Back Pool Fold is one of those twisty little thoroughfares which you think must have a rich and varied history and at sometime have offered up more than a few dark stories.
But for now it’s the name that provides a clue to how this bit of the city has changed and it all hangs on the word Back which suggests there must once have been a Pool Fold and sure enough in the late 18th century there was.
It was the continuation of Cross Street which in 1793 terminated at the corner with Chapel Walks leaving Pool Fold to creep up to Market Street past what was then the New Shambles.
And as such would have been familiar to those Dissenters who attended the Cross Street Chapel which dates from 1694 and which is the origin of the name Chapel Walks.
There will be many who remember walking down Chapel Walks past the grassed area at the rear of the chapel and clocking that this was the site of the graveyard.
It vanished under the last rebuild of the chapel in 1997, which is the fourth place of worship to occupy the site.
The first was opened in 1694, and destroyed by a mob in 1715, its successor succumbed to an air raid in December 1940 and the replacement built in 1959 survived for four decades.
Now I bet there will be someone out there who can offer up an exact date for the moment that Pool Fold became the continuation of Cross Street.
For now I know that in 1794 it was still going under its old name, and by 1849 had been lost to history.
All of which just leaves me to mention Sam’s Chops House.
It cannot claim to have stood on its present site for that long, having opened at Back Fold Place in the 1950s although it does date back to 1872 when Mr Samuel Studd opened his restaurant under the grander name of Sam’s London Chop House.
It was situated in Manchester Chambers on the corner of Market Street and Pall Mall.
The building has long gone but once and not that long ago this corner was home to the UCP shop which for those who don’t know was the United Cattle Products Company which had a chain of 146 restaurants.
You entered from that corner, went up a large staircase into the restaurant and there amongst many cattle products on offer was tripe.
We only went in once and never bothered with the pub next door on Pall Mall. It was called the Tavern and
I can’t say it looked inviting. There was one entrance, and the windows ran in a long strip high up on the wall.
All of which may seem a long way from Pool Fold but perhaps not given the connection between the UCP, the Shambles clearly shown on the map and the many meat dishes offered up by Sam’s, but then as a veggie I think that is where I shall close.
Other than to say with all the work on Cross Street in connection with the Second City Crossing it will be interesting to see if anything new comes out of the ground.
After all earlier in the year work was slowed by the discovery of burials along the route which may have been from the Cross Street Chapel.
Next; Tasel Alley
Location; Manchester
Pictures; Back Pool Fold, 2015 courtesy of Andy Robertson, Pool Fold 1793 from Laurent’s map of Manchester 1793, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ Cross Street 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson,
 |
| Back Pool Fold, 2015 |
It was the continuation of Cross Street which in 1793 terminated at the corner with Chapel Walks leaving Pool Fold to creep up to Market Street past what was then the New Shambles.
And as such would have been familiar to those Dissenters who attended the Cross Street Chapel which dates from 1694 and which is the origin of the name Chapel Walks.
There will be many who remember walking down Chapel Walks past the grassed area at the rear of the chapel and clocking that this was the site of the graveyard.
It vanished under the last rebuild of the chapel in 1997, which is the fourth place of worship to occupy the site.
The first was opened in 1694, and destroyed by a mob in 1715, its successor succumbed to an air raid in December 1940 and the replacement built in 1959 survived for four decades.
 |
| Pool Fold, from Market Street to Cross Street, 1793 |
For now I know that in 1794 it was still going under its old name, and by 1849 had been lost to history.
All of which just leaves me to mention Sam’s Chops House.
It cannot claim to have stood on its present site for that long, having opened at Back Fold Place in the 1950s although it does date back to 1872 when Mr Samuel Studd opened his restaurant under the grander name of Sam’s London Chop House.
It was situated in Manchester Chambers on the corner of Market Street and Pall Mall.
The building has long gone but once and not that long ago this corner was home to the UCP shop which for those who don’t know was the United Cattle Products Company which had a chain of 146 restaurants.
You entered from that corner, went up a large staircase into the restaurant and there amongst many cattle products on offer was tripe.
 |
| Once Pool Fold, now just part of Cross Street, 2016 |
I can’t say it looked inviting. There was one entrance, and the windows ran in a long strip high up on the wall.
All of which may seem a long way from Pool Fold but perhaps not given the connection between the UCP, the Shambles clearly shown on the map and the many meat dishes offered up by Sam’s, but then as a veggie I think that is where I shall close.
Other than to say with all the work on Cross Street in connection with the Second City Crossing it will be interesting to see if anything new comes out of the ground.
After all earlier in the year work was slowed by the discovery of burials along the route which may have been from the Cross Street Chapel.
Next; Tasel Alley
Location; Manchester
Pictures; Back Pool Fold, 2015 courtesy of Andy Robertson, Pool Fold 1793 from Laurent’s map of Manchester 1793, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ Cross Street 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson,
Always a good read.
ReplyDeleteTasel alley my late father born 1913 used to reminice about his first job as a young painter and decorator worked from Tasel alley pushing a cart up the little hill with all
His painting equipment on every day .
Not sure who he worked for though.
Does anybody have a photo of the old graveyard. It existed up to 1997. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for this informative review. In researching family history, I found on Ancestry a John Lever c1744-1798 leasing a property owned by Joseph Booth at Pool Fold in the 1798 Land Tax Redemption records. A 1788 directory noted he was a Book-keeper, of Queen St, At Ann's. Family records state he was a Merchant. He had a number of children buried in St John's Churchyard
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