That lost church in All Saints ......a place in Shropshire ..... and a connection with Africa

It is rare to get an exact date for when a photograph was accepted into the catalogue of a picture postcard company, and by extension the date the image was taken.

But in the case of this picture of All Saints Church in Grosvenor Square I can place it sometime in the year 1900.

And this I can do because the name of the company which marketed it was Valentine and I have their catalogue listings which means using the number on the bottom right-hand side I can track it to one of the 1,241 photographs which were placed in the catalogue for 1900.

More than this I know it will in all probability be at the back of the year, given that the last catalogue number is 34,736, and ours is 33,191, making in the last 545 to be added. 

The story of the church is well known, so I shall just record that it was “consecrated on April 12th, 1820.  The building consisted of a chancel, nave, aisles and a domed tower.  It was partially destroyed by fire in February of 1850 but was restored and reopened by Christmas of the same year, only to be badly damaged during the Manchester Blitz and demolition some years later” *.

There is heaps more which are available including maps and pictures by following the link.

For now, I am more interested in this particular card which as posted on May 12th, 1906, to a Miss. Biddle in Oswestry from someone living at 56 Richmond Grove East in Longsight.

The sender’s name is indecipherable, but I know that this was home to a Theophilus Beal who was there from at least 1901 through to 1929.  

He was a railway carriage cleaner was married to  Lydia and had three sons, none of whose first names resemble the one on the card.  But the Beales’s did have a lodger in 1910 and while he is not the sender of the card, it is possible that another lodger who was there in 1906 sent the card.

Alternatively, the clue maybe in part of the message which runs "I have just been here to see my cousin march to drill” and so we have be dealing with a relative of the Beale’s.

As for Miss Biddle, she was staying at an address in Oswestry, which is in Shropshire close to where the Beales’ came from.

That said the address also include the village of Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain which actually is in Wales, but to be fair very close to both Oswestry and more to the point Shropshire where the Beale’s came from.

So, there is more to play for.

Leaving just to point out the buildings in the background which include the old Art School and the Chorlton on Medlock Town Hall.

The town hall in 1945 was the venue for the Fifth Pan African Congress which was attended by 90 delegates, 26 from Africa. 

They included many scholars, intellectuals and political activists who would later go on to become influential leaders in various African independence movements and the American civil rights movement, including the Kenyan independence leader Jomo Kenyatta, American activist and academic W. E. B. Du Bois, Malawi's Hastings Banda, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, prominent Jamaican barrister Dudley Thompson and Obafemi Awolowo and Jaja Wachuku from Nigeria. 

It also led partially to the creation of the Pan-African Federation, founded in 1946 by Nkrumah and Kenyatta.

But that is another story.

Instead, I will finish by saying that the card belongs to David Harrop who thinks it is the only picture postcard to show the church.

Location, All Saints, Oxford Road, Manchester

Picture; All Saints Church, 1900, Valentine Postcard, courtesy of David Harrop

*All Saints Church Grosvenor Square, https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/allsaints.html

Eltham from the pen of Llwyd Roberts ....... nu 2 St Mary's School 1929

Now I am a great fan of the work of Mr Llwyd Roberts.

He was during the 1920s and 30s our artist in residence and during that time produced a heap of line drawings of Eltham and the surrounding area.

Some were reproduced from old photographs while others  were as he saw them at the time.

This is St Mary’s School which dates from 1928 in a building which was in its time both an academy  for young gentlemen and before that a private residence.

According to Mr Roberts, this was "the convent chapel and St Mary's Diocesan Orphanage garden are replaced by the pavement in the now widened High Street.  The nun's house on the left has gone.  St Mary's School in its present form was founded in 1928."

And if you want more I suggest you follow the link.*

Picture; Eltham Parish Church; drawn circa 1929, Llwyd Roberts

* St. Mary's (Eltham) Community Complex, http://www.stmarys-eltham.co.uk/history.php

Back in Chorlton in the October of 1961

Pemberton Arcade, Barlow Moor Road

“Just a sixpenny bus ride from Piccadilly, Manchester is Chorlton-cum-Hardy – the little green meadow hamlet that grew and grew into a busy suburb.”*

I came across this opening sentence in a pile of old newspapers passed to me by Oliver Bailey.

The collection is a treasure trove of our recent history including reports, photographs and stories.

Most come from papers which have now vanished like the Manchester Comet, the Manchester City News and the Chorlton edition of the Stretford and Urmston Journal but a few despite looking very dated are still with us.

The Manchester Evening News featured Chorlton in its series on People and Places in the October of 1961.  I guess the approach fitted a template which consisted of some contemporary photographs, conversations with locals and reflections on how the area had changed over time.

The photographs included Oswald Road School, the Library and that row of shops on Barlow Moor Road “known years ago as Pemberton Arcade and still remembered as that by older Chorlton folk, [which] provides cover and room for stalls which give it that market atmosphere.”

Mrs Mehre Usha and Mrs Raj Kumai, "window shopping"

And there were pictures of local residents like Mrs Kathleen Foy at a “her pressing board in her shop on Beech Road,” Keith Hannam, “who went to school in Chorlton and now owns a small butcher’s shop in Chorlton Green” and “Mrs Mehre Usha and her sister in law Raj Kumai” who were out for the day “window shopping.”

All of which is good stuff for any local historian but the paper also reveals more detail on events which have all but been forgotten.

Back in 1961 we still had a railway station, which for three years had been selected as “the tidiest in south Manchester, but new travelling habits have placed the fate of the spotless old station in the balance.”  So “officialdom has now given the station a final reprieve to see if the public really wants its station.  If not it will die.”

Now of course we know it didn’t survive but all too often its closure is recorded in just a sentence with little detail around the debate on its future.

In that respect the article is a wonderful piece of history more so because it includes people who were in the 70s and 80s and who talk of that older Chorlton.

“Old timers will recall Chorlton and Withington joining Manchester at the start of the century, and the first trams to Chorlton in May 1907.  Grey haired Mrs Mary Ford aged 84 has lived in the district all her life [and] for the past 52 years in her present gas lit home.  She remembers a smaller more peaceful Chorlton. ‘It was just a village with lots of green fields and very beautiful.’”

Furniture to buy at Waring & Gillow

This I think marks the article out for here we have in one place the memories of people who can take us back to the late 1870s and 1880s.

So I shall be returning to this snapshot of Chorlton in 1961 and let the residents throw more light on what our township was like over a hundred years ago.

But in the meantime I can  not resist one of those old adverts which more than anything show how far we have travelled in the 55 years since the story was published.

Pictures, by John Featherstone, from my copy of the Manchester Evening News October 20, 1961

*The country cousin who grew and grew .... from GOING YOUR WAY CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY focus on People and Places, Manchester Evening News October 20, 1961

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 7 ........... a country lane

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph.

Lapwing Lane, circa 1914

I could have chosen any of Didsbury's country lanes, but this one I like, because the house on the right featured in an earlier story*, and it hints at the transformation of Didsbury from small rural community to a suburb of Manchester.  We are on the corner of Wilmslow Road, looking west along Lapwing Lane.  The house dates from 1896, and to the south there are still just fields, but this small spot of the township would soon be built over.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Lapwing Lane circa 1914

*The house, a field and the stories of Mr. Nathan Slater and Henry Hawkins ……… 174 years of Didsbury’s past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-house-field-and-stories-of-mr.html

When the sunshine came to Beech Road ……..

So, nothing more historical, than a record of when the sun shone down on Beech Road last weekend.

Drinks in the early afternoon, 2023

In the early afternoon of Sunday, we treated ourselves to a drink having spent two mornings under a ferocious sun taming the gardens.

Shadows in the late afternoon, 2023

We broke the "no mow in May" rule but given that the end of the month was close and we hadn’t cut the grass since September I think nature, the pollinating insects and the creepy crawlies in the undergrowth weren’t to challenged.

Leaving me to present three pictures ....... early afternoon, late afternoon, and early morning in the sun.

Mrs. Trellis of Provis Road will object that this is not a very historical story for a blog about the past, and she would be correct.

But then as the rain of July and August runs into September, we may just want to look back on a time when it was hot and sunny for days on end, like it was when we were all kids.

‘nuff said.

Sunlight in the early morning, 2023

Location Beech Road

Pictures; sunshine on Beech Road, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.6

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

The little bit of history Phil found in his garden …………..

I grew up with those plates, cups and saucers which came with blue decorative designs.

Found by Phil, 2023

Sometimes the blue extended to the entire plate and depending on the design you might also get leaves, and flowers, a group of fishermen with their rods, and in the distance little flimsy bridges, and the odd pagoda.

So common were they in our house, our Nana’s house and in the homes of neighbours that they were just the background to our lives.

Back then I can’t say I liked them, but I was  curios at the number of fragments which turned up in the garden of the old house.

26 Lausanne Road in Peckham had been built in the 1870s and by the time I was growing up there eighty or, so years later there were lots of these bits buried just below the surface.

And a decade later in the 1960s they could also be found in the garden of the house in Well Hall Road which dated from 1915.

All of which might have suggested to me that these “blue” ceramics had a long history and had been mass produced throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries.

The posh stuff circa 1800, 2016

But at 10 rolling through into my teenage years fragments of China didn’t feature.

Now I am intrigued which made Phil’s question about his bit of blue plate one to follow up.

Along with a picture he commented, “Our back yard now has a trench.... for the new drain. 

The trench diggers today found this and left it somewhere prominent. What could it be and how old? 

Our house was built 1880 Kenilworth Avenue off Burton Rd, West Didsbury. 

The fragment is 10 cm long, 

It could be part of a wash basin or tureen?”

And I was fascinated.  

There will be possible answers on the net, which Phil will follow up along with a query to the Art Gallery in town. As for the two pictures I am well aware of the differences, but blue China is Blue China.

So watch this space.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; a bit of blue China, lost but found, broken but clean, 2023. Courtesy of Phil Portus, and posh stuff, Blue Willow china, c. late 1800s, various manufactures, Lahaina Heritage Museum, 2016, Author Wmpearl, Licensing, I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

*Willow pattern, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_pattern 

and

Blue Printed Earthenware In The 19th Century, http://printedbritishpotteryandporcelain.com/pottery/ceramics/blue-printed-earthenware-19th-century

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 6 ........... a Victorian postbox and the story behind the wall

It began with the Victorian postbox set in the wall on Wilmlsow Road, and a vague feeling that here was a bit of research that might uncover some of Didsbury’s history.

The Post Box, 2019

I had no expectation that I would be able to date precisely the installation of the box but reasoned that as I dug deep into the archives something would popup, and of course it did.

As ever the starting point was the big house which stood behind the brick wall.

This was Fairfax House, which dates to 1872, when it was owned by William Jabez Muckley.

The property sat in its own grounds, a little away back from both Wilmslow Road and Fog Lane, and consisted of eleven rooms with views south across the road towards Didsbury Priory.

I say it dates to 1872, and on that I am fairly confident, because it doesn’t appear listed in the rate books any earlier.

That said the post box could have been inserted at any time between 1872 and 1901, but I suspect we can narrow that a little, as ours matches a design which was in use from 1881 to the death of the old Queen.**

But I am prepared to be corrected by an expert in all things posty.

Fairfax House, 1894

So, for now I shall climb the wall and deal with Mr. Muckley, who was still in residence at Fairfax House, until sometime just before 1891.  After that, we can track him to Essex where he had retired and would live out his remaining four years.

He turns out to have been an interesting chap, having been Principle/Headmaster of the Manchester School of Design which also went under the name of the Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Art

It was located on Bond Street which is now part of Princess Street and he was there by 1879 if not earlier.

The school has gone along with Fairfax House, but the romantic in me likes the idea that he might just have popped out and used the post box.

But I suspect it is more likely he asked one of his eight children or better still the servants of which there were two.

Either way that tpost box and the brick wall is all there is left of Fairfax House.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; the post box, 2019 and Fairfax House, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.5

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

Just when you thought you knew the age of the Trevor Arms on Beech Road

The Trevor was my local from 1976 well into the middle of the next decade and was a busy and happy place.

At the time and until quite recently I gave little thought to its history, it was simply the pub run by Stan and Mona and their daughter Christine and always a place where you find someone you knew to talk to.

If I did give its past any thought I just assumed the date above the door of 1908 was when it was opened, but beer was being sold from this spot from 1879.

Back then the site was occupied by a row of wattle and daub cottages, one of which had been the home of Mary Crowther who was made to do penance in the church at the beginning of the 19th century.

It is unclear what Mary had done but during the closing decades of the eighteenth century she had given birth to three illegitimate children and it may be that it was for this that she was made to do penance.

She was the last person to do so, and lived out her life, with one of her sons in the cottage and was buried in the parish church yard.

By 1871 one of these cottages was owned by the Langford family.

Jonathan Langford came from an old Chorlton family and a decade earlier had given his occupation as a "gardener" and lived on Dark Lane.

In 1874 his daughter Elizabeth was living there and running the shop and  by 1879 she was renting it out to a succession of “beer housekeepers.”

The last of these tenants was William Downs.  By 1897 the property was transferred to Groves and Whitnall which had taken over the Regent Road Brewery in 1868 and began a rapid expansion which by the time they were registered in 1899 included nearly 600 pubs.

Now there is a lot more I want to know about Mrs Langford as well as William Downs who in 1898 was superseded by Miss Mary Catherine Hayes.

But that is for another story.

Picture; the Trevor early 20th century from the collection of Tony Walker

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects no. 5...... the tithe map

Today I went walking the lanes of East Didsbury in the summer of 1845.

Now as daft as that might sound it is possible to recreate such a walk using the census returns, the OS map for the period and the tithe documents.

And it is the tithe document and more especially the tithe map which has helped me with this imaginary stroll along the Wilmslow Road, past Parrs Wood House and on to the parish church, the village green and the two pubs.

It was based on a survey undertaken by Mr. J Tinker of Hyde in the February of 1845, and details the ownership of the land, the tenants who worked it, and the use the land was put to, as well as the size of each field and its rateable value, along with who owned or rented the properties spread out across the township.

So armed with the map I know that as I made my way along Wilmslow Road I would have passed a mix of meadow and arable land, with the odd little orchard before reaching the village green which had yet to be enclosed by Mr. Bethell as his own personal garden in front of his pub.



 And then if I so chose, I could have wandered off west across the township, all the way to the border with Chorlton.

Later I may return with stories of some of the people who lived along Wilmslow Road, but that will be for another time.

Leaving me just to explain that the numbers on the map refer to an entry in the  schedule which listed the owners of each parcel of land, and properties, the names of the tenants, and the values of the land as well as the use it was put to.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; detail of the 1845 tithe map for East Didsbury part of the tithe survey, undertaken,in 1845, by Mr. Tinker, Joseph Townsend, and Charles Robert Brandy and redrawn by Frank and Teretta Mitchell, 1978

Uncovering the fascinating story of Frank Jefferson .............. historian, teacher, and soldier

I think we should all know more about the life of Frank Jefferson.

He was a teacher and later head teacher at the Open-Air School in Shrewsbury Park, was a noted historian of Woolwich and served in the Royal Artillery during the Great War.

Now that is a pretty impressive track record many of us would wish to emulate, more so because he had the rare gift of achieving much but carrying it off in the most modest of ways.

I came across him only recently when my friend Tricia alerted me to his book, The Woolwich Story.

It is one of those wonderful history books which is fun to read, offers heaps of information but has a light touch which carries the reader along.

Before I knew of his chosen career, the style, humour and ease with which Mr Jefferson delivered the Woolwich story made me think he must have been a teacher.

That said there was very little I could find about him until I contacted Jim Marret who is secretary of the Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society.

The Society had published the book and Mr Jefferson had been its President for three years.

Jim provided me the a copy of the obituary written by a friend of Frank Jefferson and from there the story tumbled on to the page.

He was born in Essex in 1889 and in 1911 was living with his family in a pleasant eight roomed semi detached on Nadine Street.

Five years later the family were at 6 Russel Place in Woolwich and it was from there that the young Frank enlisted in November 1916.

He survived the war and in 1929 as head teacher oversaw the move of the Open-Air School from Shrewsbury House to Charlton.  According to his obituary “we must not forget that he was one of the instigators of the ‘Open –Air’ school in England, at Shrewsbury Park, at which hundreds of children were aided to recovery from ill-health.  

The full story is told by Frank in his book except for one important detail- he has omitted, with typical modesty, to mention his own part in the work there.”**

And that I think is where I shall end for now but like all good stories it offers up the promise of much more.

For now I would like to thank Mr Jim Marrett of the Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society who provided the obituary and cover of the book on the Open Air School.



Location; Woolwich, Eltham, Welling

Pictures; cover  England’s First Open Air School, 1957, courtesy of the Woolwich and District Antiquarian Society, The Open Air School Bostal Woods, circa 1909, from Open Air Schools Leonard P Ayres, 1910 page 39 and cover The Woolwich Story, E.F.W.Jefferson, 1972

*The Woolwich Story, E.F.E Johnson, 1972

**E.F.E. JEFFERSON 1899-1970: An Appreciation J.J. Morrow

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.4

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”
And that is all I am going to say.

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

How not to write a history of Chorlton ….. or when dinosaurs roamed Beech Road …… and Batman opened a bar

 The following story should qualify for a Government Health Warning.

At 73 I think AI or Artificial Intelligence is a development too far for me.

My Wikipedia tells me that AI is about “perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by humans or by other animals. Example tasks in which this is done include speech recognition, computer vision, translation between (natural) languages, as well as other mappings of inputs”.*

So far so good and recent news reports suggest that it offers stunning opportunities for medical break throughs and is already becoming integrated into how we do things.**

But and there always is a but it does seem to lead to some odd, misinformed and downright silly offerings.

Take this one found by my friend Michael, who sent it over with the comment "Andrew, Artificial Intelligence has come to MS Edge (may be only a protype, not sure). I asked for the History of Beech Road. This is what came up:

‘History of Beech Road

Beech Road is a street that has witnessed many changes over the years, from its origins as a rural lane to its current status as a trendy and vibrant destination. Beech Road runs through Chorlton, a suburb of Manchester, England, and is known for its eclectic mix of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants. Beech Road also boasts a small park that offers a green oasis for locals and visitors alike.

The history of Beech Road can be traced back to the 19th century, when it was part of a network of lanes that connected the farms and cottages of Chorlton. In 1848, Beech Road was the scene of a guided walk by Andrew Simpson, a local historian who showed how the area had been affected by the year of revolutions in Europe. The walk highlighted the social and political issues that shaped Chorlton at the time, such as poverty, education, religion and reform.

By the late 19th century, Beech Road had become more urbanized, as new houses and shops were built along its length. The street was also home to several laundries, which gave it its nickname "Washhouse Lane". One of these laundries was converted into a restaurant called The Laundrette in 2013, which still retains some of its original features.

In the 20th century, Beech Road continued to develop and diversify, attracting artists, musicians and writers who contributed to its bohemian atmosphere. The street also became known for its independent spirit and community ethos, as residents organized festivals, markets and events to celebrate their culture and heritage. One of these events was Britain's first "cashless" road in 2014, when traders accepted only electronic payments for a day.

Today, Beech Road is one of Chorlton's most popular attractions, offering a range of options for shopping, eating and drinking. Some of the notable venues include The Beech pub (a cozy spot with an old school feel), The Horse and Jockey (a gastro pub with views over Chorlton Green), Restaurant 97 (a fine dining establishment with seasonal menus) and The Yoga Rooms (a wellness centre with classes for all levels). Beech Road Park is also a favourite spot for dog walkers, families and nature lovers.

Beech Road is a street that has a rich history and a lively present. It is a place where tradition meets innovation, where local meets global, and where old meets new."’

I wasn’t going to spend any time on this, other than to thank Michael and shudder, but I think it’s use has cropped up again recently in connection with Beech Road, so Doris the Dinosaur, Billy Batman and Raphael just had to come out to play.

And before Mrs Trellis of Provis Road writes in, yes I am aware that on occasion people have found Wikipedia a little leaky, although I have to say it is always a starting point before the fun of delving deep into the past using the archives, records, maps, pictures and memories provide a more interesting slant on the past.

With a special thank you to Michael

Pictures, Doris, Billy and Raphael spotted on a short stop over on Beech Road, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Artificial Intelligence, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence

** New superbug-killing antibiotic discovered using AI, James Gallagher, BBC News May 25th, 2023, New superbug-killing antibiotic discovered using AI, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65709834

***A History of Chorlton,  March 24th, 2023

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 4 ........... the postcard and the flying machine

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph.

In the June of 1911 young Bertha Geary aged just 13 of School Lane heard history and wrote to her friend “We saw the flying man on Tuesday night fly over head.  Beaumont is his name.  I wish you could have seen him.  It made such a noise.” He was André Beaumont and he was one of 30 competitors in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race in 1911. Flying in a Blériot XI he was the first to complete the course which was no mean achievement as many of the aircraft either failed to take off or crashed along the way.

Picture; the postcard sent by young Bertha from the collection of Paul O’Sullivan

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.3

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

Lost in the attic .............. a new collection of photographs of Chorlton........ nu 1 Whitelow Road

This is Whitelow Road sometime in the early 20th century and with the picture comes one of those intriguing little stories.

It is one of a collection of images which were donated to St Clements Church and were found in the attic of a house.

And that is about all I know of the history of the twenty or so photographs of Chorlton.

All except one date from sometime after 1900 and measure 25.5 cms by 42 cms and have been reproduced from picture postcards.

I would love to know who went to all the trouble of first collecting and then enlarging the images and later storing them away.

Now there will be a story there but I doubt it will ever come to light.

So instead I shall concentrate on this one which shows a gang of labourers at work.

I don’t have a date but the company whose name plate appears on the steam engines was Davies Brothers, Asphalt Road Makers who were listed in the 1911 directory with an office on Princess Street and a depot on Green Lane.

Green Lane ran from Brook Street to the Garratt Bridge by the River Medlock in Chorlton on Medlock and long ago was swept away by new developments which included the old BBC Broadcasting building.

What makes the picture interesting is that it is one I have never seen before and comes with a companion photograph which also shows Whitelow Road with the same team of workmen.

Both contain a wealth of detail from the steam engines, barrels of tar to the wooden sets and the large number of labourers.

This was after all at a time when much of the work still relied on muscle power and so despite the steam engines it was still down to shovels, wheelbarrows and a lot of effort.

But the pictures also include that small band of spectators who have been drawn to the scene.

Like the workman they stare back at the camera with that mix of poses, some stopped in their tracks, a few looking curious and the rest those who just can’t miss the opportunity to be in the picture.

And of these the one I am drawn to is the chap in uniform pausing with his parcels to be caught on camera.

Now I am sure there will be someone who can help explains the use of the long wooden beam across the road and others who will want to speculate exactly where along Whitelow Road the pictures were taken from so I shall close by reflecting on how many more pictures of old Chorlton are sitting in attics across the township.

Pictures; Whitelow Road date unknown, from the Simpson Collection

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 3 ........... the advert ..... 1824

Now, in the November of 1824 Parrs Wood House was not the only fine residence in Didsbury, but it was the only one up for sale, which made it a talking point in the elegant dinning rooms of the township and the less elegant pubs and beer houses.

Parrs Wood House, 1970

Those with a heap of money might well have wondered if the property was for them, while the curious and less well off might just have wanted to know how many rooms there were in the house.

And how “extensive”  were “the offices, and out buildings” how productive, “the hot houses, gardens, orchard, plantations, and rich meadow and pasture land” along with just how pleasant was “the lawn and pleasure ground”.

Parrs Wood House, 1824

Parrs Wood House, 1980

According to the advert of sale, “Tickets maybe had for viewing the premises, on Fridays only, between the hours of ten and three”.

Not that I would have been vouched safe a passport into a viewing.

We come from a long line of agricultural labourers and I have no reason to think that had I lived in Didsbury in 1824, I would have been anything other than a lowly farm worker.

So, I would have had to content myself with reading this advert, providing of course that I could read.

But that is another story for another time.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; the Parrs Wood House notice of sale, Manchester Guardian, November 6th 1824, Parrs Wood House, 1970, m21314, and the interior, 1980, m0604, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.2

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.



Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas

At the opening of the Well Hall Odeon, May 20th 1936

Now it would be a full 28 years after the Well Odeon was open that I first saw a film there.

And of course I have no idea what the film was or for that matter almost any of the pictures I went on to see at the place.

But it was a regular haunt made more so because I had the job of taking my sisters there on a Saturday morning.

Of all the picture houses I have been in there, was something special about the Odeon.

It started with that unique box office in the centre of the foyer, that thick carpet, the decor and of course the smell.

Put them all together and you felt that this was somewhere special, a place not only to be entertained but a place where for a few hours the daily routines along with the niggles of the day could be forgotten.

And these picture houses were designed for just that purpose.  Plenty of homes back in 1936 were still austere places little in the way of luxury and by comparison drab and dim and cold.

But the Well Hall Odeon radiated style from that tall glass and tiled tower to the sweep of the entrance roof.

And it was big. It dwarfed the houses that surrounded it stretched back and was only really challenged by the church opposite.

So I am really pleased that Chrissie shared the souvenir programme with me.

Location; Well Hall, Eltham, London

Picture; souvenir booklet of the opening of the Well Hall Odeon, 1936 courtesy of Chrissie Rose

Will those responsible ……… return the drinking fountain to the Rec on Beech Road

It is one of those silly stories which started with a couple of pictures of the Rec in the early morning.

Early morning on the Rec, 2021

And progressed through to a newspaper report from September 1897 of an ordinary meeting of the Withington Urban District Council at which Mr. Burgess “intimated that a gentleman in Manchester, whose name he would not at present mention, had offered to give a drinking fountain to be placed in Chorlton-cum-Hardy”.*

I had been looking for information about the early years of the Recreation Ground on Beech Road.**

It had been opened in the May of 1896, and was gift form Lord Egerton of a strip of land which had for centuries been known as Row Acre.***

And here I went very  wrong, because so engrossed was I in the research that the fountain and the Rec came together and for a brief while I went searching for just where the drinking fountain might have been located on what is now called Beech Road Park.

Waiting for something to happen, 2021

All of which will allow Mr. Pedantic of Provis Road to mumble that the story is a nonsense, and artificially connects pictures of the Rec on a Tuesday morning with the real drinking fountain which was on Chorlton Green.

And he would be right, leaving me to reflect on that earlier bit of public open space which is surrounded by two pubs, the old parish burial ground, the village school along with two former farm houses.

Today most of us think of Chorlton green as an open space of grass ringed by trees but this was not how it has always been.

Before the turn of the 19th century it may have been much bigger and indeed for most of that century was not even open to the people of the village, having been enclosed by Samuel Wilton and not returned to public use until the 1890s.

And then for a great stretch of time remained without grass but did have a pretty neat water fountain.

The Green, circa 1900

The picture dates from 1906 when the Horse and Jockey was still just a set of beer rooms on either side of the main door, Miss Wilton’s outhouse still jutted out from the building and the space between the main entrance and the sweet shop was still a private residence.

I have always liked the lamp which stands on the green, with its hint of Narnia.

And back in the May of 1986 I can remember walking past it in the early evening and coming across a string quartet playing around its base.  Today people would just take it in their stride mutter something about it being typically Chorlton, but back then it struck me as the promise of things to come.

Which later that night with the defeat of the Conservative candidate and the election of the first Labour Councillor it  indeed seem to herald something new.

But being a historian I have to own up to the fact that the following year the Conservatives were back but they were on borrowed time, and 1987 marked the final year that a Conservative would be elected from Chorlton to the Town Hall.

The year before may have been the first string quartet on the green but it has not been the last.

The drinking fountain, circa 190o

I have to say I prefer the grass but lament the loss of the fountain.  

First it lost its cups and then vanished sometime in the 1920s or 30s.  To my mind that was a loss.  Public fountains are wonderful places to meet people, spend time chatting and just having a drink on a hot day.

Once it would have been the village pump which offered all three and which on hot summer days had the added bonus of a place the kids could play.

Now there is a lot more history to explore in the photograph of the fountain but I rather think I will leave that for another time.

To which Michael Wood has added, "My recollection is that the fountain on the rec was located centrally outside the shelter, as on the attached snip from the georeferenced maps website showing OS 25” 1892-1914 series.  

It was the same design as was used in Chorlton Park near the tennis courts, a perfunctory iron structure with domed hoods over the outlets, operated by a button on top -  nothing like the elaborate ornamental feature on the Green.  Can’t find an image at the moment, but I could draw one!  

The Rec, 1914

They must have been a common municipal feature in their time, but by the mid-sixties they were semi-functioning or defunct. "

And I hope he does, as it is I never knew about the bandstand.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; the Rec very early on a Tuesday morning from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the drinking fountain on the green, circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection

*District Councils, Manchester Guardian, September 10th, 1897

**Public Recreation Grounds at Withington, Manchester Guardian, May 18th, 1896

***Breaking News ……….. the Rec on Beech Road is officially opened, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/04/breaking-news-rec-on-beech-road-is.html

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 2 ........... the polling book …. 1836

Now most people will know that there was a time when few people could vote in elections, but I am always taken aback by just how few that was.

Didsbury in 1853

Here in Didsbury, the total population who were over the age of 21 in 1841, was 1,789, but those entitled to cast their vote in Parliamentary elections amounted to just 52, and of course all the 52 were men.

Added to which 30% of those electors, didn’t even live in Didsbury.

Now this I know because of the Poll Books, which are a list of voters entitled to vote by virtue of a property qualification.

They are a wonderful resource, providing the name of each elector, where they lived, the nature of their qualification and the location of that property.

And for good measure, the entry also provides the name of who lived in each property, many of whom were tenants, which extends our knowledge of who was resident in Didsbury in the year the register was compiled.

% of electors living in Didsbury in 1836

And that is very important, because apart from the census returns, there are few documents which offer up the names of people who were not either wealthy or in trade.

The first census to record individual names, was the 1841 census and while there are parish records for births deaths and marriages, these can be fragmentary, and early directories, tend only to list the “people of plenty”.

So, with names of even the humblest, it is possible to visit the rate books and search for both owners and tenants, and that will yield how much they paid in rates, as well as the estimated rental value of the property.  These rate books were compiled every year and so it is possible to track the movements of an individual tenant or property owner around Didsbury.

And that is particularly useful given that the time between each census was ten years, and many street and trade directories are not inclusive.

There is of course the tithe record, which lists who owned the land, who rented it, its value and it's use.  It also came with a map, which makes it easy to plot where people lived, but these were one off exercises.

The Didsbury Hotel, once the Church Inn, circa 1860-70

So, our Poll Books are a fascinating insight in to Didsbury, more so because in an election year they also record how people voted.

This was after all, a time before the secret ballot and how you voted was seen by everyone who attended on the day of the election and was recorded for everyone to read..

Alas our Poll Book dates from 1836, a year when there were no Parliamentary elections, so I cannot find the voting preference of Samuel Bethell who interests me because he was for a time the owner of the Church Inn which sometime after 1855 was renamed the Didsbury Hotel.

He also owned the smaller beer shop known as the Prince Albert, which stood roughly on the corner of Millgate and Wilmslow Road.  The Church Inn had a rateable value of £74 which was matched by its near competitor the Old Cock, but was far ahead of the Prince Albert which paid just £14.

That shouldn’t be a surprise given that in the 1850s, the Prince Albert appears to have been run by John Arnold who was also a blacksmith and the beer shop may well have been a secondary venture.  So far, he has proved elusive and is not on either the 1841 or ’51 census, and while there is a John Arnold on the Poll Book for 1836, I do not think this is he.

Detail of the Didsbury Hotel, 1860-1870

But there are 73 names on the Poll Book which pretty much opens 72 more investigations which in turn may tell us a lot more about Didsbury back in 1836.

And along the way I might also uncover more about Mr. Bethell, who according to one Didsbury historian “acquired squatter’s rights over the space [in front of the Church Inn] by enclosing it with boundary stones sometime between 1821 and 1855 and treating it as his own”. **

In so doing he will have deprived the villagers of an open space, leaving me to reflect that such a dastardly act may also have led him to watering down the beer.

But that may just be one scurrilous accusation too far.

We shall see.

Location Didsbury

Pictures; Didsbury showing the Church Inn and Old Cock, 1853, from the OS for Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the Didsbury Hotel, formerly the Church Inn, 1860-70 from the Lloyd Collection

*Poll Book, 1836, Didsbury, Southern Division of the County of Lancaster, page 62-63

** A History of Didsbury, Ivor R. Millon, 1969, page 25

Budapest on a fine April day ...... from the camera of Julie Thomas ...no.1

Now Budapest is not a city I have visited, so it has been fun to see the place through the camera of Julie Thomas.

Julie told me “I have my phone on the setting Noir so I will call these 'Budapest Noir'”

And that is all I am going to say.

This is the first in that series

Location; Budapest

Picture; Budapest Noir, 2018, from the collection of Julie Thomas