Now, it is always fascinating to take a spot you know well, and try and think it back to a time before now.
So here we are on that footpath that stretches from Barlow Moor Road, down to Nell Lane, with the allotments and park on one side and those roads that run off Sandy Lane on the other.
It is an ancient footpath, and is clearly visible on the OS maps of the mid and late 19th century and shows up in the 1847 tithe map.
The western end ran alongside Lime Bank which was a fine looking house and dates from at least the late 18th century. At this point the path was more a road, but as it made its way east down to Nell Lane it pretty much petered out becoming quite narrow.
Walk it today heading towards Barlow Moor Lane, and you get glimpses of the bank of Chorlton Brook, with its dense vegetation and it is easy to think it was always such.
But not so, because back in the 1840s, the land from the path, on either side of the brook and stretching across what we now know as Chorlton Park was fields.
The biggest of the two was Rent Meadow which covered 4 acres and was farmed as meadow land.
Its neighbour was Lime Bank, consisting of just 1 acre and was given over to arable farming.
Had you stood on the footpath looking south towards the brook, there would have been a clear view, down to what is now Mauldeth Road West.
But bits of that scene would have been obscures by a belt of trees and bushes which followed the line of the water course.
Both fields belonged to James Holt, who lived in Beech House.
His grounds covered all of the land from Beech Road to High Lane, and down from Barlow Moor Road, almost to Cross Road.
Added to this he owned 17 acres of prime agricultural land in the township.
But his money and that of his family had been made in town in a factory at the bottom of Deansgate, where he made the wooden engraving blocks for calico printing.
Such was his wealth that he also owned a considerable portfolio of properties around St John Street, including the only double fronted house on that street.
As befits a man who had “made it”, he retired early, moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and settled in Beech Cottage which he redeveloped into a grand property which he renamed Beech House.
His son continued to live in the city centre in St Johns Street, managing the business, and in the fullness of time followed his father and moved into Beech House.
Now, none of this is romantic conjecture, but based on maps of the 19th century, the Rate Books, Tithe schedule and a series of legal documents belonging to the Holt’s.
Together they offer up a detailed picture of the Hot’s business along with the lie of the land by our footpath.
I would love to know who worked Rent Meadow and Lime Bank, but alas that is lost to us.
But there are the odd little glimpses of who might have laboured there.
One such clue, comes in the form of of clay pipes found on the allotments. It is just possible that they were refuse from night soil spread over the fields which had been bought in from Manchester.
But I like to think they may have been discarded by an agricultural labourer on the edge of Rent Meadow sometime in the 19th century.
And as unhistorical as it might seem I would think that the resident of the house known as Lime Bank might have taken a stroll along the footpath on a summer’s evening. He was a Charles Morton, but more of him another day.
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Pictures; Rent Meadow, 2020, the Holt's town house, 2010, and clay pipe, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in 1847, from the Tithe map, Beech Cottage in 1841, detail from the OS map of Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
 |
| Looking out towards Chorlton Brook, 2020 |
It is an ancient footpath, and is clearly visible on the OS maps of the mid and late 19th century and shows up in the 1847 tithe map.
The western end ran alongside Lime Bank which was a fine looking house and dates from at least the late 18th century. At this point the path was more a road, but as it made its way east down to Nell Lane it pretty much petered out becoming quite narrow.
 |
| Trees, and bushes, 2020 |
Walk it today heading towards Barlow Moor Lane, and you get glimpses of the bank of Chorlton Brook, with its dense vegetation and it is easy to think it was always such.
But not so, because back in the 1840s, the land from the path, on either side of the brook and stretching across what we now know as Chorlton Park was fields.
 |
| Rent Meadow, [1] and Lime Bank, [3], 1847 |
Its neighbour was Lime Bank, consisting of just 1 acre and was given over to arable farming.
Had you stood on the footpath looking south towards the brook, there would have been a clear view, down to what is now Mauldeth Road West.
But bits of that scene would have been obscures by a belt of trees and bushes which followed the line of the water course.
 |
| Beech House, 1853 |
His grounds covered all of the land from Beech Road to High Lane, and down from Barlow Moor Road, almost to Cross Road.
Added to this he owned 17 acres of prime agricultural land in the township.
But his money and that of his family had been made in town in a factory at the bottom of Deansgate, where he made the wooden engraving blocks for calico printing.
Such was his wealth that he also owned a considerable portfolio of properties around St John Street, including the only double fronted house on that street.
As befits a man who had “made it”, he retired early, moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and settled in Beech Cottage which he redeveloped into a grand property which he renamed Beech House.
 |
| The Holt's town house, 2010 |
Now, none of this is romantic conjecture, but based on maps of the 19th century, the Rate Books, Tithe schedule and a series of legal documents belonging to the Holt’s.
Together they offer up a detailed picture of the Hot’s business along with the lie of the land by our footpath.
I would love to know who worked Rent Meadow and Lime Bank, but alas that is lost to us.
But there are the odd little glimpses of who might have laboured there.
One such clue, comes in the form of of clay pipes found on the allotments. It is just possible that they were refuse from night soil spread over the fields which had been bought in from Manchester.
 |
| A clay pipe, 2020 |
And as unhistorical as it might seem I would think that the resident of the house known as Lime Bank might have taken a stroll along the footpath on a summer’s evening. He was a Charles Morton, but more of him another day.
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Pictures; Rent Meadow, 2020, the Holt's town house, 2010, and clay pipe, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in 1847, from the Tithe map, Beech Cottage in 1841, detail from the OS map of Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/
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