Once pretty much everyone in Chorlton would have known where Sally died.
It was one of those stories to terrify young children and act as a warning never to play by open water.
And the lesson was equally, young women should never put your trust in a young man who offers the sky but delivers nothing, because as the story went young Sally fell in love but was abandoned and in her utter despair drowned in the large pond on Farm Moss, which was a field of five acres beside the Old Road.*
Just how long ago the tragedy happened is unknown but the pond became known as Sally’s Hole and later Sally's Pond and was a popular place for kids to play as late as the 1960s.
By then sadly it was also popular as a place to dump old bikes, discarded milk crates and the odd dead cat.
All of which meant that it was eventually filled in, but the hollow can still be seen by anyone who ventures off the lane.
In the 1840s the pond and the field were farmed by William Whitelegg who rented it from the Egerton estate.
Mr Whitelegg was also the landlord of the Bowling Green pub and went onto build those two fine houses on Edge Lane opposite the church.
And now if I have done my geography correctly Sally’s last resting place will be “the Grass Running Rounds” which form part of the master plan for the redevelopment of Turn Moss.
Leaving me just to wonder who will mourn for Sally and the place she died.
Picture; Sally’s Field, J Montgomery, 1958, copied from a 1945 photograph, m80104, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and detail from the Tithe Map for Chorlton, 1847
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| Sally's Hole, 1945 |
And the lesson was equally, young women should never put your trust in a young man who offers the sky but delivers nothing, because as the story went young Sally fell in love but was abandoned and in her utter despair drowned in the large pond on Farm Moss, which was a field of five acres beside the Old Road.*
Just how long ago the tragedy happened is unknown but the pond became known as Sally’s Hole and later Sally's Pond and was a popular place for kids to play as late as the 1960s.
 |
| The pond in 1845 |
All of which meant that it was eventually filled in, but the hollow can still be seen by anyone who ventures off the lane.
In the 1840s the pond and the field were farmed by William Whitelegg who rented it from the Egerton estate.
Mr Whitelegg was also the landlord of the Bowling Green pub and went onto build those two fine houses on Edge Lane opposite the church.
And now if I have done my geography correctly Sally’s last resting place will be “the Grass Running Rounds” which form part of the master plan for the redevelopment of Turn Moss.
Leaving me just to wonder who will mourn for Sally and the place she died.
Picture; Sally’s Field, J Montgomery, 1958, copied from a 1945 photograph, m80104, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and detail from the Tithe Map for Chorlton, 1847
*Hawthorn Lane
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