All you ever wanted to know about the history of Chorlton Park …….

Perhaps it is time for a history of Chorlton Park.

A magical place, 2019

After all, it has been a place to play, relax and meet up with friends for almost a century.

In 1933-34

There will be plenty who remember the paddling pool, and the pets’ corner, but few who now know that beside the paddling pool there was a large open air swimming bath, a band stand with a covered seating area, and that during the last world war the park had its own air raid shelters.

Added to that the historic records suggest there was a race course and an observatory, which fit nicely with stories of Brookfield House, which dates back into the 18th century, and was once home to the son of Francis Deakin who had been brutally murdered in a beer house on Manchester Road in 1847.

In 1854

And if you had strolled along Barlow Moor Road back in the 1840s, and looked out across what is now the park you might have been able to make out the ponds close to Brookfield House and perhaps even had conversations with the agricultural labourers working on the fields which had names like Rent Meadow, Second and Third Moorfields and which were a mix of arable and meadow land.

Brookfield House, circa 1900

Walk a little further along that road and you would have encountered the fine processional way that ran off from what was then called Barlow Moor Lane east towards Hough End Hall.

The path is still there although the full majesty of the hall is somewhat at present obscured by a modern office block.

Bits of the park’s story have appeared over the years in the blog*, and one very good account was published in 2017.**

And now Peter and I have decided that it is time to include this jewel of a place in our series of books entitled nothing to do in chorlton.

Each book is predicated on the idea of doing nothing in chorlton, and offers six sites where the reader can sit and uncover the stories of the surrounding area while doing nothing.***

Julie and the goat, circa 1970s

The first three have been a roaring success, and the fourth on our old parish church and graveyard by the village green will be published next month.  

The books are slim and small enough to fit in the back pocket or in a handbag and are designed to be carried with you on the walk and each costs £5.  They are available from Chorlton Bookshop or us at  www.pubbooks.co.uk.

All of which leads me back to Chorlton Park and an appeal for anyone with memories or pictures to get in touch with us at www.pubbooks.co.uk.

Location; Chorlton Park

Pictures; The park in 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, in 1933 from the OS map of Manchester and Salford, 1933-34, and in 1854 from the OS map of Lancashire, 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ Brookfield House circa 1900 from the Lloyd Collection, the goat and Julie in Chorlton Park circa early 1970s, from the collection of Julie Thomas

*Chorlton Park, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Park

**The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson, & Pester Topping, 2017

****nothing to do in chorlton, Book 1, Chorlton Green and the Ees, Book Two, Martledge Lost and Found, Book Three Down Beech Road Looking for Chorlton Row, and Book Four, to be published in April, The Lych Gate and Grave Situations Beyond