Our own Elizabethan country house …… sixty years ago

This is Hough End Hall as it was on a summer’s day in 1965.

The Hall has a long and mixed history and is a place I often write about. *

It was built in 1596 by Sir Nicholas Mosley and was all a country house should be for a man who had done gooder in London and had returned to live in splendid retirement.

It’s mixed past included being the Mosley home, and later a farmhouse for over 250 years before becoming a restaurant, briefly an office suit and a restaurant again.

During the immediate years after the millennium, it stood empty with an uncertain future which mirrored a similar period in the early and mid-20th century.

That earlier time nearly saw it demolished when plans for Mauldeth Road West were being considered, and while it escaped it became the subject of various proposals to turn it into a community centre and a museum.

Eventually it was acquired by a local farmer who in turn sold it on to a developer, who very lightly followed a brief to restore it.

That restoration used the wrong materials, and at some point, the interior was gutted to create two large spaces at ground level and above.  Also, in the process the second floor was lost, and two office blocks were constructed to the west of the hall, almost totally obscuring Nicholas Mosley’s pride and joy.

They can only be described as “the abomination of desolation”, brutal, ugly and with no charm.**

The restoration did at least put a roof back on the building and end its association with groups of children who used it as playground while searching for ghosts.

The exact details of the sale, the restoration and those office blocks are now hazy. 

But we do have the memories of Oliver Bailey who acquired the hall, and a series of letters and articles from 1962 through to 1972 in the Manchester Guardian and Guardian newspapers as well as a book on the story of the building. ***

Along with these there are a heap of paintings, photographs and plans stretching back to the early 19th century, including a wonderful set of images taken in the mid-1960s of kids playing in the building by Roger Shelley.

To these can now be added these there from the 1965 Collection.

Location; Hough End Hall

Pictures; the Hall in 1965 from the 1965 Collection

*Hough End Hall, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Hough%20End%20Hall

**“the abomination of desolation” The Book of Daniel 12:11

***Hough End Hall The Story, Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping, 2015

What should we make of Sir Nicholas Mosley who built Hough End Hall, made a fortune and was judged as “covetous and illiberal"?

Hough End Hall has one of those long and rich histories which pretty much has all you would want from a building dating back to 1596.*

The Hall from a print circa 1849

It was built by Sir Nicholas Mosley who made his fortune in London and was gambled away by one  of his descendants a century and bit later.

Its first owner had been at the heart of national politics during the reign of the first Elizabeth, another of the Mosley’s saw the hall and estates temporally confiscated by Parliament during the Civil War, after which the place settled down and fell out of the great events of State finally ending up as humble farm house for two centuries.

Now I have never been over bothered with looking into the story of Sir Nicholas Mosley.

Like most people I contented myself with the knowledge that he made that fortune In London, was rewarded by Queen Elizabeth I for his service to London and his country with a knighthood and  “a handsomely-carved oak bedstead, together with some other articles of furniture, for the new house which he had recently erected at Hough End, on the site of the old mansion which his ancestors had inhabited.”**

And in the fullness of time retired to his magnificent home where he died aged 85 in 1612.

But as I delved into the history of the Hall for the book* I became drawn to the man.

mural monument of Sir Nicholas, 1612

His own biographer wrote that his character “has been variously represented; his enemies reproaching him as covetous and illiberal, whilst his friends eulogised his skill, industry and hospitality.”

What is certain is that he left money in his will for a school in Chorlton and may have been involved in other “good works.”

That said I am intrigued by the view of him as “covetous and illiberal” which may have been more to do with a ruthless determination to do well.

After all he was nearly in his 50s when he left Manchester for London and within twelve years was elected an alderman for one of the City wards, became a sheriff in 1590 and Lord Mayor nine years later.

Likewise his business prospered and on the back of this growing wealth he acquired the manors of Manchester, Withington, Cheetham and Cheetwood and went on to maximise the income from these lands asserting old rights and increasing fines.

“In 1602 the burgesses of Manchester claimed that Mosley had worked ‘to alter, overthrowe and change all the auncient priviledges, usages and customs” such as common pasturage in 100 acres of Collyhurst, which had hitertoo benefited the burgesses and the town as a place of recreation, shooting, mustering troops and the placing of cabins for plague victims.”***

Hough End Hall 1853

Of course he was not alone  in maximising his income, plenty of Elizabethan landlords were doing the same and the practice of enclosures and taking away the rights to common land stretched back into the early 16th century.

Sir Thomas More in his book on Utopia published in 1516 had commented that because sheep farming was far more profitable than arable farming
“ the nobility and gentry, and even those holy men, the abbots not contented with the old rents which their farms yielded, nor thinking it enough that they, living at their ease, do no good to the public, resolve to do it hurt instead of good. They stop the course of agriculture, destroying houses and towns, reserving only the churches, and enclose grounds that they may lodge their sheep in them.”****

All of which is a fine new slant on that magnificent hall at Hough End, which just leaves me with the charitable and optimistic words of his descendant Sir Oliver Mosley who in 1849 concluded that determining Si Nicholas’s character
“at this distant period very difficult to decide...... His abilities and success as a merchant have been universally admitted, and perhaps the great gains which accompanied his worldly pursuits might too much engross his attention; but we will charitably hope that many opportunities afforded him, during a long life, for repentance, were not neglected.”*****

I hope so but as yet I fear the jury is still out.

Pictures; Hough End Hall, 1849, and Sir Nichloas Mosley’s mural monument, 1612 in Didsbury parish church from Family Memoirs, Mosley, Sir Oswald, the Hall in 1853 from Booker, Rev John, A history of the ancient Chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton, 1857, Cheetham Society cover for the book Hough End Hall to be published in late 2014

* Hough End Hall the Story, Simpson Andrew, Topping, Peter Topping, 2012

** Mosley, Sir Oswald, Family Memoirs, 1849, Printed for Private Circulation, page 6

*** Bowd, Stephen, John Dee and Christopher Saxton’s Survey of Manchester,(1596), Northern History, XLII:2, September 2005

****More, Sir Thomas, Utopia, 1516
*****ibid Mosley, Sir Oswald

A peacock, a plough and a very old picture ............. the photograph album from Hough End Hall

One of the peacocks, date unknown

Now I am back with a unique collection of photograpghs from a family picture album which I had thought lost.

It belonged to the Lomax family who had lived and farmed at Hough End Hall from the late 1840s till the death of Mrs Lomax in1940.

I say lost but to be strictly accurate I had no idea of its existence until recently and I wish I had come across it earlier when I was writing a book on the hall’s history.*

At the time I thought that there must be some family images of the Lomax family but all that had come down to us was one of the children dated at the turn of the last century and taken from some distance.

But now I have that album of pictures and as you would expect it is a mix of snaps, a few of the hall and gardens and a rare couple of the farm.

And what first caught my eye was the peacock which for a while at least was how the farm was known.

Ploughing on the farm, date unknown

There are still people who speak fondly of the peacocks but with the passage of time some have confused its location despite at least one painting carrying the name Peacock Farm.

I have to admit I never gave it much thought preferring instead to concentrate on the working side of the farm and the people who ran it.

And the album has offered up a wonderful image of the land being ploughed.  I don’t have a date but guess it will be from the early 20th century.

Mrs Lomax circa 1930s

By then the farm had shrunk from about 220 acres and by its end was just a little over three, but it was still a working business and in the 1930s Mrs Lomax was still advertising for farm hands.

She had been born in 1864 married Samuel Lomax in the March of 1888 and took up residence in the hall sometime in the early 20th century on the death of Mr Lomax’s uncle who had run the farm since the late 1840s.

And here is Mrs Lomax.

The picture dates from sometime after the late 1920s and was taken looking south.  Directly behind her is the recently cut Mauldeth Road West and the Corporation houses.

It is a picture I like very much for not only do we have a photograph of Mrs Lomax but also an indication of  just how much the farm has changed in a couple of decades.

As late as the 1890s looking south there were clear views across open land south to the Workhouse while a little to the west was Nell Farm, a nursery and the edge of the newly opened Southern Cemetery.

And that is what makes the family album so unique because the first pictures date from the last decade of the 19th century and span the years almost into the middle of the next century offering up a major contribution to the story of hall.**

The wonder is that they have survived and points up that simple observation that there is more out there than we ever suspect.







Pictures; the Lomax family album now in the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Hough End Hall The Story, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping, 2015, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

**Hough End Hall, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hough%20End%20Hall

The picture that revealed a family story ..... the wedding photograph of Miss Lomax of Hough End Hall nu 2 ... what happened next

I like the way that stories have a habit of representing themselves and added to the original.

So a few years ago  I came across the family album of the Lomax family I featured the wedding photograph of Miss Lomax and Mr Kitching.

And yesterday their granddaughter wrote to me with some more pictures and the story of what happened to them

“You mused in the wedding piece about what might have become of the young couple.  Well, they had three children, Ronald (b 1916), Jeanne (b 1917) and Stuart (b 1920 or 1921).  

They migrated to Canada in 1926, to a town called Sooke, on Vancouver Island.  Even today, Sooke is a bit remote (at least by English standards), about 30 miles/50 km from Victoria.  At the time they migrated, it was just a small logging and commercial fishing village, accessible only by a long and winding dirt road from Victoria.  

It must have been quite a shock for my very proper English grandmother to find herself there!  The family stayed in Sooke for a few years, where my grandfather owned the local general store, then moved into Victoria in the 30s, to another general store.  

The depression hit hard, and around 1937 or 1938 my grandfather returned to England to try to re-establish, while the family stayed behind in Canada.  He was unable to get back to Canada before the war broke out, so there was a lengthy separation in the family.  

My uncle Ronnie had enlisted in the Canadian Army medical corps before the war as an ambulance driver, but ended up as an acting Major in an infantry regiment - the South Saskatchewan Rifles (never having been to Saskatchewan in his life) and saw quite a bit of action with his regiment in the liberation of Holland.  

My mother worked before the war as a clerk in the BC public service but also joined up, serving for several years in the RCAF.  Uncle Stuart joined the navy, but sadly died when his ship was torpedoed mid Atlantic.  


At war's end, Grandma and my mother headed to England.  They spent a year there, then returned to Canada with Grandpa in 1947.  My grandparents bought a little house in Victoria, and lived the rest of their lives there.  Grandpa passed away in 1974, Grandma in 1978.

My mother married my father in 1948 in Victoria, and had two children, my sister and myself.  Uncle Ronny married in England and returned to BC, to Vancouver.  

He and his wife also had two children, my cousins Ruth and David.  I've lost touch with Ruth, who moved to the US years ago, but David still lives in BC.  

My sister has recently moved from near Vancouver to the interior of BC, and by coincidence lives not far from David.  My mother now lives in a nursing home near my sister. 

And here am I, living in a lovely town outside Melbourne, in Australia.  So, to answer your musing, that's what became of them.

Although it has no relevance to your histories, I'm attaching a photo of my grandparents taken at a dinner for their 50th anniversary, in 1965.  I think that brings your story full circle.

Pictures; the wedding of Miss Lomax and Mr Kitching, 1915 and s from the family album of Evelyn nee Lomax Milburn donated by Mrs D Miller and the bride and groom, courtesy of Marlene Massey

*The picture that revealed a family story ................. the wedding photograph of Miss Lomax of Hough End Hall, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-picture-that-revealed-family-story.html

The upside down map and a glimpse of Hough End Hall in 1768

Now it isn’t often that you get the chance to walk the fields of south Manchester in 1768 but that pretty much is what I have been doing today.

Hough End Hall in 1768

Over the years I have collected maps of the area going back to the sixteenth century but of course the further back you go the less detail is offered up by the map makers.

So this map of the land around Hough End Hall is a rare treat because here recorded in 1768 are the names of the fields, some of the owners and some of the buildings close by the hall.

And what is remarkable is that a full 78 years after our map was made virtually all the fields marked still had the same names.

Now this I know because the tithe maps of Withington for 1848 have survived and along with the schedule tell us the size of each field, its use and value along with who was farming it and who owned it.

The 1768 map is less detailed but does offer up those all important field names and their size with some of the landowners.

But there is or at least there was a problem when I began to compare this 18th century map with the later tithe map for while most of the field names were all there they appeared out of kilter and for one brief moment I toyed with the idea that our earlier map maker had reversed the map, so what should have been north of the hall was recorded as south.

This I dismissed and moved on to other things.

The Story of Hough End Hall 1596-2015

But Peter Topping who also had the map persevered and using modern street maps and a lot of patience concluded that our map was upside down but as he said “whoever decreed that a map should feature north at the top?” 

And with that out of the way this is truly a find which was included in the story of Hough End Hall.

To my knowledge this is the earliest detailed map of this bit of Withington and Chorlton and given its date may well have been commissioned around the time the Egerton family bought the hall and estate.

As such it will be the earliest representation of the hall in any real detail and shows that the “walled orchard” along with the “old orchard” were there by the mid 18th century and raises a fascinating line of enquiry into that Bowling Green and the small water course that fed off from Chorlton Brook presumably to supply the house along with whatever wells may have been dug.

It may also have fed the huge pond opposite Sandy Lane which can be seen in many of the photographs from that early 20th century.

I rather think that our map will offer up much more about that area in 1768 but as you would expect me to say that will all be in the book.

Pictures; detail from the 1768 map, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives GB127.M24., http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and cover from Hough End Hall the Story, Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping

Watching as the fields around Hough End Hall become housing estates

The Hall from the air in 1925

I just wonder what Mrs Lomas of Hough End Hall made of the creeping urbanization which bit by bit encroached on the land surrounding her home and farm.

The Lomas family had lived in the hall from the late 1840s.

Back then her uncle in law farmed over 200 acres stretching east into Withington and west up to the borders of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

But at the beginning of the 20th century speculative builders had begun putting up houses along Sandy Lane and Nell Lane and a little later during the Great War the aerodrome occupied land to the rear of the hall.

That said there was still plenty of open land during the early decades of the last century.

In 1925 when the photograph above was taken the hall still appears to be in splendid isolation with just a hint of housing to the north.

Out to the south of the Hall in 1933

Now appearances can be a little deceptive because while the Brook continues to flow through open fields, the land directly opposite the Hall had become Chorlton Park and Nell Lane had been widened.

Seven years later the area to the south of the hall was filling up with Corporation housing and dominating the corner of Nell Lane and Mauldeth Road West was the Southern Hotel.

Mrs Lomas died in 1940 and by then the farm was down to just over 3 acres and a large belt of land out towards Whalley Range had also been built on.

I wish we had a diary or some letters from Mrs Lomas which might shed light on what she thought, but at present there is nothing all of which just leaves me with these two pictures.

The full story of the Hall, some of the people who lived worked and played there can be found in the first book exclusively devoted to its history, Hough End Hall, The Story.

Pictures; Hough End from the air, 1925, Imperial Airways, m72046, and the Southern Hotel and land to the south of the hall in 1933, N S Roberts, m72051, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Hough End Hall the story, Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping 

Four hundred years down at Hough End Hall .............the stories in the book for Christmas

It is day four of that outrageous bout of self promotion for Christmas and again it is time to include Peter Topping.

This time it is our joint venture to tell the story of Hough End Hall.

The book was produced to raise money and awareness for the campaign to save the hall which back in 2015 had an uncertain future.

In its time it had been the home of a wealthy Elizabethan family, was a farm house for 250 years and more recently was a restaurant.

And as a restaurant it will be remembered by a plenty of Chorlton and Withington residents who sat under its oak beams to celebrate birthdays, special events and even funerals.

But of course for many it will be the “works do” and particularly Christmas parties that the Hall did best.

Sadly those oak beams were false and the original were hidden behind a mix of wooden two by on and painted canvas.

That said there are plenty of real stories which roll through the book along with plenty of period photographs and original paintings by Peter.

The Story of Hough End Hall, 2015, Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping

Walking with history down at Hough End Hall and getting a bargain ........... what could be better?

It has almost been a year since the launch of Hough End Hall The Story which is the first book to describe fully the history of this much loved building.*



The offer, 2016

The hall began as the fine new home of the Mosley family, built in 1596 to replace an older house,
later it served as a farmhouse and more recently as a restaurant and offices and there will be many with fond memories of the place.

For some it will be an unforgettable evening dining under the Tudor beams and for others a place to play and look for adventure.

And for everyone else here in the book is the story of a building which has links not only to the history of Chorlton, but also Withington, and Didsbury.

The Hall in 1849

The first owner left money for the “scoole att Chollerton Chapelle” was buried in the parish church in Didsbury and owned much of Withington.

All of which means our hall is mixed up with the stories of a chunk of south Manchester.

And to mark the anniversary the book is on sale at the reduced price of £11.99.

Now as the chap who wrote the words in conjunction with Peter who sourced the images, and added some of his own fine paintings you would expect me to urge you to go off and snap it up.

Another bit of the Hall's story ............ the history walk, 2015

So as they say in all the good adverts....... “hurry down and grab the sale of the century while stocks last.”

It is on sale at Chorlton Book Shop where I have it on good authority that the two authors pooped in and signed the copies.

Pretty neat I think.

Location, Hough End Hall, Chorlton Book Shop

Picture, poster designed by Peter Topping, © 2016 and Hough End Hall in 1849, from The Family Memoirs, Sir Oswald Mosley, 1849, and Sunday May 17th  from the collection  of Peter Topping

*A new book on Hough End Hall http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

Today at Hough End Hall .......... the walk covering all you wanted to know about the Hall and Chorlton in 1849 ...... now that's a zippy title

Hough End Hall. 1849

Now here is an opportunity to step back just under 170 years and test your skills of observation.

Here is Hough End Hall as it appeared in 1849 and all you have to do is turn up today at the Hall on Nell Lane at 1 pm and compare this fine engraving with what you can see.

And when you have ticked off all the differences you can listen to the talk on the Hall’s 400 years of history and then walk to the Lloyds on a trip back in time.

This is the second of the talks and walks during Chorlton Arts Festival focusing on Hough End Hall and its place in the local community.

Walking down the Row to the Horse & Jockey, 1845

Once Hough End’s past has been done we will set off west across Chorlton to recreate the township as it might have been in 1849, a mix of what you could have seen and more importantly who you would have to be polite to.

And given that we were a small rural community made up of agricultural labourers, some farmers and a few tradesmen some of us at least would have been doffing our hats to Mr Cunliffe Brooks wealthy resident of Barlow Hall and generous benefactor, along with Mr Holt of Beech House, and of course the local clergy.

Sutton's Cottage, 1892

Now I have never had any illusions of my place in the pecking order of 1849 and considering I come from a long line of agricultural labourers I reckon I would have been nodding to them and to the local farmers who held the prospect of regular employment.

Once that was done I rather think I might have sat outside my wattle and daub cottage just like Mrs Sutton’s which stood on the corner of Beech and Wilton Road from the late 18th century till 1894.

But I get ahead of myself.  The walk will pass her house, take in much more and finish at the Lloyds with the exhibition showing off the story of the Hall.

So this Sunday, at 1 pm outside Hough End Hall you can have your free trip back into the past and of course buy a copy of the book Hough End Hall The Story with all profits going to the campaign to buy the hall and turn it into a community asset.*

And you can download the walk guide at http://www.gladtobe.in/walk/


Pictures;  Hough End Hall in 1849, from The Family Memoirs, Sir Oswald Mosley, 1849, the map of the township in 1845 from the OS of Lancashire 1845, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Mrs Sutton’s cottage, circa 1892 reproduced from a photograph by Barri Sparshot 2011

*Hough End Hall The Story, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/hough-end-hall-book-on-sale.html

Always have a bit of fun with the past .......... a 400 year old story, the Beech Band and 1066

Now I have always liked my history with a dash of fun.

The Beech Band and the book, May 2015

I fell across Horrible Histories when they first came out and fondly remember that much earlier lampoon of all things historical which was 1066 and All That.

But that fun extends beyond the flippant and clever to nights when the story of the past comes together with a band of local musicians who make a memorable night.

And that was the book launch at the Lloyds which drew attention to Hough End Hall The Story.*

The book tells the story of the Hall over the last 400 years and the people who have been part of its history and was written to support the campaign to buy the building and convert it into a venue for community use.

All of which is well documented on the blog, so instead I shall wander off and reflect on how folk music can bring a period to life.

Listen to a sea shanty and you could be with the men of Nelson’s navy preparing for Trafalgar.

A little bit of historical fun

While those bitter angry songs of handloom weavers and textile workers pitch you into the Industrial Revolution with its heady promise of a different world where all things were possible.

But a world which existed against a backdrop of poverty and the exploitation of those doomed to live out short lives in awful conditions with only the workhouse to look forward to.

And last Saturday evening that was what we got when the Beech Band agreed to perform in aid of Hough End Hall.**

The songs came quick and fast and drew in customers from other parts of the pub which was a tribute to the group and got the message of the campaign out to a wider audience.

All of which leaves me to reflect on 1066 and All That published in 1930 which claimed that it was “A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things,5 Bad Kings, and 2 Genuine Dates.”

Of course it relied on the fact that you knew your historical knowledge and could appreciate the gentle humour which recorded that “Henry VII was very good at answering the Irish Question, and made a Law called Poyning's Law by which the Irish could have a Parliament of their own, but the English were to pass all the Acts in it. This was obviously a very Good Thing,” and that King John was a bad King because he "lost his temper and flung himself on the floor, foaming at the mouth and biting the rushes" 

Not to be out done there is a chapter headed "Williamanmary: England Ruled by an Orange" and the simple observation that “The American War of Independence was the only war the British ever lost, because the Allies were on the other side.”

So less a serious piece of history and more that bit of fun which is what a all of us should do more of.

And on that note I shall conclude with a reminder that the second  Hough End Hall history walk will be this Sunday, starting at the Hall at 1 pm and will gently cross Chorlton to the Lloyds where we will end up at the exhibition telling more of the story.

Along the way this free walk and talk will cover some of the dark deeds that happened in the township a bit about the hall and lots more about the people who lived here ............. all of which will be fun.

And those who like to be prepared the guide book can be downloaded at http://www.gladtobe.in/walk/

Pictures; Saturday May 16 in the Lloyds Hotel with a band and a book and lots of fun, courtesy of Pierre Grace, and title cover from 1066 and All That Penguin edition circa 1930 from an article from Rotten Books

*A new book on Hough End Hall,  http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

**Folk Songs & Tunes with The Beech Band, http://www.folkatthebeech.org/

***Rotten Book, http://rottenbooks.me/2012/10/10/a-historical-classic-1066-and-all-that/

400 years of history and a chance to meet someone who grew up around the corner

Now the history walk from Hough End Hall to the Lloyds was a success.

Fifty four people joined us at Sir Nicholas’s old family home and having wandered across Chorlton delving into the stories of the people who lived here we finished up with a chance to show off the exhibition on the Hall and introduce people to the book, Hough End Hall The Story.*

I always like running these history walks because you get to know people who have fascinating stories which expand your knowledge.

But what made it all  the rewarding this time round was that I got to meet Phil and Chris and by one of those odd bits of chance Phil and I grew up not far from each other in south east London, added to which his brother had a house just around the corner from  our home.

And in the course of the conversation we discovered we had more in common which pretty much sealed a good day for me.

So that just leaves me to remind everyone about the book and the second walk next Sunday on the 24th.

The book tells the story of many of the people who crossed the threshold of the hall since it was built in 1596 from the Mosley family to the tenant farmers along with those who ate under its Tudor beams and celebrated everything from a wedding to a birthday.

And I have every expectation that next Sunday will offer a fresh collection of interesting people and more than a few new history stories.

Which just leaves me to say that the next history walk will set off from Hough End Hall at 1 pm on Sunday May 24, and make its way through the history of Chorlton to the Lloyds, offering plenty of stories a few dark deeds and a fair bit of our past, all in just under two hours.

Picture, Sunday May 17th from the Hall to the Lloyds from the collection  of Peter Topping

*A new book on Hough End Hall, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

When 400 years of history becomes a chance to meet someone who grew up around the corner

Now the history walk from Hough End Hall to the Lloyds was a success.

Fifty four people joined us at Sir Nicholas’s old family home and having wandered across Chorlton delving into the stories of the people who lived here we finished up with a chance to show off the exhibition on the Hall and introduce people to the book, Hough End Hall The Story.

I always like running these history walks because you get to know people who have fascinating stories which expand your knowledge.

But what made it all  the rewarding this time round was that I got to meet Phil and Chris and by one of those odd bits of chance Phil and I grew up not far from each other in south east London, added to which his brother had a house just around the corner from  our home.

And in the course of the conversation we discovered we had more in common which pretty much sealed a good day for me.

So that just leaves me to remind everyone about the book and the second walk next Sunday on the 24th.

The book tells the story of many of the people who crossed the threshold of the hall since it was built in 1596 from the Mosley family to the tenant farmers along with those who ate under its Tudor beams and celebrated everything from a wedding to a birthday.

And I have every expectation that next Sunday will offer a fresh collection of interesting people and more than a few new history stories.

Which just leaves me to say that the next history walk will set off from Hough End Hall at 1 pm on Sunday May 24, and make its way through the history of Chorlton to the Lloyds, offering plenty of stories a few dark deeds and a fair bit of our past, all in just under two hours.

Picture, Sunday May 17th from the Hall to the Lloyds from the collection  of Peter Topping

Walking four hundred years of Chorlton's history ........ today from Hough End Hall to the Lloyds

I have no idea what Sir Nicholas Mosley would have thought about the fact that 419 years after he moved into his fine new home at Hough End Hall it would feature as part of Chorlton Arts Festival.

Or for that matter it would be the starting point for one of those popular historic walks and talks across the township.

This one aims to tell a little of the story of the Hall and the people who lived and worked there over the last four centuries.

But there is much more because as we make our way from Sir Nicholas’s front garden across Chorlton to the Lloyds Hotel I want to offer up a description of the place and who back in the 1840s you had to be polite to.

The events are part of Chorlton Arts Festival and there will be two walks, the first on Sunday May 17 and the second on May 24 and both start at 1pm and both are free.

And if you miss the walks there is always the book, Hough End Hall The Story, available from Chorlton Book Shop.

Picture; down by Chorlton Brook, 2012, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Hough End Hall .......... the book.......... on sale

I do wonder what Sir Nicholas Mosley would have thought about a book dedicated to the home he built just 419 years ago.

More so because not only is it the  first book on Hough End Hall but it has been  published to raise money to save this fine house for community use.

Now his contemporaries were divided about the man with some seeing him as a ruthless businessman who trampled on the rights of local residents to increase his fortunes while others pointed to the provision he made in his will for local charities including the parish church in Chorlton as well as gifts to his servants.

Of course that is all a long time ago but the fate of Hough End Hall is very much here and now.

In those 400 years it has been the centre of a wealthy estate home to succession of farmers and most recently a restaurant, and set of offices.

At one time it was in danger of being demolished for a new road, almost became a museum and art gallery and for many decades sat half forgotten and neglected.

And now after another period of sitting empty there is a push to buy it for the community.

Very early in the discussions on how to save the Hall it seemed a good idea to produce a book which could be sold to raise funds and which would also make people aware of the building's  history and its value as a community asset.

Now that book is almost finished.  It isn’t just a story of the hall and its many different uses, but focuses on the people who lived there and the way they lived their varied lives.

And because the Hall touched many more people there are the vivid memories of those who worked in the hall and plenty who grew up playing in the grounds.

So less a story of one building and more a set of stories of the community who have known it over the centuries and the many who want it to continue to be at the heart of where we live.

The book is available at Chorlton Book Shop, http://www.fire-hire.co.uk/bookshop.html

Picture; cover from the book, and the Hall in 1749 from Family Memoirs, Sir Oswald Mosley, 1849

Tonight ......... A Book and a Band at the Lloyds with a fair bit of Chorlton's history

Now I know it is stating the obvious that every age makes its own music and that listening to it is to step back into the past.

The Beech Road Singers

Listen to a sea shanty and you could be with the men of Nelson’s navy preparing for Trafalgar.

While those bitter angry songs of handloom weavers and textile workers pitch you into the Industrial Revolution with its heady promise of a different world where all things were possible.

But a world which existed against a backdrop of poverty and the exploitation of those doomed to live out short lives in awful conditions with only the workhouse to look forward to.

All of which may seem far away from rural Chorlton in the 1840s, or the countryside where Sir Nicholas Mosley built his fine hall at Hough End in 1596.

But not so.  Rural poverty and poor housing with the ever present threat of disease and destitution were just as much the possible fate of the agricultural labourer and his family as they were of the textile worker in Ancoats.

And Sir Nicholas despite his fine reputation and even finer house was known for his ruthless determination to extract all he could from his tenants at a time when the government of the first Elizabeth forced through harsh laws to deal with the poor and homeless and saw more value in a field of sheep than a field of corn worked by a dozen farm hands.

So songs bring back all that history and some at least will act as a backdrop to the book launch of Hough End Hall the Story on tonight at the Lloyds Hotel.

After all the hall didn’t exist in isolation and for over half its existence it was a farmhouse rather than the grand residence of the great and the good.

And it may well be that the songs sung by the Beech Road Singers will have been known and enjoyed by the people of Chorlton in the 1840s, been played at harvest time at Hough End Hall and even accompanied Sir Nicholas’s servants as they prepared the rooms for his return from the great matters defending England at the time of the Armada.

Well maybe.

Either way the night will be a good one with it celebration of a new book on the history of the hall, some fine music and much more.

Picture; HDR effect of The Beech Band © 2015 Peter Topping
Painting of Hough End Hall © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures

Walking four hundred years of Chorlton's history

Just over four hundred years ago the Mosley family finished their grand new family home at Hough End Hall.

And to celebrate that event along with the launch of  Hough End Hall The Story* which is the first serious book on the hall and the people who lived and worked there you are invited to walk a bit of our history.

In 1596 the Mosley’s could look out west across open land to Barlow Moor Lane and if they were minded ride over to the small chapel by Chorlton Green.

Of course in the four centuries since then the place has changed but until relatively recently much of what was familiar to old Sir Nicholas Mosley was still pretty much the same.

In the summer of 1848 the Brook still meandered on its lazy course out towards the Mersey helping supply the needs of the small community that lived around St Clements church and the majority of the people in the township continued to earn their living from farming.

By then the Hall had become home to the Lomas family who farmed over 200 acres and employed ten agricultural labourers.  Many of these are known to us by name and most lived with the family.

Of the ten living there in 1841 six were 15 or younger, another three were twenty and only Michael Rustage was in his mid 30s.

All of them would have been familiar with the route we shall take which will start at the hall and move on through Chorlton Park and Barlow Moor Road, down Beech Road and then by degree north to Manchester Road, Ash Tree Cottage and the old finger post ending at the Lloyds Hotel.

Along the way we will learn about who lived here what they did above all who in that summer of 1848 we would have to be polite to.

And my old friend David Bishop has agreed to join us.

David is a botanist and he will talk about the plant life we might have encountered back then and will reveal at least one surprise flower which may have once been grown by Sarah Sutton who lived in a wattle and daub cottage on Beech Road in the 1850s.

Having started at the Hall in 1596 we will finish at the Lloyd’s Hotel built in 1870 and a fine place to reflect on those 400 years and to view the exhibition on its history and the campaign to buy the building and transform it into a place for the community to use.

So that is pretty much it.

The events are part of Chorlton Arts Festival and there will be two walks, the first on Sunday May 17 and the second on May 24 and both start at 1pm and both  are free

Nor is that all because for those that want a tad more history you are also invited to the book launch of Hough End Hall The Story which will be at the Lloyds on Saturday May 16 starting at 7.30, where you can meet the authors, buy a signed copy of the book and enjoy a performance of the music and songs familiar to our farm labourers in the 1840s.

Pictures; Chorlton Park in 2009 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, cover of the book, Hough End Hall The Story


*Hough End Hall .......... the book.......... coming soon, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hough-end-hall-book-coming-soon.html

Celebrating the birthday of Hough End Hall at the Lloyds Hotel on May 16

So how do you celebrate the birthday of a hall that is over 400 years old?

A cake seems a little silly and a party might not strike the right note for a building which opened its doors just eight years after the Spanish Armada.

It has to be something which marks those 400 years with a mix of polite reverence but also with a dash of fun.

Now I rather think it would be like inviting a very old and popular aunt whose quiet behaviour hides a racy past and who is held in such regard that shed loads of people want to come along and share their memories of how she has touched their lives.

And that is what we are planning on doing on Saturday May 16th at the Lloyds Hotel from 7.30.

It will start with the launch of the book Hough End Hall The Story which describes the hall and the people who lived and worked there.*

The book covers the four centuries from when it was the new home of Sir Nicholas Mosley through its 250 years as a farmhouse, its brief spell as a restaurant and the present campaign to buy it and convert it into community use.**

To accompany the book launch we will have the Beech Road Singers with a selection of songs and music popular during the hall’s long history and a series of short films made by Hardy Productions on some of the serious and not so serious moments in the Hall’s past.

All of which just leaves me to offer an invitation to anyone who has a story, a picture or a memory of the hall to come along and join us.

Now I am not sure whether Sir Nicholas would approve but the event is free and the profits from the book all go towards the campaign to save the building.

And I am reliably informed that there will be the odd silly competition, the last of the special jigsaws along with an opportunity to talk to some of the Friends of Hough End Hall as well as a chance to meet the authors and get a signed copy of the book.

It just has the lot and if great aunt Alice does turn up I reckon she would be as pleased as Punch that so many people will be there to say a special happy birthday.

Pictures; cover of Hough End Hall The Story

Hough End Hall The Story will be published in mid May and will be available from Chorlton Bookshop, price £14.99

*A new book on Hough End Hall, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

Walking four hundred years of Chorlton’s history

Just over four hundred years ago the Mosley family finished their grand new family home at Hough End Hall.

And to celebrate that event along with the launch of  Hough End Hall The Story* which is the first serious book on the hall and the people who lived and worked there you are invited to walk a bit of our history.

In 1596 the Mosley’s could look out west across open land to Barlow Moor Lane and if they were minded ride over to the small chapel by Chorlton Green.

Of course in the four centuries since then the place has changed but until relatively recently much of what was familiar to old Sir Nicholas Mosley was still pretty much the same.

In the summer of 1848 the Brook still meandered on its lazy course out towards the Mersey helping supply the needs of the small community that lived around St Clements church and the majority of the people in the township continued to earn their living from farming.

By then the Hall had become home to the Lomas family who farmed over 200 acres and employed ten agricultural labourers.  Many of these are known to us by name and most lived with the family.

Of the ten living there in 1841 six were 15 or younger, another three were twenty and only Michael Rustage was in his mid 30s.

All of them would have been familiar with the route we shall take which will start at the hall and move on through Chorlton Park and Barlow Moor Road, down Beech Road and then by degree north to Manchester Road, Ash Tree Cottage and the old finger post ending at the Lloyds Hotel.

Along the way we will learn about who lived here what they did above all who in that summer of 1848 we would have to be polite to.

And my old friend David Bishop has agreed to join us.

David is a botanist and he will talk about the plant life we might have encountered back then and will reveal at least one surprise flower which may have once been grown by Sarah Sutton who lived in a wattle and daub cottage on Beech Road in the 1850s.

Having started at the Hall in 1596 we will finish at the Lloyd’s Hotel built in 1870 and a fine place to reflect on those 400 years and to view the exhibition on its history and the campaign to buy the building and transform it into a place for the community to use.

So that is pretty much it.

The events are part of Chorlton Arts Festival and there will be two walks, the first on Sunday May 17 and the second on May 24 and both start at 1pm and both  are free

Nor is that all because for those that want a tad more history you are also invited to the book launch of Hough End Hall The Story which will be at the Lloyds on Saturday May 16 starting at 7.30, where you can meet the authors, buy a signed copy of the book and enjoy a performance of the music and songs familiar to our farm labourers in the 1840s.

Pictures; Chorlton Park in 2009 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, cover of the book, Hough End Hall The Story


*Hough End Hall .......... the book.......... coming soon, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/hough-end-hall-book-coming-soon.html