Silly history …… where would I have been in 1851?

Of course it is a silly question, given that 1851 is now over 170 years ago.

In the Holt's garden, 2022

But if I had  been standing just a few yards back from the sign I would have been in the garden of the Holt family.*

They had made their money from making wooden engraving blocks for calico printing and one of their factories stood on the site of the Beetham Tower.

They were a well-off family with a fine town house in St Johns Street, off Deansgate, owned a portfolio of properties in the surrounding streets around Castlefield and were minor landowners here in Chorlton.

Looking at the Holt's house from Beech Road,1907

From their upstairs windows they commanded a clear view of their fields stretching east from Barlow Moor Road down to towards St Werburghs Road.

And so in 1851 I would have been in their garden close to the eastern wall which ran along Barlow Moor Road, down High Lane, before cutting across towards Beech Road, and then back up Beech Road to the lodge house facing the main road.

Here they had lived since the 1830s, and would remain until the early 20th century, when after the death of the last “Manchester” Holt, the estate was sold off, to enterprising developers.

One of which was Manchester Corporation, which bought a chunk of the garden, demolished the trees and wall and extended Barlow Moor Road, adding the tram terminus.

Location; Chorlton

Picture in the former garden of the Holt family, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and  Beech House once called Beech Cottage, 1907, m17645, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass11

*The Holt family, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=holt+family