I have always been fascinated by the Bowling Green Farm which stood on what is now the junction of Beech Road and Beaumont Road.
Part of the reason is simply that we live opposite in the house Joe Scott built who was also responsible for demolishing the farm house sometime in the 1940s.
There is strong evidence that it was there by the 1750s and had a mixed existence.
In the 1840s it was the home of Samuel and Mary Gratrix, who were in their early 70s. They employed a farm labourer who lived with them.
Now that is a little surprising given that they only farmed an acre of land which was located to the south and east of the farm, and consisted of parts of five fields which were a mix of arable, pasture and part of an orchard.
By 1852 the farm had passed into the tenancy of Peter Langford, who a year before had farmed an acre of land by Oswald Field. The family appear to prosper because just nine years later they have 16 acres and employed two labourers.
And the family remained on the farm until 1909.
With a bit more digging it should be possible to firm up the final date because just two years later the house was home the Mylett family and the connection with the land seems severed. He was a coal merchant.
I know that Mr and Mrs Mylett had three young children and that their home had six rooms.
And it is that small detail about the house which as ever draws me into the property.
There will be lots more to finds out, but the romantic in me has wandered back into the 1840s, when the Gratrix family had clear views north across the fields to High Lane, south towards Chorlton Brook, and no doubt passed the time of day with whoever was walking down Chorlton Row from Barlow Moor Lane to the village green.
And there would have been plenty of them, from the itinerant traders in from Manchester with everything you might want, to those wanting to use the blacksmith down by the Wesleyan chapel and of course those wishing to call in at one of the beer shop and pubs.
Samuel Gratrix might well have supplied some of the food eaten by the Holt family who lived just east of his farm in the impressive Beech House which was set in a walled garden.
And I guess will have sold much of his crops at the Manchester markets.
All of which just leaves me to puzzle over the foot print of the house on the old maps which doesn't quite match the plan in the 1930s.
But that is for another time.
Location; Beech Road
Pictures; the Bowling Green Farm, date unknown from the collection of Tony Walker, the plan of the farm circa 1930 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Mr Gratrix's fields, 1844, from the OS Lancashire, 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
 |
| The Bowling Green Farm, date unknown |
There is strong evidence that it was there by the 1750s and had a mixed existence.
In the 1840s it was the home of Samuel and Mary Gratrix, who were in their early 70s. They employed a farm labourer who lived with them.
 |
| Mr Gratrix's home and land on the right of the map, 1844 |
By 1852 the farm had passed into the tenancy of Peter Langford, who a year before had farmed an acre of land by Oswald Field. The family appear to prosper because just nine years later they have 16 acres and employed two labourers.
And the family remained on the farm until 1909.
With a bit more digging it should be possible to firm up the final date because just two years later the house was home the Mylett family and the connection with the land seems severed. He was a coal merchant.
 |
| Chorlton Row, 1854 |
And it is that small detail about the house which as ever draws me into the property.
There will be lots more to finds out, but the romantic in me has wandered back into the 1840s, when the Gratrix family had clear views north across the fields to High Lane, south towards Chorlton Brook, and no doubt passed the time of day with whoever was walking down Chorlton Row from Barlow Moor Lane to the village green.
 |
| Plan of the farm house, circa 1930s |
Samuel Gratrix might well have supplied some of the food eaten by the Holt family who lived just east of his farm in the impressive Beech House which was set in a walled garden.
And I guess will have sold much of his crops at the Manchester markets.
All of which just leaves me to puzzle over the foot print of the house on the old maps which doesn't quite match the plan in the 1930s.
But that is for another time.
Location; Beech Road
Pictures; the Bowling Green Farm, date unknown from the collection of Tony Walker, the plan of the farm circa 1930 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Mr Gratrix's fields, 1844, from the OS Lancashire, 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
Very interesting - just imagining looking out of your window and seeing a ghostly farm! Was there a bowling green nearby that it was called that? Do you think the labourer living at the farm might have been a relative, nephew maybe?
ReplyDelete