“paying due honour to the wisest and most virtuous Statesman that ever appeared in any country” *….. the Manchester Pitt Club

Now until today Pitt Clubs were just a footnote in history books on the late 18th and early 19th century.

The Manchester Pitt Medal, 1813

And were something which I always meant to follow up but never did.

They were formed throughout the country in honour of William Pitt the Younger to “keep green the memory of one who had sacrificed so much for his country” and in recognition of his undoubted talents which began “at the age of thirteen [when] he composed a tragedy, at fourteen when he matriculated at Cambridge and became an orator at twenty-one. 

At twenty-three he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the early age of forty-seven he was proclaimed the “saviour of Europe”.*

The first club was formed in London in 1793 and our own Manchester Club in 1813, and another forty-two were dotted across Britain, including ones in Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn and Saddleworth.

Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794 

William Pitt has always been one of those politicians who I should know more about, especially as I am fond of his despairing comment "Roll up the map: it will not be wanted these ten years.”* on the news that the Austrian and Russian armies had been defeated by Napoleon's army at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805, which pretty much left Britain to face the "Corsican Tyrant" alone.

And it will be his role as Prime Minister during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars which will in part have cemented his reputation and contributed to the spread of the clubs.

All of which has led me to look up the records of the Manchester Club which contain for 1813-31 the minute, account and dinner books, as well as a list of members and are held at Manchester Archives and Local Studies, and Chetham's Library*

Thomas Walker, 1794

The real insight will be the members who I suspect will turn out to be no friends of the French Revolution and may will have applauded the Governments attempts to prosecute our own Thomas Walker for sedition in 1794.**** 

Mr. Walker had in his time held the most important post as Borough Reeve in Manchester, had campaigned against the Slave Trade, supported the revolution in France and had his town house on South Parade attacked by a Church and King mob.

So, I rather think there will be some rich picking in sifting through the story of Manchester Pitt Club.

The clubs had a short life and by the 1820s were on the decline.  But in their hey day they had been the place to go if were both a supporter of William Pitt and an avid ant Revolutionary. 

The focus of activities was the annual dinner which could be an elaborate affair.  The cost of the food and drink held by the London Club in 1808 ran to £841.  

The list of things consumed included 429 bottles of sherry at £139, 613 bottles of Port at £153, , 14 bottles of Madeira, £14 for “lights” , “£12 for “broken China” and another £8 for “broken glass”.  Added to there were the “87 Servant’s Dinner” costing £8 14 shillings and 6, which comes out at roughly shillings a head. And that is less than the brandy or the sugar consumed.

The reverse of the medal, 1813

Admission was by a badge or medal, and the Dudley Club’s cost 30 shillings each and were made of frosted silver while members of the London club paid £1 16s 6d.

And there was a strict protocol which demanded that “each member shall wear it at all meetings of the Club tied on his left breast with a garter of blue ribbon”.

Which brings to the Manchester medal which my old posty friend David Harrop has just acquired, and very impressive it looks.

But I can’t help but feel that back in 1813 I would not have been a member.  After all as Groucho Marx said, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member”, but in reality, I wouldn’t have been able to join and nor would I want to be part of a club which had as its members those who opposed the general principles of the French Revolution.

Location; Manchester, 1813

Pictures; The Manchester Pitt Club medal from the collection of David Harrop, Pitt addressing the House of Commons in 1794. The House of Commons 1793-94, by Karl Anton Hickel (died 1798), given to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1885 and Thomas Walker, 1794

*Objectives of The London Pitt Club

**Garnett, S. Alan (1927). "Pitt Clubs and their badges" British Numismatic Journal. 19 (Second Series, IX): 213–218.

***Manchester Pitt Club, 1813-31: records, Manchester Archives and Local Studies, NRA 13262 Manchester, and 1813-31: minute, account and dinner books, list of members, Chetham's Library, DDX 354

****Thomas Walker, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Thomas+walker

Lydia Brown ……… Chorlton farmer and businesswoman comes out of the shadows ...... after 176 years

I wish there was more to know about Lydia Brown, because back in the middle decades of the 19th century she was a busy woman, here in Chorlton.

Brook Farm, undated

She lived at Brook Farm, and farmed 70 acres of pasture and arable land, stretching along the Brook from the Bowling Green pub almost as far as Barlow Moor Road, and south across the meadows.

She also had portfolio of properties, which included the smithy worked by William Davies on what is now Beech Road, the house and workshop of William Brownhill the wheelwright on Sandy Lane and a number cottages, one of which was occupied by John Axon who had been one of the founder members of our own brass band.

And she was a formidable woman, strong enough in her own knowledge of farming to call down her landlord who was George Lloyd who she spoke of contemptuously as “Squire Lloyd” .

Brook Farm, no. 314 and fields, 1847

This I know because in the summer of 1847 she told the journalist Alexander Somerville that Mr. Lloyd was damaging the land she farmed by his refusal to allow her to cut down a line of ash trees.

These, Alexander Somerville commented were “not only objectionable as all other kinds are in and around cultivated fields but positively poisonous to other vegetation, …… causing much waste of land, waste of fertility, and doing no good whatever.  Squire Lloyd is the landlord.  

Mrs. Brown, a widow, is the tenant.  She keeps the farm in excellent order so far as the landlord’s restrictions will allow.  

But neither herself nor her workmen must 'crop or lop top' a single branch from the deleterious ash trees”.

Now, there is something quite exciting at being able to hear the words of someone who lived in the heart of the township a full 173 years ago,

But there isn’t much else.

Despite trawling the census returns for Chorlton I can not find any reference to her, although tantalizingly there is a Mary Brown, in 1841, who despite the different name fits the profile.
Mary like Lydia was 50 in 1841, both had a son of the same name and both were married to a Johnathan.

Jonathan and Lydia Brown appear in the baptismal records for 1823, 1825, 1828 and ’31.
Jonathan described himself as a publican and according to Ellwood in his History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, he was the tenant at the Horse & Jockey.  Jonathan is in the electoral register for 1832, 1835 and 1840 with freehold buildings at Lane End and on Chorlton Row, which fits with the properties listed as belonging to Lydia from 1844 onwards.***

The gravestone, 2011

And that is about it.  Brook Farm where she lived was on the site of the old dairy, which in turn was redeveloped into a  collection of des res properties on Brookburn Road opposite the school. I do have one picture of the house and know that it had nine rooms.

But we do have her gravestone which is still in the parish churchyard and is in itself a link to Mrs. Brown.

I just wish there was more.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; Brook Farm, undated, from the Lloyd Collection, the tithe map showing Brook Farm and some of the land farmed by Mrs. Brown, 1847, and the gravestone of Mrs. Brown, 2011, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Somerville, Alexander, A Pilgrimage in Search of the Potato Blight, Manchester Examiner, June 19th, 1847

**Ellwood, T, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Chapter 23, Inns April 17th 1886, South Manchester Gazette

***Chorlton Row, is now Beech Road

William Barefoot and a day in the archives of the Peoples’ History Museum in Manchester

William Brefoot, date unknown

Now I have to confess that for me William Barefoot was just a name on a plaque in the Pleasaunce, and if pushed I could also point to William Barefoot Drive and a small park in Plumstead.

All of which is  particularly embarrassing given that we were both members of the Woolwich Labour Party and Mr Barefoot had along connection to Eltham as a councillor and to the history of Woolwich.

And it was while I was in the archives of the Peoples’ History Museum that I decided to take a break from researching the Great War and instead begin to learn more about this remarkable man.*

I knew that he had been born in 1872 that his father was a sadler and that the family had lived on Frances Street not far from the Dockyard and I vaguely also knew that he had been a councillor for Eltham for 33 years and was the Mayor of Woolwich not once but three times, all of which is an impressive record of municipal service.

But there was much more.

A Hall, Will Crooks 7 W Barefoot, 1910

“Will Barefoot fought West Woolwich several times without success, but it was as Agent for the Borough Party that he lived and died. 

From the days of his apprenticeship in the Royal Arsenal he was identified with the Trade Union, Socialist, Co-operative and Municipal life of the Borough.  

Woolwich Labour Representation Committee was one of the first to enlist ‘individual members’ and made national history in 1902 when Will Crooks was first returned to Westminster.  

Success followed in every direction and came primarily as a result of Will Barefoot‘s genius for organization.  
He was supported in all efforts by his wife and it was a poignant circumstance that Mrs Barefoot died within a few weeks of her husband’s passing.”**

He worked alongside Will Crooks the first Labour MP for Woolwich and would have been an active participant in many of the great events of the early 20th century from the election of Mr Crooks to the General Strike of 1926.

And during the Great War he was active on the London Food Vigilance Committee.

Food Vigilance Committees had sprung up across the country as a means of drawing attention to the sharp rise in the cost of living and set forth a clear set of policies, demanding greater control by both the Government and local authorities of food and fuel along with the participation of the Labour movement.

Inside the archives, 

So for me Mr Barefoot has come out of the shadows, and I rather think I will be spending more time in the Archives & Study Centre calling up material on his life and contribution.

“The Labour History Archive & Study Centre (LHASC) is the main specialist repository for research into the political wing of the labour movement.  

It holds the archives of working class organisations from the Chartists to New Labour, including the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain.  

From Salford, 2013

The collections provide an insight into the social, political and economic life of the last two centuries.

As well as the archives of political parties and leftwing pressure groups, LHASC collects the personal papers of radical politicians, writers and activists.  

The archives complement the objects, photographs and banners found in the museum collections and researchers may well find material of interest in both.*

William Barefoot Memorial, 2013

All of which may seem a long way from Woolwich, but I think not.

Sitting there yesterday reading the same material he would have handled I was reminded that we shared quite a lot.

Pictures; photographs of William Barefoot, Will Crooks and A Hall along with the interior of the study centre and view of the Museum from Salford, courtesy of Archives & Study Centre, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/ and  William Barefoot Memorial in Well Hall Pleasunce, from the collection of Chrisse Rose, 2013

* Archives & Study Centre, at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/

** Report of the Annual Conference held the Central Hall Westminster May 25 to 28th, 1942

A tea trolley ….. the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild …. and that community venue

History comes in all shapes and sizes and none more so than the Hardy Lane Co-op store here in Chorlton which is just a tad short of celebrating its 100th birthday.

The Hardy Lane Co-op, 1966

That in itself would be worth commemorating, given that the Co-operative Movement was at the heart of providing good quality food and other products at affordable prices with the bonus that its members received a share of the profits in the form of a dividend on all their purchases.

It is a retail model which was already offering an excellent deal before the Rochdale Pioneers opened their successful shop.

At its zenith the movement had shops, factories, and ships providing families with all they could want from food, furniture, clothes and holidays as well as banking and a funeral service.  

It was organised through Co-operative Societies and for many households it was the place you went to for everything.

Household HintsCo-operative Wholesale Society, undated

And so embedded were the societies in the lives of working people that many can recall their “divi” number which customers proffered up every time they bought something.

R.A.C.S token, undated

We were in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society which was a vast organization covering all of south London and into the Home Counties, and like other societies had both a political and educational wing through which it promoted the ideals of co-operation and a host of events designed to enhance cultural activities and international understanding.

And here in Manchester was the headquarters of the movement centred around Balloon Street.

What marked out the retail arm of most of the societies were the meeting rooms above the shops which could be hired for community use.

All of which brings me back to the Hardy Lane Co-op which is one of only a few shops which still have a functioning meeting space.

Over the last 97 years its room has hosted everything from the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild to the Woodcraft Folk, meetings of the Co-operative and Labour Parties to cinema nights and Whist events.  

Co-op products, undated

As such it has been at the centre of the community it was opened to serve.

Now I have already written about the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild.*

Yet to be written is the story of Barbara Castle’s visit.  She was a  British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving women MPs in British history.  

And with that story should be an account of the Woodcraft Folk’s activities and the many events held to promote Co-operative products and the underlying principles of the Co-operative Movement.

But I will close with the story of the tea trolley.  

It was an essential part of any meeting and would be trundled out at many of the meetings I attended there.  It was not as old as the tea urn or the big brown tea pot but old enough to have clocked up plenty of events.

That tea trolley, 2012

And I suppose in its way is a symbol of all those meetings going back almost a full century when the great business of the day stopped for light refreshments including Co-op tea and co-op biscuits.

Co-op tea, undated

Just leaving me to announce that Chorlton Civic Society in partnership with the Co-operative movement will be unveiling a plaque at the store to commemorate the historic role of the meeting room to the community.**

The ceremony will be on Saturday July 4th at 11 am.

Location;

Pictures; Barlow Moor Road, 1966, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, R.A.C.S., token undated from the collection of Andrew Simpson, remaining images from the collection of Lawrence Beedle http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* On small things history turns …. commemorating the Hardy Lane Co-op https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2026/06/on-small-things-history-turns.html

** Blue Plaque for Hardy Lane Co-op Store https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Blue%20Plaque%20for%20Hardy%20Lane%20Co-op%20Store

A postcard and a memory of our declining rural past

This remains one of my favourite pictures of the old church.

 It was taken sometime before September 1904 but could have been at any time after 1837 when the two side aisles were added.

 The cottage to the right was there by the beginning of the 19th century if not before while the roof of Higginbotham’s farm house behind it was at least fifty years older.

And it was a view that would soon be lost forever. Within six years the old Bowling Green Hotel just out of sight on the right would be demolished and replaced by a new pub which would obscure our view of the church entirely.

 It is still a rural scene and bits of farm equipment are littered around the picture and reminds me that here we were on the edge of the village which were cultivated as meadowland.

But for me what adds to the picture and makes it unique is the message on the back. In an age when a postcard sent in the morning could arrive in the afternoon postal messages remained the quickest and cheapest easy of communicating with friends and relatives.

In this case the offer by Mrs Wood of Manchester Road to help at the harvest festival decorations at the old Church on Saturday was “gladly” accepted. It had been sent on the Wednesday afternoon of September the 21st and would have fallen through the door of Manchester Road for teatime or certainly by the following morning.

Harvest festivals were still a real part of the life of our community at the beginning of the 20th century and ones which celebrated the end of a successful year on the land.

 There may have been fewer people who relied on farming in the township but there were still enough for a bad harvest to spell hardship and perhaps even ruin.

Mrs Wood’s husband had been born into a farming family and his father had farmed at Red Gates till his early death in 1902 aged just 52. Red Gates did not long survive his death and in the next few decades more of the farms which dated back to before the 19th century closed.
I am indebted to Carolyn Willits who lent me the post card and gave me permission to use it.

Lcation; Chorlton

Picture; the old Church, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1904,  from the collection of Carolyn Willits

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 92 ...... Cannon Court

Cannon Court has tidied its act up  a lot since I first stumbled across it in 1969, soon after I arrived in Manchester.

1967

I remember it as one of those places which  was a bit shabby, rather neglected, and not much of an advert for the city.

Of course now I rather wish it was still like that given than many of the other interesting alleys, courts and narrow streets have been swept away.

The last time I was down there it was clean, tidy and less interesting than I remembered it.

But perhaps I am being a little picky and unreasonable given that visitors to the Cathedral, might just not want to pick their way past old boxes, overflowing dustbins and crates of empty bottles.

So I shall leave it you to judge, using an image of Cannon Court, pretty much as I left it in the 1960s, and today, all bright and pristine.

2017

Circa 1900

So far so good ........... and now for the correction, because I never clocked the name of the alley back in 1969, and when I revisited it this week one map called it Hanging Ditch, so I followed suit.

Only to be corrected by two people who pointed out that historically this was Cannon Court, and there on my own copy of Goads Fire Insurance was indeed the name Cannon Court.
So thank you for the two who were more vigilant than I.


Location; Cannon Court

Pictures;  Cannon Court, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk and in 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Hanging Ditch and Cannon Court, circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Celebrating who we are .... down at the Library

Community is a much-used word but at its best is about how we react with others, how we look out for everyone and a pleasure in recognising the contributions people make to where we live.

Two additions 

And here I am not thinking about the great and the good, but to use that not very helpful word …. the ordinary person.  

Not very helpful because it has a hint of dismissal but does describe most of us, who just get on with things and in the process make a difference.

It is an idea that has exercised the local artist Peter Topping who is in the process of painting portraits to honour our local people in Chorlton.* 

He tells me “that for the next month the library is hosting some of my work featuring Chorlton Champions. 

Through dedication, leadership and tireless effort, they have made a lasting and positive contribution to the social, cultural and civic life of Chorlton. 

Their commitment exemplifies the spirit of community and inspires others. The exhibition will be added to when more people are recognised for their achievements".

The exhibition has grown over the last few weeks as new subjects have been added, and today he messaged me with, “I’m thinking of delving into the past for some of our 'Chorlton Champions' to create portraits for the Library.

Euton Christian

Here is the first one of Euton Christian”.

Mr. Christian was born in Jamaica, served in the RAF during the last World War, and was the first black person to be promoted to a managerial role in the Post Office, the first black magistrate, and the first to sit on a Crown Court bench. 

To this can be added his role as a founding member of the West Indian Sports and Social Club in Moss Side and Manchester Council for Community Relations in the 1960s.

Many will also remember him as a keen sportsman, a neighbour and a father.

He was according to one source “an inspirational man who achieved many extraordinary things. He and his story give just one example of why we should celebrate the men and women who travelled on the Windrush, and the many subsequent ships, who settled and made lives in Britain during the middle part of the twentieth century”.

And his place in the Chorlton community was recognised in 2024 when Chorlton Civic Society erected a blue plaque in his honour on his former house.

And long with Mr. Christian Peter has chosen Ida Bradshaw as his second painting.

Ida Bradshaw

She always styled herself the "unofficial archivist of St Clements Church" and she was my friend. 

Her passion for Chorlton's history was infectious and l welcomed her regular phone calls about some "new find" that she had uncovered from her trawl of the church archives.  More than that l often benefited from one of her discoveries which in turn found themselves into a blog story.

And Ida was many other things.

I still have her folders of art and craft work recording not only her own output but pictures of exhibitions and group activities.

All of which kept her busy and sometimes it was difficult to pin her down to meet up as she mixed church business, trips to Central Ref, and visits to parishioners along with Saturday mornings at some craft event.

Catherine Brownhill remembers,  "A truly wonderful lady Andrew. I was introduced to Ida through Chorlton Civic Society”. 

Four of the first

And along with our conversations on all things Chorlton history Peter’s painting is based on a photograph he took of Ida in St Clement’s Church which was reproduced in our book on the churches of Chorlton.

So as the exhibition at the Library grows you can catch  CHORLTON CHAMPIONS for the rest of this month.

P.S. nominations for candidates to be inducted into the Hall of Chorlton Champions are welcome via Peter Topping.

*Celebrating Chorlton ..... down at our library today, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2026/06/all-this-month-there-is-selection-of.html

  

A film star, a fish market and a bit of speedway, Britannia of Billingsgate … 1933

Now we can all have slow days, which is how I came to roam the database of old postcards hosted by Tuck DB.*

And having viewed their selection from Italy, I idly typed in film stars, and was rewarded with a rich collection from the 1930s.

Most I had never heard of and so on a whim I went for Kay Hammond, who was born in 1909 and made a series of films through the 1930s as well as appearing on the stage.  

She played  Elvira Condomine, in Blythe Spirit and acted in her last film in 1961, and featured in 24 films in her career of which 19 were made between 1933 and 1936, and of these the one that caught my eye was Britannia of Billingsgate.

If like me you are both a Londoner and someone who grew up in the 1950s and early 60s, Billingsgate Fish Market will be a special place.  It was located by the Thames, close to the Tower of London and the Monument and I passed it regularly on my way to the Tower.

Even at 10’o clock in the morning, long after the market had all but closed the smell of fish lingered in the air along with the odd remnants of discarded fish parts which had yet to be cleared away from gutters.

So I had no option but to look up Britannia of Billingsgate which was released in 1933, and as you do steal the sleave notes from the BFI’s introduction to the film.

“A star is born (or at least found) in a fish and chip shop, in this effervescent musical comedy that jaunts between the cloth caps of Billingsgate Fish Market and the top hats and heady glamour of the film world. Things have never looked so good for Billingsgate chippy owner Bessie Bolton (Violet Loraine) after she is presented with the opportunity of becoming the singing sensation of the silver screen - Shepherd's Bush style.

Violet Loraine had been a music hall star since the early 1900s, but was here returning to showbiz after a break of more than a decade. The film also features an early role for John Mills. The studio where Bessie gets her big break is the Shepherd's Bush Studios belonging to the production company, the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. The cinema where Bessie's film is premiered is the Gaumont Palace in Hammersmith - now the concert venue the Hammersmith Apollo”.*

It is a mix of “glamour”, some iffy scenes of working class life, but is still a wonderful watch and is free to see on the BFI web site.

Location; London, 1933

Pictures; Kay Hammond, Violet Lorraine, Gordon Harker, and John Mills, marketed by Tuck and Son in the series A GAUMONT-BRITISH PICTURE, STAR, PLAYER or FILM (scenes from movie), cards numbered 150-199, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

*Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

**Britannia of Billingsgate, BFIPlayer, https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-britannia-of-billingsgate-1933-online

Ours was a place dominated by working animals

Ours was a place  dominated by working animals.

For centuries the main draught animal had been the oxen and in some parts of the country their use continued well on till the end of the 19th century and the start of the twentieth.

But by the 1840s the horse had taken over in most areas.

The horse was a familiar sight here in the township.  As well as working the fields, they would have pulled the carts and wagons of the farmers and carriers as well as the coaches of the well to do.

Horses provided work for the blacksmith, and the farrier and indirectly for the wheelwright.  Then there were the men who worked with the horses.  Of these the ploughman and the carter earned more than most other farm workers.  The carter after all was assured a regular wage because horses needed to be looked after all the year round, unlike the farm labourer who could expect seasonal periods of unemployment.

But most farm workers came into some contact with horses at some point and on the smaller farms and market gardens, the job of caring and working with horses fell to the farmer or his son.

The Bailey family on the Row who farmed seven acres had just one horse which would have doubled for both ploughing and pulling the spring cart.  

This would have been the pattern here with so many of our market gardens operating with less than 10 acres of land.

On our bigger farms there were men who were employed specifically to deal with the horses.  James Higginbotham, farmer on the green employed a carter and at Dog House Farm just outside the township eight of the men who lived on this 380 acre farm were carters.

Here horses were worked in pairs and there might be two or three teams each with a carter and mate.  The most intensive period for a working horse were sowing wheat, or turnips, carting mangels and harvest time.

Many carters formed close bonds with their horses, a bond which was deepened by the long hours they spent together.  

A carter might start as early as five in the morning as the horses were prepared for work and last after the day had finished in the fields.

The horses had to be cleaned of the thick mud they had picked up and then fed, watered and groomed.

For this a carter might be paid just over £1 a week, although James Higginbotham was less generous.  During the mid 1840s he was paying his carters between 4s 6d [22p] and 6s [30p] a week.  But these wages reflected the fact that the men lived in and so received their food and lodging as part of their wages.

This supplement could make a difference of between 5s [25p] and 7s [35p] a week.   Even given this their wages seem much lower.

From THE STORY OF CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY, Andrew Simpson, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy-new.html

Pictures; from the collections of Allan Brown, Carolyn Willitts  and the Lloyd collection

Lost and forgotten streets of Salford ........... nu 25 a busy day on Chapel Street

I suppose it is pretty much the case that Chapel Street has always been a busy spot.

I don’t have a date but there maybe a clue in the Union flag fluttering from the building and the crowds which seem to suggest that something has either happened or about to.

Location; Salford






Picture; Chapel Street, date unknown, m77251, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Another of those vanished scenes ........... the Thames and Tower Bridge

Now you will have to be the wrong side of 40 to be able to recall this scene.

The date on the card is 1936 but the scene with cargo ships discharging all manner of things from around the world was still pretty much the same two decades and bit later.

I remember crossing London Bridge as a youngster looking across to Tower Bridge with the wharves and cranes on the south side and the old fish market on the left.

Location; London

Picture; the River Thames and Tower Bridge, 1936 from the series London by Tuck & Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/

This Is London ........ a unique guide to the London of 1959

Now I have no idea why I never got a copy of This Is London.*

Cover of This is London

I guess that there are only so many books that you can get for Christmas, and with the Eagle Annual and the odd history book that was enough.

Not that I think I would fully have appreciated it back then when I was only ten all of which is so different now.

It is a witty, informative guide to the London I knew as a child and is full of marvellous images in the style of the period and these alone take me back nearly sixty years.

But it is also the humour which shines through and marks it as something original.

It starts with a page of brown sludge with the occasional splash of yellow accompanied with “Well, this is London. 

 But don’t worry, it is hidden in fog like this only a few times a year in winter. Most of the time it looks- like this!”

And that is the start of a wonderful series of bright colourful and exciting paintings of London with a text to match.

All of which is a riveting read and one that has now become a history book in itself.

So much so that the new edition which was published in 2004** has updated some of the entries,  pointing out for instance that “Today the Billingsgate fish market is located in the Docklands, a rejuvenated section of the London Docks.  It moved there in 1982.”

Now that move passed me by and while I have no doubt it was for the best I have vivid memories of the market, the over powering smell and the debris left on the streets on a Saturday morning only hours after the traders and the fish had left for shops across the city.

Three million passengers are carried daily in Underground trains

It is just one of the moments which bounced out of the past along with those electric milk floats, old Routemasters and a river which was still a working river full of ships from every corner of the world unloading their cargoes under the shadows of tall cranes and massive warehouses.

All of which I remember and for those like my own lads who never knew that London, Mr Sasek’s book has it all.

And so as you would expect I have gone looking for other editions in the same series which included, Paris, Rome, New York, and San Francisco.

In time I might order up the reprints of New York, and San Francisco, but at present I am content to wait for the arrival of This is Rome which was originally published in 1960 and reprinted in 2007.

Like This is London it has an page of updates which will be fun to match with the original text and my own memories of a city we regularly return to.

Now ever one to respect copyright I held off posting and substitute the same story but with images drawn from the collection.

However after contacting the publisher it appears at present no one knows who owns the copyright to the illustrations, so as the blog is no commercial and this is about encouraging everyone to buy read and share the booksof Mr Miroslav I can't think anyone will object, but if they do I shall revert to the original.

And for those intrigued by the books there is a site dedicated to the author and his books.

Picture; cover from This Is London, and Underground train page 42 courtesy of Universe Publishing

*This Is London, Miroslav Sasek, 1959

**Universe Publishing, a Division of  Rizzoli International Publications, New York, www.rizzoliusa.com

***This is M Sasek, http://www.miroslavsasek.com/index.html

A day out on the meadows ..... circa 1910

The caption reads, “the footbridge over the stream at Brook Road entrance to the meadows. 

 From this bridge there was a diagonal path across Boat Meadow to Jackson’s footbridge which was part of the normal path from the green to the pub by the Mersey.” 

It is dated 1910.

The picture is a perfect reminder that the area was farmed as meadow land which involved regularly flooding the land from a series of irrigation ditches.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Lost and forgotten streets of Salford nu 58 ................. Booth Street

Now Booth Street is just what you would expect of one of those twisty little streets off Chapel Street which make their way down to the river.

Unless you have business down there I doubt that you would give Booth Street a second glance.

Today there are a few apartments along the stretch and that is pretty much it.
Back in 1850 the street directory lists just five addresses, starting with Mary Farren, shopkeeper at number 5, George Lord, mechanic at number 12, Daniel Gaskil who was an overlooker at 20 and John Blomeley next door who also an overlooker and finally the firm of James Aspinal Turner & Co, cotton spinners.

There were plenty more properties along with a closed court and a timber yard, but none of the residents of these were worthy or wealthy enough to get a mention in the directory.

Booth Street, 1849

Of course the turnover of occupants in this bit of Salford would have been high and indeed just a year earlier at the bottom of Booth Street there was the Eagle Roller and Spindle Works who likewise is missing from the 1850 list of businesses.

Still there were always the pubs.  On the corner of Booth and Chapel Street there was the Punch Bowl, while back down on Barlow Croft you could have ordered a pint at the Lord Nelson , while heading in the opposite direction there was the Royal Oak and finally starting on the corner of Blackfriars Street there was the Saddle Inn and the Crown.

Now I suspect that both Mr Gaskil and Blomeley who lived on the west side of the street could have worked at James Aspinal Turner’s but it is just speculation as is the notion that they may have been regulars in the Punch Bowl.

But armed with their names I shall in time go looking for them on the census returns  and that will also offer up the names and lives of some of the others who lived on Booth Street.

And that is all for today, but I shall be visiting  the streets on either side over the next few days.

Location; Salford 3

Picture; Booth Street from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Booth Street in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

A book called Alice …. a thunderstorm ….and the lazy buzz of visiting bees … the non-history story

August into September used to be known as the silly season when with Parliament in recess along with the law courts nothing much stirred leaving the media to fall back on trivia to sell newspapers and generate income from advertising.

Driven from the Rec ... hot days, 2026

It would be the time of “man bites dog”, “looking for the sea at Southport” and “spotting the first onion sellers from France”.

And despite that it is only June, and recent stories of earthquakes in Venezuela, wars in the Middle East and that unfolding speculation on who will be Britain’s next Prime Minister, here in Chorlton it all seems to be what the Americans would call a “slow news week”.

All of which I guess is down to the heat wave which has driven me into the coolest part of the house.  Shutters and curtain drawn, windows closed and the admission that the last time I went out was Monday.

It has however given me more time to reflect on smaller bits of history and to explore phrases like “Piffy on a rock bun”, “Black as New gate’s knocker”, and “looking like Reggie Page”. Some are very personal and arise from our own family while others have a wider context and some are rooted in historic events. *

And there are those which like me and my friends have used for decades and no doubt were picked up from our youth.  One such was when my friend Lois responding to the present heatwave describing the moment as “boiling” while many of us have and do say I am “starving”. 

Now neither can logically be true but they perfectly describe a moment.

Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo, 1865

And that brings me back to one of my favourite bits from Through the Looking Glass where Humpty Dumpty remarks, “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less’”.

An absurd comment but one which chimes in perfectly with the utterances of some politicians and much of what is peddled on social media and is just “fake news”, although even the word fake news has been hijacked to rubbish what has been verified as accurate.

All that said there is nothing fake about the heat wave.

Inside our house it is currently 29° while outside its 32° but which pales when set against the 34° being suffered by one of my sisters in southeast London.

Alas the promised thunderstorms passed off with just three claps of thunder and the accompanying streaks of lightening at 5 this morning.

It was enough to get me up, water the garden and enjoy the lazy buzz of some friendly bees who were more active than I have been all day.

All of which is very unhistorical so I shall close with a review of the summers from the mid-1840s.

Back then we were still a rural community with most of our population deriving a living from the land or in associated trades. So, the weather was more than just a hot day to endure.  

Hot days looking for bees, 2026

My copy of “Agricultural Records” reports that 1842 and 1843 were “fine dry summers with a good harvest” while 1844 was “a year of drought with disastrous harvest", followed by a year when the summer was “cold with a fairly poor harvest”.***

Happily, 1847 and 1848 offered up mixed weather but the harvests were plentiful although the quality was low.

And anyone who has studied social unrest will know that a succession of poor harvests brings hardships to the poor and anxiety for the people of plenty, who well remembered that the bumper French harvest of 1787 gave way to two bad years and a revolution.

Location; where ever  it is hot

Pictures; Driven from The Rec, Beech Road, empty at midday, 2026, and hot days looking for bees, Royal Horticultural Gardens, Bridgewater from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Alice trying to play croquet with a flamingo, John Teninel, 1865, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol, 1865

*"'When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.

'The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

'The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all’”.

Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll, 1871

**Piffy on a rock bun …………… and other travels with my past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2020/06/piffy-on-rock-bun-and-other-travels.html

***Agricultural Records, AD 220-1977, J.M. Stratton and Jack Houghton Brown, 1978

Ordinary days in St Ann’s Square …..

It is often the ordinary picture you take and discard as boring that comes back and shows a place as it was a long time ago.

I was reminded of that almost banal observation when I came across a picture of St Ann’s Square from 1983, posted by the historian Brian Groom.*

It was taken by Anthony O'Neill and appeared in the Manchester Evening News as the Square was going through one of its makeovers.

It’s an untidy and messy scene and perfectly captured the place on a day when it was full of shoppers and piles of construction stuff. 

Now I can remember a time when the square was not a pedestrian haven, and crossing from the bookshop to the Lufthansa office meant picking your way through parked cars and watching for passing traffic.

Sadly, my collection of pictures from the late 1970s and 80s doesn’t include any of the place when the car was still king in the square, but I did find some from 1980 when it was on the cusp of change.

Or so I thought because amongst the images is one of a chap taking in the sun which might postdate 1980.

And that is pretty much it, other than to say it is hard to think that on a summer’s day in the 1980s, shoppers and seekers after the sun had to contend with “meter maids” busy taxis and vans dropping off.

Location; St Ann’s Square

Pictures; St Ann’s Square, 1980 and perhaps 1984, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Brian Groom, Northerners: A History, from the Ice Age to the Present Day HarperNorth, 2022

Made in Manchester: A people’s history of the city that shaped the modern world HarperNorth, 2024

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