Narnia on the Green …….. with a bit of Gas

Now my Ellwood tells me that “Towards the close of the year 1861, many of the inhabitants strongly felt the need of gas and a requisition signed by the principal ratepayers, was forwarded to the Stretford Gas Company, with a request that they would extend their main along Edge Lane to Chorlton”.*

Narnia on the Green, 2022

In the winter of 1885 through to the summer of the following year Thomas Ellwood wrote 26 articles on the history of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.  They appeared in the South Manchester Gazette, and took the story of the township from its earliest beginnings to the point when what had once been a small rural community was fast becoming a suburb of Manchester.  

He drew from his own extensive memory but also on the memories of those who had been born in the early part of the 19th century and in turn pulled on the recollections of residents and their grandparents in an unbroken line back to when the old King George lost the American colonies.

The gas lamp on the green, 1979

And in a trice we are walking the lanes and fields of Chorlton-cum-Hardy picking up on traditional rural customs which were already old when Henry V111 chose to marry Ann Boleyn, along with the names of men and women who were buried in the graveyard by the green across the centuries.

And mixed up with these stories are those of “modern" Chorlton, including the arrival of gas, mains water, sanitation and modern transport.

Which leads me back to his comments on the arrival of gas.

“The company granted the request and in the following year gas was supplied to a few of the principal householders.

The Manchester Corporation also extended the main from Seymour Grove shortly afterwards.

The roads in the township were first lighted with gas by the Urban Sanitary Authority in the year 1875.  

They would have been lighted earlier, but for the strenuous opposition of the farmers, who would not agree to any increase in the highway rate.  

The gas lamp on the Green circa 1900

The first lamp was lighted by Mrs. Wild, wife of Dr. Wild, and is the one situated in the centre of the village green”.

So there you are  ….. a little less Narnia and more thank you to the Gas Board.

And I suppose also to Emily Wild who was the wife of Thomas Wild.  

In 1891 they were living at 5 St Clements Road, and a decade earlier in Devon.

Just when they arrived in Chorlton is as yet unclear but by 1891 he had retired.

And by 1901 they had retired to Southport.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; The Narnia lamp on the Green, 2022, & 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and circa 1900 from the Lloyd Collection

*Elwood, Thomas, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chapter XX11, South Manchester Gazette, April 13th, 1886