Now I wonder if Mrs Mary Botsford watched with interest the construction of the McLaren Memorial Baptist Church which stood directly opposite her home.
She lived at number 623 Wilbraham Road, and the church was opened in 1906, but as yet I can’t quite date her house. It is missing from the 1903 directory but is there on the OS map four years later.
Wilbraham Road was only cut in the late 1860s by the Egerton estate, although plans for three alternative routes through Chorlton were drawn up a decade earlier.
Development along the eastern part of the road from Edge Lane to Manchester Road was slow, and by 1894 there were just sixteen properties on the northern side, with another two and the Conservative Club along the southern stretch.
Nine years later in 1903, eight semi detached properties and been built from Edge Lane up to Hastings Avenue, with names like Elmshurst, Denehurst and the intriguing Danialcus House, which became Damascus House, and has a fascinating story which alas is not for here.
I suspect Mrs Botsford was the first resident, and she will have named it Ardlui House, which may take its name from Ardlui, a hamlet at the head of Loch Lomond. She had been born in Derbyshire in 1831, and her husband had been a goldsmith.
According to the 1911 census the house had eleven rooms, and here she lived with just two servants. She died in 1922 leaving £17,764 in effects.*
And something of those possessions can be gained, by reading the advert placed in the Manchester Guardian for the sale by auction, of the contents of the house, which included some fine items.**
I assume the house was then sold, and then came back onto the market in 1929, when it was advertised as, “Good corner house: with possession on completion.”
The purchaser appears to have seen it as an investment property, because within two years the papers carry the first of a series of adverts for both furnished and unfurnished flats.
The ads stretch through the 1930s, and I have no doubt with more research similar ones will turn up for the following decades.
And from then on Ardlui House continued its long association with rented accommodation, leading to the arrival in 1970 of a fresh faced and eager Peter Topping, who told me that “after four years at art college in Preston and Blackpool, I took up a job working in Advertising in Manchester, at the age of 21.
I had looked at many places to live but soon fell in love with Chorlton, and found the top floor of a house to rent at 623 Wilbraham Road.
Little did I know that 47 years later, I would be painting it as part of my "Moment in Time Series" of paintings, that tell the story of the history, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy”.
Peter also gazed across at the McLaren Baptist Church, which by then had just a few years left before it was demolished in the mid 1970s, to be replaced by McLaren Court,which consists of 28 “Retirement Living Apartments” for people over the age of 55.
Today few people will know that the church had been one of the buildings used by the Red Cross during the Great War, to tend for sick and wounded soldiers.
It opened in 1914 and along with two others remained open for the duration, and with a generation or so of its closure its work had been almost forgotten.
And in the same way Mrs Mary Botsford presence in Ardlui House has passed out of common knowledge, but she has been brought out of the shadows after 623 Wilbraham underwent a makeover by Armistead Property who specialize in renovating old and often tired properties.***
Unlike other developers who merely tear down the old building, Armistead Property work with the original, restoring the exterior, saving where possible the unique features of the interior while creating apartments for 21st century living.
And always mindful of the past history of each development they are keen to share that history with the new residents.
So Mrs Botsford will not be forgotten, and nor will Peter Topping, although I suspect it is too early to think his presence will be remembered with a blue plaque.
We shall see.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Wilbraham Road, A E Landers, 1959, m18434, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, Wilbraham Road, 1907 from the OS for Chorlton, 1907,advert from the Manchester Guardian, 1922
Painting; 623 Wilbraham Road Chorlton. Painting © 2017 & McLaren Memorial Baptist Church, © 2018, Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
*Mrs Mary Botsford, June 13, 1922, England & Wales Probate Calendars, 1858-1966
**Sale by Auction, Manchester Guardian, May 27, 1922
*** Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/
 |
| 623 Wilbraham Road, 1958 |
Wilbraham Road was only cut in the late 1860s by the Egerton estate, although plans for three alternative routes through Chorlton were drawn up a decade earlier.
Development along the eastern part of the road from Edge Lane to Manchester Road was slow, and by 1894 there were just sixteen properties on the northern side, with another two and the Conservative Club along the southern stretch.
 |
| 623 Wilbraham Road, 1907 |
I suspect Mrs Botsford was the first resident, and she will have named it Ardlui House, which may take its name from Ardlui, a hamlet at the head of Loch Lomond. She had been born in Derbyshire in 1831, and her husband had been a goldsmith.
 |
| Auction of contents, 1922 |
And something of those possessions can be gained, by reading the advert placed in the Manchester Guardian for the sale by auction, of the contents of the house, which included some fine items.**
I assume the house was then sold, and then came back onto the market in 1929, when it was advertised as, “Good corner house: with possession on completion.”
The purchaser appears to have seen it as an investment property, because within two years the papers carry the first of a series of adverts for both furnished and unfurnished flats.
The ads stretch through the 1930s, and I have no doubt with more research similar ones will turn up for the following decades.
And from then on Ardlui House continued its long association with rented accommodation, leading to the arrival in 1970 of a fresh faced and eager Peter Topping, who told me that “after four years at art college in Preston and Blackpool, I took up a job working in Advertising in Manchester, at the age of 21.
 |
| 623 Wilbraham Road, 2017 |
Little did I know that 47 years later, I would be painting it as part of my "Moment in Time Series" of paintings, that tell the story of the history, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy”.
Peter also gazed across at the McLaren Baptist Church, which by then had just a few years left before it was demolished in the mid 1970s, to be replaced by McLaren Court,which consists of 28 “Retirement Living Apartments” for people over the age of 55.
 |
| McLaren Baptist Church |
It opened in 1914 and along with two others remained open for the duration, and with a generation or so of its closure its work had been almost forgotten.
And in the same way Mrs Mary Botsford presence in Ardlui House has passed out of common knowledge, but she has been brought out of the shadows after 623 Wilbraham underwent a makeover by Armistead Property who specialize in renovating old and often tired properties.***
 |
| 623 Wilbraham Road, 1932 |
 |
| Advert for Ollivant & Botsford, 1895 |
So Mrs Botsford will not be forgotten, and nor will Peter Topping, although I suspect it is too early to think his presence will be remembered with a blue plaque.
We shall see.
Location; Chorlton
Pictures; Wilbraham Road, A E Landers, 1959, m18434, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, Wilbraham Road, 1907 from the OS for Chorlton, 1907,advert from the Manchester Guardian, 1922
Painting; 623 Wilbraham Road Chorlton. Painting © 2017 & McLaren Memorial Baptist Church, © 2018, Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
*Mrs Mary Botsford, June 13, 1922, England & Wales Probate Calendars, 1858-1966
**Sale by Auction, Manchester Guardian, May 27, 1922
*** Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/
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