Who stole Alton Towers?

Today I was reminded by my old Facebook chum Bill Summers of that house on Edge Lane called Alton Towers.

Alton Towers, 1907

Like him I have often come across it on maps and set to the challenge he laid down today, when he posted the 1911 OS map showing the property adding, “We all know roughly where Alton Towers is or have heard of its pleasure grounds but might be surprised to discover there was another- in Chorlton cum Hardy back in the day. 

Just wondering if Andrew Simpson can tell us anything of it. 

It stood for a while at the side of St Clements Church on High Lane, so maybe there is a photo out there somewhere". 

It was a challenge I couldn’t turn down.

Today the site is open land and was gifted to St Clement's for the use of young people and is now part of the school, and that is pretty much how I remember it from when I washed up in Chorlton in 1976.

The site of Alton Towers, 1933

The last recorded reference to the house is on the 1911 census  but interestingly it is not listed in the street directory for that year and the OS map for 1933 shows it as open land with a tennis court in one corner.

So sometime between 1911 and 1933 it disappears.

I can track it back from 1911 to 1879, and I am fairly sure that 1879 marks the date when it was built.  

It was owned throughout by John Richardson who rented it out to just five tenants over those thirty years.

It had been a grand house with ten rooms, set back from the main road in a large garden and commanded an annual rent of £100 and a rateable value of £68.

And not to be short changed had a series of green houses arranged amongst the trees in the garden.

In 1911 it was occupied by an Edward and Christina Wright, their four children and two servants.  Mr. Wright described himself as a “Paper merchant" with his offices at 62A Fountain Street. 

The site in 2023

What happened after 1911 is yet to be discovered but I do know that one of his son’s was living at 22 Whitelow Road in 1917, because his Attestation papers say so.

It may be that the family moved from Edge Lane to Whitelow Road.

There is no reference to Alton Towers in the 1921 census, and sadly so far the only images we have are of a gate post on pictures dated in 1930 and 1959.

Sad looking gate post, Alton Towers, Edge Lane, 1930

Not that I am finished.

I shall explore the life of John Richardson, and talk to St Clement's Church about their acquisition of the land and follow up the story of a fire.

so heaps to find out.

We shall see.

Location; Edge Lane

Picture, Alton Towers, 1909, OS map for Manchester and Salford, 1909, site of Alton Towers, 2023, courtesy of Google Maps and Only a sad looking gate post, Alton Towers, Edge Lane, 1930, m17809, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Breaking News …… more on the mystery of the lost Chorlton Alton Towers

Yesterday I was exploring the strange story of Alton Towers which stood on a large plot of land beside St Clements Church.*

The site of Alton Towers, Edge Lane, 2022

I can date it to 1879 and track the owner and the tenants over the next 40 years 

It was a grand ten roomed house with greenhouses set in a large garden with an accompanying parcel of land with trees and pathways.

But sometime after 1915 it disappears from the historical record and by 1933 the house is gone and a tennis court occupied one corner of the land. 

Alton Towers, 1907

Dave King remembers being a member of the club and playing in the courts in the 1970s.

The house has rather entered Chorlton mythology with a vague assertion that there was a fire and that the Council appropriated the land.

And today thanks to Tony Goulding who writes for the blog and who digs deep into the Township’s past l can add more.

Having become interested in the story Tony found two newspaper accounts. 

One refers to a tragedy in the grounds of the house in 1915 when a young boy playing in the grounds of Alton Towers fell from a tree in a “private garden”, and “Lockjaw supervened on the injuries and he died from that cause”.**

Fatal Trespass, 1915

My NHS site tells me that lockjaw is now referred to as “Tetanus [which]  is a serious, life-threatening condition caused by bacteria getting into a wound. It's rare in the UK because the tetanus vaccine has been part of the routine vaccination schedule for many years”.***

Not so of course a century.

It is a sad story but does help with the mystery of the house which might still have been there.

We know according to another newspaper account found by Tony that it had been put up for auction two years earlier on October 23rd, 1913.

Up for auction, 1913

The sale notice refers to “The Excellent Freehold Detached Residence known as ‘Alton Towers’ Edge Lane, Chorlton.”

And goes on “The site contains 3,230 square yards or thereabouts, and is subject along with an adjoining plot of land containing 4, 370 square yards or thereabouts to a perpetual yearly rent charge of £63”.***

So, we now know a tad more about that mystery house, and no doubt more will emerge.

And it did because, just a few hours after the story went live, Tony Goulding added the comment, "There is also an advertisement in the Manchester Evening News of 27th February 1914 for the sale by private contract of bricks, slates, and other assorted building materials for a number of addresses including Alton Towers, Edge Lane. 

Sad end ..... that house reduced to builder's items, 1914

It is likely that these items were the product of the demolition (actual or proposed) by the seller, G.H. Jones, Blackfriars Road, Salford".

And not to be out classed I went looking for the advert and Found it umpteen times from mid February through to the end of March 1914.

Location; Edge Lane

Picture; the site of Alton Towers, 2022, courtesy of Google maps, in 1907 from the OS map of Manchester & Salford, 1907, two newspaper accounts, 1913 & 1915,  courtesy of Tony Goulding, and Bricks etc, Manchester Guardian, February 17th, 1914

*Who Stole Alton Towers? https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2024/02/who-stole-alton-towers.html

***Tetanus, NHS, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tetanus/

****To be sold by Auction, Manchester Evening News October 18th, 1913