Now Richard’s picture of Aspin Lane as it runs under the railway viaduct is as atmospheric as you could get.
The wet stone setts, the lonely lane framed by that viaduct takes you back a century or more to another age when this bit of Angel Meadow was one of those places where “poverty busied itself.”
Like Richard I have spent many years wandering the streets around the old St Michael’s Rec and burial ground. In my case it came after meeting the historian Jacqueline Roberts, reading her book on the area and using some of her material in classes I taught on working class housing in the 19th century.*
And it was she who first introduced me to the idea of using census material to engage students in exploring social history. The unit focused on the streets around Irk Street, John Street and Back Ashley Lane in the 1851.
Here in just 16 houses lived 120 people, making their living from a variety of occupations from factory work, to cap makers, porters and that lowest of jobs, a brush maker.
Aspin Lane, 2016 |
Like Richard I have spent many years wandering the streets around the old St Michael’s Rec and burial ground. In my case it came after meeting the historian Jacqueline Roberts, reading her book on the area and using some of her material in classes I taught on working class housing in the 19th century.*
And it was she who first introduced me to the idea of using census material to engage students in exploring social history. The unit focused on the streets around Irk Street, John Street and Back Ashley Lane in the 1851.
Ashley Lane, 1849 |
Some like Mr and Mrs Shaw and their three children lived in the cellar of number 3 Back Irk Street, while round the corner at nu 3 John Street the eight members of the Riley family were squeezed into one of its two rooms.
So Richard’s photograph drew me in but as hard as I looked there was no Aspin Lane on the old maps, but that was simply because Aspin Lane was indeed Ashley Lane and an unknown photographer had got there before us and in 1910 took a picture from almost the same spot.
But all stories deserve a second look.
So Richard’s photograph drew me in but as hard as I looked there was no Aspin Lane on the old maps, but that was simply because Aspin Lane was indeed Ashley Lane and an unknown photographer had got there before us and in 1910 took a picture from almost the same spot.
Ashley Lane, 1910 |
And after my old facebook friend Bill questioned me on my comment on the status of brushmakers I went looking for more on them.
And the Working Class Movement Library offered some interesting detail, leading me to correct my assumption this was a precarious and low status occupation.**
Location; Angel Meadow
Pictures; Aspin Lane, 2016 from the collection of Richard Hector- Jones, and in 1910, m00218, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 142-49, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Roberts, Jacqueline, Working Class Housing in Nineteenth-century Manchester: The Example of John Street, Irk Town, 1826-1936 1983
Pictures; Aspin Lane, 2016 from the collection of Richard Hector- Jones, and in 1910, m00218, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 142-49, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
*Roberts, Jacqueline, Working Class Housing in Nineteenth-century Manchester: The Example of John Street, Irk Town, 1826-1936 1983
***Brushmakers, Working Class Movement Library, https://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collections/working-lives/brushmakers/
Hello,
ReplyDeleteyou maybe interested in this short documentary i recently completed and uploaded to Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcwdhxrKeW0
Hello,
ReplyDeleteyou maybe interested in this short documentary about Angel Meadow i recently completed and uploaded to Youtube. you may need to cut and paste the link into your browswer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcwdhxrKeW0