Now 45 Dale Street is one of those buildings which seem to have always been there.
I must have passed it countless times and never given it a second glance which is a shame given that it has a rich history which in its time connects this bit of the city with Didsbury, Glossop and Chorlton.
For most of its history the building has been associated with textiles but go back far enough when this bit of Dale Street was first cut and the site was given over to metal working.
In the late 1840s in to the beginning of the next decade it was a machine shop but sometime around 1858 the building was torn down and redeveloped as the show room and warehouse of Ralph Waller & Co Ltd Cotton Spinners whose factory extended back from number 45 along Tariff Street.
Of course I never made the connection but look closely and the block does show a little of its earlier history.
Not that Mr Waller had begun spinning cotton in Manchester; his first mill was out in Glossop in an 18th century factory which he used for a while in the 1850s before relocating to the city.
All of which made sense given that he had set up home in a fine big house in Didsbury and was wealthy enough to contribute a third of the cost of building the new Wesleyan Chapel in Withington.
It replaced an earlier chapel and schoolroom before which “the Wesleyans [had] worshipped God in a cottage.”*
All of which must have made our Mr Waller rather proud and echoes the efforts of other small groups of Methodists in south Manchester at the beginning of the 19th century who were making great efforts to grow their congregations.
Most had begun in a similar way with just a handful meeting in a cottage or barn before raising the funds to build their first chapel.
And in one of those odd twists the story of 45 Dale Street, Didsbury and Glossop is also linked to Chorlton.
For like the congregation of Withington and Didsbury the Wesleyans of Chorlton had also met in cottages and barns and built their first chapel just before those of Mr Waller’s congregation.
Nor is that all, because on that August day in 1864 the assembled group went off for a “public tea meeting held in Mr Higginbotham’s barn, and several hundreds were present.”*
Now this might have been Mr Higginbotham who had a farm in Withington or quite equally it could have been old Higginbotham the farmer who lived on Chorlton green, who was himself a staunch Methodist and whose barn had been used for services.
Which in turn is rather neat because 45 Dale Street has become the Tariff and Dale restaurant and bar operated by the team behind The Lead Station in Chorlton.**
But that is as they say in the future, for now I shall return to what was the rest of the story of 45 Dale Street.
Mr Waller died in 1891 and by 1895 the cotton spinning business had shrunk to just part of that building on Tariff Street and while the family retained ownership of the block number 45 had become home to new businesses ranging from a shipping merchant to various manufacturers and by the late 20th century was again a textile warehouse.
Which is almost all there is other than to say like so many of our inner city buildings it did not escape the Manchester Blitz, having taken a direct hit from a fire bomb which resulted in the floor having to be strengthened with new steel supports.
But it is still there and in time I think I will go looking for the chapel Mr Waller helped fund, try and locate the site of his home in Didsbury, and if I feel particularly adventurous go east to Glossop to that first mill of his.
On the other hand I might just wait for the opening of Tariff and Dale.
We shall see.
Pictures; 45 Dale Street, 1972, L Kaye,m01240, m01241, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass Dale Street, 1844 from the OS Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 and Dale Street. 1901 from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps, courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Rev Dr Hannah, New Wesleyan Chapel at Withington, Manchester Guardian August 22 1864
** Chorlton's Lead Station to open Northern Quarter restaurant and bar, Emily Heward, MEN February 5 2015, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chorltons-lead-station-open-northern-8584538
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| 45 Dale Street, 1972 |
For most of its history the building has been associated with textiles but go back far enough when this bit of Dale Street was first cut and the site was given over to metal working.
In the late 1840s in to the beginning of the next decade it was a machine shop but sometime around 1858 the building was torn down and redeveloped as the show room and warehouse of Ralph Waller & Co Ltd Cotton Spinners whose factory extended back from number 45 along Tariff Street.
Of course I never made the connection but look closely and the block does show a little of its earlier history.
Not that Mr Waller had begun spinning cotton in Manchester; his first mill was out in Glossop in an 18th century factory which he used for a while in the 1850s before relocating to the city.
 |
| Corner of Dale Street and Stanley Street, [Tariff Street], 1849 |
It replaced an earlier chapel and schoolroom before which “the Wesleyans [had] worshipped God in a cottage.”*
All of which must have made our Mr Waller rather proud and echoes the efforts of other small groups of Methodists in south Manchester at the beginning of the 19th century who were making great efforts to grow their congregations.
 |
| Dale Street and Tariff Street, 1901 |
And in one of those odd twists the story of 45 Dale Street, Didsbury and Glossop is also linked to Chorlton.
For like the congregation of Withington and Didsbury the Wesleyans of Chorlton had also met in cottages and barns and built their first chapel just before those of Mr Waller’s congregation.
Nor is that all, because on that August day in 1864 the assembled group went off for a “public tea meeting held in Mr Higginbotham’s barn, and several hundreds were present.”*
Now this might have been Mr Higginbotham who had a farm in Withington or quite equally it could have been old Higginbotham the farmer who lived on Chorlton green, who was himself a staunch Methodist and whose barn had been used for services.
Which in turn is rather neat because 45 Dale Street has become the Tariff and Dale restaurant and bar operated by the team behind The Lead Station in Chorlton.**
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| 45 Dale Street, home to J.P.Hosiery, 1972 |
Mr Waller died in 1891 and by 1895 the cotton spinning business had shrunk to just part of that building on Tariff Street and while the family retained ownership of the block number 45 had become home to new businesses ranging from a shipping merchant to various manufacturers and by the late 20th century was again a textile warehouse.
Which is almost all there is other than to say like so many of our inner city buildings it did not escape the Manchester Blitz, having taken a direct hit from a fire bomb which resulted in the floor having to be strengthened with new steel supports.
But it is still there and in time I think I will go looking for the chapel Mr Waller helped fund, try and locate the site of his home in Didsbury, and if I feel particularly adventurous go east to Glossop to that first mill of his.
On the other hand I might just wait for the opening of Tariff and Dale.
We shall see.
Pictures; 45 Dale Street, 1972, L Kaye,m01240, m01241, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass Dale Street, 1844 from the OS Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 and Dale Street. 1901 from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps, courtesy of Digital Archive Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Rev Dr Hannah, New Wesleyan Chapel at Withington, Manchester Guardian August 22 1864
** Chorlton's Lead Station to open Northern Quarter restaurant and bar, Emily Heward, MEN February 5 2015, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chorltons-lead-station-open-northern-8584538
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