A story of that iconic bit of Chorlton from 1993

It is just thirty-one years since our lychgate was last restored and I missed the anniversary back in April so here courtesy of Andrew Robertson and his collection of newspaper clippings is the story.

It always surprises people that the gate only dates back to the Queen Victoria's Jubilee but that said it has acted as a local land marks since 1887, and according to popular memory contained a bell which was rung to mark the end of the old year and the coming of the new.

That said you can’t believe everything you read in the newspaper.  The parish church closed in 1940 due to frost damage not 1930 and was demolished in 1949, while the gate was erected in 1887 not ten years later.

Still it is a nice piece of history and underlines the need to carefully collect those old newspaper accounts.

And in the next few weeks I shall be returning to this iconic image of Chorlton with some more stories, a new painting and tales of parish jealousies and disputes.

Picture; courtesy of Andrew Robertson, South Manchester Reporter, April 1993