Back on Alex Road South with a college, the park and two missing houses

The entrance to the college

Yesterday I wandered out and found that house next to St Edmunds on Alex Road South and pondered its future.

It is not quite clear what is happening to it but its two neighbours went a long time ago and in so doing provided accommodation for a lot more people than the occupants at numbers 18 and 20 in the spring of 1911.

These were the two houses which stood on the plot of land which runs up to Mayfield Road.

In 1911, number 18 was occupied by Martha Murphy aged 70, her sister Mary Watts, 74, Elizabeth Watts, 72 along with Lucy Kathleen Warrior who was 46 and Sophia Fildes also in her 70s who was visiting.

St Edmund's Church and the homes of Mrs Chapman, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Lord 

Now as you do I was drawn in to the household.  Elizabeth Watts was described as a servant, while Miss Warrior described herself as a Nursing sister, which made sense given the advanced ages of the other three.

And I have to say I rather think they must have rattled around in what was an eleven roomed property.

Next door at number 20 Mrs Lord and her three daughters shared the ten rooms with a servant and Mr Joshia Freldendred who was a Builders Merchant.

The park directly opposite the college

All of which is an introduction to the magnificent St Bede’s which is best seen on a bright sunny day rather than wet grey ones which give the place a rather gloomy appearance. It dates from the early 1880s and I have to confess was a place a rarely spent much time looking at.

But not so the park directly opposite.  We have spent pleasant times there with the children attended various musical and political events and marvel still at how pleasant the place is.

It was opened in 1868 and covers a 60 acre site.

So there you have it, not bad for a morning out on Alex Road South as the sun shone.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and detail of the park and road from the OS for South Lancashire, 1888-93, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

On Alexandra Road South pondering the future of house in 2013 ......... and the correction seven years on

Staverton House, 2013

I wonder the fate of this house on Alexandra Road South.

Long ago its two neighbours disappeared to be replaced by a block of flats which themselves look to be in the first stages of a makeover.

Now I have passed it countless times over the last thirty-seven years and never given it a second glance.

Well I say that but because it is almost directly behind the bus stop I guess I have looked at it but it never registered, stuck as it is along the road that takes in the impressive St Bede’s, that block of flats and St Edmund’s.

I haven’t a date for it yet but it was there by 1891 and I guess a search through the directories will fix it sometime in the decade before.

In 1911 it was home to Mrs Elizabeth Chapman her four grown up children and Annie Bickerstaff who was the 26 year old the servant from Frodsham in Cheshire.

Staverton House as it was known was an impressive place with eleven rooms and a fairly large garden with the added attraction of the park directly opposite.

The family were there by 1891 having moved sometime in the decade before from Bishop Street which was off Great Western Street.

Josiah her husband described himself variously as a chemist, and photographic chemist with his own shop at & Albert Square.

Now I do not think we are dealing with some small time operator, for he styled himself “Chapman Joshia Thomas, photographic chemist and manufacturer of and dealer in photographic apparatus and chemicals.” *

Albert Sq and No 7, Chapman Joshia Thomas, circa 1903

His business was situated on the ground floor of the large commercial building running from Tasle Alley down to Brazenose Street opposite the statue of Prince Albert and the Town Hall which made it a prominent place to sell photographic equipment.

He had been born in Staverton in Wiltshire which pretty much explains the name of the house.

But as ever there are gaps in their story. I have no record of their marriage or their deaths, which is one of those things that happen.

The references will be out there but are proving elusive.  But their eldest son was born in 1873, and two years earlier Joshia was single and living as a lodger in Moss Side.

All of which is a long way from our house and its future which I shall watch with interest.

And seven years after the story was posted, I have a correction, from Lawrence Richards, who is the
Great grandson of Josiah Chapman. "Hi Andrew, In fact I don’t think this is Staverton but the house next door to where Staverton was. I believe this house is 18 Alexandra Road South and Staverton was 16. 

From an old picture we have of Staverton it is a different design and also the gate was on the right of the house whereas this one is on the left. I believe the plot where Staverton was is now occupied by a modern building attached to St Edmund’s Church, so as far as I can see, sadly the house no longer exists. 

You can see this on streetview on Google Maps".

Now that's a picture I would like to see.

Pictures; the house from the collection of Andrew Simpson, detail of the commercial building on Albert Square from Goads Fire Insurance maps, 1880-1900, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Slaters Manchester, Salford and Surburban Directory, 1903