Summer days in south Manchester No 7 early morning on Wilmslow Road in the summer of 1914

This is one of those scenes which look familiar and so it should for anyone who knows that stretch of Wilmslow Road as it enters Withington village.

But of course because it is 1914 it is not as we would recognise it today.

The horse trough will soon vanish to start its journey around the district before becoming lost and then rediscovered.  Nor is the library there. 

In that summer of 1914 this site belonged to three rather impressive properties, which stood in a fair bit of land and whose gardens stretched back on to Wellington Road. The larger of the two had 11 and 13 rooms while the smallest just 8.

The walls and railings of the properties along with a large tree dominate the bottom right of our picture.

Now I rather fancy there will be a story to tell about what happened to the three houses, because in 1927 they have been demolished to be replaced by Withington Library.  But all that is for another time.

Picture; Wilmslow Road circa 1914, courtesy of Mark Fynn http://www.markfynn.com/manchester-postcards.htm