Of course, it’s a daft title, because cottages are inanimate, and so can not want to stay hidden.
But there is a very real sense that Whalley Cottage which stood at the junction of Upper Chorlton Road and what is now Egerton Road North has managed to hide its tracks.
I say that because while I have pictures of the property in 1960, know who lived there at the turn of the last century and can find it on maps going back to 1854, anything more has proved impossible to discover.
That said, as soon as the story goes live, someone will prove me wrong, offer chapter and verse, which is all to the good.
Today the site is occupied by a block of flats, of which I know very little other than that there does exist one picture dating from 1972 .
And here is the confession I have never given the block much thought and never really pondered on what it replaced.
As to what prompted my interest, that is down to a series of photographs which show Whalley Cottage, in 1960even then I suppose I would have just clocked it as another of our lost houses and moved on.
But it was the name that drew me in, because I have often come across the cottage on old maps, and assumed it was just a small rural cottage, but now, the pictures from 1960 and its footprint on both the 1894 OS and 1952 map show a substantial building roughly in the shape of the letter E, with a tower in the centre, and a greenhouse on the west wing, along with outhouses to the east.
It was significant enough a property to be named on the 1854 OS, but its footprint appears more modest than the building which later occupied the plot.
I cant date when this earlier cottage was built, but I think it must date from when Samuel Brooks cut his road from West Point up to Brook’s Bar in 1838, although there is a possible candidate in place by 1830.
All of which is fine, and with a bit of time I should be able to track it back in the Rate books from 1898 when it was occupied by a Mrs. Ann Gregory and owned by a Mr. John Gregory.
The Gregory family appear still to be there in 1911, but so far a search of the census records has not located the family, and in 1939, the property is unoccupied with a note that the resident was “registered in the Sheffield area”.
So, for now I suppose it will be a matter of of sifting through the directories back from 1969, locating the names of who lived in the cottage and looking for a match in the census record, along with trawling the newspapers.
But then, someone might offer up the answer.
Location; Upper Chorlton Road,
Pictures; Whalley Cottage in 1960, m40752, looking from West Point, and again in 1960, m40753, m40754, A H Downes, and the block of flats, known as Milton Court, 1972, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
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| Whalley Cottage, 1960 |
I say that because while I have pictures of the property in 1960, know who lived there at the turn of the last century and can find it on maps going back to 1854, anything more has proved impossible to discover.
That said, as soon as the story goes live, someone will prove me wrong, offer chapter and verse, which is all to the good.
 |
| Milton Court, 1972 |
And here is the confession I have never given the block much thought and never really pondered on what it replaced.
As to what prompted my interest, that is down to a series of photographs which show Whalley Cottage, in 1960even then I suppose I would have just clocked it as another of our lost houses and moved on.
 |
| Whalley Cottage, 1960 |
It was significant enough a property to be named on the 1854 OS, but its footprint appears more modest than the building which later occupied the plot.
I cant date when this earlier cottage was built, but I think it must date from when Samuel Brooks cut his road from West Point up to Brook’s Bar in 1838, although there is a possible candidate in place by 1830.
 |
| Whalley Cottage, 1960 |
The Gregory family appear still to be there in 1911, but so far a search of the census records has not located the family, and in 1939, the property is unoccupied with a note that the resident was “registered in the Sheffield area”.
So, for now I suppose it will be a matter of of sifting through the directories back from 1969, locating the names of who lived in the cottage and looking for a match in the census record, along with trawling the newspapers.
But then, someone might offer up the answer.
Location; Upper Chorlton Road,
Pictures; Whalley Cottage in 1960, m40752, looking from West Point, and again in 1960, m40753, m40754, A H Downes, and the block of flats, known as Milton Court, 1972, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
I lived in Whalley Range and seem to remember Janice Rutter in my class at Manley Park Juniors lived in that house . That would be mid 50s
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