A gate in search of a story ………

 I guess I must have passed this gate on High Lane heaps of times, but today I stopped to look in.

That wasn’t as easy given that nature seems to have reclaimed the orderly borders, and neat paths creating a pile of disorderly green.

It is the sort of scene that lends itself to all sorts of stories, from fantasy to a forgotten romance, along with more than a few essays on the art of gardening.

The house has a Scottish name and was once occupied by Ada McLachlan who gave her occupation as “artist and photographer”. * 

It stands at the start of a slight incline which for centuries was called Scotch Hill. This may derive from a brief stop over by a section of the Pretender’s Highland army on its way to Derby full of expectation of a swift advance to London, or equally it could be during the Jacobite retreat back to Scotland and defeat at Culloden.

So perhaps that could be the story.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; A gate in search of a story, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Oban House, Slater's Directory, 1895