Paradise Walk ……… almost a lost and forgotten street of Manchester

Paradise Walk ought to be one of those twisty little byways which to misquote the poem is “half as old as time”.

Store Street, 1920 looking for Paradise Walk

It was a place I had never come across despite many happy hours wandering the area between Ducie Street and Store Street.

It was Sean Kelly who alerted me to its presence today, with “Could I suggest Paradise Walk, off Ducie Street, Andrew? It’s a sort of short cut and I suspect a lot of history......”, adding “it's been well poshed up, relatively, since around 2000. Wonder whether the Central Library archives have a photo”.

On a warm summer’s day with little else to do, I can see its attractions, because it starts as a narrow pathway sandwiched between a tall building,  before joining the towpath of the Ashton Canal and exiting by a set of steps onto Store Street.

But as delightful as the walk can be, you do have to look for it, and it’s easy to miss both starting points.  

The area in 1894

The Ducie Street entrance is almost opposite where Ducie Street joins Aqueduct Street, while access from Store Street is up a flight of stone steps beside the arch of the aqueduct which carries the canal over the road.

Still I thought I was dealing with one of those very old routes, and mused that here could be all that was left of a closed court which long ago had lost its houses.

But not so, it does not appear on the OS map for 1849, Adshead’s map of 1851, or subsequent ordinance survey maps into the 1950s.   

In 1951 at the Ducie Street end there was a Whittles Croft, which sixty years earlier had been Whittles  Croft Wharf.

And yes, once a long time ago that stretch of Ducie Street which twists away up to Pigeon Street was Whittles Croft and Mather Street. 

So I await those in possession of more recent maps to pinpoint when Paradise Walk emerged.

The area in 1851

If I had to guess, I reckon it will be sometime at the turn of the century when work was undertaken on the canal ….. but I could be wrong …… probably am wrong.

Sorry Sean.

Location; Ducie Street/Store Street

Pictures; Store Street, 1920 looking for Paradise Walk, T Brooks, m10640,courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass  Ducie Street/Store Street, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

 

Memories of an ancient accident … one canal …. and that steep incline … Stoney Brew

Nothing quite prepares you for the way Jutland Street just drops away in front of your eyes.

Jutland Street before the drop, 2025

It is the road that runs from Ducie Street down to Store Street and it crosses the Ashton Canal. 

I first came across it in the summer of 1975 in the company of Norman Parry who had grown up close to the canal and still remembered all his childhood haunts.

Looking up Jutland Street, 1966

It had been a conversation one dinner hour about old Manchester that prompted Norman to offer a guided tour of the back streets around Piccadilly Railway Station and the basin of the Aston Canal.

And having told me he had learnt to swim in the canal he mischievously brought me to the summit of Jutland Street and with an impish smile told me to walk ahead of him and was pleased with my stunned reaction.

The road does just fall away, and it is a marvel that in the age of the horse and cart it was not prohibited to travel down the incline.

But I guess carters did take the chance, but with a heavy load and primitive brakes it has always struck me as an accident about to happen.

And looking down, 2025

And some time in the 1930s witnessed by Norman that is what happened.  A fully loaded wagon plummeted down the road smashing into a stone pillar outside what had been a timber yard.  The carter escaped but the horse was crushed.

All of which makes the popular name for the road which was “Stoney Brew” quite apt, but I sometimes wonder whether the present residents in their fine modern apartments on either side of Jutland Street are aware of the nick name, and I certainly don’t think they have come across the accident.

Looking at that incline it makes me think that ascending the road with a full load must have been equally dangerous.

The canal and Junction/Jutland Street 1849

And yet waggons must have done the trip, because the Ashton Canal ran in to a busy basin which back in 1849 was surrounded by the warehouses of various canal companies as well as the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the North Staffordshire Railway, assorted coal wharfs and stone yards along with the Store Street Iron Works.

The canal had been completed in 1797 and my Priestly tells me “The Town of Manchester derives considerable advantage by the facility with which this canal and branches supply it with stone and coal at an easy rate”.*

And that for now is it.

Location; Jutland Street, formerly Junction Street

Pictures; Jutland Street from Store Street, 1966, : m02382, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Jutland Street, 2025, courtesy of Google Maps and the area in 1849, .from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1842-49, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways Throughout The United Kingdom, John Priestly, 1830

Paradise Walk ..... almost a lost Manchester Street .... but not quite

 Paradise Walk ought to be one of those twisty little byways which to misquote the poem is “half as old as time”.

Store Street, 1920 looking for Paradise Walk

It was a place I had never come across despite many happy hours wandering the area between Ducie Street and Store Street.

It was Sean Kelly who alerted me to its presence today, with “Could I suggest Paradise Walk, off Ducie Street, Andrew? It’s a sort of short cut and I suspect a lot of history......”, adding “it's been well poshed up, relatively, since around 2000. Wonder whether the Central Library archives have a photo”.

On a warm summer’s day with little else to do, I can see its attractions, because it starts as a narrow pathway sandwiched between a tall building,  before joining the towpath of the Ashton Canal and exiting by a set of steps onto Store Street.

But as delightful as the walk can be, you do have to look for it, and it’s easy to miss both starting points.  

The area in 1894

The Ducie Street entrance is almost opposite where Ducie Street joins Aqueduct Street, while access from Store Street is up a flight of stone steps beside the arch of the aqueduct which carries the canal over the road.

Still I thought I was dealing with one of those very old routes, and mused that here could be all that was left of a closed court which long ago had lost its houses.

But not so, it does not appear on the OS map for 1849, Adshead’s map of 1851, or subsequent ordinance survey maps into the 1950s.   

In 1951 at the Ducie Street end there was a Whittles Croft, which sixty years earlier had been Whittles  Croft Wharf.

And yes, once a long time ago that stretch of Ducie Street which twists away up to Pigeon Street was Whittles Croft and Mather Street. 

Whittles Croft Wharf, 1939

So I await those in possession of more recent maps to pinpoint when Paradise Walk emerged.

If I had to guess, I reckon it will be sometime at the turn of the century when work was undertaken on the canal ….. but I could be wrong …… probably am wrong.

Sorry Sean.

Location; Ducie Street/Store Street

Pictures; Store Street, 1920 looking for Paradise Walk, T Brooks, m10640,and Whittles Croft, 1939, m53789, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass  Ducie Street/Store Street, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

 

Never let prejudice get in the way of history ….. walking New Islington

Now, I have a habit of getting sniffy about the new names developers and city planners give to old bits of Manchester.

The Ashton Canal, 2022

So, over the years I have been a bit dismissive of the names like The Northern Quarter, Spinnyfields, and New Islington.

Only to find that there is often a basis for these names.

And so, it is with New Islington which is that area roughly between the Rochdale and Ashton Canals.

In my ignorance I assumed the name had been dreamed up by some smart backroom young thing as an echo of that other place in London.

But not so apparently back in 2000, the residents of what was then called the Cardroom Estate were asked to choose a new name for the area in advance of regeneration plans and with the help of Urban Splash “choose the area’s new name (taking their inspiration from the name of a road that ran through the estate)”.*

New Islington, 1851

This was New Islington Road, which was cut sometime between 1844 and 1853, and in turn references the name New Islington which appears on maps dating back into the 18th century.

So once again the lesson is never get sniffy before looking back into the past.

And the history of the area pretty much confirms that simple observation that canals make for development.

In the late 18th century Green’s map of 1794 shows the area as open land but indicates the line of the “Intended Ashton Canal" while Johnson’s map of 1819 shows a only limited development.

Relics, 2022

That said between the OS map of 1844 and Adshead’s map of just seven years later New Islington has followed the patten of other parts of the city and is characterised by acres of densely packed terrace houses, textile mills, dye works, plenty of coal yards and a foundry.

All very different from the smart properties which today line the canal along with the equally smart bars, restaurants, and heaps more including a free school and the aptly named Cotton Field which is “an idyllic water park where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Improvement works have recently been completed, and it’s used daily by families and people young and old for fitness and sport, walking and picnics*.**

The multi coloured set of homes, 2022

I am glad I took Timmy tram yesterday and visited the area, motivated by curiosity and the sunshine.

The challenge now is to go back and wander the New Islington of 1851 and in particular to get a sense of who lived there and where they may have worked.

And while that is in progress I think a few more visits back to the area, perhaps looking at how many of the old streets have survived along with buildings from the mis 19th century, and matching those discoveries with the continued rose of the new tower blocks.

Rising blocks, 2022

Location; New Islington

Pictures; walking New Islington, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in 1851 from Adshead’s map of Manchester, Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

*The regeneration of New Islington - Creating Manchester's most thriving neighbourhood, urbansplash, https://www.urbansplash.co.uk/blog/the-regeneration-of-new-islington

**This is the place: why New Islington is now the best place to live in Manchester city centre, I Love Manchester, Chris Greenhalgh, January 10th 2020, https://ilovemanchester.com/new-islington-best-place-to-live-manchester-city-centre

The Dark Tunnel ……. Ben Brierley Terrace and more than one puzzle

I went looking for the Dark Tunnel in Daisy Nook last week, inspired by a picture postcard which showed the tunnel sometime around 1900.

The card was one of a handful, some of which were addressed to Mrs. Robinson at 16 Ben Brierley Terrace, Daisy Nook, Ashton Under Lyne.

But a search for the tunnel and the terrace proved a failure.

Nor were the maps of the period much success.

Eventually I found a reference to the Tunnel which was known as Boodle Tunnel was opened out in the 1920s and offers up the strong possibility that I did walk its route.

Photographs from the 1940s and early 1960s show the opened up route and I guess it is back to the maps to plot its position.

But of Ben Brierley Terrace, have found nothing.

And as I don’t have access to the directories for the area I will be forced back on interrogating the census returns for the terrace unless someone can help out.

Location; Daisy Nook

Picture; The Dark Tunnel, circa 1900, from the collection of David Harrop