Pictures from a backroom, on a moment of self-isolation ..... the one with a view of 1851

This  picture was contributed by Barbarella who added “this is a boutique hotel opposite my house, which is now obviously closed. Looks like it must have been a really nice house of a wealthy family”.

2020

And that was enough to set me off on a trawl of its history, which ended in 1851 when it was owned by James Watt and may well have built it.

The journey had begun with Mr. John Boyd in 1911 who lived in this 14 roomed property.

1854

He was a "cotton  yarn manager" who had lived in the house from 1891 when he rented it from a Mrs. Amelia Beckton, and she in turn was the name that led me back through the Rate Books to the first half of the 19^th century.

For anyone wanting to trace the history of a building, the Rate Books are an invaluable source of information, offering up an annual record of who owned the property, the names of the residents and the estimated rent the house commanded, as well as its rateable value.

And each name allows you to spin off down a different historical path, which by degree took me to Mrs. Amelia Beckton, and a host of other people.

But Mrs. Amelia Beckton was by far the most interesting and it will be of her I write about tomorrow.

Leaving just the slight mystery that our house does not appear on the 1854 map of Didsbury, which is a tad inconvenient for the time line, and will need investigating, but as we all know history is messy.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; the one with a view of 1851, from the collection of Barabarella Bonvento, 2020, and extract from the OS map of Lancashire, 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/