The Didsbury story ….. with a bit from Hulme, Chorlton-cum-Hardy and a pile of beer

Never underestimate just how twisty history can be.

The Crown Brewery, 1964

This is the story of William Roberts, brewer from Hulme, resident of the Oaks in Didsbury and the man linked to a 17th century bowling green.

And because this is a history story I shall follow the chronology which took me from the pub by the Green, via the Crown brewery on Renshaw Street in Hulme to a fine house off Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury.

Just a few days ago the Bowling Green Hotel Bowling Club posted a picture of an inscription on the wall by their green, with the comment, "We are fairly certain that our bowling green is the oldest one in the country, and we are going to contact Historic England to try to get this formally recognised. (This carving was until recently buried under overgrown ivy, and we think it says “1698”.)

Now I have to say I was a tad skeptical, but the evidence is stacking up in favour of a 17th century bowling presence on the spot of the inscription.

That 17th century inscription, 2020

And early in the research I uncovered the name of William Roberts who owned the Bowling Green Hotel, where no doubt tired and thirsty players retired to when rain stopped play.

The pub had belonged to the Egerton family who owned most of south Manchester, but for reasons I don’t understand, the estate sold it off to a William Partington in 1859, whose widow sold it on to Mr. William Roberts.

Mr. Roberts proved rather elusive at first, but I finally found him listed as owner of the Crown Brewery in 1848, and by degree living on the Oaks in 1871 in Didsbury, which was a step up for the family from a more humble property on Renshaw Street in Hulme, which may have doubled as his place of work.

And there is no doubt that he had prospered, allowing him to employ “45 hands” at his Crown Brewery by 1871 at a site spread over two properties, which according to one source ran 72 pubs.*

Although this does appear to be after Mr. Robinson’s death in 1888, when the brewery was registered as the Hardy Crown Brewery the following year.

The Crown Brery, 1894

At which point someone I know will come forward with chapter and verse on both the Crown Brewery and the Hardy Crown Brewery.

As for Mr. Robinson, I know he was born in 1806 and came from Darley Dale in Derbyshire, which is north of Matlock.

Today it has a population of just 6,000, has six churches, and consisted of six settlements.

And it also has a park, hospital and institute, all named after  Sir Joseph Whitworth, the 19th-century machine toolmaker and engineer.

Back in 1825, there were just “227 houses and 1175 inhabitants, one half of whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits, [with] Fairs on May 13th and October 27th.**

So, a young enterprising Mr. Roberts, may well have decided his future lay elsewhere, and that future was Hulme.

Just when that was moved was made is unclear, but it must have been between 1830 and 1832, because his marriage to Martha in 1830 was in Derbyshire while the birth of his eldest child, Emma two years later in Hulme.

"The Gentleman", at the marriage of his daughter

And here the family stayed until sometime after 1861.  This I know because in that year the census shows them still at Renshaw Street, and a decade later they were living at the Oaks in Didsbury.

Moreover, his journey up the social ladder is complete by 1875, when at the marriage of his daughter Fanny, he no longer described himself as a brewer, but adopted the title of “Gentleman”.

Added to which five years later the Manchester Guardian reported that he had “offered to build and endow [a new church] on the Oaks estate, Barlow Moor Road, and a school church on Burton Road.”***

He died in 1888, leaving £73,000.

All of which just leave me to go and look for the Oaks, along with the church and school he helped establish.

Location; Derbyshire, Hulme and Didsbury

Pictures, that 17th century inscription, 2020, courtesy of the Bowling Green Hotel, Bowls Club, Renshaw Street and the Crown Brewery, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/, and the Crown Brewery, 1964, J. Ryder, m26676, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Brewerypedia, http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_Hardy%27s_Crown_Brewery_Ltd_Pubs


**A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Pitts Capper, 1825, page 251

***Fatal accident to the Rector of Didsbury, Manchester Guardian,  Dec 20th, 1880