The Didsbury Bee …… with fond memories of all the others

Now I wonder just how many Manchester Bees are now left across the City.

Back in 2018 they appeared almost everywhere, crossing the border into Salford, became a tourist attraction and raised lots of money for charity.

The blog did its fair share of telling their stories, some were ones I had collected but others were photographed by friends.*

And here are back in Didsbury with the bee first spotted by David Harrop.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; the Didsbury Bee, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Manchester Bees, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Manchester%20Bees

The Californian Century …….. ten fascinating stories ... on the wireless

"Stanley Tucci imagines the story of modern California as a movie screenplay, tracing the dramatic history of the state from Hollywood to Silicon Valley.*

His screenplays tell the stories of ten women and men who built California. It's a high risk, high reward state. A place where, if you make it, you're on top of the world. But if you don't, there's a long, long way to fall.

Here is the men who lied and lied and lied again to bring water to arid LA, and the story of the superstar revivalist preacher who was as big as Chaplin – before she disappeared without trace. 

We'll also hear about the genius who first brought silicon to Silicon Valley, right before he became a passionate eugenicist - Silicon Valley's dirty little secret".

And my own favourite to date …… Episode 5, The Good Fight, "the story of Leon Lewis who hunted down Nazis on the streets on LA in the 30s and 40s.

With its aircraft factories and shipyards, California consumed ten per cent of the US war budget. That made it a prime target for Nazis hoping to disrupt the war effort.

Leon Lewis swung into action, infiltrating LA's Nazi groups. Meanwhile, California drew in more people and money than ever before, sowing the seeds of its post-War economic success.

In all there are ten episodes, of the real story of California: a story littered with dead bodies, disasters and duplicity.

Academic consultant: Dr Ian Scott, University of Manchester

Written and produced by Laurence Grissell"

Picture; A view of the Vincent Thomas Bridge, a suspension span connecting San Pedro and Terminal Island, The Port of Authority at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publishes it under the following licenses: w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike his file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

*The Californian Century, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fq4f

Cranes, cranes and more than a few high rise developments

Yet again Andy Robertson has captured the changing skyline of the city.

And in years to come this image will be one of those used to document how Manchester changed.





Location; looking towards the city



Picture; Cranes across the city, 2020, Andy Robertson

Mr Lowry ……… and the photograph which was never returned

Now I am not a great fan of Mr Lowry.

I listen to friends who tell me about his technical skill which I fully appreciate, and I also acknowledge the power of those matchstick figures which convey the bleakness of inner-city Salford and Manchester, but I remain unmoved.

It’s perhaps because I fell for the paintings so heavily when I was 16 and carried a torch for Mr Lowry for a full decade.

But that said, when family and friends come up from the south, the Lowry and in particular Mr Lowry’s paintings in the art gallery are a must.

And I have even been known to buy a postcard of his work to send to those even more unconvinced than me.

All of which makes me smile as I look at this self portrait of the man, sent to me by David Harrop who is an avid collector.

It is a photograph of the painting and comes from Entwhistle Thorpe & Co Ltd, of Tudor Industrial Estate, Dukinfield, Cheshire.

It was received by the Daily Telegraph in the November of 1966 and was used by its sister paper the Sunday Telegraph in September 1977.

The notes on the back announce that this is “Self Portrait 1925” of “L. S. Lowry” lent by City of Salford Museum and Art Gallery” and carried the instruction that the “Copyright reserved & This photograph may be reproduced only in connection with reviews of this exhibition” and the polite request “Please return to the Arts Council of Great Britain”.

And that set me off looking for the exhibition and given the first date was 1966, that was the starting point, and in October of that year the Manchester Guardian reported that “more than 14,000 people saw the retrospective exhibition an of paintings and drawings by L.S. Lowry which ended  on Saturday after three weeks at the Whitworth Art Gallery”, concluding that despite the attendance being a record for such an event, only about 2,000 bought the 5 s catalogue.*

Leaving me to think the Telegraph carried the story in November or perhaps the following exhibition which was in Bristol.

As this was staged by the Arts Council, I think we have found our Lowry exhibition.

Leaving me only to observe that the Telegraph didn’t return the picture, and instead used it again in 1977, before parting with it, when after a period it fell to Mr Harrop.

Picture; photograph of a self-portrait, L S Lowry, 1966, from the collection of David Harrop

*Record 14,000 see exhibition of L. S. Lowry's work, Manchester Guardian, October 18, 1966

523 Barlow Moor Road, captured in a moment in time in 1960

Now I am back at 523 Barlow Moor Road where my friend Ann Love lived during the 1950s and 60s.

It is still there today but has undergone conversion into flats.

Over the last few months Ann has been sharing her memories of growing up in the house providing a vivid account of everything from the kitchen range to her bedroom along with some wonderful sketches of both the inside and exterior of the house.

And now along with more stories her husband has produced a series of detailed models of the property which perfectly create a large Chorlton house in 1960.

"The basement, or cellar as we used to call it, was reached by a door and steps from the kitchen.

It was always cool, and an ideal place for storage.

Half way down the steps was a wide shelf, where cold meats were kept, on a large platter, then continuing down, there were five rooms.

Firstly there was the coal cellar, this could also be reached by a door on the side of the house next to the workshop.

Once or twice a year the coal cart would arrive, with sacks of coal, the cart would stop in the drive, and the coal man would lift the sacks of coal from the cart and empty them down through the doorway into the cellar.

 We would have to count the sacks s they were emptied, because once the coal was in the cellar, it was just a big heap. The coal men were covered in soot from carrying sacks of coal all day.

All through the winter coal would have to be carried up from the cellar in buckets to keep the range in the kitchen alight.

Under the Dining room was a storage area for food – there was a meat safe, with wire mesh to keep out the flies, and jars and big earthenware bowls with preserves, and preserved eggs in isinglass.

The small room under the hall was full of shelves of tinned goods, corned beef and salmon, and pickles.

Under the lounge were coffins, standing on end, which Dad had made during quiet periods, in case of flu epidemics, and bad weather in winter. 

They were in a variety of different sizes, and good places to play when my cousins came over to play hide and seek!

Under the kitchen was where the planks of wood were stored, before being carried down the garden to be made into coffins. When the house was on fire, this could have been a real problem if it had caught fire."

© Ann Love

Models; Howard Love 2014

The proud record of one children’s charity………. The Together Trust

This is the story of one children’s charity and its work over 150 years, making the lives of young people a heap better.

It began in 1870 as a response to the children who could be found living on the streets in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford offering a bed and breakfast to homeless boys in the charity’s Refuge.

Within a decade it had expanded to provide homes for boys and girls, offered vocational training, along with migrating some to Canada.

It also intervened on the behalf of neglected and abused children seeking recourse from the courts to protect these young people and campaigned for legislation for those who worked the streets selling matches, newspapers and shining shoes.

A logical extension of that activity was to work with children who were on remand for committing a  crime.  That aspect of its work is amply covered in the new book on the history of the charity which has been published to coincide with the charity’s 150th anniversary.*

Most people had long recognized that to incarcerate young offenders awaiting trial was not a good idea, and the charity had opened a centre where such youngsters could be accommodated.

And in 1931 the centre featured in an article in the journal of the Co-operative Guildswomen, under the title “The Boy who ‘Steals’ Eggs for Fun – Is he to be condemned as a Criminal?”**

The article reflected on the fact  that “Hundreds of boys and girls pass daily through British juvenile courts [and] between the charge and the actual pronouncement of judgement there is a period of remand while cases are investigated”.  And went on to ask what happened to children who were on remand, arguing that “to send children to prison while awaiting trial is repugnant; [while sending ] them home is undesirable”.

So, “anxious to know the provision Manchester made for remanded Juvenile cases, we set out on a ‘voyage of discovery”, which led  to “Chatham House, Piccadilly, (Manchester) and the Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes” which ran a Remand Home.

The delegation “found comfort and cleanliness” and was surprised that the centre served “not only the Manchester courts, but other Lancashire and Cheshire courts [with] children coming from Morecombe, Wigan, Stockport, Bacup and other smaller townships.  Girls up to eighteen years of age, as well as boys, are received and the staff consists of a matron, a superintendent and a maid”.

But more than the physical appearance of the centre or the number of young people in the home what struck the visitors was the social conditions which had led some of the youngsters to slide into crime.

One sixteen year old confessed that he was on remand for stealing eggs. His mother had recently died and he, his father and brother were all unemployed.

This was after all the height of the Depression, when unemployment reached three million, and those seeking assistance had to undergo the Means Test.

The delegation concluded their tour with a visit to the roof playground “which had high spiked railings”, and views across the city and “down  to the busy streets below”.  Not that the location of the playground at the top of the building or those high spiked railings acted as a deterrent to some youngsters,

They climbed over the railings , slid down the building by way of the drain pipes but such audacious escapes always ended in failure.

The article is an interesting, one not only because of the detail it offers up of what the centre was like but of the work of the charity at helping young people in remand.

Picture; the roof top playground, courtesy of the Together Trust

*The Ever Open Door, 150 years of the Together Trust, Andrew Simpson, The Together Trust, 2020, You can obtain copies of the book from, books@togethertrust.org.uk But given the current circumstances there may be a delay in getting books out in the post to people.

**The Boy who ‘Steals’ Eggs for Fun, Women’s Outlook, May 2nd, 1931

Remembering that lost institution which was the Launderette…….. on Burton Road with Gudrun

Farewell Launderettes, everywhere. 

We knew you well, spent many a wet Sunday morning watching other people's clothes twisting and tumbling amongst the soap and bubbles.

In the hour and ten, we wondered just how sensible it had been to wash a pink and yellow leotard with the white office shirts, and above all tried each week to summon up the courage to talk to the bar maid from the Midland.

We won't see your likes again.

You dominated the middle decades of the last century, saw off the Laundries, and offered many lonely bed sit people a warm place in which to share the smell of soap suds and the rumble of those hot air driers.

And now most of you have gone, including Gudrun’s which after a decent interval of mourning gave way to Proove, the Italian pizza place.

Picture; Gudrun Launderette, Burton Road, circa 2014, from the collection of Steve Marland

Looking for Gibraltar in Manchester ........... a story by John Anthony Hewitt

Some years ago, November 2013, I had downloaded a photograph of Gibraltar from Facebook – I have forgotten who had posted it, but it has been re-posted recently. 

Gibraltar Back-to-Back Houses, 1877

This re-posting also reminded me that back in 2013 I had wandered around Manchester looking for any signs of Gibraltar. Being curious, I had wondered if any trace of Gibraltar could still be found in 21st century Manchester.

Two potentially useful pieces of information may be seen,  in that 1877 photograph, firstly the road passes under an archway, and the hand / horse cart is sitting astride what appears to be a gully pointing towards the centre of the archway.

The houses are very dilapidated and appear ready for demolition, but what is not apparent from the photograph, although very clear on Godfrey's 1849 Map, is that these were back-to-backs with the other houses fronting Gibraltar Court.

1849 Map of Gibraltar

The 1849 map shows Gibraltar ran between Mill Street / Walkers Yard through the fourth railway arch, counting from Scotland Bridge (Long Millgate – Red Bank), and Mill Hill.

A comparison with Laurent's 1793 map, shows Gibraltar mentioned as Mill Hill, which name had in all probability been changed to commemorate some military adventure.

Laurent, however, did not follow the common "North at the top" orientation in his map – North is towards the lower right of the map.

1793 Map of Mill Hill (Gibralatar

On the 1849 map the railway viaduct is seen to carry only two tracks, but as any visitor to Victoria Station will tell you, there are still six tracks heading towards Miles Platting, which means the viaduct had been widened  on at least three, possibly four, occasions.

The first group of photographs are a montage of views of the railway viaduct taken from Scotland, on the Red Bank side.

The final photograph in the montage is a railway arch, which appears to be the fourth arch, that was mentioned earlier in reference to Godfrey’s 1849 map of the area.

The final photograph in the montage is a railway arch, which appears to be the fourth arch, that was mentioned earlier in reference to Godfrey’s 1849 map of the area.

This arch would mark the line of route for the road known as Gibraltar. It is difficult to be certain because of the style of construction for widening the railway viaduct necessitated by the course of the River Irk, and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway’s requirement for a turntable (shown on Godfrey’s 1915 map).

The small arch, shown alongside this arch in the upper left photograph, seems to mark the location of the former mill race shown on the 1849 map.

Scotland, 1966

These may be compared with the archive photograph of Scotland, taken in 1966, and showing the then new, but now-demolished, Victoria East power signal box on the railway viaduct.

Before leaving Scotland, a very informative photograph of Aspin Lane (formerly Long Millgate, previously Smithy Lane) was taken from the corner of Scotland and Red Bank looking across the River Irk towards Angel Meadow.

The most striking feature – apart from the anti-bridge-strike markings – is Scotland Bridge over the River Irk, marked by a very substantial beam crossing the unseen river high above the parapet wall.

Upstream, the River Irk later emerges from the railway viaduct, still on the Red Bank side, at the site of the former Union Bridge Iron Works.

Downstream, the Irk tumbles over the weir and disappears into a tunnel beneath Victoria Station only to re-emerge and be instantly swallowed up by the ravenous River Irwell.

Aspin Lane Bridge, 2013

The clean, red brick section of wall nearest the camera carries the Red Bank – Cheetham Hill Line, which formed part of the Monsall Loop avoiding Miles Platting. Beyond Scotland Bridge is a very dirty wall section, illuminated by a street lamp, and beyond that a further clean section of wall.

The underside of the bridge can be seen changing from light to dark to light again. This suggests at least three, possibly four, occasions on which the railway viaduct had been widened, and which would record the following expansions of facilities at Victoria Station:
• 1865: Additional bay platform tracks on the former Walkers Croft Cemetery with viaduct widening Angel Meadow side of River Irk;
• 1879: Construction of Victoria to Bury via Cheetham Hill and Heaton Park Railway and Monsall Loop Line with viaduct widening on Red Bank side of River Irk;
• 1884: Additional platforms on the site of the former Manchester Workhouse with viaduct widening on the Red Bank side of River Irk;
• 1904: Additional bay platforms above the River Irk with viaduct widening on the Angel Meadow side of River Irk.


Viaduct widening on the Red Bank side had necessitated eventual demolition of the Town Mill and Corn Mill and the loss of Mill Hill. On the Angel Meadow side, the two widenings provided additional terminal platforms 1-10 (now mostly demolished to leave platforms 1, 2 and Metrolink) and had resulted in demolition of Gibraltar, Gibraltar Court and some other properties.

The cumulative effect of all the viaduct widenings are shown on Godfrey's 1915 Map. The course of the River Irk below the railway viaduct may be seen as a dashed line on the map.

1915 Map of Gibraltar

Another item of interest shown beside Aspin Lane Bridge is an advance information sign for Millow Street Car Park. Walking through to Angel Meadow side of the railway, Millow Street can be found where Mill Street used to be (refer Godfrey's 1915 Map).

A photograph taken from the corner of Aspin Lane and Millow Street shows a cobbled street with embedded edge markers. Visible in the photograph are four railway arches, with the fourth bisected by a relatively old wall, which I have reason to believe follows the line of the gully seen in the old photograph of Gibraltar.

Gibralatar - Millow Street Car Park, 2013

The dilapidated houses shown in the archive photograph would have been on the other side of the wall.

The railway viaduct looks different because it is different, what can be seen is the newer widened section, as shown in the photograph of the bridge over Aspin Lane.

The photographs and narrative suggest that the ghost of Gibraltar does indeed live on in what is now Millow Street car Park. But, I may yet be proved wrong by others who, like me, had their curiosity aroused and determined to look and research our common history.

John Anthony Hewitt © 2020

Photographs:
Gibraltar Back-to-Back Houses, James Mudd, 1877, m80003, m00003 & m16875, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass 1849 Map of Gibraltar, 1849, Sheet 23 Manchester Victoria, Alan Godfrey Maps, Consett;
1793 Map of Mill Hill (Gibraltar), Laurent's 1793 Map of Manchester, Old House Books, Oxford;
Scotland Montage, 2013, J. A. Hewitt, Personal Collection;
Scotland, T. Brooks, 1966, m16875, Manchester Libraries;
Aspin Lane Bridge, 2013, J. A. Hewitt, Personal Collection;
1915 Map of Gibraltar, 1915, Lancashire Sheet 104.06 Manchester (NW) & Central Salford 1915, Alan Godfrey Maps, Consett;
Millow Street Car Park, 2013, J. A. Hewitt, Personal Collection.

The Evolution of Horses .......today on the wireless with Melvyn Bragg and guests

"Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of horses, from their dog sized ancestors to their proliferation in the New World until hunted to extinction, their domestication in Asia and their development since. 

The genetics of the modern horse are the most studied of any animal, after humans, yet it is still uncertain why they only have one toe on each foot when their wider family had more, or whether speed or stamina has been more important in their evolution.

What is clear, though, is that when humans first chose to ride horses, as well as eat them, the future of both species changed immeasurably.

With, Alan Outram, Christine Janis, and, John Hutchinson

Producer: Simon Tillotson**

Picture; out on the meadows, late 19th century, from the collection of Allan Brown 

*The Evolution of Horses, In Our Time, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fp9y

The Manchester Tennis and Racquets Club ........... the day Andy Robertson wandered into Salford nu 4

Now there might be some who are confused as to why in Blackfriars Street in Salford you could find the Manchester Tennis and Racquets Club.

Well according to Andy Robertson who took the pictures it started life on Miller Street in 1876 but had to move with expansion of the railways.

It relocated o Salford and that as they say is that.

In 1925 a squash court was added and in 1996 English Heritage warded the building Grade II status.

I have never been inside and until Andy sent over the pictures I had no idea that a Manchester tennis and racquet club existed in Salford, which clearly shows my ignorance.

Location; Salford




Pictures; The Manchester Tennis and Racquets Club from the collection of Andy Robertson

“Mysterious Container Found on Doorstep” ...... Chorlton Weaklie News ...... with a backward look at William Billy Curtis

Now, there is a new journal circulating in Chorlton.

It goes under the banner of Chorlton Weaklie News, and each week or thereabouts it carries the sort of stories the traditional media will not tell you about.

So here in no particular order are, “Bodies Found in Southern Cemetery”, “Books Discovered in Chorlton Bookshop” and “Dead Shark Found in Chorlton Diving Club Pool”.

My favourite to date is “Mysterious Container Found on Doorstep”,  which breaks the news that “In the early hours of the morning a man was seen lurking around doorsteps depositing glass containers with a white liquid inside”.

I am told that the public’s response to the news sheet has been very positive, with one chap writing in to complain about a story on the proposed revised route for HS2 through Chorlton and the construction of a new station to be sited in the township.  Pleased as the chap was, he wanted to know why the Government hadn’t considered a station in Wythenshawe which would assist the areas regeneration.

The news project is the work of local artist and author Peter Topping, who saw the potential of a light hearted weekly or therabouts news sheet which would promote the newly revived Chorlton Arts Festival.

And so, each week, a local business sponsors the print run and is featured on the front page of the paper.  In December this was Foster Cycles, which carried the headline, “Santa’s Elves Discovered in Foster’s Cycle Workshop”, complete with a picture of the staff looking Elvish in big green and red hats.

The serious side to the publication is the transmission of news about Chorlton Arts Festival and Chorlton Voice. The Arts Festival, which was revived last year and was an outstanding success.

Leaving me just to touch on the inspiration for Peter’s flight of fancy which was “Billy’s Weekly Liar".

This  was a broadsheet sold in Blackpool from 1922 till the death of its creator, William Curtis in the late 1960s.

Mr. Curtis was the owner of Billy’s Joke Shop in Preston, where Peter grew up.

And rereading Billy’s Weekly Liar still has the power to bring a smile , which was in fact the motto of the paper …… “Smile Dammit Smile”,  and it would be hard not to, with stories, like “Unconscious skeleton found on beach”, “A football scout from a Midland Club is interested in Dan Druff from Ayr” and “Brighton Prom stolen By Ladder Gang”.

Such is the magic of this publication that it has a Facebook group, and one copy of the paper has made it into the National Archive, and it is that edition that I shall leave you with, hoping you too will love the story of “Naval Disaster, 

A terrific storm of rather unusual violence swept over Wigan Pier during the night.  

It is feared that many Battleships that were in dry dock undergoing extensive repairs  and alternations are lost ….The local fishing fleet has also suffered somewhat owing to the pier head failing at a critical time during the worse portion of the storm”.

Or “Amazing Occurrence in Birmingham, Shortly before noon yesterday, the people who were queuing up for the evening performance of the ‘The Three Mustavhoers’ at the Scratchard Empire were dispersed by the appearance of an untamed fierce Gorgonzola”.*

I could go on …… but I won’t, instead I will just commend Peter’s homage to Mr.Curtis and Billy’s Weekly Liar, with news that the next edition of Chorlton’s Weaklie News will hit the streets this weekend or thereabouts.

Location; Chorlton, and the world

Pictures; Chorlton Weaklie News, 2019, 2020, and Billy’s Weekly Liar, D/3902/2, courtesy of Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, www.cheshirearchives.uk/home

*Billy’s Weekly Liar, Vol. 0 No.5

Lost and forgotten streets of Salford ......... nu 27 Regent Road

For no other reason than I like the picture.

Location; Salford

Picture; Regent Road, north side, W Higham,m77223, undated, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Down on Chapel Street not so long ago

It is easy to forget there was a time when there were still plenty of small independent shops selling all manner of electrical goods.

In fact if you were born say before 1980 the chances are that your telly, wireless, fridge and hoover came from places like this one on Chapel Street.

And that is all I am going to say.

Location Salford





Picture; Chapel Street, date unknown, m77304, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

The Ever Open Door, 150 Years of the Together Trust ......the story of one children's charity

The Ever Open Door, 150 Years of the Together Trust, is now available.*

It covers the charity’s on going work with young people and has been issued to coincide with their 150th year.

I first got interested in the charity when I was looking for background information on British Home Children, because like many children’s organizations they migrated young people to Canada.

But unlike others they stopped earlier and migrated fewer than most charities.

They had begun in 1870 with a modest undertaking to take six destitute boys off the streets of Manchester and Salford, give them a  bed for the night and breakfast in the morning.

Within a decade this had expanded to girls as well as boys, a group of permanent homes, and vocational training schemes.

Emma before admision in 1913

Added to this they intervened in the courts on behalf of children in need of protection from neglectful or cruel parents, campaigned for better  monitoring of children who worked on the streets, selling matches and newspapers, as well as calling for legislation to protect them.

The charity provided holidays for those in their charge and even ran a programme of meeting ex- convicts, newly released from Strangeways prison, offering them a meal and advice.

And amongst all these activities they also migrated young people to Canada.

The book draws on the archives of the charity, including reports, photographs, letters, reminiscences, and other memorabilia, and is supplemented by newspaper coverage, and government documents.

Emma after admission, 1913

But above all what comes through are the experiences of the  young people who went through the doors, the dedication of the staff over that 150 years, and the changing approach to the care of those young people.

Pictures; cover of The Ever Open Door 150 Years of the Together Trust, 2010, and Emma before and after admission to the charity in 1913, courtesy of the Together Trust

*The Ever Open Door, 150 Years of the Together Trust, Andrew Simpson, 2020. You can obtain copies of the book from, books@togethertrust.org.uk But given the current circumstances there may be a delay in getting books out in the post to people.

The one you can’t visit …………….. today in Didsbury …… no. 2 CAU

This was the Wellington which has a long history dating back into the early 19th century if not earlier.

Depending on your age, you may well remember this pub as the Wellington or the Cavalcade, while if you grew up in the age of the Teletubbies, and the four Turtles, the site will have a succession of names of which include FUGU, Zizzi and more recently CAU.

Further back in time it was the Grey Horse but like its neighbor directly opposite it will have acceded to the rise of patriotic feeling after the defeat and be named after one of the two great military heroes of the day.

So, while its smaller rival became the Nelson, ours morphed into the Wellington, but it hasn’t always been the large impressive pile it became.

Back in the 19th century it was one of several more humble cottages which were there by 1818 and may stretch back into the 1780s.

Location; Wilmlsow Road

Pictures; CAU, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Wellington in the early 20th century

On passing one of the tallest buildings in Salford

Now I am pleased Peter painted Highland House which is on Victoria Bridge Street for a variety of reasons.

It is after all one of the tallest buildings in Salford, has one of those interesting histories which says much about our recent past and is the hotel that my sisters always stay at  when they come north from London to visit.

It was originally built for the Inland Revenue, finished in 1966 and sold on in 1994. According to one source, it used a revolutionary form of construction which  enabled the lower floors to be occupied as the upper ones were still being built.*

But not all went well and during construction after a particularly windy night some of the windows ended up in Salford Bus Station which may seem an urban myth but the source offers up a reference to the event.

But for me it will always be a place to meet our Jill, Theresa and Elizabeth and their partners.  The staff are always friendly and so I am looking forward to being down there in October when my sisters are back in the city.

They like it because it is pretty easy to get to from Piccadilly Railway Station, is equally close to the metro and offers up lots of opportunities to wander off into Salford and Manchester.

Peter tells me “inspired by Blackpool Tower I have started a tall structures in the UK theme and where better to test it out but Salford. This is one I did in 2013."

So that is about it.  But as they say this is only the start.

Location; Salford

Painting; Highland House, Premier Inn Salford. Painting © 2013  Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*North Tower(Salford), Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Tower_(Salford)

Ghost ponds on the wireless …….with a nod to our history

I am fascinated by the lost ponds, water courses and wells which lie hidden and forgotten across south Manchester.

Chorlton Clough, circa 1900

And ever since I wrote the book on ruralChorlton-cum-Hardy, I look for evidence for these bits of our ancient past.*

Like the vanished village green in Withington and its much shrunken “friends” in Didsbury and Chorlton, water courses are a clue to how we lived.

These ponds wells and water course courses were all there was before the provision of mains water in the 19^th century.

Look at any old map of south Manchester, and the evidence is there in abundance.  The land which was to become Southern Century was a studied with small streams, so much so that when they began work on the cemetery, they struck water just a few feet down across the area.

The Isles; 1854

Much the same is true of Chorlton, where water courses like the Rough Leech Gutter, and Blomely’s Fishpond were once important features.  

The Rough Leech Gutter ran from Sandy Lane across the Township before heading out to Turn Moss, while Blomely’s Fishpond supplied water and building materials for the inhabitants of Chorlton Row which is now Beech Road.

Quiet ponds fed by lazy streams, the Meadows, 2018

And even more striking were the mix of small ponds and meandering  little lazy streams which crisscrossed the land from Oswald Road out towards Longford Park and which were known as the Isles.

All of which leads me to a fascinating programme on Radio 4 today, from On Your Farm, which explores the often neglected farm ponds which “are a vital wildlife habitat in the working countryside but tens of thousands have been lost in the drive for greater efficiency. Anna Hill joins farmer Nick Anema and the team from the Norfolk Ponds Project as they help bring 'ghost ponds' back to life”.**

And it really has the lost, from ghost ponds, to restored ones, with a sideways look at the importance of ponds to wildlife and to our own rural history.

So …. one to listen to, and ponder on what it might tell us about where we live.

Location, everywhere

Pictures; Chorlton Clough, circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection, and detail from the 1854 OS map of Lancashire courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

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

** Pond Life, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000fnjw

Painting Salford .....no 6 revisiting the Cook Street Brewery

Now I am back with the Cook Street Brewery which has featured in the blog from time to time.*

So when Peter sent over his painting of the place it just had to be added to the  series Salford Breweries,** and given that it is another of his paintings of the city, it slid nicely into the project Painting Salford.

Location; Salford,





Painting; Cook Street Brewery, Painting © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk


*Lost Breweries of Salford nu 1 ............ what a lot

**Lost Salford Breweries

When you could skate on Oswald Road .................The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Ice Skating Company

Now I have a problem with this picture.

It was painted by the local artist J.Montgomery.

I say local because almost his entire collection of paintings feature Chorlton or Whalley Range. But that is all we know about him.  Despite attempts to find out more he remains an elusive character.*

And this pretty much extends to his pictures as well.  Most seem to have been painted from postcards and photographs dating to around the first half of the 19th century and many of these are no longer available.

Which brings me to this painting which is dated 1964 but is of The Chorlton Skating Ring in 1906.

And there is the first problem.  The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Ice Skating Company only came into existence sometime between 1910 and 1911.  It does not appear on either the OS map for 1907 or in Harry Kemp’s Chorlton Almanack for 1910 but is listed in the street directory for the following year.

The population of Chorlton had grown rapidly and with it a demand for more and varied leisure opportunities.  That same 1911 Almanack listed 47 different political, cultural and sporting associations and clubs across the old township.

Our skating ring was situated on Oswald Road.

The site takes in the two semidetached houses on Longford and another six running down Oswald.

These houses are of a similar design and  were built sometime after 1945 by the same builder/developer.

Now I can be fairly precise because our skating company had but a short life.  It was wound up in the summer of 1916 which may put the development a little later and by 1933 the site was again open land.

It is not easy to get the scale of the building from Montgomery’s picture but we do seem to be dealing with a big site.  And something of the size  is possible to judge by walking along Oswald Road today.  It was bounded on the south by Hartley Road extended along Longford to its junction with Oswald Road and down Oswald to a point opposite where Oswald Lane starts.

If Montgomery’s painting is anything to go by it was quite impressive with a large painted gable end, stretching back some distance and would have been ideal as a theatre or cinema.  And here is our second mystery, because the title refers to “Chorlton Skating Ring later The Picturedrome.”

This would suggest it became a picture house but the earliest recorded cinema is the Pavilion on the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads which was opened as a variety hall around 1904 and was showing films by 1910 if not a little before.

Of course there was nothing stopping the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Ice Skating Company showing films, after all many of our early picture houses remained theatres.  The Pavilion or as it became known,  the Chorlton Theatre and Winter Gardens were booking variety acts in the summer of 1910 while also showing movies.

I can at present only hazard a guess for its short life.  The Great War may have pushed it over the brink, but there may have been other reasons.  Many especially in the village might have preferred to venture for free onto the meadows when they iced over and there may equally have been stiff competition as a cinema not only from the Pavilion but after 1914 from the purpose built Palais de Luxe on Barlow Moor Road close to the tram terminus.

I might be able to find out a little more by trawling the street directories for the years after 1911, and there may somewhere be the lost photograph that Montgomery used, but I think I will leave it there, well for the time being anyway.

But on a positive note, Paul Corris has helped me take the story of the site after the Ice Rink.  In response to the story he posted, "Hi Andrew, I live on Longford in a house the same style as those on the site of the ice rink and mine was built in 1935".

Leaving me just to thank Paul and reflect once again how the story of Chorlton continues to advance with the help of everyone.

* J Montgomery an earlier post http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/who-was-j-montgomery.html

Pictures; Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council m80132 and detail from the 1907 OS map

Your charity needs you …………….. today in Didsbury …… no. 1 Oxfam

It’s not the most original title, but it will do to start another of a short series on adventures in Didsbury on a cold wet winter day.

Many will mumble that there is nothing here that should grace a historical blog, but that is to miss the point.

And picture quickly become a glimpse of our past, and these are no different.

Added to which there will be lots of people who moved away from Didsbury a long time ago, and are unaware of the dominance of the charity shop on our high streets and in particular this block of shops of which Oxfam inhabits.

Which just leave me to reflect on how some charity shops have gone up market.  No longer are they poky little places, where you have to rummage to find what you might want. Instead  their shops are welcoming and exciting places which are light and bright, and fun.

Location; Wilmlsow Road

Picture; Oxfam, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Longford Hall and our own Chorlton radical

Here is the story of our own radical who lived on the site of what was Longford Hall at the beginning of the 19th century.

 This I have admit is an odd view of Longford Hall which was built in 1857 and demolished in 1995, but I rather like it, and it does convey something of the grandeur of the old building which Pevsner in 1969 described Longford Hall “as the only surviving example of the Italianate style of architecture in the Manchester district.” *

The Hall was built by John and Enriqueta Rylands as a fitting home to a textile manufacturer who in 1888 employed 15,000 people in 17 mills and factories.**
But before that there was an property known as Longford House which had been the home of the Walker family, of which perhaps the most interesting was Thomas Walker, one time pillar of Manchester society but also a radical politician who campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade, supported the French Revolution and was indicted for treason in 1794.

The family lived at Barlow Hall from the late 18th century spending the summer there before moving back for the winter to their town house on South Parade which faces what is now Parsonage Gardens.  And it was there that a mob attacked Walker who was forced to drive them off by discharging a pistol in the December of 1792.

This was at the height of political debate over the issues of press freedom and the French Revolution.
“Emboldened by drink and fired on by agitators, groups hostile to the radicals began to gather around the city.  Walker was in no doubt that this was pre planned.  ‘Parties were collected in different public houses, and from thence paraded in the streets with a fiddler before them, and carrying board on which was painted with CHURCH and KING in large letters’ 

On four separate occasions a mob gathered outside South Parade, broke the windows and attempted to force their way in.  Supported by friends Thomas Walker was forced to fire into the air to disperse the crowds.  The magistrates did nothing to prevent the events and while a “regiment of dragoons was in town, booted and under arms”    and ready to disperse the rioters no order was given.  As if to add insult to injury the main concern of the magistrates when they finally met Walker was that he should not fire at the crowd again if the mob returned!  These attacks had been matched by similar ones on the home of Priestly in Birmingham and in Nottingham.”***

Walker survived both the attacks and was acquitted of treason, after which he retired to the new family home at Longford House where he died in February 1817 and was buried in the parish church on the green.

Pictures; Longford Hall, 1920, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, m67353, and the Walker family gravestone in the parish churchyard from the collection of Andrew Simpson.





* Pevsner N, The Buildings of England South Lancashire,

** for more on the history of the hall and park visit Friends of Longford Park @ http://friendsoflongfordpark.org.uk/
*** The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson, 2012, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

Looking for a paper clip and a hole puncher on Chapel Street

Everyone takes pictures of the old Police Station on Chapel Street, but not our Andy.

Instead he recorded the premises of George Ellis Office Equipment & Stationary which was next door.

Now there will be a story here and I bet the memories will come flooding in from those who as  young office workers were sent out to buy  2 dozen boxes of paper clips, assorted envelopes and some tinted card.

I wasn’t one of them, but those same memories might offer up a date for its closure which predates 2011.

And until then I will leave you with picture, secure in the knowledge that Derek the Developer won’t let this prime site remain empty for another decade.

But not quite, because Jac Marsh posted "Yes. I went for those paper clips. They also had photocopiers from a company I worked for later".

Location; Salford

Picture; Chapel Street, 2018 from  the collection of Andy Robertson

Outside the Old Cock in Didsbury sometime round 1907

Now I have fond memories of the Old Cock in Didsbury.

It was where I spent many happy lunchtimes while I was at the college across the road.

And in a conversation with my old friend Pierre who taught at the college till its move to Birley it was still a place where staff and students  retired after a morning’s graft on the theory of education and its practical application.

That said on any day of the week or evening there will be plenty of Didsbury residents who have made the choice of this pub over its neighbour across the green.

Both The Old Cock and the Didsbury have long histories stretching back centuries and I rather think our picture post card has caught something of that past.

The card was sent in 1907 but the picture will be older.

Now I could go on but I will just leave you to roam over the image and work out what has changed over the century and a bit.

But in the meantime here is the Old Cock today from a painting by Peter Topping.

And for those who like outrageous self promotion I would just add that the pub and Peter's painting  feature in the new book on the history of Didsbury, simply called Didsbury Through Time.

The book  aims to chronicle the changes over the last century mixing old images of the place with new photographs and paintings and focuses on some of the people who lived behind the doors of the buildings featured in the book.

The old photographs were sourced by Peter Topping who also took the new ones and has contributed some fine paintings of Didsbury today which just left me to write the stories.

Didsbury Through Time is  available in Didsbury from Morten’s Bookshop on Warburton Street, Didsbury, and of course from all other bookshops.  

Picture;  The Old Cock,circa 1907, and the painting of The Old Cock © 2013 Peter Topping,facebook: Paintings from Pictures, web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk