To Rec or to Park? …….. the great debate …..

Now if you are of a certain age that 2 and bit acres of land along Beech Road will always be the Rec.

Beech Road park, 2022

Not that in the great sweep of wars, disasters and tax demands a debate over its name will count for a hill of beans.

But it has engendered a tiny discussion on social media.

Today as the signs proclaim it is Beech Road Park, but for many of us it will always be the Rec, which is short for Recreation Ground and was its official designation from when it was opened back in 1896.

It is all that is left of a long field called Row Acre which stretched from Cross Road, along Beech Road down as far as Acres Road.

And what makes that field just a tad more fascinating is that it was farmed by a number of tenant farmers and was divided into those long strips which were common in some part of England before the enclosures.

The Rec, 1910

Back in the 1840s those farmers included the Higginbotham family whose home was on the green and the Bailey’s who lived opposite the field and whose home was only demolished in the 1970s for Ivy Court.

In 1896 the newly opened Rec along with the restored village green were the only public places in the township. 

The green had been lost when Sam Wilton stole it in the early 19th century for his own private garden, enclosing it with a set of hedges.

Bot places proved very popular, with the green gaining a drinking fountain and the Rec  a collection of play apparatus, a bowling green a fine shelter and some very neat flower beds.

The Rec, 1933

Just when it became a park instead of a Rec I have yet to find out.

But that distinction of name remains a point of contention with some as did those who proudly declared they were from Old Chorlton, or the Old Village compared to those who lived in New Chorlton or the New Village.  

And on the turn of that place pretty much marked you out as a newcomer or someone with Chorlton history.

And that is it,  brought to you from the Great Chorlton-cum- Hardy controversies.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; the Rec circa 1910, from the Lloyd Collection, the Beech Road sign, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the Recreation Ground, 1933, from the 1933/4 OS map for Manchester and Salford

*The Rec, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Rec