Walton Cottage or what passes to be Walton Cottage is the one you can see from the bus, half hidden behind the trees and bushes.
Like Andy Robertson I have seen it over the years and wondered what its story was, but unlike Andy I never bothered to take any pictures.
Not so Mr. Robertson who sent a batch of them over, adding “I noticed this building looking forlorn so I thought I'd better clock it.
In 1961 and 1969 it was occupied by the British Red Cross.
In the early seventies it was bought with money donated by Vanessa Redgrave and became The Nello James Centre. The trustees are the Walton Cottage Education Trust”.
What puzzled both of us is that the “Notice the stone ‘Walton Cottage 130’, but 130 is now part of a row of shops so I am wondering if 130 was demolished and the stone moved near to 136, or perhaps 136 was renumbered from 130?”
Now after an extensive trawl of the directories maps and census returns, it appears that Walton Cottage was in 1911 listed as 130 Withington Road, and it was occupied by George Henry Wood.
He had married Emma Ann Richardson in September 1890 and after a spell living in Manley Road they were in residence at Walton Cottage by 1901.
And there they stayed until sometime in 1911, because while they appear on the directory issued at the start of the year they had moved by the April and had moved to Youlgreave near Bakewell.
Leaving a gap in the timeline until September 1914 when Walton Cottage had become a Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital.
There are references to it in the media, and it could accommodate fifteen patients, but by 1916 it had been closed and removed to larger premises at Sunnyside, College Road.*
All of which brings me to Mr. Percy Henry Marriott who is listed on the Red Cross records at Walton Cottage. He was engaged as “Commandant. Assistant County Director”, and his duties were “Commanding Detachment Treasurer & Assistant Country Director”. **
At present I can’t access the directories for the period between 1911 and 1914, but it maybe that he moved into the property after Mr. and Mrs. Wood had left for Bakewell.
And as so often happened at the outbreak of the Great War he appears to have handed over the house to the Red Cross.
The first reference to Walton Cottage and the Red Cross comes in the Manchester Guardian on August 22nd, 1914, which reported that Mrs. Marriott was a member of the District Committee of the organization.
And this was just a few weeks after Mr. Marriot had been engaged by the Red Cross as a Commandant.
There is very little more in the historical record about Mr. Marriot. I know that by 1911 be had retired, that he had been a “manufacturer of cotton goods” with an office at 16 Princess Street, and a factory in Stockport, and is listed as “Khaki, Manchester”. He died in 1938 in Colwyn Bay leaving £2,934.
There will be more, but just not yet.
And that is pretty much all there is on Walton Cottage as a Red Cross property. Andy found a series of pictures from the Manchester Local History Collection from 1961, and the building looks similar to his photographs.
The Manchester & Salford directory still lists it as belonging to the Red Cross eight years later, but by 1971 it has become the Nello James Centre, offering “free evening studies teaching basic English, modern dress and fashions, motor mechanics and political Studies”. And there were plans open a child nursery and adventure playground in 1972 …… and it was hoped to make the centre, which at present relies on donations financially self-supporting by opening a second had furniture shop and a Sunday morning food market and artists’ market.”***
Within a year it had expanded its role as a community education centre, describing itself as “free university” and had seen “600 people attend the free legal advice centre on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, when half a dozen local solicitors give up their time to explain everything from the Rent Act to the rights and wrongs of maintenance orders.”****
It was named after C.L.R. James the “revolutionary Socialist [who] is a West Indian who was involved in the Labour Movement in the US in the twenties and was a Guardian cricket and correspondent and West Indian political activist in the thirties … and now teaches in Washington DC and is helping organise the next Pan-African Congress in Tanzania”.****
The origins of the centre were in a “protest against police brutality …. [in 1967] and like Topsy it just grew”.
But the centre is now closed, and according various reports the building is in a series state of disrepair.
I haven’t yet discovered when it closed.
There is a Facebook page, a you tube clip, and a short film made in 1980 along with references to it on various blogs, and a petition to stop the building from being sold by the trust who administered the building, and that is.
The Manchester Evening News ran a story in 2015 on the continued efforts to stop the sale, but as Andy’s pictures show, it remains empty, and forlorn. *****
Leaving just the puzzle over the building and its origins. It shows up on the 1893 OS, but appears to be two properties, which by 1933 have become one, and eighteen years later have been joined by a series of small buildings in the grounds, which have now gone.
Location; Whalley Range
Pictures; The Nello James Centre and stonework, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson, the building as a Red Cross property, 1961, listed as no. 136, m40928
& m40929, Landers, A E, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Walton Cottage marked in red from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1893 & the OS map of Manchester & Salford, 1951
*East Lancashire Red Cross Branch, 1916
**British Red Cross First World War Volunteers, https://vad.redcross.org.uk/
***Free studies centre, Manchester Guardian October 23, 1971
****Nello Come in , Martin Walker on a Moss Side community centre, the Guardian, Jul 1, 1972
***** Campaign launched to save Nello James community centre in Whalley Range, Helen Johnson, March 11, 2015, Manchester Evening News, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/campaign-launched-save-nello-james-8818838
And one to read ; The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, C.L.R.James, 1938
 |
| Walton Cottage, 2020 |
Not so Mr. Robertson who sent a batch of them over, adding “I noticed this building looking forlorn so I thought I'd better clock it.
In 1961 and 1969 it was occupied by the British Red Cross.
In the early seventies it was bought with money donated by Vanessa Redgrave and became The Nello James Centre. The trustees are the Walton Cottage Education Trust”.
 |
| Walton Cottage, 130, 2020 |
Now after an extensive trawl of the directories maps and census returns, it appears that Walton Cottage was in 1911 listed as 130 Withington Road, and it was occupied by George Henry Wood.
He had married Emma Ann Richardson in September 1890 and after a spell living in Manley Road they were in residence at Walton Cottage by 1901.
And there they stayed until sometime in 1911, because while they appear on the directory issued at the start of the year they had moved by the April and had moved to Youlgreave near Bakewell.
 |
| Walton Cottage Red Cross Auxiliary Hopsital, 1914 |
There are references to it in the media, and it could accommodate fifteen patients, but by 1916 it had been closed and removed to larger premises at Sunnyside, College Road.*
All of which brings me to Mr. Percy Henry Marriott who is listed on the Red Cross records at Walton Cottage. He was engaged as “Commandant. Assistant County Director”, and his duties were “Commanding Detachment Treasurer & Assistant Country Director”. **
At present I can’t access the directories for the period between 1911 and 1914, but it maybe that he moved into the property after Mr. and Mrs. Wood had left for Bakewell.
 |
| Walton Cottage, 1961 |
The first reference to Walton Cottage and the Red Cross comes in the Manchester Guardian on August 22nd, 1914, which reported that Mrs. Marriott was a member of the District Committee of the organization.
And this was just a few weeks after Mr. Marriot had been engaged by the Red Cross as a Commandant.
There is very little more in the historical record about Mr. Marriot. I know that by 1911 be had retired, that he had been a “manufacturer of cotton goods” with an office at 16 Princess Street, and a factory in Stockport, and is listed as “Khaki, Manchester”. He died in 1938 in Colwyn Bay leaving £2,934.
There will be more, but just not yet.
 |
| The cottage in 1961 |
The Manchester & Salford directory still lists it as belonging to the Red Cross eight years later, but by 1971 it has become the Nello James Centre, offering “free evening studies teaching basic English, modern dress and fashions, motor mechanics and political Studies”. And there were plans open a child nursery and adventure playground in 1972 …… and it was hoped to make the centre, which at present relies on donations financially self-supporting by opening a second had furniture shop and a Sunday morning food market and artists’ market.”***
Within a year it had expanded its role as a community education centre, describing itself as “free university” and had seen “600 people attend the free legal advice centre on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, when half a dozen local solicitors give up their time to explain everything from the Rent Act to the rights and wrongs of maintenance orders.”****
It was named after C.L.R. James the “revolutionary Socialist [who] is a West Indian who was involved in the Labour Movement in the US in the twenties and was a Guardian cricket and correspondent and West Indian political activist in the thirties … and now teaches in Washington DC and is helping organise the next Pan-African Congress in Tanzania”.****
The origins of the centre were in a “protest against police brutality …. [in 1967] and like Topsy it just grew”.
 |
| Walton Cottage, 1893 |
I haven’t yet discovered when it closed.
There is a Facebook page, a you tube clip, and a short film made in 1980 along with references to it on various blogs, and a petition to stop the building from being sold by the trust who administered the building, and that is.
The Manchester Evening News ran a story in 2015 on the continued efforts to stop the sale, but as Andy’s pictures show, it remains empty, and forlorn. *****
Leaving just the puzzle over the building and its origins. It shows up on the 1893 OS, but appears to be two properties, which by 1933 have become one, and eighteen years later have been joined by a series of small buildings in the grounds, which have now gone.
Location; Whalley Range
& m40929, Landers, A E, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Walton Cottage marked in red from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1893 & the OS map of Manchester & Salford, 1951
 |
| Walton Cotttage, 1951 |
**British Red Cross First World War Volunteers, https://vad.redcross.org.uk/
***Free studies centre, Manchester Guardian October 23, 1971
****Nello Come in , Martin Walker on a Moss Side community centre, the Guardian, Jul 1, 1972
***** Campaign launched to save Nello James community centre in Whalley Range, Helen Johnson, March 11, 2015, Manchester Evening News, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/campaign-launched-save-nello-james-8818838
And one to read ; The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, C.L.R.James, 1938
Thank you. This has been helpful and cheering
ReplyDeleteWho owns the property now ?
ReplyDeleteDon't know
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