Now there is a bit of a debate on social media this week as to just when Chorlton-cum-Hardy, became just plain Chorlton.
Chorlton -cum-Hardy was the historic name for the township which was bounded by the Mersey on one side Hulme on the other and Withington and Stretford.
It was made up of the townships of Chorlton, Hardy, and Martledge, and the name appears to have gone out of official and popular use sometime in the 1970s.
Just when that was is open to debate. There are plenty of people who will remember growing up when the name was still in use, and I guess it will be a badge which distinguishes you from old and new Chorlton.
As does those who still use the term Rec rather than Beech Road Park.
I have yet to plot our official transformation to plain Chorlton but there will be some way of finding out, which I suspect will start with the post office, and post marks.
There may also be an official note in the minutes of the Corporation’s highways department but that will take a long time to find out.
In the meantime, I know that Hardy as a hamlet disappeared in the 1850s when the last cottages hard by the Mersey were abandoned, and Martledge which was the area around the library was lost in the big building boom of the 1880s.
So, within a couple of generations of that housing boom, the name Martledge had vanished and instead people talked about the New Village or New Chorlton to distinguish the area from the older settlement around the green and along Beech Road.
And for those intrigued by lost names, Beech Road had traditionally been called Chorlton Row and appears to have been renamed in the 1870s, while the area called Ash Tree which stood close to the Methodist Church was so called because of an ash tree which grew in the road.
Leaving me just to comment on Lane End, and the Flash.
The first was at the junction of High Lane, Barlow Moor Road and Sandy Lane, and made perfect sense given that until well into the early part of the 19th century, Barlow Moor Road was called Barlow Moor Lane.*
The Flash was where Manchester Road joined what is now Seymour Grove, and was also known as West Point.**
I could go on ….. adding Kemp’s Corner and Brundrett’s Corner to the list, along with the lost road names, but I won’t, and will just wait for the comment which offers up the definitive date of when we moved from Chorlton-cum-Hardy to Chorlton.
And reflect that as Chorlton cum-Hardy we have over the years been the butt of comic and music hall jokes and featured in that wonderful lament for the passing of the branch lines by Flanders and Swann in 1963 which included the memorable line, “No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street”***
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Pictures; Chorlton and Hardy, 1818, from Greenwood's map, 1818, the railway station, date unknown, rom the collection of Tony Walker, and the train route from Central Station south towards London from MILE BY MILE ON BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS, S.N.PIKE, published by Aurum Press Ltd, and original Mile by Mile on the L.M.S. 1947
*Walking in the north of the township through Martledge in the summer of 1847 part 2, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2013/05/walking-in-north-of-township-through.html
**West Point on the edge of Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2017/10/west-point-on-edge-of-chorlton.html
***The Slow Train, Flanders and Swann, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6OHD2uCpfU
I was born in a room above the general store that was on the corner of Ivygreen (then Hawthorn) Road (no. 55) and Royal Avenue in 1952. My grandparents lived on Napier Road (off Barlow Moor Road). From my point of view, I lived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and they were in Chorlton.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be two Manchester Chorltons, but I guess there was no need to distinguish C-c-H once Chorlton-on-Medlock started to disappear.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be two Manchester Chorltons, but I guess there was no need to distinguish C-c-H once Chorlton-on-Medlock started to disappear.
ReplyDeleteThe identity of the place used to be proclaimed at the boundaries on some main roads with 'Chorlton-cum-Hardy' signs on the walls, in the same format as the old street signs, but these seem to have gone now. I certainly remember the one at West Point neary the junction with Seymour Grove, and I think there was one on Edge Lane near Longford Park. Only see them nostalgically emblazoned on mugs these days.
ReplyDeleteWe moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1962 and I well remember at school, being told to write out the names and addresses on the envelopes that our school reports would be delivered to our parents in. Something akin to asking a condemned man to spin the fibres to create the rope he'll be hanged with. This was around 1968 and we were told to ensure we put our name and address clearly on the envelope and not to forget to write the CUM-HARDY, after Chorlton. Also including the Manchester 21. In his book, my former Chorlton High School teacher, John Lloyd explains that the term Hardy is a derivation of The name Chorlton-cum-Hardy may be derived from the Old English Ceorlatun Latin cum Old English Ard-Ea, meaning "the settlement of ceorls by trees near the water." Chorlton on Medlock is slightly different in that it is a Ceorlatun built on the River Medlock, just as Ashton on Mersey is. I moved from Chorlton when I got married in 1981 and to be honest, I feel it lost the latter part of its name because it was just too much of a mouthful for some people to say.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteA query about a shop name in Chorlton, can't recall. The shop was electrical/second hand shop near corner of Barlow Moore Rd and High Lane, next door but one or two to Azad Manzil restaurant. I think it was run by 2 brothers certainly there in the 70s.
Can anyone recall the name of shop?