I wonder if there is any one left who lived in Cardiff Road in Chorlton.
It was a small road of just eleven houses and I guess it owed its existence to our brick works which stretched along Longford Road.
The brick works opened at the beginning of the 20th century and Cardiff Road with its 11 houses dates from just sometime between 1903 and 1907.
Four of the householders were connected with bricks. Two were brick makers and two brick layers.
Today all that is left marking the road and its houses are these gates which Andy Robertson photographed this week.
Now I have never bothered to find out when they were demolished.
They were still there in the 1930s and probably went when the brick works were demolished which was sometime in the 1970s.
Already a decade earlier the works had been closed and attracted local lads drawn by the opportunities to explore the derelict buildings and of course because they were a place of secrets.
In time I will track down the directories and work my through the pages from 1933 year by year until I discover when they were demolished.
Although the directories only go up to 1969 and I have a feeling the houses might have gone in the 70s, so we shall have to wait for someone to come forward.
And today a day after I reposted the story it has taken a turn with Stephen writing in to say that, "talking to a neighbour who lives opposite there and she says the photograph isn't where the road was. There's another curb a little further along where Cardiff Road actually started."
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture, entrance to Cardiff Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and detail of Cardiff and Longford Roads from the 1907 OS for Manchester
%2Bbrickworks.jpg) |
| In 1907 |
The brick works opened at the beginning of the 20th century and Cardiff Road with its 11 houses dates from just sometime between 1903 and 1907.
Four of the householders were connected with bricks. Two were brick makers and two brick layers.
 |
| In 2015 |
Now I have never bothered to find out when they were demolished.
They were still there in the 1930s and probably went when the brick works were demolished which was sometime in the 1970s.
Already a decade earlier the works had been closed and attracted local lads drawn by the opportunities to explore the derelict buildings and of course because they were a place of secrets.
In time I will track down the directories and work my through the pages from 1933 year by year until I discover when they were demolished.
Although the directories only go up to 1969 and I have a feeling the houses might have gone in the 70s, so we shall have to wait for someone to come forward.
And today a day after I reposted the story it has taken a turn with Stephen writing in to say that, "talking to a neighbour who lives opposite there and she says the photograph isn't where the road was. There's another curb a little further along where Cardiff Road actually started."
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture, entrance to Cardiff Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and detail of Cardiff and Longford Roads from the 1907 OS for Manchester
Hi there - I grew upon Longford Road and lived diagonally opposite the old Cardiff Road entrance - my family still own the house there. I noted the comments you made regarding when the houses there were demolished. I clearly remember the chimney to the brickworks which loomed large over the terraced houses on the Cardiff Road side, and the buildings which were demolished when St John's school transferred from Edge Lane. The 'entrance' was created when the pavements were upgraded in the 60s/70's. Formerly there were still some cobbles to show where the road once stood, with the kerbstones similar to the rest of the kerbstones on that side of the road. I can assure you that the houses were certainly not demolished in the 70s when the brickworks were demolished. I was born in 1957 and at no stage in my memory as a child were there any houses there! Just 'The Dumps" as they were called locally, where many bonfires were lit on bonfire night. An ice-cream van used to park nightly in the Summer months at about 6.30 exactly at that point. I would guess I was regular customer between 1966-68 whilst still at primary school. Again the cobbles and kerbs were by then very worn and old looking. My parents moved there in July 1954 and as far as I recall the houses would have gone either just before they moved in or just afterwards... thanks George Long
ReplyDeleteFurther to my previous comment I can confirm that the kerb where the gate is was from the late 60s/early 70s and is to di with St John's school.The kerb to Cardiff road was a little further along towards the park opposite 117/119 Longford Road. They would have been removed when the pavement was updated - a sort of black speckled tar macadam affair which would have been all the rage then! George Long.
ReplyDeleteHi, I lived at 33 Longford Road from birth (1948), went to Oswald Road School and as a child used to play with local friends on the waste land between the brickworks and Longford Park, occasionally doing some tentative exploration of the brickworks itself. I remember returning from holiday one summer to find the chimney flattened and being disappointed to have missed its demise. I have no memory of a Cardiff Road and only became aware of it this evening when I saw the map. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered seeing the houses at the time so presumably it was demolished before the late 1950s way before the Works itself went.
ReplyDeleteAllan Jones
Cardiff Road is slightly earlier. The 1901 census lists the occupants of three houses in Rye Bank Road (including George Fairhurst, the Longford estate steward). It then refers to 'Brick Kilns' and '10 houses Chorlton Land & Building Co.', with the 10 houses listed in the column for houses being built.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my comment above is wrong. I've discovered the census reference to 10 houses being built refers to new semi detached houses which were being built just north of Ryebank Road lodge. These were advertised for sale or let later in 1901, with backs overlooking Longford Hall.
ReplyDeleteHello! No information to share about the actual street, but stumbled upon this site while researching my husband’s family on Ancestry.ca.
ReplyDeleteHis great-grandfather, William Alfred Leigh (called Alfred) was medically discharged from the 7th Lancashire Fusiliers on July 17, 1917 and the address listed on his forms as where he would be living immediately upon discharge is 20 Cardiff Road.
Thanks for all the info on this street - great for my research!
And thank you.
DeleteHello. I'm just looking at my grandfather (Daniel Ball's) service records. His Father, as next of kin, is shown as living at 6, Cardiff Road at the time of Daniel's enlistment in September 2019.
ReplyDeleteGosh thank you for this .....
DeleteShould have mentioned that his father (my great grandfather) was called Samuel Joseph Ball and of course it was at the time of my grandfather's enlistment in September 1919 and not 2019!
Delete