Yesterday I was on Burton Road with a series of pictures taken by Barbarella of the former church and its war memorial.*
Over the years I have written about both.**
But until yesterday I always assumed that the memorial had been erected by the church, but according to one source, it had been relocated from St Mary’s to what was St Luke’s Mission Hall”.***
Now I quite naturally concluded that St Mary’s was another church, but a search of the directories drew a blank.
So while there were a few churches of that name none were listed in the Directory for Didsbury, and given that most of the young men came from our township, it threw up a mystery.
But mystery’s are to be solved, and St Mary’s turned out to be a school on what was once Chapel Street, and is now Whitechapel Street, behind Barlow Moor Road and Wilmslow Road, with its church on Queens Road.
The school appears on the 1893 OS map and in 1911 it was listed as “261 mixed and infants; average attendance 122, Charles Ayres, master”.
And that rather at present seems to be that.
There is no reference to the school in the records kept by the Archive and Local History Library and so far I have turned up just the one image of the former school taken in 1973, by which time it had been converted into industrial use.
Sadly the building has now gone, replaced by a set of apartments.
I shall go on looking for its story, but for now I will close with Charles Cyril Futvoye of Clyde Road, who is on the memorial and will have gone to the school.
He enlisted in 1916 aged 22, giving his occupation as “Motor salesmen” and he was assigned to the Army Service Corps.
His bother George had also enlisted just two years earlier and was one of the Manchester Pals, belonging to the 20th City Battalion of the Manchester’s.
Both had been to University and had served in the Officer’s Training Corps.
George survived the war, but Charles did not.
And I wonder if George was present when the memorial was moved from St Mary's to St Luke's.
Which is a way of saying I got the connection with the school wrong, and for that I have to thank Maureen Stephenson who responded to the original story with, "The following information is from Pam Siddon's booklet West Didsbury - A Walk on the West Side. Hopefully, it will solve the St. Mary's mystery.
On the opposite side of the St. Aidan;s United Reform Church, on Palatine Road was a St. Mary's Church, St. Mary's was demolished in 1929.
St. Mary's had been built in when the parishioners of St Luke's on Burton Road became very resentful at having to attend services there. The road was badly lit, the pavements dirty and hardly anyone lived nearby.
In 1888 they held a meeting and agreed to build a temporary church on Palatine Road.
St. Mary's was a wooden structure of pitched pine with a corrugated iron roof which was always known as 'The Iron Church'. The organist and choirmaster, Samuel Lamford, was the music critic of 'The Manchester Guardian'. (Andrew, the church may have been on the site of the present day Queens Court flats?)"
I can't explain its but it appears on the 1893 OS map and is still there on the 1933 OS, but has gone by 1956, when the present flats are recorded on the site.
All of which just leaves me to thank Maureen and appeal for pictures of the church
Pictures; the war memorial Burton Road, 2017, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, , Burton Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento, the former St Mary’s school, 1973, J F Hughes, m21570, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
and the 20th Platoon of E company, 20th City Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour, 1916
*Feeding centres, a war memorial and the British Mountaineering Council ….. doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 11, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/05/feeding-centres-war-memorial-and.html
**Stories from a Didsbury war monument, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/stories-from-didsbury-war-monument.html
***War Memorials, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warmemorials/st-mary-s-church-school-t5140.html
 |
| The war memorial, 2017 |
But until yesterday I always assumed that the memorial had been erected by the church, but according to one source, it had been relocated from St Mary’s to what was St Luke’s Mission Hall”.***
Now I quite naturally concluded that St Mary’s was another church, but a search of the directories drew a blank.
So while there were a few churches of that name none were listed in the Directory for Didsbury, and given that most of the young men came from our township, it threw up a mystery.
But mystery’s are to be solved, and St Mary’s turned out to be a school on what was once Chapel Street, and is now Whitechapel Street, behind Barlow Moor Road and Wilmslow Road, with its church on Queens Road.
 |
| The former Church Northern Grove, 2020 |
And that rather at present seems to be that.
There is no reference to the school in the records kept by the Archive and Local History Library and so far I have turned up just the one image of the former school taken in 1973, by which time it had been converted into industrial use.
Sadly the building has now gone, replaced by a set of apartments.
 |
| The former school, Whitechapel Street, 1973 |
He enlisted in 1916 aged 22, giving his occupation as “Motor salesmen” and he was assigned to the Army Service Corps.
His bother George had also enlisted just two years earlier and was one of the Manchester Pals, belonging to the 20th City Battalion of the Manchester’s.
Both had been to University and had served in the Officer’s Training Corps.
And I wonder if George was present when the memorial was moved from St Mary's to St Luke's.
Which is a way of saying I got the connection with the school wrong, and for that I have to thank Maureen Stephenson who responded to the original story with, "The following information is from Pam Siddon's booklet West Didsbury - A Walk on the West Side. Hopefully, it will solve the St. Mary's mystery.
 |
| Queen's Court, site of St Mary's Church, 1956 |
St. Mary's had been built in when the parishioners of St Luke's on Burton Road became very resentful at having to attend services there. The road was badly lit, the pavements dirty and hardly anyone lived nearby.
In 1888 they held a meeting and agreed to build a temporary church on Palatine Road.
St. Mary's was a wooden structure of pitched pine with a corrugated iron roof which was always known as 'The Iron Church'. The organist and choirmaster, Samuel Lamford, was the music critic of 'The Manchester Guardian'. (Andrew, the church may have been on the site of the present day Queens Court flats?)"
I can't explain its but it appears on the 1893 OS map and is still there on the 1933 OS, but has gone by 1956, when the present flats are recorded on the site.
All of which just leaves me to thank Maureen and appeal for pictures of the church
 |
| 20th Platoon of E Company, 20th City Battalion of the Manchester's 1916 |
and the 20th Platoon of E company, 20th City Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, Manchester City Battalions Book of Honour, 1916
*Feeding centres, a war memorial and the British Mountaineering Council ….. doing the essential walk and making it historic .... no. 11, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/05/feeding-centres-war-memorial-and.html
**Stories from a Didsbury war monument, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/stories-from-didsbury-war-monument.html
***War Memorials, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warmemorials/st-mary-s-church-school-t5140.html
I have a photo of St Mary's Church - happy to share
ReplyDeleteJust came across your page, and also this doc from the manchester geographic society, see points 10 and 12 for reference to St Mary's church
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mangeogsoc.org.uk/egm/1_10_Didsbury.pdf
Thank you always impressed by the work of this group.
Delete