Now it isn’t often that you get the chance to walk the fields of south Manchester in 1768 but that pretty much is what I have been doing today.
Over the years I have collected maps of the area going back to the sixteenth century but of course the further back you go the less detail is offered up by the map makers.
So this map of the land around Hough End Hall is a rare treat because here recorded in 1768 are the names of the fields, some of the owners and some of the buildings close by the hall.
And what is remarkable is that a full 78 years after our map was made virtually all the fields marked still had the same names.
Now this I know because the tithe maps of Withington for 1848 have survived and along with the schedule tell us the size of each field, its use and value along with who was farming it and who owned it.
The 1768 map is less detailed but does offer up those all important field names and their size with some of the landowners.
But there is or at least there was a problem when I began to compare this 18th century map with the later tithe map for while most of the field names were all there they appeared out of kilter and for one brief moment I toyed with the idea that our earlier map maker had reversed the map, so what should have been north of the hall was recorded as south.
This I dismissed and moved on to other things.
But Peter Topping who also had the map persevered and using modern street maps and a lot of patience concluded that our map was upside down but as he said “whoever decreed that a map should feature north at the top?”
And with that out of the way this is truly a find which was included in the story of Hough End Hall.
To my knowledge this is the earliest detailed map of this bit of Withington and Chorlton and given its date may well have been commissioned around the time the Egerton family bought the hall and estate.
As such it will be the earliest representation of the hall in any real detail and shows that the “walled orchard” along with the “old orchard” were there by the mid 18th century and raises a fascinating line of enquiry into that Bowling Green and the small water course that fed off from Chorlton Brook presumably to supply the house along with whatever wells may have been dug.
It may also have fed the huge pond opposite Sandy Lane which can be seen in many of the photographs from that early 20th century.
I rather think that our map will offer up much more about that area in 1768 but as you would expect me to say that will all be in the book.
Pictures; detail from the 1768 map, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives GB127.M24., http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and cover from Hough End Hall the Story, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping
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| Hough End Hall in 1768 |
So this map of the land around Hough End Hall is a rare treat because here recorded in 1768 are the names of the fields, some of the owners and some of the buildings close by the hall.
And what is remarkable is that a full 78 years after our map was made virtually all the fields marked still had the same names.
Now this I know because the tithe maps of Withington for 1848 have survived and along with the schedule tell us the size of each field, its use and value along with who was farming it and who owned it.
The 1768 map is less detailed but does offer up those all important field names and their size with some of the landowners.
But there is or at least there was a problem when I began to compare this 18th century map with the later tithe map for while most of the field names were all there they appeared out of kilter and for one brief moment I toyed with the idea that our earlier map maker had reversed the map, so what should have been north of the hall was recorded as south.
This I dismissed and moved on to other things.
 |
| The Story of Hough End Hall 1596-2015 |
And with that out of the way this is truly a find which was included in the story of Hough End Hall.
To my knowledge this is the earliest detailed map of this bit of Withington and Chorlton and given its date may well have been commissioned around the time the Egerton family bought the hall and estate.
As such it will be the earliest representation of the hall in any real detail and shows that the “walled orchard” along with the “old orchard” were there by the mid 18th century and raises a fascinating line of enquiry into that Bowling Green and the small water course that fed off from Chorlton Brook presumably to supply the house along with whatever wells may have been dug.
It may also have fed the huge pond opposite Sandy Lane which can be seen in many of the photographs from that early 20th century.
I rather think that our map will offer up much more about that area in 1768 but as you would expect me to say that will all be in the book.
Pictures; detail from the 1768 map, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives GB127.M24., http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and cover from Hough End Hall the Story, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping
Fascinating.
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