Two parks .....a recreation ground ..... the stolen village green ..... and the Mersey Valley ... now that's our new book

 The story of Chorlton’s open spaces has yet to be told, and with that story will come heaps of memories.

Alexandra Park, 1937

And prompted by those two thoughts, Peter and I have embarked on the our next book which will explore the stories of all our open spaces from the Rec on Beech Road, to Chorlton Park, Alexandra Park and that large open piece of land out by the Mersey.

Chorlton Park, circa 1930s

Along the way we will take in Chorlton Green which was stolen by Sam Wilton sometime in the early 19th century, and only returned to the village after the death of his last daughter in the 1890s..

Added to this we will include a chapter on the bowling greens as well as the fields and market gardens when Chorlton was still a rural community.

We are particulary pleased that my old friend David Bishop has agreed to write the chapter on the Meadows.  

The Meadows, 2019

David is a well known botanist who regularly is asked to speak on a range of topics related to his work and recently addressed an American University.  

He was in at the beginning of the project to turn the neglected area of land by the river into the Mersey Valley, and in fact started exploring the area soon after the sewage works had closed down in the 1970s.

There will be those who question the inclusion of Alexandra Park, but both our families have used the facility over the years, and I bet lots of Chorlton people also have fond memories, so it’s in the book.

Nor will we stop there because we could also include people's gardens, providing of course they would be happy to show them off, once a year when Chorlton proud gardeners open their gardens to the public.

The Meadows, 1979

And that just brings me to the request because there will be lots of people with their own stories, and pictures which we would like to include., and of course those gardens. 

These can be sent as a comment to the blog, or to the Facebook sites, Chorlton History, and Glad to be in Chorlton, or by phone to me on 0161 861 0105.

So to start you all off.  There was a barrage balloon of the Recreational Ground, Chorlton Green once had a drinking fountain, The Meadows regularly hosted winter skating and Chorlton Park was built with a civic theatre.

The lost drinking fountain, Chorlton Green, circa 1900

Location; Chorlton and a few bits beyond

Picture; Sunday in Alexandra Park, 1937, from Manchester, heart of the Industrial North, Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 1937, Chorlton Park circa 1930s, and the lost water fountain on Chorlton Green, circa 1900, the Lloyd Collection, and the Meadows in 2019, and 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Barlow Hall, a court case and the promise of a park for Chorlton and Didsbury on the banks of the Mersey

It was one of those stories that you uncover by accident and will require lots more research but that won’t stop me beginning the tale.

Now I had been crawling over the Manchester Guardian looking for references to the opening months of the Great War and amongst other things there was a series of articles about the Corporation’s intention to buy the Barlow Hall estate and turn it into a park.

Lord Egerton had signalled his wish in the April of 1914 to sell the land for £50,000, which the Manchester Guardian reported “works out at more than a £150 an acre [and which] at present brings in an income of about £900 a year.  

The Parks Committee, in addition to inspecting the property, have had it valued at £30,800, or about £95 an acre.  

Their advisor in arriving at this figure took into consideration the fact that nearly 300 acres of the land is low lying, which raises difficulties in the matter of drainage and limits its usefulness, except of course, for such purposes as farming, recreation, and sewage treatment.”*

Added to which the Egerton estate reserved “the rights of drainage for the adjoin high land at present draining into the lower levels; provision for a quarter of the cost of maintain the river banks and certain restrictions affecting the use of the land for building, advertising and sewage purposes.  On the other hand, 

Lord Egerton would provide an entrance road, 80ft wide from Barlow Moor Road to Barlow Hall; a right of way, 50ft wide from Hardy Lane, Chorlton and an entrance to the land from Darley Avenue, in West Didsbury.”

Now there was opposition with letters to the Manchester Guardian, but at a small meeting of the Chorlton-cum-Hardy Ratepayers Association a decision approved the purchase but the members present were concerned about the impact on the Golf Club whose links was owned by the Egerton estate and would be part of the purchase.

Despite the cost the Parks Committee decided to recommend the purchase to the Council in the September with Alderman Harrop arguing that this was a good deal particularly as it meant the acquisition of Barlow Hall for £25,000.

And that is as far as I have got although thee are also some fascinating glimpses into the life of the Hall when it was still the residence of Cunliffe Brooks which came from a high profile court case in 1900-01 which centred around the attempt of his widow and daughter to prove that his main domicile was Scotland, but that is for another time.

Pictures; Bluebell Wood, Barlow Ley, circa 1900, and west front of Barlow Hall, circa 1900 from the Lloyd Collection

*The Proposed South Manchester Park, Manchester Guardian, April 30, 1914

Summer days in south Manchester No 3 the Chorlton Peace Festival 1984

It is an event I have visited before, but it is well worth another outing.*

It was at the height of the second Cold War when there was a growing feeling that the world was a less safe place.

Relationships between the two super powers had entered a more hostile phase. This was only in part due to the election of hard line politicians in the west and the elevation of equally conservative leaders in the Soviet Union but also to events across the world where the USA and USSR were engaged in a new round of support for proxy governments.

What made it all the more dangerous was that a new generation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems had come on stream just as the Cold War deepened and hardened.

The US cruise missile which was being deployed in Britain and West Germany took just 15 minutes to reach its targets in the USSR while American Pershing missiles and the Russian equivalent took just 4 minutes from launch to detonation over the cities of Europe.

So there we were in the Rec on a hot day listening to music, engaged in some politics but above all just relaxing with friends and family.

And having posted the story someone left a comment who helped organise the event and reminded me that there had been a badge designed for the event, which I have, and decided to update the piece with a picture.

It was a designed by Jim De Santos.

Location; The Rec

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker, and Andrew Simpson

*Dangerous times and peaceful protests, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/dangerous-times-and-peaceful-protests.html

Who stole Chorlton’s racecourse?

Now, this is a serious question, because once, according to our own Chorlton historian we did indeed possess a racecourse.

The old lane up to Hough End Hall, 2014

Writing in the December of 1885, Thomas Ellwood recorded that “Barlow Moor is celebrated in the annals of Manchester as the scene in the seventeenth century of animal races and other games prior to the establishment of the Manchester Races on Kersal Moor.  

All that remains to recall the racecourse is the field bounded by Barlow Moor-lane, and the left of the lane  leading to Hough-end Hall, still known as the ‘scaffold field’ where was formerly a low mound, which  served as a vantage point from which to view the contests”.*

And since then, John Lloyd in his book on the township also chimed in with “Horse racing was followed in the 17th century, traditionally the site being a field known as the ‘Scaffold Field’.  The field can be more accurately defined as being the area north of the path in line with the front entrance to Hough End Hall and occupied by the schools and the bowling greens."**

Riderless Races in Rome, 1817 

But Lloyd was merely repeating Ellwood and points out that “Ellwood seems to be the only source and the one frequently quoted”.

To which Eric of Sandy Lane will mutter that all of this was so far in the past that it “ain’t worth a copy of yesterdays Chorlton and Wilbrahamton News”.

And here I would disagree, if only because it does still come up in conversation.

So this much I know, Kersal Moor “achieved its greatest popularity from 1688 to 1816, the period when horse races were held on it”.  That said a later newspaper article pushed back the date to 1687 when an advertisement appeared in the London Gazette, announcing a plate of £20 to be run at Carsall (Kersal) Moor”.****

Chorlton Park, 2020

All of which does indeed push back the date when the “sport of kings” took place in what is now Chorlton Park.

Nor do I think that those events in the 17th century can  truly be equated with our idea of horse racing, because the popular idea of the sport was still in its infancy.

According to a Mr. W.G.C. Frith who was clerk to the Manchester Racecourse in 1963, the first race meeting held at Kersal Moor back in 1687 was “At a time when racing was just emerging from the stage when one man ran his horse against another’s for a private bet”.****

So, there you have it, perhaps those horsey events described by Ellwood were less a series of grand races watched by the good and the rich, and more a set of individual contests where farmers pitted their horses against each other.

I await Eric’s informed and measured response.

Leaving me just to observe that Axon in his wonderful Annals of Manchester, makes no reference horse racing at either Chorlton or Kersal Moor in the 17th century.*****

Scaffold Field and the Observatory, 1854

Although the 1854 OS map for Lancashire , does show an Observatory in front of Brookfield House just a little to the west of the lane  leading to Hough-end-Hall.

As for Scaffold Field this shows up on the Withington tithe map for 1848 as belonging to the Egerton estate and occupied by William Jackson who may have been connected to Henry Jackson who was the tenant at Hough End Hall in the 1840s.

There are a number of William Jackson’s listed as living in Withington in 1841, but none I think are our tenant of Scaffold Field.

So, that is it other than to say the painting Riderless Racers at Rome, has nothing to do with racing in Chorlton, other than it shows horses in Rome which is a city I like.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; lane  leading to Hough-end-Hall, 2014, overgrown Chorlton Park, from the collection of Andrew Simpson,  detail from the 1854, OS map of Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Riderless Racers at Rome, 1817, Walters Art Museum

*Ellwood, Thomas L Horse Racing, Chapter VII Badger and Bear Baiting’s, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, December 19th, 1885, South Manchester Gazette

**Lloyd, John M, The Township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1972, page 75

***History of Kersal Moor, An Early Manchester racecourse, Manchester Guardian, September 11, 1936

****The end of 276 years of racing history, Manchester Guardian, November 9th, 1963

*****Axon, William E.A., Annals of Manchester, 1885

A new park for Chorlton?

It’s not much of a story really but it does point to the changes that had been taking place in Chorlton over the last two decades of the 19th century.

Before the rapid development of housing in and around the railway station and along the Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads there had been plenty of open spaces with fields to walk around and woods to explore in and ponds and water courses to play beside.

This changed as more and more of Chorlton was given over to rows of houses which prompted one resident to write to the Manchester Guardian, “being so near town, there is a demand for houses and they rise like mushrooms.  

Rows, avenues, and semi detached in abundance, each with a small garden, where flowers can be grown if the smoke from the chimneys will allow; but very few have a grass plot large enough for the children to play on.”*

Apparently there had been hopes that a good site on Wilbraham Road might have been turned into a park but it was sold for building, “then the residue of an estate in Barlow Moor Road was for sale which is nicely wooded; that has now been sold to the Roman Catholics.”  All of which led the writer to fear that “Chorlton will soon be as crowded as Alexandra Park but without the park.”

But there was one field left which “in the general opinion of the residents is the right spot for the much talked of park.  The plot extends from Wilbraham Road to a new road about to be cut – Holland Road, I think it is to be called.  It is flanked on one side by Cavendish Road [Corkland] and on the other by the railway.”

It says much for the period that the writer expected the land and the maintenance of the park would be achieved by public subscription.

In the event it never happened and the plot was built on.  It would be a few more years before the Recreational Ground on Beech Road was laid out and well into the 1920s before Chorlton Park was established.

But next time I take the short cut down Zetland Road  [Holland] to Corkland Road [Cavendish] and onto Morrisons I’ll reflect on what might have been.

Pictures;, detail from the OS map of Lancashire, Manchester and South East, 1888-93, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk, and Holland Road from the Lloyd collection

* Manchester Guardian May 24 1892

In the Rec on Beech Road in the spring of 1910

I am back in the Rec and the year is 1910, and judging by the trees I guess it is late spring.

The recreation ground is a little over ten years old and there will be people in the picture who will remember when as Row Acre it was still farmed in long strips by tenant farmers.

The Bailey/Renshaw family whose farm was just behind the photographer on the other side of Beech Road had been farming their strip on Row Acres since the 1760s, while the Higginbotham’s who had the strip beside Cross Road had been in Chorlton from the 1840s.

The accompanying caption refers to the absence of the big see saws which were to the right of the picture just behind the man with the sack but I rather think they were still there but just out of sight.

Then as now it was a busy place with plenty of people taking advantage of a sunny day. In the distance a woman sits on a bench and chats with the mother pushing the pram.  Away in the distance and partly obscured by the trees are other prams.

But we are drawn to the two children who I guess are on their way to school.

The young girl carried a book and seems a little over dressed for the sunny weather, but then spring can be deceptive and what starts as a cold day can turn on a sixpence.

Now there will be those who are better than me at determining the time of day from the shadows cast by our two school children and will be able to suggest whether they are on their way to school or returning at midday.

Either way it is business as usual for the chap with the sack standing behind the bush and like the two young people his attention has been caught by the photographer.

In 1910 the presence of a camera could still draw the curious, and the vain.  Give another decade and the photographer will pretty much be ignored.

But on this spring day in 1910 some of those passing through the Rec can still be fascinated by the photographer and his camera.

And it is worth remembering that back then there were few open spaces for people to sit, for while to the south of our scene there were plenty of fields these were working fields.

The green had only recently reverted to a public place having been the private garden of the Wilton family for most of the last century, and Chorlton Park would not be laid for another decade and a half.

From time to time there were proposals for small parks using bits of open land like the one in the 1890s to utilize a strip of land by Corkland Road, and another for playing fields near Oswald Road School but they never materialized.

So for most of our children it would have been the fields and perhaps the Cliffs which ran alongside the brook just beyond Barlow Moor Road.

It had been a strip of woodland which combined the magic of running water, trees and was sufficiently hidden from view to make it a wonderful place to play.

But by the beginning of the 20th century there were few trees and by 1910 some of it atleast had vanished under Chorltonville.

Which takes me back to the Rec and all those people enjoying the sun on a spring day.

Picture; from the Lloyd Collection

Relics of Chorlton’s past … catch'em before they fade from living memory

Now, if you were born in the first half of the last century then discarded tyres will have been a familiar plaything.

One tyre and a frozen lake, 2025

They were usually to be found on bomb sites of which there were still plenty where we lived in the 1950s.

The lost shelter, 1979

Once found the tyre or tyres would be rolled, pushed or thrown, and if there were a nearby slope, then the bets were on as to how far it could travel in a straight line before bouncing off on a divergent path.

Of course, tyres remain a go to thing for kids, and those left on the Rec are put to good use.

Relics come in many different forms and the word Rec itself is now a relic, used by those who remember the two-acre ground on Beech Road before it got its upgrade to “Park”.

I can’t remember when that transition happened, and I wonder how long the original name will survive in living memory.

But the Rec or Recreational Ground is how it started out in 1896, was recorded as such in official records during a big chunk of the twentieth century, and so it is the name still used by many in Chorlton.

101 uses for the Rec, 1979

And indeed, to call it the Beech Road Park is to receive heaps of comments from those who remember it as the Rec as well as a few history lessons.

Because it was opened in 1896 along with the restored village green and was less a park and more a recreation ground with benches, flower beds and a selection of play furniture.  These were later joined by a bowling green.

To which in 1940 was added a large condrete slad with mooring hook for a barage balloon.  

The ballon left the Rec at the end of the last war but the concrete slab was still there in the north eastern corner well into the 1980s.

But if the name Rec still lives on that of Old and New Chorlton have now vanished from common usage.

Once before the housing boom of the 1880s there was no distinction, but with rapid development around the junction of Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads the old hamlet of Martledge was lost, people began referring to the New Town/village and the old one.  The New had the shops, some banks, and the new houses, as well as the railway station.

Old Chorlton was the village green and Beech Road which was the traditional centre of the rural community.  The distinction was still in use in the 1970s and lingered on in the conversations of a few well into the 2000s.

The Rec, Beech Road and our house, circa 1930s

At which point I could visit the stories of Kemp’s Corner and the Four Banks, but I have done that before so I won’t.

Leaving perhaps just the locations of Scotch Hill, Lane End and Brundrette’s Corner.

They too have vanished from common usage, but each had a historic origin and each can also be found on the blog or that wonderful book, The Story of Chorlton -cum- Hardy.*

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; The Rec, 1979-2025, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, aerial photograph of Beech Road , circa 1930s-1940s,courtesy of  Britain from Above, EPW 017620, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

**A new book for Chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

A park for new Chorlton, May 1892

It’s not much of a story really but it does point to the changes that had been taking place in Chorlton over the last two decades of the 19th century.

Before the rapid development of housing in and around the railway station and along the Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads there had been plenty of open spaces with fields to walk around and woods to explore in and ponds and water courses to play beside.

All of that changed as more and more of Chorlton was given over to rows of houses which prompted one resident to write to the Manchester Guardian, “being so near town, there is a demand for houses and they rise like mushrooms.  Rows, avenues, and semi detached in abundance, each with a small garden, where flowers can be grown if the smoke from the chimneys will allow; but very few have a grass plot large enough for the children to play on.”*

Apparently there had been hopes that a good site on Wilbraham Road might have been turned into a park but it was sold for building, “then the residue of an estate in Barlow Moor Road was for sale which is nicely wooded; that has now been sold to the Roman Catholics.”  All of which led the writer to fear that “Chorlton will soon be as crowded as Alexandra Park but without the park.”

But there was one field left which “in the general opinion of the residents is the right spot for the much talked of park.  The plot extends from Wilbraham Road to a new road about to be cut – Holland Road, I think it is to be called.  It is flanked on one side by Cavendish Road [Corkland] and on the other by the railway.”

It says much for the period that the writer expected the land and the maintenance of the park would be achieved by public subscription.

In the event it never happened and the plot was built on.  It would be a few more years before the Recreational Ground on Beech Road was laid out and well into the 1920s before Chorlton Park was established.

But next time I take the short cut down Zetland Road  [Holland] to Corkland Road [Cavendish] and onto Morrisons I’ll reflect on what might have been.

Locarion; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester

Picture’s, detail from the OS map of Lancashire, Manchester and South East, 1888-93, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/, and Holland Road from the Lloyd collection

* Manchester Guardian May 24 1892

When there were goats in Chorlton Park

Now I don’t remember the goats in Chorlton Park but Julie does and here on the Mauldeth Road West side of the park is the said goat.

The park dates from the late 1920s and over the years has had many attractions from that pool, to the bowling green and the interesting little nature reserve by the Brook.

I am pretty confident that Julie’s picture will bring a flood of memories and comments and I hope some more pictures.

Location; Chorlton Park

Picture; the goat and Julie in Chorlton Park circa early 1970s, from the collection of Julie Thomas

Summer days in south Manchester No 1 the paddling pool in Chorlton Park

We are at the paddling pool in Chorlton Park and the year is sometime in the 1930s.

The park was opened in the mid 1920s and the pool is still fondly remembered by many people in Chorlton.


Location; Chorlton Park, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

A paddling pool, bowling green and street scenes ……… Chorlton in the 1960s

Now I am never over keen on picture postcards which display a collection of photographs.

The effort of displaying four or more means that the images are small and with that comes a loss of detail.

That said I like this one which Ken from St Clements gave me recently.

It will date from the late 1950s into the following decade, and while somethings are familiar, others point to a Chorlton we have lost.

Location, Chorlton

Picture; Chorlton Park, Barlow Moor Road, Wilbraham Road, circa late 1950s -1960s, from the collection of Ken

The mystery of the lost Chorlton Observatory …. revealed today at 2pm

 As mysteries go it is small beer when compared to the strange disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle or why Wagon Wheels seem smaller than in the past, but the Chorlton Observatory is our mystery.

The Observatory, Brookfield House, and a bit more, 1853

At which point I should say that the Bermuda Triangle much loved of conspiracy theorists and any one with nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon is largely the invention of cynical writers and TV producers, while I suspect Wagon Wheels haven’t got smaller, it’s that those of us of a certain age have just got bigger.

But the Chorlton Observatory is a puzzle.

Brookfield House, 2023

It shows up on the OS map of Chorlton in 1853 and was at the end of the garden belonging to Brookfield House, which is now the office connected with Chorlton Park.

It stood just to the east of a twisty set of ornamental paths, close to what was the processional drive from Barlow Moor Road up to Hough End Hall.

And while it is clearly marked on the 1853 OS, it is missing from the tithe map of 1839 and is not recorded on the later Ordnance Survey map dated 1894.

At present I don’t know what it was like, who constructed it or whether it actually belonged to Brookfield House.  

All the evidence is that it was in the garden of the house, which in the 1850s was rented by a James Partington who was a doctor and lived there with his wife, Frances, two grown up children and two servants.

It makes sense to have sited the observatory at this point given that according to our own historian the land round about was on a gentle mound.*

That said there is no reference to an observatory in the rate books for either James Partington or his successor.

And some might just point out that given that low rise we may just be dealing with an observation by the map makers that here was a place to have an observatory.

But I rather think given the preciseness of those said map makers the note will refer to a proper observatory.

Leaving me just to say that you can debate the point today at 2pm when in the company of Peter Topping, the “Friends”, and heaps of interested people we will be walking the story of Chorlton’s past.

Location; Chorlton Park

Pictures; the observatory in 1853, from the 1853 OS for Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk  and Brookfield House, 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson.

*Badger and Bear Baiting, Chapter 7, December 19th 1885, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, South Manchester Gazette

The perfect gift for the discerning fan of Chorlton Park .... out today

 Every place deserves a park, and every park deserves its story, so today I can announce the publication of the “big bumper history book about Chorlton Park”. 

It’s got the lot from what was there before the park including the racecourse, observatory, and posh 18th century house.

And by degree moves on to why Chorlton residents wanted a place to play, its opening in 1928 and lots more from the open-air swimming pool, the paddling pool, open air theatre and that pets corner, along with two bowling greens, heaps of tennis courts, some football pitches, and the lost air raid shelter.

nothing to do in chorlton …… Chorlton Park – Stolen By Withington And then Returned will be published in December, and is available from us www.pubbooks.co.uk  Chorlton Book Shop and cost £5.

It is the fifth in our very popular nothing to do in chorlton.

It is small enough to fit in a pocket, be carried in a bag and with a tilt at those winter festivals will be perfect as a stocking filler, as well as a surprise gift for Hanukkah.

What did you do in Chorlton Park?……….

So, for those who got their feet wet in the paddling pool, made friends with the goat or just whiled away the hours in Chorlton Park this is for you.

Every place deserves a park and every park deserves its story, so we have written the story of our own big park.

It will take in what was here before the park including the racecourse, observatory, and posh 18th century house.

And by degree move on to why Chorlton residents wanted a place to play, its opening in 1928 and lots more from the open air swimming pool, the paddling pool, open air theatre and that pets corner, along with two bowling greens, heaps of tennis courts, some football pitches, and the lost air raid shelter.

It is one in our series "nothing to do in Chorlton"

nothing to do in chorlton …… Chorlton Park – Stolen By Withington And then Returned is available from us at, www.pubbooks.co.uk of Chorlton Book Shop and cost £4.99.

Perfect for that present that fits into the Christmas stocking.

Pictures; reading in the Park, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* A new book on nothing to do in chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20doing%20nothing%20in%20Chorlton

Hot summer days …….. with memories ….. of parks …. and carefree times

 It may still be August with another bank holiday to come but some mornings have had a distinct autumnal feel.

Reading in the park, 2023

Added to which there is that dampness which even when the sun does break through the clouds remains as a persistent backdrop to the summer we might have had.

The park in 1934

So as a  challenge to damp 2023 Peter and I have decided to remember those hot sunny carefree days in Chorlton Park with a new book in the series “nothing to do in Chorlton”* where we offer a selection of locations to sit and enjoy some stories as well as a few original paintings and a variety of old images of the places we have chosen for you.

Our new book on Chorlton Park, comes as it heads towards its centenary and will explore its long and fascinating history, including the now vanished open air theatre, swimming pool, and paddling pool and mysterious wartime air raid shelter.

And not to shortchange the park there was that magical “Pets corner”, the bowling green and the mound, along with the historic Brookfield House and the lost observatory and racecourse.

Julie and the goat, circa 1970s

So, lots to write about, but as ever the story is also about your memories, and these we would like to include in the book.  For some it will be rolling down the mound or paddling in the pool, before playing tennis or football on the football pitches.

There may also be some who can remember the air raid shelter, theatre and swimming pool.

Over the years I have collected plenty of memories of the animals in the Pet’s Corner and Julie has donated a picture of herself with a goat sometime in the 1970s.

The paddling pool, circa 1930s

And that is it, memories, stories and pictures are invited and these you can leave with us at www.pubbooks.co.uk

Location; Chorlton Park

Pictures; reading in the Park, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson,  Julie in Chorlton Park circa early 1970s, from the collection of Julie Thomas, Chorlton Park 1934 from the 1934 OS map for Manchester & Salford, the paddling pool, circa 1930s, from the Lloyd Collection

*nothing to do in chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20doing%20nothing%20in%20Chorlton

Sun …. flowers …. heaps of history … and a thank you to the Friends of Chorlton Park

Yesterday over 30 people turned out for our first walk through Chorlton Park’s past.

History in the Park, 2023

It was at the invitation of the Friends of the park and this ramble through a bit of Chorlton’s history, covered the missing observatory, and racecourse, a sideways look at the historic Brookfield House and even more historic Hough End Hall and of course covered the story of the park.

Questions were asked about the open-air swimming pool, the bandstand and the wartime air raid shelter with a tad amount of speculation about the possible existence of Dig For Victory Allotments somewhere in the park.

Such are the stories about the place that Peter and I have decided to make it the next book in the series “nothing to do in chorlton”.*

And we invite you to offer up your own memories of the park, along with  treasured pictures which might be of a night in the air raid shelter, a carefree day in the padding pool or a magic moment in the pet’s corner.

Julie and the goat, circa 1970s

There may even be the odd “fascinating object” which was long ago discarded but which might have its own story.   In the course of digging some of the Friends revealed that they had come across fragments of clay pipe, broken crockery and “dark matter” which challenged them for an explanation.

During the walk Tony shared his father's memories of a barrage balloon and anti aircraft gun which were sighted in the park and of plying football and cricket on the pitches in the 1950s.

You can contact us at www.pubbooks.co.uk, where you can also see all the books by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping.**

Location; Chorlton Park

Heaps of people listening to the park's past, 2023

Pictures; in the park listening to a heap of history, 2023, from the collection of Peter Topping and the goat and Julie in Chorlton Park circa early 1970s, from the collection of Julie Thomas

*Doing nothing in chorlton, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20doing%20nothing%20in%20Chorlton

**www.pubbooks.co.uk

“My money is on that horse” ……. losing a packet at the Chorlton races

To be fair you have got to go back along time to have seen and bet on a horse race here in Chorlton.

Chorlton Park, 1933

Leaving aside the obvious trip to the bookies or watching it on TV, “the sport of Kings” last took place in Chorlton in 1701.

Now, not a lot of people know that, and I had to turn to the historian Thomas Ellwood who in 1885 wrote, “Barlow Moor is celebrated in the Isthmian annals of Manchester as the scene in the seventeenth century, of annual races and other games, prior to the establishment of the Manchester Races on Kersal Moor.  

All that remains to recall the racecourse is the field bounded by Barlow Moor-lane and the left of the lane leading to Hough-end Hall, still known as the “scaffold field” where there was formerly a low or mound which served as a vantage point from which to view the contests”.*

Scaffold Field in Chorlton Park, 1939

That field was right in the middle of what is now Chorlton Park, roughly running down from the playground to Barlow Moor Road and taking in the football pitches.

Scaffold Field shows up on the tithe map of 1839 under its own name and only ceased to exist when Chorlton Park was laid out in the late 1920s.

I went looking in the Annals of Manchester but failed to turn up a reference to the races, but other sources suggest that “The earliest known race meetings in Manchester were on Barlow Moor, first recorded in 1647, and again from 1697-1701".**

But I may be confusing the Isthmian annals of Manchester, with the Annals of Manchester which was compiled by William Axton in 1885 and is a “Chronological Record [of Manchester] from the earliest times to the end of  1885”.

Or I might just have missed the entry.

Scaffold Field, 1854

Either way I think we can be confident that Scaffold Field was the site of some sort of horse racing in a time long ago.

And as such will be an item for discussion tomorrow on the history walk through Chorlton Park.

It will start at 2 pm and is at the invitation of the Friends of Chorlton Park starting at Brookfield House which is that white building at the Nell Lane. entrance.

There will be plenty who remember the paddling pool, and the pets’ corner, but few who now know that beside the paddling pool there was a large open air swimming bath, a band stand with a covered seating area, and that during the last world war the park had its own air raid shelters.

Added to that the historic records suggest there was a racecourse and an observatory, which fit nicely with stories of Brookfield House, which dates back into the 18th century, and was once home to the son of Francis Deakin who had been brutally murdered in a beer house on Manchester Road in 1847.

Looking towards Scaffold Field from Nell Lane, undated

And for those who want more, the Friends of Chorlton Park have made the invitation as part of Chorlton Open Gardens and will be fundraising for the charity Freedom from Torture.

Location; Chorlton Park****

Pictures; Aerial view of Chorlton Park, 1933, N.S. Roberts, m72054, and Chorlton Park, City Engineers, m09588, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council,http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, looking across to Scaffold Field, undated, from the Lloyd Collection, Chorlton Park, 1853, ,from the 1853 OS for Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk 

* Badger and Bear Baiting, Chapter 7 December 19th 1885, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, South Manchester Gazette

**Heritage Gateway, https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1405558&resourceID=19191

***The Friends of Chorlton Park, https://www.facebook.com/groups/CholtonPark

****Chorlton Park, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Park

Your invitation to walk the past ……. stories from a park

 

Hidden Chorlton …… with a hint of mystery and history

 It is easy sometimes to forget that there is still plenty of green spaces with history here in Chorlton.

So today on another hot day I went off looking for places with plenty of green, a hint of the hidden and a bit of the past.

The first is the Brook which winds it way from the border with Withington out onto the meadows and into the Mersey.  

You can track its tributaries into Withington and off to Gorton, and in it’s time it was subject to complaints about how polluted it had become.

My solitary reader in the tress sits close to the old wooden changing rooms and just a little walk from our own bandstand and open-air theatre, which were constructed when the path was opened in the 1920s.

And finally, one of those magic little paths that wind in between the trees and offer up all sorts of adventures.

Location; Chorlton Park

Pictures; Chorlton Brook, the lost changing rooms, and a secret place, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson