That lost magical Chorlton playground ... a man called Gabbott .... and the Curnon Steam Meter

 For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by a patch of land just a little to the north of Chorlton Brook.

That assemblage of old buildings, circa 1990s

Long after the Barlow Moor Road side had been developed with the cinema, a factory and a row of houses it stubbornly refused to be developed.

Instead, it remained a collection of wooden buildings which by the 1970s had become overgrown and were a mecca for kids who were drawn to the isolated spot as much as for the potential for adventures by the brook.

And as if to signal its presence there was at the entrance an old petrol pump.

Even more odd was that it was reached by walking up Claude Road and was positioned at that point where the road does a right turn, heading west, and then south into the Ville.

Claude Road, 1969

Over the years I picked up the stories from people who played there and wondered with the occupants of 45 or 47 Claude Road which stan either side of the entrance had any knowledge of its history, its use or its owner.

And then sometime in the 1990s the site was cleared, and a row of town houses were built with the un Chorlton name of Rainbow Close.

I always assumed they had been workshops but never pursued the story until this week when Doreen and Rob Lizar lent me a series of pictures they had taken of the buildings, before and during their demolition along with the name of the man who owned the land.  This was a Mr. Gabbot who owned and rented out no. 45 Claude Road which ran along the north site of plot.

Rainbow Close, circa 1990s

The pictures are of course a fascinating piece of our history for a set of buildings which will soon fade from living memory.

But added to the photographs was a trade card for Curnon Engineering Co, at Claude Road Works Chorlton cum Hardy, featuring the Curnon Steam Meter.

And a search of the record brought up that “Curnon Engineering was started by Edgar Parr Gabbott and his grandson is still about. Chas Cook made the steam meter for Curnon while Mr Gabbott was away in France during the First World War but the arrangement seems to have continued until the 1940s”.*

To which that go to guide for all things industrial and machine, Graces Guide to British Industrial History offers up pictures of the machine, a poster, and two addresses for what I assume were the offices of the company. In 1911 these were at 5 John Dalton Street and in 1913 185 Princess Street.**

Curnon Steam Meter, undated

And from the two sites I now know that a Curnon Steam Meter, recorded “accurately the flow of steam in any size of pipe, under any conditions of working, at any degree of superheat, without causing any throttling or necessitating any disturbance of the pipe-line” and was proudly advertised as a British Made Steam Meter”.***

Curnon trade directory, undated

Their offices at 5 John Dalton Street were in the impressive Queens Chambers on the corner of Deansgate.  

It is still there and back in 1911 housed 38 companies and societies over 4 floors, including solicitors, estate agents, accountants and industrial businesses, with the Manchester Sunday School Union, the Manchester & Salford Women’s Trade and Labour Council one of whose secretaries was Miss. Eva Gore-Booth and the National Industrial and Professional Women’s Suffrage Society.

Oddly Curnon are not listed in the trade directory for 1911, and so may have moved in during the course of the year.

This makes sense given that they were according to the trade card established in 1910.

As yet despite a search of company records, I can’t find a clue to when they closed down although thee is a suggestion of 1940s. 

But Rob and Doreen remembered Mr. Gabbott who on a whim would take out his red sports car and drive around Chorlton.

Tracking him down proved relatively easy.  He was born in 1886, and in 1911 described himself as an “Engineering Agent, Scientific Apparatus” and was self-employed.  Having lived in Withington by 1921 he was living with his aged parents at 45 Claude Road, listing his occupation as “Inventor and Maker of Stream Meters and Recording Instrument”.

That pump, 1972

Now sometime in the 1920s the offices for Curnon Engineering are listed at 45 Claude Road, with the earliest date I can find as 1925.

And I can also date the house to sometime between 1900 and 1903 which I think means he will have established the Claude Road Works no earlier than 1903 and no later than the early 1920s.

He died in Sale in 1970 at 16 Beaufort Avenue, leaving £12629, although it is unclear who to.

I wonder if his “Small General Engineering Business” which he described the firm on the 1939 Register was turned over to war essential work but that may be a search too far.

By the 1960s my friend Ann was sketching the site and recorded that at least one of the buildings had been taken over by the Park Motor Company offering up another line of research.

And there may even be people out there who can help with when Mr. Gabbot’s firm closed down.

We shall see.

The Park Motor Co, 1960

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; before, during and after the demolition of the former Curnon Engineering Company’s buildings, circa 1900 and the trade card for Curnon Engineering Co, undated, from the collection of Rob and Doreen Lizar, Claude Road, 1969,  Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection, https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY , street furniture on Claude Road, 1972, m58833, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pas and Park Motor Company, circa 1960 courtesy of Ann Love

* Curnon Engineering Co, https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp147507/curnon-engineering-company

**Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Curnon_Steam_Meter_Co

*** Poster for the Curnon Steam Meter, 1913, Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History from Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History

When Chorlton made cars ………..

It is a story I have twice come back to having had a stab at finding out where and when a firm set up here in Chorlton making cars.

Shaw's Motor Garage, date unknown

First time round I tried following up a request about Ashby Cars, but only got as far as learning that they relocated from Towcester sometime after 1921 and ceased production later in the decade.

Then after a conversation with Ian Henderson who thought they might have been based on Edge Lane my interest was reignited.

And as before I turned to Graces’ Guide to British Industrial History who offered up “Pioneer Motor Works, of Towcester and Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy.”  The business was run by Victor James Ashby and his son Victor Stapleton Ashby.

The history of the firm is a bit sketchy, and there is a gap between them producing an experimental car in 1901 and 1919 when they commenced production of about 50 "Ashby Cars" before going into partnership with the aeroplane makers Short Brothers.

According to the Grace database, “After returning from the First World War Victor Stapleton Ashby designed a cyclecar that came to the attention of aeroplane makers Short Brothers. 

Short Brothers employed six Ashby staff members, with the car being known as the Short-Ashby in 1921. 

Short Brothers withdrew their support in 1922 owing to poor sales. The Ashbys then moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where production of a two-seater light car powered by a 970 cc 8 hp engine, three-speed gearbox or four-ratio friction drive, continued until 1924.

After which they introduced a 2 hp / 550 rpm engine in1925”.*

Site of Shaw's Motor Garage, circa 1990s

And that pretty much is that.  Grace mentions a garage workshop in Towcester but I very much doubt I will be able to find it, although I did trawl Brackley Road where they were still living in the May of 1921 but drew a blank.

As for the location on Barlow Moor Road that is still to be found, but my money might be on that stretch of the road from the old cinema/Co-op to High Lane which in the early 20th century was home to Charles Shaw’s garage which was still trading in the mid-1950s at 483 Barlow Moor Road.

It is just possible he rented space out.

Alternatively there was a an industrial unit on what is now the Marks and Spencer's store which might have briefly been our motor car factory.

My Facebook pal Tony has access to the directories for the 1920s and I have asked him to go looking, while I will search the local newspapers.

So, we may be in luck.

We shall see.

Ian has found an image of Short Ashby car and it wil appear once I can check out the copyright.

Location; Towcester and Chorlton

Pictures; Charles Shaw’s Garage, 483 Barlow Moor Road, date unknown and again circa 1990s  

*Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Victor_Ashby_and_Son

Chorlton’s own brick works Part Two ......... a lost road and several tragedies

The development of a brick works in Chorlton by The Chorlton Land and Building Company is an interesting insight in to the way the township developed.

 It made sense to develop the clay pits for the growing building boom in the area and I guess many of the internal walls of our houses are made from their brick. The Egerton and Lloyd estates who owned most of the land in Chorlton were keen to prevent industrial development. Chorlton was too valuable as a residential area to be having the smoke stacks of factories dominate the landscape.

The brick works had a short life but there is still some evidence of its presence. I am told that it is still possible to dig up the odd brick on the site and the tall chimney of the works was still standing in 1959.

On a more tragic note, throughout the 1920s and 30’s newspapers reported the deaths of young children who had fallen into to the water filled pits and drowned.

The works attracted labour from outside the township. Ernest Stubbs was born in 1879 in Kendal. Sometime around 1901 aged just 22 he had made his way here to Chorlton and was living with the Hartington family. 

 There was also Joseph Hartley who had been born in Wakefield across the Pennines in 1844 and his wife in Rochdale.

Ernest later moved in to a tiny row of terraced houses off Longford Road in Cardiff Road. In 1909 there were eleven houses on the road and four of the householders were connected with bricks. Two were brick makers and two brick layers. Cardiff Road had a short life. It was built sometime after 1903 and may have been demolished by the 1940s. There is however a tantalising clue to its exact location. At the top of Longford Road there is the entrance to St John’s playing fields. The slight curve of the road matches that from the OS Map of 1907. More research will need to be done to date the demolition of Cardiff Road and there may still be people who either remember it or may even have lived there.

And Tony Heslop has added, "I remember the clay pits being filled in around 1961.at that time we lived on Newport Road, my brother and I went to watch the bulldozers in operation, and both lost our whit week shoes in the deep mud. The factory chimney was still standing then".

Location; Chorlton, London

Map; Longford Road, the brickworks, and the lost Cardiff Road, from the 1907 OS map of Chorlton

Chorlton's own brick works Part One

Not a lot of people know about the Chorlton brick works.

 After all it had a short life less than 40 years.

It was concentrated around the Oswald Road and Longford Road axis and was a continuation of the practice of extracting marl for farming and clay for brick making which went back to at least the early 17th century.

At the turn of the 19th century The Chorlton Land & Building Company Ltd was given permission to use the land. No doubt a reflection of the need to bricks for the new housing boom here in Chorlton which had been in full swing since the 1880s.

The Chorlton Land & Building Company reserved the rights to “Mines & Minerals” which was an important consideration because the clay pits for brick making were on Oswald Road. There were marl pits just behind where the library is now in 1841 and Brick Kiln Pits roughly where Longford runs into Oswald Road. In 1907 this had developed into a largest brick works behind the houses on Longford and Chepstow. St John’s School sits on what looks like the works buildings, while the clay pits seem to be where the playing fields are now.

It remains the only industrial development in the township and was given only a limited period to exploit the land. Neither of the two large landowners who had controlled the area since the late 18th century wanted to see industrial development preferring to maintain the old township as a place for residential settlement.

Location; Chorlton, Manchester

Picture; Brick works, corner of Longford Road and Manchester Road, A H Downes, 1958, m18034 Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council. http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

The family that made cars in Chorlton ……..

This I think will be the last story on the Ashby family who made cars on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton during the early 1920s.

North End Baptist Church, undated

So intriguing is the story that I was drawn in and wrote two pieces for the blog.*

There are still some mysteries to uncover like where exactly on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton were they situated, and just why they swopped car production from Towcester in Northamptonshire to Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

But in the course of researching the Ashby family, one of my facebook friends came up with a little bit more on the origins of the the car manufacturers.

The article comes from Towcester and District Local History Society who kindly gave me permission to reproduce it.

"The North End Chapel building was erected by Baptists from Duncote on land owned by Thomas Ridgway the tea magnate, and was in use from 1853 to 1894. Thomas Ridgway himself was baptised there on 3rd June 1855.

Making Ashby motor cars, undated

In 1897 Victor James Ashby (1862 to 1938) bought the vacant building as he needed larger premises for his motor engineering firm; the former baptistry proved an ideal inspection pit in the new garage. 

At this time he built a car for family use, the "Jigger", making the twin cylinder engine himself.

As the Pioneer Motor Works business flourished. electricity was introduced and the first private telephone in Towcester was installed. 

By 1910 the old chapel had taken on a new look with added frontage and waiting area, and Victor Ashby's two children had joined the business.

His son Victor Stapleton Ashby (1892 to 1953) joined the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the First World War, serving as a Chief Engineer. 

On his return to Towcester he designed a new car, which came to the attention of Short Brothers, the famous aircraft firm. Manufacturing space was short at the Chapel at Towcester, so the car was produced at the Short Brother's factory, as the "Short-Ashby" first appearing at the Motor Show at White City in 1922. 

Unfortunately production ceased after only three years due to the general economic recession.

Green plaque, 2002

Victor Stapleton Ashby did not wish to continue the motor business when his father retired. The Pioneer Motor Works was eventually sold to Churchills, the machine tool makers. 

Later the building was used by The Plessey Company Ltd, and it is now occupied by "Go Floor It" (formerly M.J.Gowling Ltd.) Christine Williams, February 2002.

References

Much of the information on the Pioneer Motor Works was obtained from a magazine article by Nick Baldwin (source and date unknown) which also referenced the Stratford Motor Museum.

Other information from Mary Taylor."

Pioneer Motor Works, Worcester, undated

So that is it.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Towcester

Pictures; The North End Chapel, undated, Baptist Chapel as a garage, undated, and the historic green plaque. Circa 2002, courtesy of Towcester and District Local History Society

*Asby Cars,  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Ashby%20Cars

**Towcester and District Local History Society, http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/tdlhs/Places/Plaques/NEBaptist.html?fbclid=IwAR3bpe-l6gLprsDD0XuM5EpL1GaNd6KiSnUE8ZYe-1_0q7BN5A2gvfM31Vo

When did our brick works close?

I am on another of my quests and this time it is to gather up memories of the Chorlton Brick Works.*

It was here from the beginning of the last century and was supposed to have just a short life.

The Egerton’s who owned most of the land in the township had been keen to prevent any industrial development harming the prospects of selling off their estate for surburban housing.  After all most of the new people who settled here from the 1880s were attracted by the fact that we were just 10 minutes by train from the city centre but on the edge of the countryside and were not over keen to have huge brick works blotting the landscape.

But given that the Egerton’s would have got a good deal from the Chorlton Land & Building Company Ltd I suspect that they were happy to see the blot on the landscape for a short time.  The question is just how long did that blot exist for?

It was certainly still there in 1922 when the owner Joseph Jackson went into partnership with another brick manufacturer but may not have survived into the 1930s.

There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that it had closed before the last world war but Philip Lloyd remembers “seeing the line of aerial buckets moving across, when I was at the library end of Longford Road”  and its opening may have been connected with the war.

German air raids damaged many properties and while in most cases the bricks could be salvaged this was not the case with many of the roof tiles, so it seems logical that  the works reopened.

All of which has set me off on that new quest to find out more about the brick works in the 1940s and hence the appeal to anyone who remembers like Philip seeing the buckets swaying across the sky line.

Those memories must be out there because as the photograph above shows, the chimney of the works was still standing in 1958.  And my old chum David has already posted his wonderful stories of playing amongst the disused bricks as a lad.

And no sooner had I posted the story than Peter Thompson added that
"Just had a coversation with my friend Bill Goodehall (84) who was born on Nicolas Road. He remembers the brickworks as being fully intact on Coronation day 1953. Although he can't remember if it was still operational."

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%20Brick%20Works

Pictures; detail from the 1907 OS map, Brick works, corner of Longford Road and Manchester Road, A H Downes, 1958, m18034 Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council.

The mystery of Cardiff Road in Chorlton

I wonder if there is any one left who lived in Cardiff Road in Chorlton.

In 1907

It was a small road of just eleven houses and I guess it owed its existence to our brick works which stretched along Longford Road.

The brick works opened at the beginning of the 20th century and Cardiff Road with its 11 houses  dates from just sometime between 1903 and 1907.

Four of the householders were connected with bricks. Two were brick makers and two brick layers.

In 2015

Today all that is left marking the road and its houses are these gates which Andy Robertson photographed this week.

Now I have never bothered to find out when they were demolished.

They were still there in the 1930s and probably went when the brick works were demolished which was sometime in the 1970s.

Already a decade earlier the works had been closed and attracted local lads drawn by the  opportunities to explore the derelict buildings and of course because they were a place of secrets.

In time I will track down the directories and work my through the pages from 1933 year by year until I discover when they were demolished.

Although the directories only go up to 1969 and I have a feeling the houses might have gone in the 70s, so we shall have to wait for someone to come forward.

And today a day after I reposted the story it has taken a turn with Stephen writing in to say that, "talking to a neighbour who lives opposite there and she says the photograph isn't where the road was. There's another curb a little further along where Cardiff Road actually started."

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture, entrance to Cardiff Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and detail of Cardiff and Longford Roads from the 1907 OS for Manchester

Looking for lost pictures of Chorlton and memories of Cardiff Road

Longford Road,, and that lost Cardiff Road, 2015

Now as pictures go it is not the most promising of images, but it offers a story.

That said if you want to know about the lost road which once stood beyond the gates you will have to follow the link.*

Instead I want  to ask for photographs of Longford Road including the field currently owned by the MMU.

And before any resident worries that this is part of a development bid rest assured it is just the start I hope of a series of stories about this end of Chorlton, and in particular the brick works which has featured on the blog and which still stirs the memory of those now in their 60s. who once played amongst the old kiln and ran at the first sight of  "Duffy."

Picture, entrance to Cardiff Road, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Chorlton's industrial history, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%27s%20industrial%20history