The story of one building in Chorlton over three centuries ...... part 4 Samuel and Sarah Nixon, Mr Hayes, Mrs Lothian and the Bone Man

Number 70 2013

The continuing story of one building in Chorlton over three centuries*

Number 70 Beech Road has been home to many businesses since it opened as a beer shop in 1832 and of all the people who lived there it is the Nixon’s who we know most about.

Now this is all the remarkable given that they occupied the house from the 1840s but that is often how historical research pans out.

Sadly closer to our own time much that would reveal the lives of people are locked away and subject to that 100 year rule.

But the records offer up much about the Nixon’s.

Samuel was born in Staffordshire in 1817 and by the 1830s his father was running that pub across the river by Jackson’s boat.

Mr and Mrs Nixon

In 1842 Samuel married Sarah Ann Mason whose father and grandfather ran the Bowling Green during the first three decades of the 19th century and also described themselves as Land Surveyors.

Given that both came from the pub trade it is not surprising that they took over the tenancy of the beer shop sometime around 1842 and continued running it till their deaths.

Samuel died in 1877 and Sarah Ann in 1886 and were buried in the parish church year where their gravestone can still be seen.

Their eldest son went on to run the stationer’s and post office next door and his son established the newsagents on the corner of Beech and Chequers Road.  Lionel the grandson married Hilda Brownlow whose family had made and mended wheels from their business at Lane End.

The Travellers Rest, circa 1901

Number 70 continued a beer shop until the early years of the 20th century and we can track a number of tenants, including a Mr Valentine and Mr Hayes of which the second presents one of those intriguing little mysteries.

For in 1891 Mr Hayes was selling his beer at number 70 Beech Road which had changed its name from the Travellers Rest to the Trevor Arms not that this lasted for long for when Mr Hayes moved across the road to run a rival beer shop he took the name with him and the old and familiar name of the Travellers Rest reappeared.

And after Mr Hayes and Mr Valentine we enter one of those periods where the building  was pretty much all things to all people.

Mr Riddle ran his upholstery business there from around 1909 onwards and two decades later the widow
Mrs Lothian was offering up prime fish for sale and continued to do into 1936.

Now she had lived at one time or another on Brundrettes, Chequers,  and Wilbraham Road before settling down on Whitelow and I am intrigued by the hint that she may have run two shops, for along with number 70 she is listed at various addresses along Wilbraham Road  during the same period.

She died in 1953 leaving £1074 to her daughters.

Bob Jones circa 1950s

By then our building had for a while become a pet shop run by Mr Jones and it is to his son Bob that I owe the story of the bone man.

Unlike pet shops today Mr Jones offered an extra service which was the humane disposal of loved animals.

Mr Jones would put them in a specially designed box and fed in a lethal dose leaving his son Bob to hand over the remains to the Bone Man who made regular calls.

Now over its long 183 years there will have been plenty of others who made this place their home and I guess their stories will be rediscovered in the course of time.

Pictures, number 70, 2013 and gravestone of Mr and Mrs Nixon, 2010, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, in 1958, as the Travellers Rest circa 1901 in 1979 from the collection of Tony Walker, taken R.E. Stanley, m17658, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass   and Bob Jones outside Mr Neil’s shop sometime in the 1950s,opposite number 70 from the collection of Bob Jones.

*The continuing story of one building in Chorlton over three centuries, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-story-of-one-building-in-chorlton_16.html

Gambling on the popularity of a German Christmas card in the December of 1912

Now had I been a shop keeper in the run up to the Christmas of 1912 I might well have bought in to a few sets of Tuck and Sons “A Winter Campaign.”

The series showed a group of snowman in slightly different poses riding wooden horses.

The artist was Wally Fialkowska who was Austrian and the cards were produced in Bavaria and so naturally enough the snowman are wearing German military caps.

They seem to have proved popular with Mr Bernard Butler   who sent one to Madam J. Wetter at 67 Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square on December 24th wishing “you all a happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year.”

And also to “MRR” who on the back of another told Miss Halliday of Bridge Street, Banbridge, Co Down that the canary “was making such a row we had to banish him from the dining room and still he sings.”

Of course two years later and any that were still in stock would quietly have been thrown on the back of the fire, unless our shop keeper was optimistic enough to gamble on the war being “over by Christmas.”









Pictures; from “A WINTER CAMPAIGN” from the series, “A WINTER CAMPAIGN” 1912, marketed by Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdb.org/

Out on Bury Road in 1949 ..............

Now, I like this picture, for lots of different reasons.

It was taken just a few months before I was born, out along Bury Old Road.

One day I will go looking for the firm Cornall of Bury, but for now I am content to study the old-fashioned lorry and the three men staring back at me.

Flat caps, overalls and long coats were the order of the day, over the sleek corporate uniforms supplied to transport workers today.

And the rest as they say is for you to discover, leaving me just to point to the bucket of water at the rear of the lorry on the pavement.

Location; Bury Old Road










Picture; Lorry, Bury Old Road, near Heaton Park, February 21st, 1949, from the collection of Allan Brown

Posting a letter in Woolwich …….. a little bit of fun and a challenge

Now here is a bit of our history, and for those who will always be Woolwich not Greenwich, this will have a special place.

I am looking at one of those bits of crested porcelain, which everyone buys at some point.

 Usually they are an impulse purchase on a wet day at the seaside and after a period on the mantle piece they get consigned to the back of a cupboard, and finally to a charity shop, and on the way acquire at leas one chip.

When I was growing up they  would fascinate me, and later in my teenage years I dismissed them as tacky.

But now, as I enter my seventh decade I am drawn back to them, and in particular those produced during the Great War when the ceramic companies switched to war time themes, turning out china tanks, ambulances, and battleships, all with a coat of arms of a different city, or town.

All of which brings back to the postbox, for which I don’t have a date, but could be anytime from 1900 when the borough was created, to its demise and its merger with Greenwich.

There are still some lingering bits of the old borough around, in the form of the coat of arms, on park gates, proudly announcing our connection to the Royal Arsenal.

And that might well be the challenge for everyone, to find and post them.

But for now I have this one from the collection of David Harrop.

Location; Woolwich






Picture, ceramic crested posted box, Woolwich, date unknown, courtesy of David Harrop

The mob in Didsbury in 1793 …………… opposing progress and the ideas of the day

January 1793 was an uncertain time across the country.  

Didsbury in 1853

The weather was unseemingly cold, the harvest had been poor, and in France the survival of the monarchy was in doubt.

All of which might explain why a crowd gathered to watch as an effigy of that well-known radical, Thomas Paine was burned on the village green in front of the two village pubs.*

And after the event some of the crowd will have settled down in the Old Cock, and the Ring o’Bells which would be rebuilt as the Church Inn and is now the Didsbury Hotel.

Just how many of those swapping stories in the two pubs, were in favour of Tom Paine, and how many had taken against the man who supported both the American and the French Revolutions, we will never know, but our two publicans may well have been pleased at the turn of events which brought in the customers.

The crowd who assembled to see the event may have been driven by a fear of Paine’s ideas or out of sheer curiosity, but they weren’t alone, because in all that orgy of burning, Bromsgrove in Worcestershire was “the only town in England in which an effigy of Tom Paine was not burned”, leaving the Manchester Guardian to add that there in Bromsgrove, “Democracy predominates.”**

Thomas Paine, 1792

And that leads me to the only description of a burning that we have for Manchester, which was the one carried out on December 17th 1792,
"The inhabitants at top Deansgate, hanged the effigy of Tom Paine, dressed in a Maroon coloured Coat, Striped Waistcoat, and greasy pair of Breeches, a Barber’s Block with a Wig on supplied the Place of a Head, from his Coat Pockets hung shreds of Paper and on the shoulder a Quantity of Thread, emblematical of his devant Trade, with ‘The Rights of Man’ stitched on his Breast; thus he hung an Hour, amidst the Acclamations of Hunderds of Spectators; he was afterwards dragged through the Streets, and then committed to the flames the Populace singing ‘God Save the King’"***

This event came during a surge of ‘loyalism’ in Manchester where a carefully crafted campaign had been waged against those who had embraced the French Revoultion and argued for a Radical ideas.

In the same month, the home of Thomas Walker on South Parade was attacked by an organizaned mob of Church and King supporters, and Walker was forced to drive them off by discharging a pistol.

Writing later of the event he commented,

“Emboldened by drink and fired on by agitators, groups hostile to the radicals began to gather around the city.  Walker was in no doubt that this was pre-planned.  

Thomas Walker, 1794

Parties were collected in different public houses, and from thence paraded in the streets with a fiddler before them, and carrying board on which was painted with CHURCH and KING in large letters’ 

On four separate occasions a mob gathered outside South Parade, broke the windows and attempted to force their way in.  Supported by friends Thomas Walker was forced to fire into the air to disperse the crowds. 

The magistrates did nothing to prevent the events and while a “regiment of dragoons was in town, booted and under arms” and ready to disperse the rioters no order was given. 

As if to add insult to injury the main concern of the magistrates when they finally met Walker was that he should not fire at the crowd again if the mob returned!  These attacks had been matched by similar ones on the home of Priestly in Birmingham and in Nottingham.” ****


Location; Didsbury and Manchester

Pictures; Thomas Paine, 1792, Thomas Walker. 1794, 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/


*Axon, William, The Annals of Manchester, 1885, page 120

** Bromsgrove, Manchester Guardian, January 20th, 1793

***Manchester Mercury, January 1, 1793, quoted by O’Gorman Frank, Manchester Loyalism in the 1790s from Return to Peterloo Manchester Region History Review, Volume 23 2012

**** Walker, Thomas, A Review of some of the events of the last five years, London 1794 page 23

The Spanish Civil War, by Chris Hall ..... and the Chorlton Two

Today I got a message from Chris Hall who has written extensively about the Spanish Civil War.

"Hello Andrew, my new book British Volunteers and the Spanish Civil War: ‘The Passionate Cause’, 1936-39 is available now at a reduced price. For more details about the book see below:

Ninety years ago, a Civil War broke out in a then little-known country. For thousands of British, Irish and Commonwealth people, the Spanish Civil War was their main focus for three years.

Over 2,500 “British” (including Irish and Commonwealth) men and women fought in the International Brigades or served in the medical services of the Spanish Republic. Over 500 volunteers were to die in Spain.

Other “British” volunteers served as mercenary pilots and in the revolutionary militias (including George Orwell); some even served on the side of the rebel forces.

At home, thousands participated in ‘Spanish Aid’ activities, raising funds for food ships and medical supplies for Republican Spain. During the Civil War, 4000 Basque refugee children were supported by public donations. Picasso’s Guernica painting toured England to raise funds.

This is the story of ordinary men and women, told in their own words and reflecting the whole gamut of emotions from ecstasy to despair.

Many volunteers would go on to fight in the Second World War, and some became leading figures in post-War Britain. But for many volunteers, the Spanish Civil War was the “Passionate Cause” and the outstanding episode of their lives. This is their story.

The book can be purchased from the publishers or via Amazon”.

To which I can add, it will be published on January 30th, 2026, and costs £29.99, but there is a pre order introductory offer which allows you to buy the book for £23.99 by following the link.*

This is his second book, the first was on The Nurse Who became a Spy Madge Addy's war Against Fascism, and came out in 2022.  Madge Addy lived in Chorlton.  She was a shadowy figure, who worked as a nurse on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and went on to work for the SOE during the last World War.

All of which leaves me to write that along with Madge Addy, Chris Hall’s new book includes the story of Bernard McKenna who lived at Egerton Road North for many years and was also associated with the Civil War.

*Pre order https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/British-Volunteers-and-the-Spanish-Civil-War-The-Passionate-Cause-1936-39-Hardback/p/57241

**Madge Addy, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Madge%20Addy

Photographs from the Royal Herbert during the Great War ............ a unique album of pictures

The Royal Herbert, date unknown

Now the story of the Royal Herbert has just got a lot more exciting and that has a lot to do with a fascinating photograph album from the Great War.

It belongs to my old friend David Harrop who has a unique collection of memorabilia covering both world wars as well as the history of the Post Office.

And today I am looking through it with the hope that some at least of the men and the nurses in the pictures can be traced and their stories uncovered.

Christmas Day, 1915

In time I might even be able to discover the nurse responsible for the album.

A few of the nurses are named and tantalizingly two pictures are captioned “myself” so the search is on which may be made easier as the Red Cross continues to add to its online data base of those who served during the Great War.

And then there are the large number of photographs of soldiers in their “hospital blues” recovering on the wards, a few party scenes and handful from soldiers who had recovered and left the hospital.

Summer, 1916

Together they help reveal a little bit of life in the Royal Herbert during 1915 and 1916.

Given the quality of the cameras and the age of the pictures some images have not fared so well but even the poorest have a story to tell.

One of my favourites is of Sister Thomson and a group of men on a ward on Christmas Day in 1915 along with a much faded image of the garden in the summer of 1916.

Now these albums were quite common but I suspect not that many have survived.

Album cover

David has two more which contain comments, poems and drawings of men recovering from wounds and illnesses.

One remains a mystery but the other comes from a Red Cross Hospital in Cheltenham and it has been possible to track  some of the men who made a contribution.

Their stories are as varied as I am sure will be the ones from the Herbert and include a young Canadian who survived the war and went home to live a successful and productive life and another who is buried in the military hospital outside Cairo.

And like all good stories led my friend Susan who lives in Canada to tell the story of that young Canadian and in so doing brought his drawing and his words  off the pages of the Cheltenham book and back from the past.

Now that I have to say was both exciting and moving.

The Royal Herbert album is different in that it only has photographs but in looking through it I have made a link with a hospital I knew well and which at one point in the 1970s treated our mother.

All of which makes it that bit special.

David's permanent exhibition can be seen in the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery, Manchester and currently features a collection of material commemorating the Manchester Blitz.

Pictures; from the Royal Hebert collection, 1915-16 courtesy of David Harrop

*Blighty, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Blighty

Sonnets ..... wot Shakespeare wrote .... today on the wireless

Now, this is one I enjoyed.

Shake-Speare's Sonnets, 1609

It is another in the In Our Time series, has a bonus few minutes, from Historian and broadcaster Simon Schama who has selected the episode on Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

"In 1609 Thomas Thorpe published a collection of poems entitled Shakespeare’s Sonnets, “never before imprinted”.

Yet, while some of Shakespeare's other poems and many of his plays were often reprinted in his lifetime, the Sonnets were not a publishing success. 

They had to make their own way, outside the main canon of Shakespeare’s work: wonderful, troubling, patchy, inspiring and baffling, and they have appealed in different ways to different times. 

Most are addressed to a man, something often overlooked and occasionally concealed; one early and notorious edition even changed some of the pronouns.

With: Hannah Crawforth, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at King’s College London, Don Paterson, Poet and Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews and Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson"

Locatiob; BBC Radio 4

Picture; Shake-Speare's Sonnets, quarto published by Thomas Thorpe, London, 1609

*Shakespeare’s Sonnets, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live/bbc_radio_fourfm

Lawrence Beedle ... my friend

 I have been thinking of my friend Lawrence who died recently, and as you do I have been reflecting on over 40 years of friendship.

Lawrence

We shared an interest in history and particularly the Labour Party and the Co-op movement which for Lawrence translated into a deep knowledge which was a product of years of research.

Co-op Spring fashions, 1939

I always remember the time he compiled a complete collection of local election results for Chorlton stretching back to 1904 which also included all the MPs elected for our bit of south Manchester charting the complicated journey of boundary changes. 

Nor was it just the obscure.  

His knowledge and understanding of Co-op history was so detailed he could talk with authority on the founding of Co-operation in Manchester, the advance of the Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-op Society not to be confused with Marks and Spencer’s which carried the same initials on their shop fronts.  

And Lawrence could offer up the dates for the opening of the stores and exactly which Co-op store was best for buying furniture. 

Lawrence recounting when the Co-op went Self service, undated

Equally Lawrence was his blog on just one Co-op store … the one on Hardy Lane.   *

The blog ranged over all sorts of history from food to retail stamps, old 78 gramophone records and the story of Sanatogen that “Tonic and Restorative Wine”.

As he once said “before Lucozade there was Sanatogen”.

Now that blog is still live and is well worth a visit.

And all of this was done with joy as if the discovery and retelling was the fun.

And the fun also came in testing the past like the time he announced he was going to recreate some now forgotten war time dishes using the same rationed ingredients.

Orange curd, 1940

He started with the National Loaf from 1941 and accompanied it with Woolton Pie which consisted of diced cooked potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and turnips to which were added rolled oats chopped spring onions and vegetable stock which formed the gravy.  

Both the loaf and the pie were met with derision and even hostility during the war and so Lawrence just wanted to taste them himself and see what the fuss was all about.

I brought to the table a bowl of orange curd made from a 1940 recipe.  

We sat back and reflected that as vegetarians all three dishes were pretty dammed good, and the project was the perfect example of reenacting history.

And along the way we had touched a bit of the past even if it was a tad silly.

That silliness could also be the academic challenge, like the day he found a card of fuse wire, and challenged me to turn it into a history story, commenting,  “We’ve all got things at the back of a drawer. This must be 40 or 50 years old. Fuse wire in three different amperages. When did you last use fuse wire?

Winfield was the brand name for own label goods from Woolworths”. 

The Lawrence fuse wire challege

Of course there was so much more to him, from his days with Rabid Records, his fascination with the possibilities of the early internet, his contribution to the Unicorn Food Co-op, along with his impish sense of humour, his rabbit hole interests and much more.

So there you have it, my friend Lawrence.

Pictures; Lawrence, courtesy of Kathy his wife, and other images drawn from his blog, Hardy Lane Scrapbook

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, https://hardylane.blogspot.com/

Seven bars .... one road .... and a Cafe culture

This is Beech Road in 1935, and I doubt that anyone at the time would have thought that ninety years later it would be the centre of Chorlton’s bar and restaurant revolution.

Beech Road, 1935

When I arrived in 1976 it was still a mix of shops where you could buy fresh food from several butchers, a green grocer and at least two grocery stores, as well as a bag of nails a gallon of paraffin,  balls of wool and get your hair cut.

But the growing dominance of supermarkets and changed patterns of shopping dealt a death blow to these traditional shops which had cornered the market for almost a century.

In their place came Café on the Green on the corner of Acres and Beech, Bob Amato’s Italian Deli and Primavera, quickly followed by the Lead Station.

Cafe on the Green, 1995

And it is of Café on the Green and its successors I am reflecting on.

The building has had a varied history, starting off as a hardware shop, becoming a hair dressers and then  briefly selling pianos, before settling down for its long association with food.

And without ever wanting to sound like Methuselah I can claim to have eaten in the place when it first opened as Cafe on the Green, and later when it was known variously as Blue Note, the Nose and Marmalade, the Parlour and then Suburban Green.

And now it has The Jane Eyre run by the two brothers who made their name with the Northern Quarter restaurant, Jane Eyre, which was “Built and named in memory of our mum, [and is] a warm and welcoming neighbourhood bar. Serving classic cocktails with a twist, an eclectic range of keg and bottled beers and simple, great tasting food using the highest quality ingredients”.*

The Jane Eyre, 2025

I could of course just make the observation that the entire stretch of land from Acres Road up to Chequers was Blomely's Fish pond, which vanished sometime in the 1870s, and that according to our local historian, Mr. Ellwood a small water course ran the length of Acres Road which was paved over.

But that is for another time.

Marmalade, 2007

The Nose, undated

Surburban Green with a look back at the Parlour, 2020

The closed and sad looking Parlour, 2020

For now, I present a selection of pictures from them olden days.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Beech Road in 1935 courtesy Marjorie Holmes of the transformation from the Nose, Marmalade, the Parlour and Jayne Eyre, 1990s-2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Jane Eyre, https://www.thejaneeyre.co.uk/

“Influenza is still spreading in Manchester and the death rate is high”*......... stories behind the book nu 21

An occasional series on the stories behind the  book on Manchester and the Great War**

All deaths in Manchester, November 1918

Now however you play with the figures the flu epidemic of 1918 was an awful event.

It had begun in the summer, returned later in the autumn, and impacted on industry and commerce, briefly disrupting the tram service and leading to a closure of all Manchester schools on November 30.***

And despite the medical authorities concluding that the outbreak was “reaching the culminating point” and anticipating a decline from the start of December, they called for the closure of all Sunday schools and recommended that children under fourteen should be barred from cinemas and theatres.

Manchester flu deaths as a % of all deaths in November 1918

A wise precaution given that the death toll had risen through November from 81 at the end of the first week up to 297 by November 23, which is shocking enough but is more so when expressed as a % of total deaths.  At the beginning of the month deaths from flu had amounted to 32% of all recorded deaths but by the fourth week that figure had climbed to 53%.

According to one newspaper the mortuaries were full, undertakers couldn’t keep pace with the orders and at the cemeteries the labour available for grave digging had proved quite inadequate.

This had led to efforts to release skilled coffin makers from the army and a call for “greater simplicity in funeral arrangements and a more extensive use of the crematorium.”

And as ever there were those who were swift to make money from the crisis and those who sought easy explanations for its appearance.

Fight the Flu, 1918

So the firm Genatosan Ltd offered up their “Germ Killing Throat Tablet” which would ensure “you will be safe from Spanish Influenza and other epidemics".

It was endorsed by Lady Manns, Lady Jane Joicey-Cecil and Mr Matheson Lang who was ordered by his doctors to take the tablet Formamint which “gave me great relief.”****

It was a set of recommendations bettered only by Lady Firbank who added that “Formamint tablets have completely cured my throat which owing to Influenza has been left weak and painful.”

But perhaps we shouldn’t be over harsh on the makers of Formamint for offering their tablet as a remedy given that at least some thought that there might a link between the outbreak and arrival of American troops who landed shortly before the epidemic began.

Or for that matter the musings of a former US President that bleach might be an effective defence against Covid.

Location, Manchester

Picture; Fight the Flu with Formamint, advert, 1918

*Manchester Influenza A High death Rate, Manchester Guardian, November 9, 1918

**A new book on Manchester and the Great War, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

***Influenza, Epidemic at its height in Manchester, Manchester Guardian, November 30, 1918

****Fight the Flu, advert, Manchester Guardian, August 15, 1918

The not so dusty records of Woolwich ……..

Now for many years those of my friends who share my love of Eltham, Woolwich and Plumstead have sung the praises of the two volumes of “Records of  the Woolwich District”. *

 Down an alley from Woolwich High Street, 2013

And equally for years I have made a note to buy the two books, but something always came up and I got side-tracked.

But not now, because last month I took the plunge, ordered both and have not regretted it since.

The title may seem dull and off putting, but there is everything here from the Roman Road over Shooters Hill, the Norman invaders who stole Charlton, and more than a bit on the ancient buildings of Eltham, along with a snapshot of the place in 1881.

Added to which there is heaps about Woolwich, so I reckon there is a bit for everyone.

The Book, 2015

And a careful read will reveal how historians like Eltham’s own Mr. Gregory have plundered the records for stories, and I no doubt will join them.

The records were compiled by W.T. Vincent and published in 1890 and owed their existence to years of sifting through the records at several museums.

Plaisted's Wine House, 2013

Of which the highlight was the discovery of a sealed package with the title of “Dockyards of England-Southeast District” which had come out of the collection of George III, including an exact plan of Woolwich in 1748, a plan of “the Foundry from 1715”, plans of the dockyard from 1774 and a plan “of the 2-gun batteries and bomb-battery in 1737”.

And the rest as they are a riveting section in volume one revealing so much about the history of Woolwich with snippets about the other parts of the old borough peppered through volume two to make this a fascinating read, which can be dipped into or be used as the basis for more research.

Leaving me to ponder just where I will start, while reflecting on how popular such histories were at the the end of the 19th century.

My bookshelves are full of books written during the 1880s into the early decades of the the next century.

Some are slightly turgid, but most are extremely interesting, particularly those written about areas which were just decades earlier small rural communities.

Woolwich Free Ferry, 1905

And I suspect that is why they were written. 

Two of my favourite historians admit that they were motivated by a desire to record a way of life which was fast disappearing.

Both included descriptions by men and women who had been born in the early part of the 19th century who in turn drew on memories of conversations with parents and grandparents which went back to the years just after George III lost the American colonies, and in some cases even further back.

I am not sure that Mr. Vincent does this, but his meticulous use of old records make his book one to read.

Location; the old Borough of Woolwich

Pictures, down an alley from Woolwich High Street, 2013, from the collection of Liz and Colin Fitzpatrick, cover of volume 11, 2015 and the Woolwich Free Ferry, Tuck & Sons, 1905, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/

*“Records of the Woolwich District”,  W.T .Vincent, 1890, and republished 2015 by FamLoc Books

The first Christmas card of December

Now if like me you are old enough to remember those letters to the Times on hearing the first cuckoo of spring, here is another.

In this case it’s the first greetings card for Christmas.

A first in that  we are only just in to December and also because it is the earliest David has shown me from his collection.

It dates from December 1916 and although I know he has much older ones this is still a first for me.

Somewhere in the collection I have some Victorian ones and perhaps it’s time for them to see the light of day.

David tells me this one was also a a Valentine's mailing novelty card so a double first.

And that is it.

I shall   leave you with this one, and no I don’t feel that I have brought Christmas in too early given our local supermarket has had advent calendars for a month and the first TV advert for the season aired sometime ago.

All I will say is that David continues to amaze me with the extent of his collection of memorabilia from the two world wars along with that of postal history.

Still that’s it for now.

Picture; Christmas card 1916, from the collection of David Harrop 

The Pompidou Woman …. a hot August weekend …. and that arts centre

Someone will know the exact name of this piece, along with the artist, but for now I will call it the Pompidou Woman.

The Pompidou Woman, 1981

I came across her with our Elizabeth in the summer of 1981 on a short holiday in Paris.

It was really just a long weekend and as such we made no plans and just wandered across the city.

But given the aimlessness of the adventure, we did manage to encounter the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, heaps of parks and plenty of interesting cafes.

And amongst the chance discoveries was the Centre Pompidou, which my Wikipedia tells me “is located in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (BPI; Public Information Library), a vast public library, and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest museum for modern art in Europe. The Place Georges Pompidou is an open plaza in front of the museum”.*

I am guessing it was that open space which caught our attention with lots of people, sitting around watching the buskers and street performers. 

Dance the day away, 1981

The inside outside building, 1981

You can’t miss the building with its “inside outside” appearance, which shows off all the structural pipe system  which were colour-coded: green pipes for plumbing, blue ducts  for climate control, electrical wires encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety like fire extinguishers in red.

And from that outside we were drawn in.

I remember it was vey crowded and very busy and like most tourists we just followed the flow, ending up with my Pompidou Woman. 

I took lots of pictures, but few have survived the passage of 44 years, and those that I have were colour slides which have not fared well in our cellar for four decades.

The Gard du Nord welcomes happy and careful tourists, 1981

So, the photo of that woman has gone fuzzy, lacks definition and had already begun to fade, but there is enough to offer up something of her presence.

Looking at the rest of the collection, they have also suffered, but I like the one at the Gard du Nord, if only because it was our introduction to Paris.

I had travelled down from Manchester to London, spent the night in the family house in Well Hall in Eltham and then my sister and I started the big adventure, via Dover, hovercraft and slow train to the City of Light.

I should write more about the history of the Pompidou Centre, suffice to say that it was started in 1971, completed six years later and cost 993 million French francs.

And that is it, except to say suggestions for the correct name of the Pompidou Woman, should be sent via snail post on the back of a 1981 programme of exhibits at the Centre Pompidou.

Location; Paris in 1981

Pictures; Paris 1981 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Centre Pompidou, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Pompidou

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton ....... part 155 ..... is it Christmas yet?

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

The tree, 2023

I have often wondered when Joe and Mary Ann put up their Christmas tree.

Of course, given that they didn’t have children the magic of Christmas may have been less magical.

Still, I would like to think they did order one up and on a chosen day set it up in the front room.

But just when is lost in time.  Judging by the number of people trudging up Beech Road with one under their arm, or on their shoulder last Saturday, the date November 22nd seems to be a popular choice.

When I was growing up it would be in mid-December, while in this house when the lads were small I tended to go for the first Saturday after the start of the Christmas holidays, an event which variously involved all or some of us going down to Adams in the precinct and mulling over the best one to go for.

It had to be real and tall enough to reach the ceiling and usually was too tall, and after a couple of disastrous choices I left it to Tony from the shop to decide which to sell us.

All of which leaves the question of when it should go up.  I sought advice and found a multitude of suggestions from early, to mid or late November, to early, mid to latish December.

I suppose for many it will be when the trees first appear in the shops or when the first Christmas adverts bounce across the TV screen.

Historically the start of the Advent Festivities seems an appropriate time, which was also tempered in the past by the practical consideration of ensuring that the pine needles stayed on the branches for Christmas Day.

Traditional decorations

There will be many who have memories of brushing against the tree and watching an avalanche of needles fall to the ground.

Today most trees seem to have been treated to avoid that disaster, which solves one problem but leaves that anxious fear that if you leave it too late, all the best have gone.

But still curious I went looking for when the Victorians traditionally got theirs and while I found out about Prince Albert, the German tradition, Charles Dickens, and how to decorate the tree, a date was missing.

Which I suppose means that even during the mid-19th century onwards the choice of a date was down to practicalities and family tradition.

Bringing it down is more certain, that traditionally is on twelfth night, although I know some who whip the tree down directly after Boxing Day or on the Sunday before the kids go back to school.

The family selection, 1984-2024

As for decorations, we over the years have acquired plenty, and the decision is less what to use, but what not to use.

And that entails adding ones handed down from parents and even grandparents, to ones made or bought by the kids.

Likewise every few years a new set of lights are purchased, freeing up the older ones to be hung across the house.

But at least we do not follow that tradition of candles.  And yes, when I was growing up in the 1950s we still decorated the tree with coloured candles which sat in a green cup attached to the branches with a small metal grip and were lit.

Happily sometime in that decade we got a set of coloured lights shaped like longish light bulbs which lasted into the 1990s.

To which were added those favourites of the period …. the paper lanterns, and the paper chains which first had to be assembled by licking the gummed edges and adding each to the chain.

Christmas Eve, 2022

But fashion as ever marches with Christmas, and so those paper chains, the lines of gaudy tinsel and bright coloured lights have vanished.

They have been replaced by delicate white lights which illuminate the assortment of past decorations un themed but full of happy memories.

And when ever our tree goes up this year, that will be when Christmas has arrived.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; Christmas tree, 2023, and Christmas Eve, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Christmas decorations; from the collection of Catherin Obi

*The Story of a House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/08/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in.html

Mr Gratrix's clay pipe lost in our garden in 1845

The pipe found in the garden, 2014

It is not much of a piece of history but I found it in our front garden which makes it special and takes me back to sometime in the 19th century.

It is a bit of clay pipe and was probably thrown away by some one working this bit of land, or by someone passing along what was then called the Row.*

It is even just possible it came from night soil brought in from Manchester to spread on the fields of Chorlton.

'Like any time in history some of the most revealing clues to how people lived are contained in the rubbish they threw away.  Across the township one of the most common items to resurface is the humble clay pipe.

Found in the parish churchyard, 1980

Usually they are broken and often turn up on their own, although sometimes a whole batch has been unearthed over a period of time all quite close together.

They were the pipe of the working man, and some working women.  

Inexpensive, easy to make and made in huge quantities, they are a true example of a throw away product.  

They were smoked in the home, in the pub and at the work place.  

The evidence from sites in some of the poorer parts of London show that the owners smoked heavily.**

Clay pipes come in many different sizes, some with long stems and decorated bowls and date from anytime from the 17th through to the 20th century.  The last clay pipe manufacturer in Manchester only ceased trading in 1990.

The most interesting pipe to come back out of the earth was found in the archaeological dig of the church in the 1980s.  It can be dated to between 1830 and 1832, and may have been bought to commemorate the coronation of William IV.  

The William IV pipe, 1830-32

It bears the inscription “William IV and Church” around the rim and is highly decorated with the royal coat of arms flanked by a lion on one side and a unicorn on the other.  

It is also unusual because it was found in one of the graves inside the church.  

The final burial in the grave was that of Thomas Watson aged 54 in 1832.  

There are those who might well imagine the pipe being placed alongside the coffin of Thomas Watson in imitation of the ancient practice of placing grave goods alongside the departed.  

The less romantic will counter with the obvious observation that it was the casual act of one of the grave diggers.  

Either way it is unusual for the bowl to survive.   More commonly it is the stem which is turned up and even these are found as fragments.

Detail of the pipe

Clay pipes were never expected to last.  At best they might survive for a few weeks and in many cases just days.  But then they were cheap.  

Very little has been published on the price of pipes but adverts dating from 1799 have unglazed ones selling at 2s 6d [12½p] a gross.  Just over 130 years later the 1930 Pollock catalogue was selling them at 4s [20p] a gross.  Longer pipes did cost a little more but these were not the choice of the working man in the fields.  

Shorter pipes could be smoked while working and it is these that turn up in the fields around the township.'***

So I wonder about my bit of pipe.

I would like to think it belonged to Samuel Gratrix who was farming this bit of Egerton land in the 1840s, but chances are it was discarded by someone passing along the Row, or worse still dropped into a privy somewhere in Manchester, only to make its way with a cart load of night soil along the Duke's canal to Chorlton.

But that along with Mr Gratrix and his field belong to another story.

Pictures; clay pipe, 2014  from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and other pipes from the report on the Archaeological dig conducted by Dr Angus Bateman during 1980-81


*The Row or Chorlton Row is now Beech Road

** Pearce, Jacqui, Living in Victorian London: The Clay Pipe Evidence, 2007, Geography Department at Queen Mary, University of London

***from the Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy,   http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html