This was one of those big houses at this end of Chorlton. It had thirteen rooms and that magnificent tower which marked it off from its neighbour is still pretty impressive today despite having lost its roof and chimney stack.
It was home to the Chapman family from sometime after 1895 and they were still there in 1911.
James Chapman was a solicitor who had done well for himself. In 1901 he was a solicitor’s clerk and the family were living at the smaller property of number 2 Cranbourne Road. Earlier still they had been in Greenheys.
Directly opposite them on the other side of High Lane was the large house and grounds of the Holt family and a short walk south up Barlow Moor Road would have taken them past farms across the Brook and out to the meadows and the Mersey.
That said they were even closer to the shops just down the road in new Chorlton, but judging by the traffic on Barlow Moor Road they had settled in a pretty quiet spot.
But they were also within easy reach of the city. Chorlton railway station had opened in 1880 and from here James Chapman could be in the heart of Manchester in under a quarter of an hour, and from Central Station it was just a short walk to the offices of Chapman and Brooks at 36 & 40 Brazenose Street.
At present the story of number 78 Barlow Moor Road and the Chapman family stops at 1911 but in time I shall find out more.
* One house on Barlow Moor Road over a century and a bit
Pictures; 78 [now 503] Barlow Moor Road, 1904, A. Bradburn, m17434, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
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