Lost pubs of Manchester ......... no 15 Swan With Two Necks at Withy Grove

Now I never visited the Swan With Two Necks on Withy Grove and now I never will.

Swan With Two Necks, 1980s

According to one source it had been doing the business of serving up beer from 1795 and certainly twenty years earlier there had been a building on the site.*

By 1821 the landlady was a Lydia Oliver who was still there in 1827 and according to the rate books owned property in the surrounding streets.

The rateable value of the pub was £100 in 1823 and this far exceeded the rates of other buildings on the road and puts the other pub just a few doors down in the shadows.  This was run by Alice Wilmott who is listed as paying just £45 for the front two rooms of no 5 Withy Grove.

Swan With Two Necks, 1851

All of which makes Ms Oliver an interesting person to research, but for now all I know is that she was dead by 1841 because her properties are recorded as being managed by Executors.

There is a reference to a Lydia Oliver who was buried in Cheetham in September 1838 and whose death was registered by the Chorlton Union a few days earlier.

If this is our Ms Oliver, she had been born in 1765 and was 73 at her death.

So I shall return to the pub which vanished only relatively recently and is now the site of a takeaway business.

Swan With Two Necks, 1959

Back in the 1820s the pub was simply known as the Swan and I shall go looking for just when it gained that extra neck but it was trading with that new name by 1844 and in 1911 was run by a the Kinaman family.

Martin Kinaman was 51, and from Ireland and had been married to Clara Ann for twenty one years.

They had five children of whom the eldest Claire Kathleen at 19 was serving as a barmaid and that April of 1911 they shred the six roomed property with Amy Gough who was 31, from Manchester and described herself as a “housekeeper.”

The Swan With Two Necks, 1970

And for those  who want to know more about the pub in more recent times that excellent site Pubs of Manchester has a good description which should be read in conjunction with the four photographs of the pub since 1959 on the local image collection.

These later pictures are themselves facinating for showing the transfoirmation from traditional exterior to one in keeping with the 1970s.




Location; Manchester

Pictures;  Swan with Two Necks, 1980s from the collection of John Casey, the pub in 1959 by H W Beaumont, m50619, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 1970 by  A Davison, m50620, and map showing the pub in 1851 from Adshead’s map of Manchester 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Pubs of Manchester, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/swan-with-two-necks-withy-grove.html

A little bit of cinema history …….. in Conway, where they do it well

One of the great bonuses of my friendship with Andy Robertson is the wonderful collection of pictures he has stored away in the collection.

Yesterday we were having a conversation about his love affair with Stockport, and then out of the blue he remembered the Palace cinema in Conway, and with an hour of him leaving he sent over this image of the place, with the comment that it had opened in 1936 and closed in the 1980s.

And not wanting to shortchange the picture I went looking in that wonderful cinema resource which is cinema Treasures.*

It is a site I often go to for information and which I have never been disappointed.

Nor was I this time, because according to Ken Roe, the picture palace of dreams and adventures, opened in 1936 with Hugh Williams in "Lieutenant Daring R.N.".

And “of all the cinemas that were built in the U.K. in 1936, the Palace Cinema received the title ‘Cinema of the Year’ and the architect was given a special design award.”

And I can see why because “inside the auditorium was rather plain, but there was a reason for this. The lighting was by Holophane, which was able bathe the auditorium in over 400 tints and hues of colour. There are six silvered columns on each side of the proscenium opening which reflected the lighting. Across the top of the proscenium were panels in silver, which showed the faces of leading film stars of the 1930’s. The ceiling was a plain ‘dome’ which had the Holophane lighting ‘played’ onto it”.  

Now I could go on, but that would be to snaffle Mr. Roe’s research, so instead I shall just leave you with the link and advise you to go and look up the full story of the Palace for yourself.**

Leaving me as ever just to thank Andy, who I notice has now inspired over 500 stories which have used his images.***

Location; High Street, Conway, LL32 8DB

Picture; the Palace cinema, Conway, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

* cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/

**Palace Cinema, Conway, Ken Roe, cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/22947

***Andy Robertson, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Andy+Robertson&max-results=20&by-date=true

Lost Manchester Pubs ........ the Llangollen Castle and the Old Green Man .... "wholly drunken men and semi-drunken women"

Now next time you are sitting beside Eric and he begins his long account of the demise of the British pub, here are two salutatory tales of pubs which deserve to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Davenport Court, 1849

I came across the two in a series of newspaper articles from the Manchester Guardian in 1870 and they were the Llangollen Castle and the Old Green Man.

Neither of which I suspect any of us would care to fall into.

The Llangollen Castle was at the entrance to Davenport Court which was off Deansgate hard by Victoria Street.

Today the stretch includes the Renaissance Hotel, and a car park.  But back in the 1870s it was a notorious spot where all manner of vice and worse bubbled away in what was a closed court which you entered by a narrow passage way from the main road.

And beside the entrance to the court, “keeping guard over it is a public house filled full to overflowing with wholly drunken men and semi-drunken women, and hard working labourers who are spending on prostitutes hard-earned money for want of which their wives and children are starving at home.

The whistle which gives token of the approach of suspicious-looking strangers, and the intense silence which succeeds it, indicate alike the commerce and the conversation carried on there.

The site of Davenport Court to the right, circa 1980s

The intruding and unwelcome visitor is greeted with muttered curses and regarded with furtive looks; he may be a ‘plain-clothes man’ taking stock, and too many know what that means to make his advent welcome.”*

Of course the Llangollen Castle may
not always have been a hub of all that is reprehensible.

In 1841 it was run by Thomas Griffiths who paid an annual rent of £48 to a Mr Carr.  The rent was far in excess of  the neighbouring houses which were paying between £7 and 8 a year.**

And Mr Carr seems to have cleaned up on Davenport Close owning all nine properties and may have seen the Llangollen Castle as the jewel in his portfolio.

How long Thomas Griffiths had served up pints is not yet clear.  In 1841 he was 65 so could have been pleasing the residents of Davenport Court for some time.***

That said I haven’t yet found an earlier date for the pub and will have to go and search the license records.
Nor have I even found a location for the Old Green Man which seems no less desirable.

“On the ground floor passing by the bar a long low room is reached, a mechanical organ is grinding away popular airs; and on long benches in front of the fire is a very mixed company of men and women...... The men are cadgers,- thieves ready to turn their head to anything, so long as it is dishonest; and the woman – their bloated, bruised and woollen faces tell too plainly that they have reached the lowest depths attainable by womanhood.”*

So, there you have it in the great sweep of pubs to visit neither the Llangollen Castle and the Old Green Man would be top of my list.

All of which is a nice lead into the two pubs books which feature 78 city centre pubs and 33 Chorlton pubs and bars.

They were published in December 2016 and May 2017 and are less a guide and more a history of all that is good, combining original paintings by Peter Topping, stories by me and lots of photographs.

You can order the books at www.pubbooks.co.uk email Peter at peter@pubbooks.co.uk the old fashioned way on 07521 557888 or from Chorlton Bookshop

Pictures; Davenport Court, 1849, from Manchester & Salford OS, Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and looking along Deansgate, circa 1980s from the collection of John Casey

*In the Slums, the Manchester Guardian, March 3 1870

**Manchester Rate Books, Davenport Court, 1841

***Davenport Court, 1841 census, Enu 30 3, Market Street, Manchester

Watching TV on a Sunday in Italy

Now I don't as a rule pass judgement on the telly in the country we are staying.

After all if you don't live there all the year around then there is a lot you miss and drawing conclusions on a few hours television is a bit unfair.

But on the other hand we spend a fair bit of time with the family in Italy and in turn watch a fair bit of the programmes and so feel at home to comment.

And of all that we watch it has to be the wall to wall variety shows you get on a Sunday which go on all day into the evenings and often seem to share the same presenters.

And my favourite to date has to the one mixing amateur singers, a bunch of ballroom dancers and a collection of old, contemporary and popular Italian songs.

The host also sings and is accompanied by a group of musicians and singers who could be her children.

So yesterday amongst the raw talent the host belted out one song about her husband who was no longer interested in her, and it made no matter if she walked naked into the room or offered up his favourite food he steadfastly no longer seemed to want to know her.

Meanwhile the dancers continued to glide across the floor.

All very Sunday in Italy.

Location; Varese, Italy

Picture; Sunday afternoon in Varese, 2016 from the collectionof Andrew Simpson

The Lost Stories of Chorlton-cum-Hardy ....... the new book ….. coming soon

Like all good stories, it started with a discovery and a conversation.

The discovery was a hoard of treasures stored carefully in Peter’s attic for over 30 years and brought out into the daylight last week.

Those treasures ranged from an old cigarette packet, and tea carton dating from the 1930s, through to a selection of electronic consuls, and games from three decades ago, and in between were dozens of military cap badges, bottle openers and badges.

Having found them and knowing I would be interested, Peter sent over some pictures of the hoard, and from there we had the conversation, which roamed over the excitement of rediscovering the bits in the attic, to just what they said about how we lived.

And as they do the blog stories followed, which in turn inspired friends  to offer up their treasures, which then led to more blogs, and by degree to the book, which we have called The Lost Stories of Chorlton-cum-Hardy In Our Attics, Cellars, Garages and Sheds.

It is as they say a work in progress, which at present has clocked up some wonderful items, all of which with a bit of research and memories from the owners, has taken me to the Great War, a textile factory outside Hebden Bridge, and an unforgettable night in a Yates Wine Lodge in Preston.

But this is just the start, because out of that conversation came a parallel one where we discussed just how to involve groups of people coming together with their attic finds and sharing the stories behind each one.

And here we have been joined by Jolene Sheehan, whose very successful community writing project culminated in the recently published book, The Stories of Our Lives.*

Just how this exciting part of the project develops is still in the planning stage, but it holds the promise of being fun, and rewarding.

So that is it, ………. just leaving me to make the appeal for more treasures, from your attics, cellars, garages and sheds.

You can contact us by leaving a comment on the blog or through Facebook.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; cover of The Lost Stories of Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Our Attics, Cellars, Garages and Sheds, featuring Linda Rigby's box of treasures, and selection of attic hoards from Peter and me.

* The Stories of Our Lives was a community writing project in Chorlton cum-Hardy which involved 50 local people coming together over four Saturdays in August to share their memories, which in turn were transcribed by a group of volunteers and became the book.

The lost Eltham & Woolwich pictures ...... no. 43 ..... the Castle on the hill

Now the story of Severndroog Castle is pretty well known and so the story of this 47 year old picture rests with the image.

It was taken with one of those old clunky instamatic cameras, which processed the film straight away and turned out the image in minutes.

The film was expensive and from memory you only got eight or so shots, but there was something magical about the instant nature of the process.

Today the mobile phone or the digital camera will do it equally fast with the added advantage that it can be sent on to family and friends across the planet.

But in 1970 this was pretty neat, and how better to use the camera than to wander up Shooters Hill.

Someone far more expert than me will be able to explain just how the camera managed to create that blotch to the right of the Castle.

It is quite clearly a tree but a tree which shouldn’t be there, so perhaps the camera didn’t quite work.

Answers on the back of a post card addressed to the Friends of Severndroog Castle or just add a comment to the blog.

Location; Shooters Hill

Picture; Severndroog Castle, circa 1970,  from the Simpson family collection 

Remembering a different sort of holiday ……. Leysdown Holiday Camp, circa 1961

We never went to holiday camps, although plenty of my friends did, and while I was never envious of their week in the sun beside the sea, I was curious.

Even now, sixty years on I still associate Bognor Regis, Minehead, Clacton and Skegness with places my friend Jimmy went to in the summer, always coming back, with a tan and stories of the fun, freedom and “grown up” entertainment which was on offer.

From memory his family always went to Butlins, but there were other holiday camps and over the year’s friends have passed on pictures, brochures and memories of companies like Pontins, Warners and Campers Ltd.

They were very much of their time, and that time was the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and while some still exist today, their time was anchored in the decades either side of the Second World War.

The first were already doing the business of providing  a holiday inclusive of food, board, and entertainment for a relatively modest cost before 1938 when it  it became compulsory for firms to provide paid holidays for their workers.

But by providing working families with holiday pay it made it easier for many to take a break, and while the war interrupted the growth of the holiday companies, as soon as it was over there was an expansion which carried on into the early 1960s.

In 1939, Butlins had just two camps, but opened another four between 1945 and 1948, adding one more in 1950 and two more in 1960 and 1962.

It is easy today to be a little dismissive of these holidays, which were quite regimented, but they did offer thousands of families an experience which might otherwise have been denied to them.

So, I must thank Brian Norbury for this picture postcard of “the Chalets at Leysdown Holiday Camp", which is typical of what you got.  Sadly, Brian was less than impressed, commenting,
“I spent a week long family holiday at this place in the early 60s, hopefully it no longer exists”, which is intriguing.

I shall wait with bated breath for Brian to elaborate, leaving me just to thank him and let you gaze on holidays from the past.

But perhaps I understand Brian's reflections, because according to one source Leysdown-on-Sea  is one of those places built on sand, sea and holiday makers, and while there "are several large farms surrounding the village, with a mixture of pasture and arable land, .... the local economy is primarily driven by tourism in the summer months, with many visitors coming from London. 

Leysdown has one of the largest concentrations of holiday parks in Kent, with many caravan and chalet parks. 

During the winter months the shops, clubs and pubs stay open, with the population of Leysdown, Warden and Bay View providing custom. 

In the past few years a boot fair has become a regular fixture on Sundays and there is also a market on Saturdays.

A very small hamlet up to late Victorian times, it was developed a little after the arrival of the Sheppey Light Railway in 1903, though grand plans for the establishment of a large resort with hotels never materialised. The railway was closed in the 1950s.*


Location; Leysdown Holiday Camp, circa, early 1960s, from the collection of Brian Norbury

*Leysdown-on-Sea, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leysdown-on-Sea

“I could happily spend all day wandering around Stockport” ……………….

Now there will be plenty of people who would agree with Andy, that wandering around Stockport offers up a cornucopia of discoveries, from the small quirky shops hidden away on steep, twisty streets, to the indoor market and of course the old cinema.

And Andy never goes anywhere with out his camera, and so here from his “trip out” on November 4th is one of my favourites, capturing Stockport at work and at prayer.

Location; Stockport

Picture; Stockport, 2019, from the collection of Andy Robertson

A pub, a message of love and a club ........... on Cooper Street

Now this is Cooper Street and this impressive stone building has stood on this spot since 1863.

Waldorf House, 2015

Once a long time ago Cooper Street ran all the way from Booth Street across Princess Street down to Peter’s Street but that all changed with the construction of Central Ref which swept away a mix of interesting and not so impressive buildings.

And in the process cut short Cooper Street at its junction with Princess Street.

For me it has always been an alternative route across town which avoids the busier main thoroughfares and if the time is right allows you to turn off on to Kennedy Street to visit the Vine or the City Arms.

A century ago I could have just stayed on Cooper Street and slid in to the City Hotel at number 9.  It was offering up a selection of fine wines, beers and much else from 1879 and may have been there from the start when our building was opened.

The Waldorf, 1950

Back then the remainder of the building was home to the Free Masons and included a Hall and their club.

Look closely and above the main entrance is the symbol of the masons carved on the key stone.

And there generations of Masons did whatever Masons do from 1863 till they moved to that other present home on Bridge Street which is still where they are today.*

Now by one of the odd little twists of history my grandfather, great grandfather and at least some of my uncles were all Masons but dad would have nothing of them and so there the link finished.

All of which has taken me away from the City Hotel which I first came across on postcard sent from an army camp in 1911 to Miss Johnson at the City Hotel on Cooper Street.**

I will never know what she made of it, but the sender wrote, “You will be surprised to receive this.  Hearing you say your Yeomanry friend had disappointed you, I thought I would endeavour to rectify it.”

The Waldorf, 1973

The romantic in me wonders whether this was the start of a bid for Miss Johnston’s interest.

Sadly I couldn’t find her in the 1911 census and so far the landlord of the City Hotel who was a Bertie Holroyd and has also proved elusive.

In time I will find out something about both of them along with when the Hotel closed which is best done by a slow and patient trawl of the street directories which might also reveal exactly when the Waldorf Restaurant opened for business in the Mason’s old club.

It was there well into the 1970s and the name above the main door is a reminder of what is now Waldorf House was the Waldorf Restaurant which at one time was owned by the Wilsons brewery.

And this where the nerdy side kicks in because originally the Waldorf had occupied the plot where Cooper Street and Peter Street met.

The Waldorf, 1940

There is even a fine photograph of the building from the City Engineers Department dated 1940, showing not only the large sign in the window announcing that it offered a Dining and Tea room but shows the pub next door which offered Walker and Homfray’s Special Invalid Port at 4 shillings and 9d a bottle.

Which I am sure was a snip if you were an invalid or in need of a snip of port.  Walker and Homfray were “brewers & wine & spirit merchants” who were in 1911 based at the Woodside Brewery on Wilmslow Street, Eccles New Road.

All of which in time will offer up a whole set of new lines of research as well as some intriguing stories, not least of which may be why the City Engineers Department got the date of 1940 so wrong, because by then the Central Ref had been built and this little bit of our eating history had vanished.

That said I may have missed something and as ever the devil is always in the detail which is why I had at first some trouble locating the City Hotel in that building on Copper Street.

The Waldorf, 1970

What should be number 9 is a bay with a window, which mirrors perfectly another on the other side of themain entrance.

This bay was the way into number 9 but had ceased to be a doorway by 1950 which may mean that the City Hotel had gone by then.

By then the Waldorf may have extended in to our hotel.  In their time Walker and Homfray who may have owned the restaurant had been an enterprising and interesting company.

They had in 1905 bought out a smaller brewery which ran the Band on the Wall and supported Newton Heath FC which even I know became Man United.

They merged with Wilson’s Brewery in 1949 which explains the sign outside the Waldorf in the 1970s and nicely brings me back to Peter’s painting and one of those neat bits of continuity because occupying part of the building is the Tiger Lounge which advertises itself as “a basement venue with regular events including quiz nights, open mic/acoustic sessions and live gigs.”

I wonder what Miss Johnson would have made of that.

Location; Cooper Street, Manchester

Paintings; Waldorf House, Cooper Street, © 2015, Peter Topping,
Facebook; Paintings from Pictures, Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Pictures; Copper Street, 1950, H Milligan, m68238, Cooper Street, 1973, D Wildgoose, m01061, Waldorf Restaurant, Peter Street Cooper Street, 1940, City Engineers Department, m38892, Cooper Street, 1970, A Dawson m50748, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*KE7LODGE, https://www.ke7lodge.co.uk/freemasons-hall-manchester/

**"Dear Miss J".............. a message from the 8th Manchester’s at Garstang Camp to the City Hotel on Cooper Street ...... June 1911, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/dear-miss-j-message-from-8th.html

Chorlton in November ........... 2017

Christmas comes early.

Oxfam

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Oxfam, Wilbraham Road, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A mystery cottage two lost brothers and a joint adventure, Chislehurst in Kent circa 1905

Now I know there is a story behind this postcard of a cottage in Sidcup, just south of Eltham.

The trouble is I am not yet sure what the story is.

It is a picturesque enough cottage on Perry Street which runs into Chislehurst, and is the sort of house which you reckon just must have been there forever.

But not so.  Looking at maps from the 1870s and before the place is not shown, so the story should properly be about the search to date it and then those who lived there.

And yet there is another nagging little quest and that concerns the Daniel Brothers who marketed the postcard.  So far I have not turned up much on them other than a similar rural scene in Belvedere which was recently posted for sale on eBay.

And a link to the history of Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd who also sold postcards*

Theirs was a very big concern with offices across Europe and America and in 1883, were granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment by Queen Victoria and thereafter Tuck cards bore the message, "Art Publishers to Her Majesty the Queen".

Tuck’s had an almost identical image of our cottage, which they sold from 1905 and like all enterprising companies they were quick to seize on seasonal opportunities and reissued the card for Christmas with the words “With best Christmas wishes"  in red on what was an image of the cottage in high summer.

And it was one of these that in 1915 Alice sent to Mrs Boushead in Hertfordshire, wishing her “a happy Christmas and hoping you are well.”

The card was sent on December 23rd and was postmarked Chislehurst, and given that we have the name Mrs Boushead there are yet more possible lines of enquiry.

But  I am rather out of my comfort zone in Chislehurst and so my new friend Jean has consented to help.

Like me she enjoys “researching historical puzzles - anyone's puzzles, it doesn't matter - just the thrill of finding an answer is enough...” and because Jean knows the area well I have every confidence that in the fullness of time the story of the cottage, and its occupants will be revealed.

And along the way something of the Daniel Brothers as well as Mrs Bousehead and Alice will emerge which I rather think will be a real historical puzzle revealed.

And as ever I am grateful to Matt K Minch who commented on the story, "It was Daniell Brothers, with 2 L's, they were at Morley Road in Lewisham. 

Very little info to be found on them considering how many cards they published, all I can find is Wilfred Harold Daniell, born 1875 in Brentford, married in Lewisham in 1904 and died in 1948, no trace of any brother. ".

Pictures; the cottage on Perry Street, from a postcard owned by MARK FLYNN POSTCARDS http://www.markfynn.com/index.html and the R Tuck & Sons similar postcard courtesy of TuckDB, http://tuckdb.org/about

*TuckDB aims to be the go-to reference for Tuck postcard collectors, historians or anybody who enjoys artistic paintings and photographs. TuckDB is non-profit and does not sell postcards, everything is free.  http://tuckdb.org/history

Sunday at the shops ……… with an eye on the future

An occasional series, following the family across the city centre in pursuit of two tops and a pair of boots.

Uniqlo, Market Street, 2019

French Connection, St Ann's Square, 2019

We began on Market Street, and proceeded by degree into the Arndale, and out again into St Ann’s Square.

And as you do, I reflected on the swift changes  in retail fortunes, which offered up a few new shops, the loss of some favourites and those that never seem to disappear from the streets.

At which point I could claim that this was part of that big project to record the shops
in town over five decades, and with that in mind, I should dig out my old pictures, of Chelsea Girl, Lewis’s and On the Eighth Day, but they are all lost deep in the recesses of the collection.

Moss Bros, St Ann's Square, 2019

Which I suppose is another way of saying I can be as careless with our recent past as anyone.

In my case I wish I had been more active with recording Oldham Street and what is now the Northern Quarter during the 1970s and 80s, and also persevered with the photo sessions around St Ann’s Square and King Street before they became pedestrianized.

But I didn’t, so instead I shall just leave it at the three.


Location; Market Street, and St Ann’s Square

Pictures; Uniqlo, Market Street, French Connection & Moss Bros,  2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Travelling on LCC tram number 1622 with memories of the Old Kent Road and Well Hall

Now I missed travelling on a tram by just a matter of years, but had I been born a little earlier I might well have been on this one that rattled its way up from the Old Kent Road to Westminster.

And just possibly also taken the 44 and 46 which connected Eltham with Woolwich.

According to family legend I was actually there at New Cross when the last London tram took its last journey in the summer of 1952 but until yesterday I never thought I would come close to one.

Now I know I could visit the London Transport Museum where there is a fine 1910 tram from West Ham Tramways Corporation, but my number 40 which was the one my dad would have used is even closer to home.

It is in the collection of CRICH TRAMWAY VILLAGE just south of Matlock which is no distance for me but I accept is a long way from south east London.

But your loss is our gain and I have planned my visit.

In the meantime I have settled for a picture of LCC number 1622 which plied route 40 from New Cross.

It comes from my old friend Andy Robertson who has been recording the changes to the twin cities of Manchester and Salford and decided to take an afternoon off and visit the museum.

And there is plenty else to see from a Blackpool tram complete with its destination board announcing a Tour of the Illuminations to the Red Lion Hotel which was once in Stoke on Trent and facing demolition was rescued by the museum rebuilt and happily once again serves up a pint.

In his collection of pictures from the day is the sign on a Leeds tram informing passengers that “Spitting is Forbidden” which made sense in an age before antibiotics and the dangers from a range of infectious diseases was all too common.

It is I think Andy's favourite  while for me it will always be the number 40

Which just leaves me to mention Trams in Eltham by John Kennett** and The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins which includes a chapter on that last tram at New Cross.

Picture; trams at the Crich Tramway Village, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, 

* Crich Tramway Village, http://www.tramway.co.uk/

** Trams in Eltham  by John Kennett, Eltham Society, http://www.theelthamsociety.org.uk/publications.php

*** The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins, http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/019.pdf

Following Manchester's Festive Lights Trail

Now it's that time of year, when the Christmas lights can pretty much dispel almost all those hardened against the glossy side of the festival.

Me? ............ I love them all and have done so since I was a kid, and took the seasonal trip to see the lights on Oxford Street and Regents Street.

And three decades later I did the same in Manchester for our kids.

All of which leads me to the city's Festive Lights Trail, which I found by accident, first during the day and again at night.

I know which looks better.

Location; St Peter's Square








Pictures; festive lights, 2019, Manchester, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The secrets of Beech Road revealed ......

Now anyone who has walked down Beech Road towards the village green will know, it is a busy place, with cars parked on both sides which often straddle the pavement.

Looking down Beech Road before 1908

But in the early morning, just after sunrise, it is less busy and many of those cars have yet to arrive, making it a perfect moment to get a sense of what the road was once like.

It only acquired the name of Beech Road sometime in the 1870s, and before that was known as Chorlton Row, which I suspect was shortened to Row, by the locals who knew they were in Chorlton.

It was already very old when Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn and then as now connected the village with Barlow Moor Lane.

The tree and the big house, pre 1908

And it does still meander down, with more than a few twists which will have been to avoid ancient obstacles, now long since vanished.

The hint of one of those obstacles is still there almost opposite Reeves Road which was once Regent Road before it tired of that name sometime in the 1960s.

Today, the obstacle is nothing more than a slight feature which juts out, but looking at our picture it had been more prominent and was home to a very impressive Beech tree.

The exact date of the photograph is not clear, but we must be in the first decade of the last century.

This I know because the houses on the south side were built by then.

Nor can it be any older than 1908 when the big house and garden behind the wall ceased to exist.

It had been the home of the Holt family from the 1830s, but the last of the Manchester Holt’s died in 1908, and the house was demolished, and chucks of the garden were bought by the Corporation who used it to widen Barlow Moor Road.

Looking up Beech Road from the Rec, date unknown

The rest of the estate which ran from Beech Road along Barlow Moor Road to High Lane, and then down High Lane to Cross Road was developed piecemeal, with the cinema and shops in 1915, Mr Dawson’s house and Malton Avenue a little later, and finally the row of detacted houses on Beech Road afterwards.

All of which brings me back to that tree, which by the early 20th century had itself become a feature.
Interestingly it does not appear on maps from the 1840s and 50s and what causes our road to take slight diversions are a series of cottages which stick out at right angles, and part of the fields known as Row Acre and are now part of the Rec.

But they are for another time.

Location; Chorlton Row now Beech Road

Pictures; from the Lloyd Collections

Stories from the attic ...... part 5 ........ the family mystery

Now this metal notebook holder has been in the family for as long as I can remember.

It is small but quite heavy and  I am ashamed to say has suffered from being in the cellar.

Its metal exterior has been attacked by rust and I am looking at how best to restore it.

It carries the German Imperial Cross with the letter W and the date 1914, and given that my grandmother was German I assumed it belonged to one of her family.

But now I am not so sure.

The name inscribed on the front is not one I recognise.

Of course that doesn’t prove it is not one of our family but allows for some doubt.

Alternatively it could have been picked up on the Western Front by either my grandfather or great uncle Jack.

Both served in the British Army and both were in France.

Whatever its origins I do know that it passed to my uncle who served in the RAF and whose name, serial number and the words RAF were inscribed inside.

Uncle Roger enlisted in 1938 aged 16 and saw action in Greece, and Iraq before being captured by the Japanese in 1942 and died in a prisoner of war camp the following year aged just 21.

And that offers up a second mystery because it remained in our possession.  I very much doubt that had it headed out to the Far East with him it would have returned.

I am of course totally prepared to accept the commonsense explanation that he just left it behind for anyone of a number of reasons.

The German side of our family is the one that we have not explored and when we do we might find the answer to its original owner.

Sadly there is no one left to ask and had we not decided to clear out the middle cellar I suspect it would have been many more years before I came across it.

All of which is a lesson in how to look after family objects.  All too often because we have grown up with them we take the item for granted, and that can lead to neglect and eventually to the loss of the object.

So that is it.  The search has begun.  Leaving me only to reflect on the irony of the fact that it passed to my uncle who was in the RAF but like my mother had been born in Cologne.

Picture; metal notebook holder, circa 1914, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2019

Beech Road offers up some more stories

It’s not the best picture I have taken but this one of Beech Road early this morning offers up clues to our past.

Looking up Beech Road, June 2018

Ever since I wrote,  The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, I have been fascinated by what the township would have been like in the 1850s.*

Now that is not as difficult or fanciful as it might seem.

The book was about what Chorlton would have been like during the first half of the 19th century and was drawn from contemporary accounts, old maps, along with census returns, rate books and the tithe records.

Putting all these together it is possible to reconstruct Beech Road as it would have been, including the location of the houses, and fields, and the residents, as well as the owners of both the land and the properties, and finally what was actually being grown in the fields on either side of what was then called Chorlton Row.

So looking again at the picture, it is possible to pick out the twist in what was really just a country lane, which in 1850, accommodated a set of cottages which jutted out roughly opposite the skip and later was dominated by a huge beech tree.

Further along on the left was the home of the Holt family and was known variously as Beech Cottage and later Beech House, while out to the right was a set of fields which were a mix of arable and pasture.

Along Chorlton Row and on to Round Thorn, 1853

From where I took the picture you would also have had a fine view of Lime Bank at Round Thorn.**

The house is still there, although much knocked about and is hidden by Carringtons.

It dates back to the early 19th century and may in fact have been built during the closing decades of the previous century.

In the 1840s it was the home of the Morton family and on the evening of evening of Tuesday June 20 Mr Morton took a stroll down the Row and onto the Green and the school where on this night he would chair a meeting of the local tax payers which threatened a rebellion.

But that is a story for another time.

Location; Chorlton Row

Pictures; detail from the OS map for Lancashire 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 
https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

 https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/the-st

**Lime Bank, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Lime%20Bank

Back with Mrs Sykes looking for a story

Now the trail has gone cold on Mrs Sykes and the Diggle Hotel

Her connection with the Hotel goes back to 1861 when aged just 9 months she was living there with her mother who was the sister of Frederick Radcliffe the licensee.

A decade later she was living with her parents close by in the home of James Broadbent whose sisters were working in the Hotel in 1861.

And sometime during the middle of the 1880s she had married and was herself settled as landlady in the Diggle Hotel.

Hers will be a fascinating story to explore, more so because it will bring in the Radcliffe, Platt, Broadbent and Sykes’ families who she was related to and all of whom were embedded in the story of Diggle.

I had meant to go looking for the story earlier in December but got waylaid by other projects, but Peter’s painting of the Diggle Hotel has set me off again, and who knows maybe someone in Diggle will be able to help.

Painting; the Diggle Hotel © 2015 Peter Topping 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem ........one to listen to on the wireless

Now, In Our Time, on Radio 4 is one of my favourite programmes to listen on the wireless, and today's was fascinating.

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most powerful woman in the Crusader states in the century after the First Crusade. Melisende (1105-61) was born and raised after the mainly Frankish crusaders had taken Jerusalem from the Fatimids, and her father was King of Jerusalem. She was married to Fulk from Anjou, on the understanding they would rule together, and for 30 years she vied with him and then their son as they struggled to consolidate their Frankish state in the Holy Land.

With, Natasha Hodgson, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Nottingham Trent University, Katherine Lewis, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield, and, Danielle Park, Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson"

Picture; the coronation of Fulk with Melisende, from Livre d'Eracles, Guillaume de Tyr (1130?-1186)
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, from the sleeve notes

*Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem, In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bg2y

Picking up on Chorlton's story at The Oaks ..... Edge Lane

I am the first to admit that it is lazy history to claim that one house  can reflect the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy from the mid 19th century onwards.

22 Edge Lane, 1907 shown in red

But if I did, 22 Edge Lane is up there amongst the list.*

It was built in 1865, was home to a succession of wealthy families, and during the last century went through a transformation into multi-occupancy and is now being renovated and redeveloped.

Now, there are plenty of those big houses which fit into that category, but 22 Edge Lane is the one I am focusing on.

The Haselgrove family were the first to own and occupy the property, giving it the name of the Oaks and were typical of the “new people” who were moving into Chorlton-cum-Hardy, when the area was still a rural community.

But already by 1865 the township was changing.

The arrival of the railway sixteen years earlier at the bottom of Edge Lane, along with improvements to the supply of water and sanitation began to make Chorlton an attractive place to live.

22 Edge Lane, entrance, date unknown

And so during the 1860s through the next two decades, there was residential creep along Edge Lane, which was replicated by similar developments following the Egerton estate’s decision to cut Wilbraham Road through Chorlton and onto Fallowfield.

The building of these big properties pre dated the much bigger housing boom which began in 1880 in the area once known as Martledge which was the strip of land around the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

These tended to be smaller properties, and were home to the “middling people” who were mainly drawn from the professional and clerical occupations.

But while they may have been the future of Chorlton, those big houses were part of that history as were the people who lived in them.

And that is the link to the Mr. Nicolai Christian Schou, and his family who had made 22 Edge Lane their home in 1871.

Edge Lane, 2019, before redevelopment began

He was a “shipping agent” with offices at 38 Cooper Street which was on the corner with Bootle Street.

The building and his stretch of Cooper Street vanished when Central Ref was built in the 1930s, but was still there at the beginning of the 20th century when it was occupied by Overman and Co., which earlier had operated in partnership with Mr. Schou. 

Just when the two got together is yet to be discovered, but the records show that during the 1860s well into the following decade the company was listed just as N. C. Schou.

Sadly he left very little in the way of a paper trail.  I know he was born in 1834, and was buried in the St James’s Birch-In-Rusholme, in 1881.

But the parish burial records do contain a touching reference to the family, listing the deaths of his wife, and two of his children.  “In memory of Frances Mary wife of Nicholi Christien Schou, died 28th April 1869, aged 36 years also Constance Mary their daughter died 21st November 1863 aged 3½ months also Nicholi Christian Schou born 22nd April 1834 died 2nd December 1881 also Oscar Henry their second son born 6th March 1859 died 2nd August 1892”.

20 Edge Lane, next door to no. 22, 1959

That pretty much is all there is so far, other than the census return for 1871 which lists him living at Edge Lane, with his five children and four servants who included the housekeeper, a cook, housemaid and charwoman.

We may today be surprised at the number of servants, but his neighbours employed almost as many, which again marks number 22 out as typical of the time and place.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture, 22 Edge Lane, 2019, courtesy of Armistead Property**, Edge Lane and entrance to 22 Edge Lane, date unknown, Lloyd Collection, OS map 1907, and 20 Edge Lane, 1959, A E Landers, m17780, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*At 22 Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2022%20Edge%20Lane

**Armistead Property Ltd, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/