the row and Mr Adshead featured them on his colour map.
All of which means I can confirm that along the stretch there were a motley collection of businesses and householders, from James Carruthers beer retailer and Lydia Dodson, tobacconist to Edward Hooper of the Medlock Inn.
In total there were twelve buildings running down to the Brook Street Bridge from Charles Street which neatly brings me to the fact that back in 1851 the bridge and our houses stood on Brook Street rather than Princess Street.
 |
| Brook Street, 1851 |
Starting with the maps and then the directories it is possible to locate an individual householder, and armed with a name find them on the rate books and census returns.
The rate books will tell you not only the rateable value and the annual rent but whether the householder was a tenant or the owner along with what the building was used for.
And the name will also offer up the possibilities of finding them on the census return which will reveal their occupation, date of birth and their family.
That said the census return for Mr Carruthers has been badly damaged, but I travel in hope that some of the others on the stretch will come to light.
 |
| The rear after the demolition, 2014 |
For now I have Ray Ogden to to thank for finding the two images and Mike Peel who gave permission to use what are two of his photographs.
And in\turn a thank you to Nick Rusthon who took this picture of the rear of the two houses after they had been demolished.
I like the detail of the original stone work with the brick of the two houses above.
 |
| Detail of the rear wall |
I am guessing that the stonework will predate the properties.
The small aperture in the brickwork might suggest that the building had cellars which were common enough but now I am not sure given the height from the stonework to the street level.
But then I am no experts so I shall leave it to others to make a judgement.
And instead finish with another image of the site.
This time from my old chum Andy Robertson, who has created a huge collection of pictures which record the transformation of the twin cities of Manchester and Salford, and across Greater Manchester.
This was was taken earlier this month and captures the space which was our houses.
Location; Manchester
Picture; Princess Street, date unknown, courtesy of Mike Peel, (http://www.mikepeel.net/) under CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) rear of the properties from the collection of Nick Rushton, 2014, the space, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and map of the area, from Adhead's map of Manchester 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
Picture; Princess Street, date unknown, courtesy of Mike Peel, (http://www.mikepeel.net/) under CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) rear of the properties from the collection of Nick Rushton, 2014, the space, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and map of the area, from Adhead's map of Manchester 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
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