Two hundred and thirty-nine Salford listed buildings …… and two pictures

 There are two hundred and thirty-nine Salford listed buildings, and they range from two 16th century ones, a heap from the 19th century and those three totem sculptures from 1966.*

Kersal Cell, circa 1950s

I toyed with writing about all of them, but it’s been done and anyway as a Londoner who has lived in Manchester for 57 years, I bet there will be a few from Salford who think me presumptuous.

So instead, I will focus on just one which I came to via Derrick Lea who in the 1950s and 60s drew pictures of many iconic Greater Manchester buildings.

And amongst the collection was this one of Kersal Cell. It was granted Grade: ll* status in 1952 and is described as “of special architectural or historic interest”.

To which Historic England adds that it was a “Manor house, later restaurant. C16 with later additions. Timber-framed with plaster infill on a sandstone base. Concluding “the house stands on the site of Lenton Priory, a C12 Cluniac house. It was the home of John Byrom, shorthand writer, and author of 'Christians Awake’". **

There is more from my trusty Wikipedia which tells me "Kersal Priory, also known as St Leonard's, is a priory in Kersal. It is classed as an alien priory or hermitage and was populated by Cluniac monks. The priory was dependent on Lenton in Nottinghamshire. Founded between 1145 and 1453, it was granted title by Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester sometime after 1143, became denizen independent from 1392, and was dissolved in 1538. One of the buildings, Kersal Cell, is still extant; a Grade II* listed building, it is now a private residence".**

I make no apologies for lifting the information from other sources and fall back on that well known justification which runs, “using one source is copying, using more is research".

Bridgewater Canal, Worsley

Added to which the historical background is merely to give context to Mr. Lea’s picture.

And having done that I will add his equally excellent drawing of the Bridgewater Canal and Worsley Old Hall leaving you to do your own research on both and discover the equally interesting Worsley Hall Icehouse, which to confuse matters belonged to the new Hall but does also have a grade II listing.

Leaving me just to say that I am a great fan of Derrick Lea’s work which extends to his wartime years with the RAF in Arica as well scenes of staff and patients from three Manchester hospitals.

He was born in 1920, lived in Chorlton and drew much of the twin cities and the places beyond.

At which point I stand corrected as Bill Sumner  has pointed out "The building you show next to the canal is the Packet House, Worsley Old Hall is a quarter mile away, presently used as a Pub and Restaurant at the side of the Golf Course. Worsley New Hall long since demolished is half a mile the other way towards Boothstown, now home to RHS Garden Bridgewater".

Location; Kersal and Worsley

Pictures; Kersal Cell, and Bridgewater Canal, courtesy of Jon and Hazel Lea

* Salford Listed Buildings, Salford City Council, https://www.salford.gov.uk/planning-building-and-regeneration/conservation-and-listed-buildings/salfords-heritage-assets/listed-buildings/ 

**Kersal Cell, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1386144

***Kersal Priory, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kersal_Priory

Longford Hall … The Parsonage and that Didsbury pub ….. three pictures from that remarkable artist Derrick Lea ….. and their stories

I have become a great fan of the artist Derrick Lea who during the 1950s and into the 60s drew and painted many of our iconic buildings across Manchester.

Longford Hall and Park circa 1950s

And given that he lived in Chorlton it is not surprising that some of his work records places around the Township.  

But he also produced images of Manchester, and its suburbs.

All of which is an introduction to three in the collection from Stretford and Didsbury.

The first is Longford Hall which was in the grounds of Longford Park and was commissioned by John Rylands that extremely wealthy industrialist whose commercial interests were global and who was a prime financial backer of the Manchester Ship Canal.

Alas the hall was demolished in 1995, having been acquired by Stretford Council in 1911 and used variously as accommodation for Belgian refugees, a Red Cross hospital, a museum and art gallery.  Added to which in 1977 it hosted the only Royal garden party to be held outside London.

And if that were not enough of a claim to fame it stood on the site of Longford House which at one point was inhabited by Thomas Walker that distinguished 18th century businessman who was the boroughreeve of Manchester, prominent in the campaign to abolish the Slave Trade, and supported the French Revolution which resulted in him being wrongfully  accused of sedition.

Like most people I assumed that Mr. Walker’s house had been torn down to make way for Longford Hall in 1857, but a paper in the bulletin of the John Rylands Library  by Richard Bond argues for a later date.*

It is a compelling argument and along the way offers much detail about the Hall and the architect Philip Nunn.

The Old Parsonage, circa 1950s

Now I know from Mr. Lea’s son that the family lived close to the hall and visited it regularly with Jon telling me that  “we used to go there with Dad for milk shakes, and in cold weather it was hot Vimto.”

In contrast to the grand home of John Rylands Derrick Lea was at home with more modest buildings like The Old Parsonage in Didsbury which he drew sometime in the 1950s.

It is “a Grade II listed building, next to the original village green of Didsbury. The building and gardens were left to the citizens of Manchester by Alderman Fletcher Moss in 1919. The Didsbury Parsonage Trust has provided a thriving community hub for the people of Didsbury and beyond, in a significant and picturesque setting. This historic and much-loved building has been lovingly restored, and the Trust aims to preserve it for future generations”.**

Added to which it is set in a fine and lovingly kept garden with views across to the parish church.

Ye Old Cock, circa 1950s

And after a spell in the gardens there is the Old Cock which I would like to think Mr. Lea could have visited after taking in the Parsonage which backs onto the pub.

It was a place we escaped to during my time on a post grad course at Didsbury College over half a century ago.  At the time and looking back now there was no competition between a couple of pints and an hour and bit listening to a lecture on the Philosophy of Education.

The pub looks old and in 1825 hosted a three day Wakes event which the Stockport Advertiser reported  included “ass-racing for purses of gold, playing and grinning through collars of ale [as well] bag racing for hats; foot racing for sums of money; maiden plates for ladies under twenty years of age for gown pieces and shawls, treacle -loaf eating, wheel barrow racing and bell-racing with balls each evening”.***

I have to say I bet that event would have made a fine picture for Mr. Lea.

Leaving me just to mention  Juliette Tomlinson and her debut novel, "Longford", which charts the lives of John Rylands and his third wife, Enriqueta 

It is the first of a trilogy which will span the decades from 1864 into the twentieth century and on the way offers up glimpses into the lives of the two, set against provincial France and Manchester, with of course sideways looks at Longford Hall, Stretford and other bits of south Manchester.

The second novel called Sunnyside is due out in April of 2026.

Location; Stretford, and Didsbury

Pictures; Longford Hall, The Parsonage and the Old Cock, circa 1950s, courtesy of Jon and Hazel Lea

 *Bond, Richard, Longford Hall Revisited: A New Building Date, and an Architect, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol 100, No. 1 Spring, Manchester University Press  

**Didsbury Parsonage Charity https://www.didsburyparsonagetrust.org.uk/

***Didsbury Wakes, Stockport Advertiser, August 5th, 1825

When torture came with a plastic rain mac …… memories of the 1950s

My Pakamac was ideal for summer showers. 

 "Lewis’s say … Take a cape, circa 1950s

But they were a cruel invention. Despite being light and flexible enough to be squeezed into a small bag they smelt awful and were a nightmare to wear.

It didn’t take long before the warmth of the body trapped in a sheet of clinging plastic made you sweat and the more you walked the hotter and more uncomfortable you became. Which meant you had a choice, wear it and suffer or take it off, get wet and suffer later when my grandmother discovered that this act of rebellion had got me soaked.

"Light and in four colours"

They were a product of the Plastic Age when heaps of things made of traditional materials were junked in favour of light bright products, from cups, plates, cutlery to the Pakamac.

I had all but forgotten this cheap protection from the rain, but in the collection of the Chorlton artist, Derrick Lea I came across this advert.

I have no idea why he included it in his pictures and paintings but perhaps like me he wasn’t a fan.

Nor I think I am alone.  Anyone born in the middle decades of the last century, who remembers watching Ivanhoe on a tiny black and white TV, and who was allowed to roam free at weekends and holidays with no demand to check in will at some point have endured a variation of the Pakamac.

True they were less cumbersome than those belted gaberdine raincoats, but they were no less a chore to carry and got in the way of climbing trees.

Unless of course you had bought one of those surplus army canvas bags which could store all manner of treasures, from a bottle of lemonade to a half-eaten bread roll.

Mine was army green had once been an ammunition bag and cost just one shilling. They were the “must to have” item in 1958 and at a push would take the mac, if you hadn’t already discarded it in full knowledge that mother would not be best pleased.

And that is it.

Location; wet days in the 1950s

Picture; "Lewis’s say … Take a cape, circa 1950s, courtesy of John and Hazel Lea" 

When Mr. Lea drew Chorlton-cum-Hardy …………..

I have Jon and Hazel to thank for reigniting my interest in our local artist Derrick Lea who I first came across a decade and a bit ago.

Seven in one place, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, in the 1950s

Back then I knew nothing of Mr. Lea other than that during the 1950s he produced a collection of fine pictures of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

They were drawn in a style which will be familiar to anyone who grew up in that decade and are now unique in being a record of the township over 70 years ago.

They include some of our iconic buildings from the Horse and Jockey, and the Con Club, as well as the Lloyds, Barlow Hall, Hough End Hall and Jackson’s Boat along with Longford Hall.

Now I know some purists will sniffly point out that neither Hough End Hall nor Longford Hall are in Chorlton, but as Mr. Lea made an exception in his calendar of Chorlton sites, I am not going to quibble.

The Lloyd Hotel and Con Club, 1955

As for Hough End Hall it is true it was in Withington for centuries but with a slip of the municipal pen has now come over to us.  As for Longford Hall, yep, there is no denying it is in Stretford, but than Mr. Lea lived on Ryebank Road which is as close as you can get to the hall.

He was a commercial artist, and his son Jon tells me that he produced the Chorlton selection for picture postcards and that calendar.

All date from the 1950s and some I can pinpoint to a specific year. So, the images of the Lloyds, the former Conservative Club and Jackson’s Boat date from 1955 and that of Longford Hall was drawn two years later.

And that makes them an important addition to our understanding of what the area was once like and in particular how some of the buildings have changed over seven decades.

Hough End Hall, circa 1950s

When he drew Hough End Hall it was still part of a working farm and so while its glory days were over when it was at the centre of an estate comprising 250 acres its pond and fields were still home to chickens, pigs, geese and horses. 

Moreover, the last real tenant had only died a few years earlier which resulted in it being taken over by the Bailey family who first began farming in Chorlton in the mid 18th century round about the time the Hall passed out of the Mosley’s possessions who built it and into the hands of the Egerton’s who owned almost all of Chorlton.

Likewise, two images of the Horse and Jockey show that the western end of the pub was still a separate residential property.  

The Horse and Jockey, 1955

That said Mr. Lea was not above introducing a few flights from historical accuracy. In one of the Jockey pictures he includes a pond on the village green which fronts the Jockey. Sadly, there is no evidence for a pond and during a big chunk of the 19th century the green was the private garden of Samuel Wilton who lived in the eastern side of what is now the pub.

But that is a minor quibble when set against the bigger picture which is of a collection of images drawn during the 1950s by Mr. Lea, and which are fast fading from living memory.

And that is it.

Location; Chorlton

Derrick Lea, date unknown

Pictures; The Chorlton-cum-Hardy Mr. Lea drew in the 1950s, courtesy of Jon and Hazel Lea

Next; Longford Hall, Didsbury and out beyond into Cheadle and beyond

Derrick Lea …… the Manchester artist comes out of the shadows

 For nearly two decades I have tried to discover the life story of Mr. Derrick Lea who painted and drew some fine pictures of Manchester, including Chorlton.

Greetings from Manchester, undated

And for most of those two decades I was unsuccessful. 

The search had turned up a conversation with some one who vaguely remembered him and an address of a property on Ryebank Road in Chorlton and because Chorlton featured in many of the pictures he produced I reasoned that he may have lived here, but that was it.

So, I used the images gave full credit to Mr. Lea and hoped that in the fulness of time I would discover more.

And that more came in the form of a series of messages from his son and daughter in law which in turn led to a meeting.

In the course of an hour and half Jon Lea shared three folders full of his dad’s work and gave me an insight into his dad’s life.

Derrick and Dorothy Lea, undated

This he followed up with a heap of scanned images of Mr. Lea’s work and this short biography.

“Derrick was an accomplished artist born in Manchester 1920 on Guy Fawkes night. His career began in the Second World War where he served n the RAF as a wireless operator in Africa. 

RAF Tabora circa 1944-46

There, having his camera stolen, he resorted to illustrating his journey across the continent where he then developed a skill for capturing landscapes and people. 

On returning, Derrick married his true love and embarked on illustration for advertising. 

Unfortunately, Derrick suffered from a brain tumour which thanks to brilliant neurosurgery, he survived and found his passion for recording his convalescence by illustrating the staff and patients at Barnes hospital and the Christie hospital.

Although ill health persisted, Derrick homed in on his commercial illustration skills and produced many fine pen and ink works mainly in the Chorlton area, these were often produced as Christmas cards as well as sold in card shops and travel outlets. 

Troops, undated

I hope to produce a web site to include all his work”. 

Young patient at the MRI, date unknown

And so, I now know so much more about Mr. Lea, and that is important because it offers up a context to his work.

All too often you come across images posted on social media, which offer no date, no location and no indication of the source.  The images are often accompanied by some vacuous comment along the lines of “Chorlton in the olden days” or “When we lived here it was different” and most banal of all, observations about how few cars there were back then.

None of which helps with understanding the image in front of you, but with the help of Jon and his wife Hazel I can now view the pictures of the Horse and Jockey, the Lloyds and the Rylands Library on Deansgate with a greater understanding of when and why the images were made.

Added to which I now have a record of Mr. Lea'a travels across Africa, his time in hospitals in the 1950s and some fine illustrations of people he encountered. 

Abdul, Billet Boy, Madagascar, 1945

Added to which I now have a greater knowledge of the man who produced them.

St Peter's Square and Cenotaph, Manchester, undated

And that can’t be bad.

Location, Manchester, Africa, 

Pictures; the work of Derrick Lea, 1943-1959, courtesy of Jon and Hazel Lea

Derrick Lea ….. the man who drew Manchester

Today I have been reunited with Mr. Derrek Lea who drew Manchester in the 1950s and 60s.

St. Ann's Square, Manchester, circa 1950s-60s

His images include many of our iconic buildings as well as Chorlton where he lived and out into the leafy suburbs.

Piccadilly, Manchester, circa 1950s-60s

His work is instantly recognisable and crops up across social media, and yet most of his pictures are not attributed, and that is a great shame.

I first came across a collection of his Chorlton and Didsbury scenes which had had been marketed as picture postcards, and a few more from a calendar and while Mr. Lea was credited I could find little about him.

From the style and the clothes and cars I guessed most were drawn into the 1950s and into the next decade, but apart from a reference in a directory to an address in Chorlton he remained an elusive fellow.

Not that it stopped me reproducing his pictures on the blog and while I credited him no one came forward to tell me more about this remarkable artist.

Until a few weeks ago when the wife of his son contacted me with "Hi Andrew - you have written a blog about my father-in-law … Derrick Lea.   His son has tried to contact you. I thought it was wonderful that someone had looked and researched the life of Derrick and I knew it would be amazing for you to actually meet Derrick's son".

Mr. Derrick Lea, undated

And it was, because Jon Lea not only filled me in on his dad’s life, but shared three albums of Derrick’s work.  They spanned his war time service with the RAF in Africa, his stay in various Manchester hospitals and of course those prints of the city.

Piccadilly, Manchester, circa 1960s

He was a prolific artist working in water colours, line drawings and prints which are accompanied with letters, official notes and his own observations and comments.

It was a smashing hour and half in which the conversation ranged over his dad’s early life, his work as a commercial artist and the question of how best to preserve the collection.

And Jon followed it up yesterday by sending over a wide selection of scanned copies of the pictures.

In return with Jon’s permission the images will be posted on the blog, and unlike some artists I have featured, Mr. Lea went out and drew and painted his pictures in situ which makes them a wonderful historic record and unique in that they are not based on photographs and so add to our knowledge.

John Rylands Library, Manchester, circa 1950s-60s

The difficulty then became what pictures to use for the first of the series.  I know I should have asked Jon and Hazel and for future stories I will approach them, but today I just chose four that resonate with me.

Leaving me just to thank Jon and Hazel for making the effort to contact me and then to share this wonderful collection.

Pictures; St Ann’s Square, Piccadilly and the John Rylands Library, circa 1950s-60

Next; Mr. Lea's life

Who knew Derrick A. Lea of Illustrations & Design?

I am looking at one of eight illustrations produced by Derrick A. Lea.  

My eight are all greetings cards, some of which have a Christmas message and others with a more general inscription.

Of the eight, five are of Chorlton, one of Longford Hall and another of the Old Parsonage in Didsbury.

Now this does not surprise me over much because Mr Lea gave his address as Rybebank Road, and earlier in the 1950s he had been living on Dalmorton Road which is in between Egerton Road South and Kings Road.

But that is about all I do know of the chap.  So far I have discovered he was born in Bucklow in Cheshire in 1920, got married in 1949 and produced these fine pictures of south Manchester.

My eight belong to Margaret who bought a job lot some years ago using them as cards for friends and relatives.

Luckily for me she retained these last eight.

And the one I have in front of me is one of the lost buildings which only went in the last decade of the last century.

This is Longford Hall “the residence of the late John Rylands, was bought by him in 1855 and acquired by the Stretford Council in 1911.  The park and playing fields were extended by the purchase of additional land from Manchester Corporation and is much used for sport and other social gatherings.”*

Like many people I let this building go by with little thought about what was lost when it was demolished.

So I shall come back to Mr Lea’s Longford Hall in due course, but in the meantime I am still at a loss to know more about the man.

It was drawn in 1957 and some of the others of the eight date from the years around that time. Others have no date but I guess will be contemporary.

What makes them fascinating is that they cover a period when Chorlton was continuing to change.

I can not however date when they were made into cards but some at least have a telephone number containing the old mix of letters and numbers.

Now the switch to all figure dialing began in 1966 and was completed four years later and Manchester was one of the first cities to make the change.

All of which places the cards no later than 1970 and possibly earlier.

Margaret had seen the cards advertised sometime in the mid 1970s by Mrs Lea and went round to the house on Ryebank and bought a selection.  I would like to know more but that at present is all there is

But at least we his pictures.

Picture; Longford Hall, by Derrick A. Lea

*text by Derrick A. Lea

Back with Derrick A. Lea in the Chorlton of 1955

It’s one of those odd things that we have few pictures of Chorlton in the 1950s. 

Now there are a few fine collections in the Local History archive* but nothing compared with the huge range and number from the beginning of both the 20th century and the last decades of the 19th.

So when examples come up it is as well to include them in the story of Chorlton.

And so here we have another from the pen of Derrick A. Lea who drew pictures of the area in the 50s.  As I have said before along with J Montgomery Mr Lea is a bit of a mystery.

I know a little about him including where he lived in Chorlton and that some of his pictures were turned into greetings cards and that is about it.

Now given that pictures as opposed to photographs of where we live do not turn us as regularly his collection are quite unique.

This one is of Wilbraham Road sometime in 1955 and it appears to be a warm day in perhaps March or early April because despite the absence of any leaves on the trees people are walking around without those heavy overcoats everyone seemed to wear during the period.

Of course there may be a bit of poetic license here but there is much that is just as it should.

And it is a scene that has changed.  The Conservative Club and Public Hall was still solid reminder of the fact that Chorlton elected Conservative politicians to the Town Hall  and would do so until 1986.

In much the same way the Lloyd's Hotel has not changed overmuch since it was built in 1870

But with the benefit of hindsight we know that Mr Lea’s picture captured a Chorlton that has now gone forever.  The Conservative Club and Public Hall closed earlier in the year after the Conservative Association had wound itself up and currently the plans are to convert the building into flats.

The Lloyd’s may appear superficially the same, but internally much has been altered.  The small rooms have been knocked through, and the staircase taken down.

I can’t say the changes are for the worse.  I remember it from the late 1970s and early 80s as a place waiting for something to happen.

All of which would have pleased its landlady back in the 1880s.  This was a Mrs Crabtree who by all accounts “improved the place considerably in various particulars” and it may have been her who encouraged the bowling green members to build their own club house which was open on Wednesdays during the season.

She was an enterprising woman with an eye for business and also laid out a lawn tennis court on the open land along side Whitelow Road.

By the time I had washed up in Chorlton the tennis courts had become a drab car park while going inside the pub was like stepping back into the 1950s.

Nor did much seem to improve during the course of the next decade, and sadly the place became somewhere you went to only for a quick during before eating on Wilbraham Road.

But the place has undergone a series of makeovers in the course of the last few years, and is really a fun place to drop into for a drink, a meal and soon the launch of our new book, nothing to do in chorlton, Martledge Lost and Found.

Which brings me back to Wilbraham Road in 1955.

Picture;  Wilbraham Road in 1955, Derrick A. Lea


*http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Crossing the Mersey in 1955 to Jackson's Boat

Like many of Derrick A. Lea’s pictures of Chorlton this one was made in the winter.

We are at Jackson’s Boat, that pub across the river and the year is 1955.

Now I have written about Mr Lea already and I keep getting drawn back to his images of Chorlton which were made in the 1950s.

They work for me on a number of different levels.

At its simplest they remind me of the style of pictures I grew up with.

But it is also that you don’t see many drawings, paintings or wood cuts of the township, so these are particularly appealing.

“The pub was built in the 18th century and so might count as the oldest in the township.  It was known variously as the Old Greyhound and the Boat House, before reverting back to the old Greyhound.  Briefly it was called Jackson’s Boat and then the Greyhound from 1834. 

The names may in part be explained by the origins of the site.    At some point a farmer called Jackson farmed the land and kept a boat for ferrying passengers across the river. 

Later still Samuel Wilton built a bridge in 1816 over the river at this point at a cost of £200.  

But the ferry and the right to transport passengers across the Mersey were still in place in 1832 when the pub and the surrounding land were put up for sale. 

The advert throws some light on how the relationship between owner and tenant. The land and pub were owned by John Marsland and tenanted by a George Brownhill who seems to have benefited from the ferry charges.  

The sale in 1832 went to Edmund Howarth who may well have placed Samuel in as tenant.”*

All of which may seem a long way from the picture, but not so.  In 1955 the bridge was free to walk across, but until the late 1940s there had been a toll, which had been there since Sam Wilton’s old bridge in 1816 and was just a continuation of the fee charged to cross the river by the ferry.

The gate was on the south side of the bridge and there are those who can just remember paying the penny to cross over, and one wonderful story of a young girl who chose to chance her luck and crossed by a more dangerous and unconventional way.

She lived in the Block which was a collection of cottages on Hardy Lane, and this seemed a quicker and cheaper alternative to a long walk or the penny payment.

Picture; Derrick A. Lea

Location; Chorlton

*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Andrew Simpson 2012, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

On Chorlton Green with Derrick A Lea in 1957

We are on the green sometime between 1955 and 1958 outside the Horse and Jockey.

Now I know this because the artist who drew the scene completed a series of pictures of Chorlton during this period.

He was Derrick A Lea and he is one of those local artist who has slipped out of our history.

He lived here during the 1950s through to the ‘70s, and that is about it.  So for now it is his pictures that will have to speak for him.

And today it is this one of the pub on the green.

It is a picture which I like partly because the style reminds me of so many that I grew up with in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Often they were the sort which appeared as adverts in magazines or in prints that were displayed in railway carriages on the trains of the Southern Region.

Most were of the countryside and most showed southern England in full summer.

So this one is somewhat different and what draws me in is not just the wintry scene but the way Mr Lea captures the brisk movement of the couple on the right.  It’s partly their stride as they follow the dog but also the way the woman’s coat spills out covering as it would an equally expansive dress underneath.

This was that period when in direct contrast to the fashions of the war everything was bigger and more showy, as if to say “we are done with rationing and making do.”

And the historian in me is fascinated by the picture of the pub itself which is almost the one we know today but not quite.

In the 1950s it had not extended into the building to right of the entrance below the sign.

This was still a private residence and so had not yet been given the wooden beam effect.  Nor had the top floor of what had once been Miss Wilton’s home been taken down.

But not all in the picture is completely accurate for what looks like a pond in front of the trees is  an invention of Mr Lea’s imagination.

There were village ponds but sadly not here.  There was one further to the south by the Bowling Green Hotel and another on Beech Road stretching from Acres Road up to Chequers Road but not outside the Horse and Jockey.

Not that I am over bothered by the deliberate error.

It remains a pretty neat picture of a moment in the mid 1950s which will be one most of us never knew, and I do like his depiction of the pub and the green on a wintery snowy night.

So it just remains to close by repeating  the image he drew.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester








Picture; the Horse and Jockey, Chorlton Green, by Derrick A Lea taken from a greetings card in the possession of my old friend Margaret.

Back with the artist Derrick A Lea in Chorlton in 1957

Now I never have been over keen on those postcards which present a number of views all on one card.

But I rather like Derrick A Lea’s card.

He was a artist who drew pictures of the area in the 50s.  and like J. Montgomery Mr Lea is a bit of a mystery.

I know a little about him including where he lived in Chorlton and that some of his pictures were turned into greetings cards and that is about it.
This card is a compilation of some of his work and is dated 1957.

Explaining the picture ..... Chorlton-cum-Hardy in 1955

 Now a few days ago I featured this picture by Derrick A. Lea

And the following day my friend Ann responded with a description of how Mr. Lea made the picture.

"We think it was done on scraperboard, as opposed to a pen and ink drawing.

Scraperboard is a sheet of card, coated with a black surface, and you use a fine knife or scriber to reveal the underneath white surface. 

I remember trying this at college, and may even have taught it as an alternative drawing technique. 

Reverse drawing, in a way!

For the sky, the black area was cleared off, revealing the white surface.

I would guess he redrew the branches in pen and ink?

Scraperboard  was popular in the 50/60,S for illustration and adverts.

I've just had a memory jog. When I was very young, 3? I lived with my parents at 237, Barlow Moor Rd, opposite the entrance to the Cemetery, and the chap next door taught me how to draw a very simple dog, my first drawing lesson. 

His name was  Mr Lee. Or Lea? He must have known something about drawing. Coincidence? This would have been about 1945.

My grandmother died that year, and we moved to live with my grandfather, at 523."

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1955

Picture; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1955, Derrick A. Lea

The Parsonage in Didsbury by Derrick A. Lea

This is another of the drawings  of our local artist Derrick A. Lea for a while.

He lived here in Chorlton from the late 1940s till the 1970s, produced many fine woodcuts and has been pretty much forgotten.  Of the ten pictures in the collection six are of Chorlton and all but two of these have featured in the blog.*

But this one is the Parsonage in Didsbury and given that other people have written about the place with far more knowledge than I here is an extract from the site of The Didsbury Parsonage Trust.

“The Didsbury Parsonage (Old Parsonage) is a Grade II listed building situated opposite St James' Church, adjacent to the original village green of Didsbury, Manchester. The building and gardens were left to the citizens of the City of Manchester by Alderman Fletcher Moss in his will following his death in 1919.

The building is probably the second oldest one in Didsbury after St James' Church. It may have been built, at least in part, around 1650 ‘for the use of the minister’.  

The most famous and influential resident was probably Fletcher Moss

In 1864, Fletcher Moss, then aged 22, moved in with his parents and subsequently bought the house in 1885. He died in 1919 after an active life of public service and was renowned for his in depth writing on local history, flora and fauna and local people.

Alderman Moss bequeathed the house and gardens to the City of Manchester on his death in 1919 because he wanted the house and its contents to remain, as far as possible, intact 'to show what a comfortable house of the olden times was like'. Unfortunately, the house became difficult to maintain and in 1922 many features, including stained glass and fireplaces were removed.

In due course the house became an art gallery, containing much of the Fletcher Moss Collection, which included several Turner paintings (now in the National Collection). The emphasis of the displays was on items made in or associated with Manchester.

As an ‘economic measure’, the City of Manchester closed the gallery in the 1980's.  In the fine gardens can be seen the graves of several of Fletcher Moss’s dogs, under the yew tree in the shrubbery fronting the house.”**

Picture; The Old Parsonage, Didsbury, Derrick A. Lea







* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Derrick%20A%20Lea
** The Didsbury Parsonage Trust, http://didsburyparsonagetrust.org.uk/history/

In Cheadle in 1957 with Derrick A Lea

Now I have to confess I am well out of my comfort zone, having only ever visited Cheadle twice in the entire time I have been in Manchester, which amounts to 44 years.

This I hasten to add is nothing to do with the place but just the way these things sometimes turn out.  

All of which is by way of introducing another of Derrick A Lea’s pictures.

I have written about Mr Lea on a number of occasions and despite appeals for information about him I know little more than when he was born who he married and the fact that he lived in Chorlton.

But he drew some wonderful pictures of the township and the surrounding area during the 1950s.

And just sometime he wandered further afield.  I have no doubt that he may have produced many such images but to date just a few have survived, like this one of the White Hart at Cheadle in 1957.

For me it is the period detail that draws you in, so while I have no idea whether farm horses were still walked along Wilmslow Road in 1957 I recognise the road furniture, the sleek car and the fashions worn by the passers by.

The scene today is not so different, although the pub has lost one of its tall chimneys and the large sign advertising Oatmeal Stout has also vanished.

Pictures; Cheadle, Cheshire, 1957, from the collection of Derrick A Lea