Now this is a story that has yet to find an ending and in the telling will eventually reveal much about how and why Wilbraham Road follows the course it does.
I have always taken this long road which stretches from Chorlton up to Fallowfield for granted.
After all it was cut in the late 1860s and so is pretty much one of the features of the area.
Our own historian Thomas Ellwood writing in 1885 confined himself to the observation that “it was formed some sixteen years ago by the late Lord Egerton, father of the present earl. It extends from Wilmlsow-road at Fallowfield to Edge-lane, along which a main sewer runs to within a short distance of the railway bridge at Chorlton station.
From here it passes through the fields to Barlow Moor-lane, adjoin Lane-end, crossing High-lane, Cross-road and Beech-road, thence through various gardens, finally emptying itself into the Chorlton Brook at a point about 200 yards below the bridge which crosses the stream to Jackson’s Boat.”
So as far as Mr Ellwood was concerned the road was less interesting than the sewer which ran beside it.
I on the other hand have long been intrigued by why it was built and the benefits it might have brought to the township.
But other than clocking the date it was cut that was about it, until recently when going through the Egerton Papers in the Archives at Central Ref I came across a map showing the proposed route.
It is dated 1853 and actually shows three possible routes all to the west of the current line.
The description is less than helpful confining itself to just “plan of projected new road from Rusholme to Stretford” and there are no accompanying notes. Now these may be elsewhere in the papers and so I will have to go off and look.
And until I find those notes I cannot be sure why three routes are shown. All three are close together.
The first marked in blue would have crossed Martlege just below Red Gate Farm where the Library now stands and the other two coloured in brown and red just a little further to the west and two would have involved crossing Longford Brook.
Now why none of these routes was chosen is as yet unclear, there may have been issues with the land especially around the Isles** or it may it may have been because they ran close to Red Gate Farm and crossed Longford Brook.
All of which is one of those little bits of history yet to be uncovered.
That said the map is a wonderful source of information about the outer reaches of the township showing each of the properties and the fields, and natural features either side of the proposed routes.
So along with searching for more on the planned road I will be returning to our 1853 map.
Picture; detail from the plan of projected new road from Rusholme to Stretford, Egerton Papers, M24 /1/15 1853, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/448/archives_and_local_history
*Egerton Papers, M24 /1/15
**Ellwood, Thomas, L, Roads and Footpaths, Chapter 6, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, South Manchester Gazette, December 12 1885
***this is the area abound Longford Road which was popularly known as the Isles and was dominated bt small lazy little water courses feed ponds and pits which had been dug to extrach clay and marl
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| The three proposed routes crossing close to Red Gates Farm |
After all it was cut in the late 1860s and so is pretty much one of the features of the area.
Our own historian Thomas Ellwood writing in 1885 confined himself to the observation that “it was formed some sixteen years ago by the late Lord Egerton, father of the present earl. It extends from Wilmlsow-road at Fallowfield to Edge-lane, along which a main sewer runs to within a short distance of the railway bridge at Chorlton station.
From here it passes through the fields to Barlow Moor-lane, adjoin Lane-end, crossing High-lane, Cross-road and Beech-road, thence through various gardens, finally emptying itself into the Chorlton Brook at a point about 200 yards below the bridge which crosses the stream to Jackson’s Boat.”
So as far as Mr Ellwood was concerned the road was less interesting than the sewer which ran beside it.
I on the other hand have long been intrigued by why it was built and the benefits it might have brought to the township.
But other than clocking the date it was cut that was about it, until recently when going through the Egerton Papers in the Archives at Central Ref I came across a map showing the proposed route.
It is dated 1853 and actually shows three possible routes all to the west of the current line.
The description is less than helpful confining itself to just “plan of projected new road from Rusholme to Stretford” and there are no accompanying notes. Now these may be elsewhere in the papers and so I will have to go off and look.
And until I find those notes I cannot be sure why three routes are shown. All three are close together.
The first marked in blue would have crossed Martlege just below Red Gate Farm where the Library now stands and the other two coloured in brown and red just a little further to the west and two would have involved crossing Longford Brook.
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| Martledge, Renshaw;s Buildings now the the Royal Oak |
All of which is one of those little bits of history yet to be uncovered.
That said the map is a wonderful source of information about the outer reaches of the township showing each of the properties and the fields, and natural features either side of the proposed routes.
So along with searching for more on the planned road I will be returning to our 1853 map.
Picture; detail from the plan of projected new road from Rusholme to Stretford, Egerton Papers, M24 /1/15 1853, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/448/archives_and_local_history
*Egerton Papers, M24 /1/15
**Ellwood, Thomas, L, Roads and Footpaths, Chapter 6, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, South Manchester Gazette, December 12 1885
***this is the area abound Longford Road which was popularly known as the Isles and was dominated bt small lazy little water courses feed ponds and pits which had been dug to extrach clay and marl
Do you have a photo of the whole map? It would be interesting to see how the are then looked
ReplyDeleteYes Ed I can send it by email
ReplyDeleteWouldn’t the railway have been under construction at the same time? I’m interested that Ellwood describes the route of the sewer in relation to the bridge at the station, which would have been operational at the time his comment, but not at the time of the construction of the road / sewer?
ReplyDeleteNo the line wasn't built till 1880
DeleteAnd the line from Altrincham in 1849
DeleteI just wondered if planning for the railway may have affected the choice of route for the new road, or perhaps the position of the station was determined by the road?
DeleteInteresting l suspect any planning for the railway was years after the road was cut but the siting of the station makes perfect sense and in turn the bridge had be strengthened for the Corporation tram service.
Delete