Following on from the recent blog on William Roberts, a brewer from Hulme, I had the honour of being asked to write the follow up blog based on some research I had been doing recently on the road.
I live on Manor Drive in Chorlton.
Andrew had already unearthed a lot of information on William, but some further research was needed to determine where he lived in Didsbury and which church he offered to build.
The entrance to Manor Drive is just behind St Ambrose Church on Princess Parkway.
Before boundary and post code changes, it was previously in West Didsbury but now firmly resides in M21.
The origins of Manor Drive (original name Broxton Road) were a row of 4 farm cottages on what was called Oaks Farm.
Oaks Farm consisted of a few fields, some farm buildings and a large farmhouse on the corner of Darley Avenue and Christ Church Avenue.
As you can see on the map from 1888, Christ Church can be seen across the road from Oaks Farmhouse.
Further research on the christchurchdidsbury.org.uk website led me to some more information about our William Roberts. It reads “The Church was a gift to the community from Mr. William Roberts of Darleydale, Derbyshire”.
It also goes onto say “In the 1870s he employed 62 men and lived at Oaks Farm which occupied the site which is now St. Ambrose’s Church”.
The Oaks farmhouse was still around 1933, as can be seen in this aerial view of Princess Parkway.
Aerial Views, 1933
Oaks Farmhouse and Christ Church, 1933
Quite clearly from the zoomed up version of the aerial view, we can see Oaks Farmhouse overlooking Christ Church. This fact is further confirmed on christchurchdidsbury.org.uk “At this point Mr. Roberts offered to build a church and rectory at his own expense and insisted on the present site, the corner of Darley Avenue and Princess Road (rumour has it that he wanted to see the church from his home!).
In 1881 he was still living on the Chorlton/Didsbury boarder and would have watched the building of the Church and Rectory.”
So, it seems like our Brewer, William Roberts in fact lived in West Didsbury and built Christ Church.
I’ve found further connections between Manor Drive and Oaks farm to other drinks manufacturers’ from Manchester….but we’ll leave that information for the next blog 😉
Chris O’Connor © 2020
Location: West Didsbury and Chorlton.
Pictures: Oaks Farm, Christ Church Avenue, Darley Avenue, 1888, from OS Six Inch map, courtesy of National Library of Scotland, Aerial views, 1933 N. S Roberts m67695, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
 |
| Oaks Farm, Christ Church Avenue, Darley Avenue, 1888 |
Andrew had already unearthed a lot of information on William, but some further research was needed to determine where he lived in Didsbury and which church he offered to build.
The entrance to Manor Drive is just behind St Ambrose Church on Princess Parkway.
Before boundary and post code changes, it was previously in West Didsbury but now firmly resides in M21.
The origins of Manor Drive (original name Broxton Road) were a row of 4 farm cottages on what was called Oaks Farm.
Oaks Farm consisted of a few fields, some farm buildings and a large farmhouse on the corner of Darley Avenue and Christ Church Avenue.
As you can see on the map from 1888, Christ Church can be seen across the road from Oaks Farmhouse.
Further research on the christchurchdidsbury.org.uk website led me to some more information about our William Roberts. It reads “The Church was a gift to the community from Mr. William Roberts of Darleydale, Derbyshire”.
It also goes onto say “In the 1870s he employed 62 men and lived at Oaks Farm which occupied the site which is now St. Ambrose’s Church”.
 |
| Aerial View, 1933 |
Aerial Views, 1933
Oaks Farmhouse and Christ Church, 1933
Quite clearly from the zoomed up version of the aerial view, we can see Oaks Farmhouse overlooking Christ Church. This fact is further confirmed on christchurchdidsbury.org.uk “At this point Mr. Roberts offered to build a church and rectory at his own expense and insisted on the present site, the corner of Darley Avenue and Princess Road (rumour has it that he wanted to see the church from his home!).
 |
| Oaks Farmhouse and Christ Church, 1933 |
So, it seems like our Brewer, William Roberts in fact lived in West Didsbury and built Christ Church.
I’ve found further connections between Manor Drive and Oaks farm to other drinks manufacturers’ from Manchester….but we’ll leave that information for the next blog 😉
Chris O’Connor © 2020
Location: West Didsbury and Chorlton.
Pictures: Oaks Farm, Christ Church Avenue, Darley Avenue, 1888, from OS Six Inch map, courtesy of National Library of Scotland, Aerial views, 1933 N. S Roberts m67695, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
Follow up to original blog https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-pub-inscription-and-start-of.html?spref=fb&m=1
ReplyDeleteInteresting read. Well done chris
ReplyDelete