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| The Wardle bell, 2015 |
The bell in the picture was discovered by David Harrop on one of his recent walks exploring the industrial archaeology of Heaton Moor.
The trip took him from Didsbury Road down the side of the Crown Hotel along Vale Close to the cottages of Park Row and Park View.
It is a picturesque spot which belies its past, for here just to the north of those cottages was the Upper Bleach Works.
The works were in full swing by 1844 and I guess with a bit of digging I should be able to discover when they were opened and when they finally closed.
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| Park Row, the Bleach Works in Heaton Mersey, 1844 |
David assumes it may have come from the Bleach Works.
The name on bell is “Wardle Manchester” which is not much to go on but in 1911 there was an “Ernest Wardle & Co, Iron and Church Roof builders" who operated from the Derby Street Works in Cheetham.
It doesn’t appear to be a big concern and of course the date may all be wrong added to which it may have no
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| Park Row and Park Place, 2015 |
That said the hunt for the bell led me to a wonderful site on “Walking from Stockport to Sale” along with more of David’s pictures.
And it precedes earlier that trips taken by Andy Robertson highlight how little I knew about Heaton Moor and how much more there to discover.
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| Looking across to the site of the Bleach Works, 2015 |
Pictures; Wardle’s Bell & Park Row, 2015 courtesy of David Harrop, and detail of Heaton Mersey from the OS for Lancashire, 1844, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
* Walking the Mersey: from Stockport to Sale, August 15, 2012, https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/walking-the-mersey-from-stockport-to-sale/
I enjoy reading your ‘ramblings’ but please don’t describe Heaton Mersey as though it’s part of Heaton Moor. Each of the four Heatons is separate and individual
ReplyDeleteOpps that's me told ...... ramblings indeed
ReplyDelete