Love stories from number 28 Edge Lane

Now here is what looks like a series of love stories featuring no 28 Edge Lane.

But first to the house which for a great chunk of its existence was known as Barway House.

It is still there hidden during the summer by a canopy of leaves but recognisable from this 1958 photograph by A E Landers.

Barway House 28 Edge lane, 1959

It is typical of the sort of house which ran along Edge Lane and dates from the 1880s when it went under the name of Barway Villa.

It seems to date from 1865 and was built by a John M Hazelgrove, who lived there for a year before taking up residence at the Oaks on Edge Lane.

It was then occupied by Mr Arthur Kay Dyson who was in imports and exports with an office at 28 George Street in town.

And in 1881  was the home of Alexander Henry Gilbody and his wife Mary Ellen.

The house in 2018

The Gilbody’s had three children and were cared for by three servants which is what you would expect of a family which appear to have been comfortably well off and living in a 12 roomed house set in its own grounds with a large greenhouse to the south and stables to the rear and a rateable value of £110.

The family were still there a decade and a bit later which neatly offers up the first two love stories.

For on November 8 1891, Philip Matthew Schofield aged 25 married Hanna Crosby from Wales.  She was just 20 and both worked in the house.  Mr Schofield was the coachman and Hannah a servant.

And in the February of the following year Miss Amelia Caroline Sharpe married Harry Wells Currie a hair dresser, both were from Port Maddock.

Barway House on Edge Lane and Barway Road, 1894

Ten months earlier she had been living with her mother and brother at home in Wales and I guess may well have come to Barway House to take the place of the newly married Hannah Schofield.

In time I shall go looking for both couples but for now I shall finish with George Davison who was living at Barway House during the end of 1904 and into the following year.

I did at first think he was lodging there but a little later a George Davison is listed as the caretaker and later still is on the census return.

But this was his father because by then our George had married his sweet heart who he had written to throughout 1904 and 1905.

Some of his courting letters have survived and they are a mix of affectionate comments, concerns about Nellie’s health and descriptions of his studies which take up much of the correspondence

He was set on bettering himself and here are the records of his success in Latin and French along with English and Maths all of which were governed by his desire to do well and offer her a secure future.

From George to Nellie, 1904

But what strikes you more than anything is the frequent reference to the arrangements of where to meet whether it was at the “end of the Grove” or at her parent’s home.

Today all of this would be accomplished by a phone call or a text but back then it was the letter and the postcard which with the frequency of the post meant that arrangements to meet could be made on the same day with the confidence that both would get the message.

By the end of 1905 he was living in Old Trafford and in 1908 the couple were married by which time he was back in Barway House, and from there they started their married life in Hulme.

So perhaps not a tale of great consequences or matters of high politics but just a set of stories of people behind the door of number 28 Edge Lane, a house I have passed countless times but given no thought to.

Pictures; Barway House in North east side, 1958, A E Landers, m17773, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass extract from the OS map of 1894 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ the house in 2018, from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, and letter from George Davison from the George Davison collection courtesy of David Harrop

Down on Edge Lane with a historic building and a plan for development ..........

Once again, there are plans for Barway House which stands at 28 Edge Lane.*

It is one of the few examples of those grand villas which were built from the late 1860s along Edge Lane.

Some went in the 1950s and were replaced by pedestrian blocks of flats with little charm or presence.

But Barway House survived, despite attempts from the 1970s onwards to demolish it, and earlier last year there had been plans to demolish it and develop the site.

These were rejected and now new plans have been submitted which retain the old house, with a new development to the rear.

Barway House will always be of interest to me, because it was here at the turn of the last century, that a young George Davison lived with his father.

And Mr. Davison left a fine collection of letters he wrote to his wife during the Great War and while he was courting her.

They are a remarkable collection and offer a fascinating insight into one family's war.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; 28 Edge Lane, 2018, from the collection of David Harrop

*Manchester Planning Portal, Revised Plans, Erection of 7 No. dwellings involving the retention of existing building at No. 28 Edge Lane and demolition of No.'s 1 - 4 Barway Court, including car parking and landscaping,  28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Ref. No: 121557/FO/2018 Awaiting decision, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=PGOP3KBCI4600&activeTab=summary

Saving a little bit of Chorlton ....... Barway House on Edge Lane

Now, City planners and our elected representatives do get a bad press when it comes to planning applications.

At which point I am well aware that certain current developments across Chorlton could lend some people to fall behind that line of thinking.

But here is one example where good sense, and history have got together to save Barway House at 28 Edge Lane.

It is one of the few examples of those grand villas which were built from the late 1860s along Edge Lane.

Some went in the 1950s and were replaced by pedestrian blocks of flats with little charm or presence.

But Barway House survived, despite attempts from the 1970s onwards to demolish it, and earlier this year it looked in danger all over again.

However the plan was withdrawn after opposition from residents, and Councillors and the newly submitted plan accepts that “is to be retained, renovated and brought back into use as family homes”.*

I have written about the house which has a fascinating history and the previous plans to demolish it, so if you are interested follow the link**, otherwise look up the planning application.

Location; Chorlton










Picture; 28 Edge Lane from the collection of David Harrop

*121557/FO/2018, Erection of 8 No. four bedroom dwellings involving the retention of existing building at No. 28 Edge Lane and demolition of No.'s 1 - 4 Barway Court, including car parking and landscaping
Manchester City Council Planning Portal,  https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=PGOP3KBCI4600&activeTab=summary

**At 28 Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2028%20Edge%20Lane

On Edge Lane ..... with a piece of good news

It never pays to lose sight of planning applications, but I did, and it is only today that I have picked up on the story of number 28 Edge Lane.*

28 Edge Lane, 2018

Back at the beginning of May the plans to demolish number 28 and build ten houses on the site caused a stir.**

For me, apart from the loss of a fine looking building there was the historical significance of the property which dates back to 1865 and is representative of the first wave of housing development which crept up from Stretford railway station into Chorlton.

This development predated the big housing boom of the 1880s, and they were homes at the top end of the range.

But number 28 was also home to George Davison, who lived there with his parents during the early years of the 20th century.

And it was here that he wrote a series of “courting letters” to Nellie who he later married. The letters form part of a bigger collection which includes those he wrote while serving with the Royal Artillery during the Great War.

They are a fascinating insight in to life in uniform and in particular his concerns for Nellie and his young son Duncan facing the shortages and uncertainties of the war back at home.

George, Nellie & Duncan Davison, 1916

All of which takes me back to 28 Edge Lane and the news that the planning application to build those houses and demolish George’s old home were withdrawn on May 18.

It is fitting that I should now be writing about that decision in early June given that Mr Davison was killed on the Western Front on June 17 1918.

There may be those who cavil at a link between his death and a planning application, and others who bemoan the loss of more houses in the area.

But I would disagree, my own personal feeling was that this was a development too far, and that was shared by others, along with the questions of affordability of the new properties.

Walking up the house, 2018

All of that said, for me, it is also about the survival of a bit of our history which may be in danger again.

During the last decades of the 20th century there had been applicatin in to redevelop the site.

One was turned down, and others despite being approved came to nothing.

So there is every reason to suppose that fresh plans will bubble to the surface at some point, leaving all of us to remain vigilant.

Location; Chorlton






Pictures; Edge Lane, 2018 and the Davison family, 1916 from the collection of David Harrop


*At 28 Edge Lane, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2028%20Edge%20Lane

**Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending

Mr Harrop’s visit to 28 Edge Lane

There has been a lot of discussion on social media about 28 Edge Lane and in particular the planning application to demolish it and build ten properties in the grounds.

And for those who want to express an opinion, the deadline for comments is the end of today.*

All of which prompted Mr Harrop to take the bus from Heaton Mersey and visit the house which was built in 1865.

He has a special affinity with the place because amongst his collection or memorabilia from two world wars are the letters George Davisson wrote to his future wife between 1903 and 1907 when he was living at 28 Edge Lane.

George went on to serve in the Royal Artillery, continued to write home to his wife, and was killed on the Western Front in the June of 1918.

And so David took the 23 bus and stood outside the house, venturing towards the front door just like Mr Davison would have done a full century and a bit ago.

David told me "it was a humbling experience to stand by the steps of the house and think that George would have walked up the drive and used those stairs.

He lived here from sometime before 1903 when his parents were the caretakers until he married Nellie and they settled in Hulme.

That is the magic of history.

And having heard that the house might be knocked down I just had to come over from Heaton Mersey and see the place.

It was far grander than I thought".

The bonus for David was the Victorian pillar box in the wall close by which when he was working for the Post Office he had the job of restoring.

It had lost its door and had been replaced by a temporary box, but David located the door in a nearby garden and door and post box were reunited.

I hope there is an equally happy outcome for Mr Davison’s old home and it is saved from demolition.

Location Edge Lane

Pictures; the house and post box, 2018 from the collection of David Harrop

*Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending

That house on Edge Lane and the story of nine lives

Now I say nine lives but for all I know there maybe more.

Today I tracked various planning applications for the property back to 1974 and there may have been more.

They all required the demolition of the old house and the building of between three and ten properties, some of which were to be flats and the latest a complex of town three story houses.

What they all have in common is that 28 Edge Lane is still there.

The earliest one was turned down because access to the site and car parking were unsatisfactory, while the proposed new build was out of character with the adjacent property and would therefore be detrimental to the visual amenities of the area.

Added to which there were other concerns.

A later proposal was permitted but nothing happened and now there is another in.

I hadn’t planned another story on 28 Edge Lane, but Andy sent over his pictures with an intriguing uncompleted extension at the rear which I guess would come down if the latest application were granted.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200074/planning/5865/planning_permission/1

Looking for the lost and unknown at 28 Edge Lane

There comes a point when you know that all the smart online stuff, along with years of experience of jumping from one historic document to another, picking up clues, cross referencing and deploying some imaginative guess work are all used up.

2018

And then the alternative is that slow methodical trawl through a century of paper records, building up a picture and allowing the story to unfold.

This is where I am, with 28 Edge Lane, which I first came across a few years ago and have now been reunited with because it is at risk of being demolished.

That simple possibility has spurred me on to start digging into its past, beginning with a story I posted last year on a series of love stories connected to the house and then looking for the date that it was built.

1894

I now think it was constructed in 1865 and was part of that “urban creep” which stretched back towards the new railway station at Stretford which had been opened in 1849 and the decision by the Egerton’s to cut a new road from Edge Lane through Chorlton and on to Fallowfield.

This “urban creep” predated the big housing boom of the 1880s and more modest in the number of properties that were built.

Added to which these were big houses, set in extensive grounds, often detached and were the homes of wealthy families who described themselves as “merchants” or “living on their own account” and were employers.

So far I can count three families who inhabited our house from 1865, through to 1900.  Some were the owners and others rented the property.  At the turn of the 20th century number 28 appears to have been vacant but then around 1903 Mr and Mrs Davison were employed as “caretaker” a role they were still performing in 1911.

1958

But in the case of the Davison’s that perhaps doesn’t do them justice.

He was a retired solicitor’s secretary, leaving some to ponder on whether they were there as some sort of retirement package from an employer who either owned the house or had a connection with it.

And there for the moment the trail goes cold and the answer to who occupied the property from them on will be a matter of sifting street directories and electoral registers down at Central Ref.

That said there is one last bit of information which comes from the 1939 Register, which was complied just before war broke out.  The information which was gathered was used for wartime identity cards, and for the future NHS.

2018

It is an invaluable record, not least because the 1931 census was destroyed and no census was undertaken in 1941.

The register reveals that by 1939 our house had begun its long period as a place of multi occupation.  There were six people living in the house although it is unclear how many flats there were.

Two were young policemen, one was a manager in a cotton firm dealing with exports, and Mr Howard was a carpenter leaving Mrs Howard and a Kathleen Hilton who were down as “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

And that for now is that, leaving me only to plan my days in the Ref.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Barway House in North east side, 1958, A E Landers, m17773, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass extract from the OS map of 1894 courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ the house in 2018, from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018

That house on Edge Lane a planning application and the love letters of Mr George Davison

Now, I am not surprised that there is a planning application in to demolish 28 Edge Lane and replace it with 10 three storey properties.*

2018

After all time and modern living has not been kind to houses like this one, which was built in age of cheap domestic labour and for some at least unrivalled wealth.

The surprise is perhaps that it hasn’t all ready gone.  It was part of the “urban creep” that made its way up Edge Lane from the railway station during the late 1860s into the 70s and predated the really big housing boom of the 1880s.

They were the homes of wealthy professionals, and had impressive sounding names.  Ours was originally Barway Villa but became Barway House.

I am still researching its early history but I know that by 1911 it was home to Mr and Mrs Davison who lived alone in this twelve roomed palace.  Earlier in the century their son George had also lived there and it was here he who wrote a remarkable set of love letters to his future wife.

1904

But those letters, and Nellie, the love of his life is a story for tomorrow.

Today I shall concentrate on the house.

And there is a little mystery attached to it because nowhere does it appear on the street directories for 1911, 1909 or 1903, when the Davisons were there because our love letters are dated from 1903 onwards.

Added to which, Mr and Mrs Davison show up on the 1911 census.

It is of course possible that they were caretakers and the owners chose not to be listed.

He was retired and a decade earlier they had been in north Manchester.

All of which just requires some digging in the rate books and there is an urgency given that application.

If the application is succesful, the ten houses will sit in an L shaped plot of land with four properties fronting Edge Lane, three more on Barway Road and the remaining three sitting behind the Barway three.

The plans are all there to see on the city council’s planning portal.  There are eighteen documents covering design and access statement, elevations, typical house floor plan a tree survey and location plan and even a crime impact statement.

2018

Now in defence of the application, ten houses mean ten families, which is more than could be accommodated in Barway House which in 1911 had twelve rooms, and is according to the developers made up of nine flats.

But I wonder at what price the ten will sell for and if any will be designated for social use?

As for the houses themselves I will let others judge as to their appearance.

Some might question why our house has to go.

Of course the success of the plan requires it to be demolished, but there are some very imaginative adaptions of old properties around Chorlton including the award winning development at 198 and 200 Upper Chorlton Road.

Pictures; 28 Edge Lane, 2018 from the collection of Jonathan Keenan, letter from George Davison, 1903, from the George Davison Collection, courtesy of David Harrop and picture of the planning notice by Lauren McFadden Fox, 2018

*Planning Application, 119208/FO/2018 | Erection of 10 four-bedroom, three-storey houses with associated parking, landscaping and boundary treatment following demolition of existing house | 28 Edge Lane Chorlton Manchester M21 9JY, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, http://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=P4SU9FBCK4L00&documentOrdering.orderBy=documentType&documentOrdering.orderDirection=ascending