Now I have to confess that Stenner Lane was a late discovery.
But then I don’t live in Didsbury, and until quite recently my interest in this part of the old township centered on the two pubs.
It is an embarrassing admission made worse by the fact that for a year I was almost just across the road at Didsbury Teacher’s Training College.
That said we were living in east Manchester, which became Aston-Under-Lyne, and when I did finally return to south Manchester it was too Chorlton, and there I rest my defence.
Had I cultivated Didsbury much earlier I would have discovered and enjoyed Stenner Lane, which starts by the old village green, passed the parish church and runs on until it is just a footpath out beside the river and what was once the Northenden Ford but is now Simon’s Bridge.
It could well be one of my half an hour walks, if it were not that to get there from Chorlton would have used up almost a week’s exercise walks.
So, I was pleased that Barbarella sent one a series of pictures of the said Stenner Lane, and in particular that building just a little way down from the church.
And because Stenner Lane remains unfamiliar to me I had to ask where it was.
Once I knew where it was located I pondered on its origins. It is there by 1893, but is missing from the OS map of 1854.
I am guessing it had an agricultural use, when the land to the south of the building was still fields, leaving me to go off and trawl those rate books again for any reference to it.
Of course, someone might know, and offer up an explanation.
We shall see.
Location; Didsbury
Picture; that building on Stenner Lane, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
But then I don’t live in Didsbury, and until quite recently my interest in this part of the old township centered on the two pubs.
It is an embarrassing admission made worse by the fact that for a year I was almost just across the road at Didsbury Teacher’s Training College.
That said we were living in east Manchester, which became Aston-Under-Lyne, and when I did finally return to south Manchester it was too Chorlton, and there I rest my defence.
It could well be one of my half an hour walks, if it were not that to get there from Chorlton would have used up almost a week’s exercise walks.
So, I was pleased that Barbarella sent one a series of pictures of the said Stenner Lane, and in particular that building just a little way down from the church.
And because Stenner Lane remains unfamiliar to me I had to ask where it was.
Once I knew where it was located I pondered on its origins. It is there by 1893, but is missing from the OS map of 1854.
I am guessing it had an agricultural use, when the land to the south of the building was still fields, leaving me to go off and trawl those rate books again for any reference to it.
Of course, someone might know, and offer up an explanation.
We shall see.
Location; Didsbury
Picture; that building on Stenner Lane, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
I remember being told that the small spring just between the church and that building had been known for its healing powers (during Spanish Flu perhaps or polio outbreak). The story caught my imagination as the trickle that remained seemed to run under the graveyard! AS a child hurtling down that hill on our bikes repeatedly, I never stopped to try! 0
ReplyDeleteThe small spring in-between the church and that building I was told, had once been famous for its healing powers (during Spanish flu/polio outbreak) The story caught my imagination when hurtling down that hill on bikes as a 10 year lod as the source seemed to run under the graveyard first! We never partook!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruhilde ... there is a water course close by.
ReplyDeleteThere is an interesting house nearby on Kingston road on the right near the bottom when you go from Wilmslow road end, it appeared on a channel 4 George Clarke prog a couple of months ago
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