A little bit of Millgate in Stockport ……….

Now, strip away the modern streetlamps, along with the sign announcing parking restrictions, and represent Andy’s picture in black and white, and I rather think this view of Millgate could pass for any time before now.

Millgate, 2020

Which I suppose says a lot for this bit of Stockport.

In time I will see if I can track down any of the residents at the beginning of the last century.

I know that in 1939, there were fifteen properties listed along Millgate, of which three were unoccupied, and the remaining houses were home to a variety of occupations.

These included a “variety artist”, “shoe repairer”, “a secondhand clothing dealer”, an electrician, some textile workers and a “Railway goods Checker”.

Millgate, 1906

Of the seven in Andy’s picture, number 11, was home to Mr. and Mrs. Hall, he was our secondhand clothes dealer, his son was the shoe repairer, and his daughter described herself as “Paper Bay Maker – Heavy Work”. 

Numbers 7 and 9 were vacant and at number 5 were Charles and Laura Cowley.  Mr. Cowley was a “master decorator” and Mrs. Cowley listed herself as “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

Location; Stockport

Picture; Millgate, 2020,  from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1906, from the OS map of Cheshire, 1906, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/