Now anyone who walks the Meadows will have wondered at some stage about the tall embankments that run the length of the Mersey.
The river, which in the summer seems a gentle and benign strip of water, can in winter become a torrent, which some years threatens to over top even these tall flood walls.
And over the centuries they have done just that.
In 1799 a particularly powerful flood, broke through the embankments along the Chorlton and Sale sides of the Mersey, while fifty years later another destroyed the weir which had been built to protect the viaduct of the Duke’s Canal.
And there are plenty of photographs from the early 20th century showing the extent of these floods including some from 1915 when the weir was last over topped and others showing vast stretches of land reduced to a great lake.
Our own historian, Thomas Elwood described a number of severe floods in the early 1880s and described in detail the dramatic events on June 14th, 1828, when the Mersey broke its banks near Barlow Hall, above Jackson’s Boat, during hay harvest time.*
The event occurred at about six on the Sunday evening while farmers were busy leading the hay.
The water rose so quickly that the horses had to be taken out of the carts and made to “stampede” to the nearest high ground.
The hay was carried down river lodging against the banks, where men, women and children assembled to rescue it but to no success.**
A George Lewis of Streford who had gone with his horse and cart to collect hay from the Ouzel meadow was caught by the flood and was trapped there till the morning while another Stretford man took refuge in a birch tree and was rescued the following day.
All which points to the importance of those embankments. That said, it is unclear when they were built, but it is most likely they are very old and have been worked on over the centuries.
The Stretford Manor Court Records dating back to 1700 frequently mention the raising, thickening and mending the banks, while the name Wall roods for a field adjoining the river in Stretford, close to the weir is traceable as far back as 1588. ***
And according the historian T H Croften, in the adjoining township of Urmston, “at the Halmot, on October 5, 1614, amongst the officers appointed were both ‘Overseers of Watercourses’ and Banklookers’, whose duty was to make presentments to the Court" respecting any offences in their separate departments, respecting neglect of the water courses and ditches and the banks.
While Mr. Fletcher Moss in his book on Didsbury noted records kept by one of the parish clerks referred to the strengthening of the land between Northdenden and Gatley at nine shillings an acre in 1771 and the strengthening and repair of other parts of the banks.
Leaving Crofton to add that “in 1840, when times were bad and work scarce, the local landowners joined together and made an assessment on their lands to raise funds, which enabled them to employ the poor all winter in raising the banks. Probably the banks had been injured by the flood of August 1840, which had swept away the old overflow weir near the confluence of Chorlton Brook”. ****
More recently the banks along the Chorlton ees were also worked on, but sadly I can’t remember when.
Location; Chorlton
Picture; Down by the Mersey, 1966, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, the Mersey in 1991, courtesy of David Bishop, and in 2009, from the collecion of Andrw Simpson,
the Junction of Gore [Chorlton] Brook and River Mersey, 1963, M80140, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*T L Ellwood, Chapter 1, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, November 5, 1885, South Manchester Gazette,
**Dreadful Effects of the Late Storms, Manchester Guardian, July 27 1828
***Crofton, T L, A History of the Ancient Chapel at Stretford, 1899, page 31
****ibid Crofton, page 34
 |
| The Mersey, 1966 |
And over the centuries they have done just that.
In 1799 a particularly powerful flood, broke through the embankments along the Chorlton and Sale sides of the Mersey, while fifty years later another destroyed the weir which had been built to protect the viaduct of the Duke’s Canal.
And there are plenty of photographs from the early 20th century showing the extent of these floods including some from 1915 when the weir was last over topped and others showing vast stretches of land reduced to a great lake.
Our own historian, Thomas Elwood described a number of severe floods in the early 1880s and described in detail the dramatic events on June 14th, 1828, when the Mersey broke its banks near Barlow Hall, above Jackson’s Boat, during hay harvest time.*
 |
| The Mersey, 1828 |
The water rose so quickly that the horses had to be taken out of the carts and made to “stampede” to the nearest high ground.
The hay was carried down river lodging against the banks, where men, women and children assembled to rescue it but to no success.**
 |
| The Mersey, 1991 |
All which points to the importance of those embankments. That said, it is unclear when they were built, but it is most likely they are very old and have been worked on over the centuries.
The Stretford Manor Court Records dating back to 1700 frequently mention the raising, thickening and mending the banks, while the name Wall roods for a field adjoining the river in Stretford, close to the weir is traceable as far back as 1588. ***
 |
| The Mersey, 2009 |
While Mr. Fletcher Moss in his book on Didsbury noted records kept by one of the parish clerks referred to the strengthening of the land between Northdenden and Gatley at nine shillings an acre in 1771 and the strengthening and repair of other parts of the banks.
 |
| Chorlton Brook, 1960 |
More recently the banks along the Chorlton ees were also worked on, but sadly I can’t remember when.
Location; Chorlton
Picture; Down by the Mersey, 1966, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, the Mersey in 1991, courtesy of David Bishop, and in 2009, from the collecion of Andrw Simpson,
the Junction of Gore [Chorlton] Brook and River Mersey, 1963, M80140, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*T L Ellwood, Chapter 1, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, November 5, 1885, South Manchester Gazette,
**Dreadful Effects of the Late Storms, Manchester Guardian, July 27 1828
***Crofton, T L, A History of the Ancient Chapel at Stretford, 1899, page 31
****ibid Crofton, page 34
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