Now, I am not surprised that there is a planning application in to demolish 28 Edge Lane and replace it with 10 three storey properties.*
After all time and modern living has not been kind to houses like this one, which was built in age of cheap domestic labour and for some at least unrivalled wealth.
The surprise is perhaps that it hasn’t all ready gone. It was part of the “urban creep” that made its way up Edge Lane from the railway station during the late 1860s into the 70s and predated the really big housing boom of the 1880s.
They were the homes of wealthy professionals, and had impressive sounding names. Ours was originally Barway Villa but became Barway House.
I am still researching its early history but I know that by 1911 it was home to Mr and Mrs Davison who lived alone in this twelve roomed palace. Earlier in the century their son George had also lived there and it was here he who wrote a remarkable set of love letters to his future wife.
But those letters, and Nellie, the love of his life is a story for tomorrow.
Today I shall concentrate on the house.
And there is a little mystery attached to it because nowhere does it appear on the street directories for 1911, 1909 or 1903, when the Davisons were there because our love letters are dated from 1903 onwards.
Added to which, Mr and Mrs Davison show up on the 1911 census.
It is of course possible that they were caretakers and the owners chose not to be listed.
He was retired and a decade earlier they had been in north Manchester.
All of which just requires some digging in the rate books and there is an urgency given that application.
If the application is succesful, the ten houses will sit in an L shaped plot of land with four properties fronting Edge Lane, three more on Barway Road and the remaining three sitting behind the Barway three.
The plans are all there to see on the city council’s planning portal. There are eighteen documents covering design and access statement, elevations, typical house floor plan a tree survey and location plan and even a crime impact statement.
Now in defence of the application, ten houses mean ten families, which is more than could be accommodated in Barway House which in 1911 had twelve rooms, and is according to the developers made up of nine flats.
But I wonder at what price the ten will sell for and if any will be designated for social use?
As for the houses themselves I will let others judge as to their appearance.
Some might question why our house has to go.
Of course the success of the plan requires it to be demolished, but there are some very imaginative adaptions of old properties around Chorlton including the award winning development at 198 and 200 Upper Chorlton Road.
Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018 from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, letter from George Davison, 1903, from the George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018
*Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending
 |
| 2018 |
The surprise is perhaps that it hasn’t all ready gone. It was part of the “urban creep” that made its way up Edge Lane from the railway station during the late 1860s into the 70s and predated the really big housing boom of the 1880s.
They were the homes of wealthy professionals, and had impressive sounding names. Ours was originally Barway Villa but became Barway House.
I am still researching its early history but I know that by 1911 it was home to Mr and Mrs Davison who lived alone in this twelve roomed palace. Earlier in the century their son George had also lived there and it was here he who wrote a remarkable set of love letters to his future wife.
 |
| 1904 |
Today I shall concentrate on the house.
And there is a little mystery attached to it because nowhere does it appear on the street directories for 1911, 1909 or 1903, when the Davisons were there because our love letters are dated from 1903 onwards.
Added to which, Mr and Mrs Davison show up on the 1911 census.
It is of course possible that they were caretakers and the owners chose not to be listed.
He was retired and a decade earlier they had been in north Manchester.
All of which just requires some digging in the rate books and there is an urgency given that application.
If the application is succesful, the ten houses will sit in an L shaped plot of land with four properties fronting Edge Lane, three more on Barway Road and the remaining three sitting behind the Barway three.
The plans are all there to see on the city council’s planning portal. There are eighteen documents covering design and access statement, elevations, typical house floor plan a tree survey and location plan and even a crime impact statement.
 |
| 2018 |
But I wonder at what price the ten will sell for and if any will be designated for social use?
As for the houses themselves I will let others judge as to their appearance.
Some might question why our house has to go.
Of course the success of the plan requires it to be demolished, but there are some very imaginative adaptions of old properties around Chorlton including the award winning development at 198 and 200 Upper Chorlton Road.
Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018 from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, letter from George Davison, 1903, from the George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018
*Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending
Thank you for this interesting post. My great grandmother lived here in 1892.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this interesting post. My great grandmother lived here in 1892.
ReplyDeleteGosh would love to know more Tim
DeleteI had a bedsit at 28 back in 1969.There were several flats at that time.
ReplyDelete