Anyone who has passed the entrance to the Shirley Institute on Wilmlsow Road, will have clocked the picturesque Lodge.
It was the first thing most visitors would have seen before passing up the long drive to the Shirley Institute which was once the very impressive home of John Edward Taylor, the editor and proprietor of the Manchester Guardian.
Back then it was simply called The Towers, and its magnificence and contribution to the history of Manchester and Salford have been extensively written about.
Suffice to say that according to one account , “it was referred to by locals as the Calendar House since they believed it to have 12 towers, 52 rooms and 365 windows” which the author views with some sceptism.
But it was also the location for that important meeting which floated the idea of the Manchester Ship Canal.
All well and good but what is lacking from the histories, is any reference to the people who made the Towers work ….. who cleaned the rooms, washed the bedding, and cooked and maintained the extensive gardens.
And that brings me back to Barbarella’s picture of the Lodge, because in 1911, this was the home of Ernest and Ada Fildes. He was employed as a “Gardener (Domestic)”, and they had been married for thirteen years.
A decade earlier and they were living in one of the two cottages in the grounds of Burnage Hall, and Ernest working as the gardener which was an occupation he shared with his father.
In time I will go looking at the other servants of the Towers, but for now I shall close with the tenants of that other lodge belonging to the Towers.
It is listed as “The Lodge Kingston Road”, and was still there back in 2019, although it is easy to miss it, given that it is hidden by a large fence, obscured for most of the year behind foilage and has been empty for years.
But in 1911, it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Butterworth and their two sons. Robert James Butterworth was employed as a “Coachman (Domestic)” and came from Urmston.
His wife, Julia was born in Staffordshire and the couple had been married for fifteen years.
They appear to have moved around a bit, because one of their sons was born in Urmston, another
in Heaton Mersey, and in 1901 he was employed as a groom and living in Handforth.
And that just leaves me pondering on how the Butterworth’s with their two children lived in Lodge with just four rooms, while Mr. & Mrs. Fildes occupied the grander lodge on Wilmlsow Road which contained five rooms.
It might have been down to what was available when the two couples began their employ, or perhaps there was a pecking order which put a gardener above a coachman.
Someone will know.
And that sees a good point to close.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Along Wilmslow Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento,
*Guide to the Towers, Paul F Hamlyn, http://fungus.org.uk/cv/towers.htm
 |
| The Lodge, 2020 |
It was the first thing most visitors would have seen before passing up the long drive to the Shirley Institute which was once the very impressive home of John Edward Taylor, the editor and proprietor of the Manchester Guardian.
 |
| The Towers, 2020 |
Suffice to say that according to one account , “it was referred to by locals as the Calendar House since they believed it to have 12 towers, 52 rooms and 365 windows” which the author views with some sceptism.
But it was also the location for that important meeting which floated the idea of the Manchester Ship Canal.
All well and good but what is lacking from the histories, is any reference to the people who made the Towers work ….. who cleaned the rooms, washed the bedding, and cooked and maintained the extensive gardens.
And that brings me back to Barbarella’s picture of the Lodge, because in 1911, this was the home of Ernest and Ada Fildes. He was employed as a “Gardener (Domestic)”, and they had been married for thirteen years.
It is listed as “The Lodge Kingston Road”, and was still there back in 2019, although it is easy to miss it, given that it is hidden by a large fence, obscured for most of the year behind foilage and has been empty for years.
But in 1911, it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Butterworth and their two sons. Robert James Butterworth was employed as a “Coachman (Domestic)” and came from Urmston.
His wife, Julia was born in Staffordshire and the couple had been married for fifteen years.
They appear to have moved around a bit, because one of their sons was born in Urmston, another
in Heaton Mersey, and in 1901 he was employed as a groom and living in Handforth.
 |
| The home of Mr. & Mrs. Fildes, 2020 |
It might have been down to what was available when the two couples began their employ, or perhaps there was a pecking order which put a gardener above a coachman.
Someone will know.
And that sees a good point to close.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Along Wilmslow Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento,
*Guide to the Towers, Paul F Hamlyn, http://fungus.org.uk/cv/towers.htm
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