The secret Chorlton Garden .... "a wild life haven" .... and the car park

I have to confess the application to develop 515 Barlow Moor Road passed me by.

1894

The application was made in the June of 2020, and planning permission was granted in July of this year.

In the intervening period there have been letters from both the three Labour Councillors and residents objecting to the development and in particular to an overgrown but fascinating plot of land at the rear of the properties, which one news report has called “a secret wildlife haven”.

In all there are 58 documents which were tabled by the developer, and objectors, from plans, drawings and an environmental report, to photographs of both the front and back of the property.

To be fair the proposed drawings of the developed building look good, but there are concerns about the density of the build and of course the loss of the secret garden to a car park.

Now I am the first to admit that there is always a tension between the need for more and affordable housing and the possible destruction of a unique habitat.

What interests me is the history of the plot, which looks to have once been a bit of land left over from the building of the  houses with gardens on Barlow Moor Road, Cranbourne Road and High Lane.

The 1894 OS map shows that while the buildings on High Lane facing the plot were in place, the properties on Barlow Moor Road, and the southern side of Cranbourne had yet to be built. This had been rectified by 1907, but intriguingly later maps show what looks like an access route from High Lane on to the plot, which is still shown on the 1956 OS.

Added to this there are those who can remember using the route in the 1960s into the 1970s to play on the plot of land.

1956

All of which throws up some interesting research, including attempting to track down the owners of the plot before and after the area was developed, along with recording the memories of those who played on it.

Of course it may always have belonged to the owners of one of the properties now about to be developed.

So, despite what seems a done deal on the transformation of the secret garden into a car park, there is more to find out ….. even if it is only to present its story as a sort of obituary.

Location, Chorlton

Pictures; details from the OS maps, 1894 map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, https://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the OS map from 1956

*127241/FO/2020 | Change of use of 515 Barlow Moor Road and  517, 519 and 521 Barlow Moor Road, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=QCDWHXBCGT700 

**Campaigners fight to save Chorlton secret wildlife haven under threat from developers. By Joanna Devany, The Northern Quota, October 24th, 2020 https://thenorthernquota.org/news/campaigners-fight-save-chorlton-secret-wildlife-haven-under-threat-developers?fbclid=IwAR2toebHhuQlZnNanVMsW0TnQ-u9pekRyi5P-hKLG6L2OYUHW3bo94C0zsA