A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 11 … .the plan of a pub

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

I am looking at the plan of the lost Ring o’Bells, which stood the site of the Church Inn which in turn became the Didsbury Hotel.*

The plan is dated 1821 and formed part of the sales transaction by which Mr. Bethell bought the Ring o’Bell,s which he later demolished for his new pub which he called the Church Inn.

The name, the Ring o’ Bells goes back a long time and was a venue for the annual election of the township’s constable, was used by various Friendly Societies and once for a short while was used to hold a suspected criminal.

Added to which like many public houses it was occasionally used for the public sale of local properties.  In 1822 “at the house of Mr. Bethell, the Ring o’Bells in Didsbury the valuable estate of Mr. Lawrence Walker of Heaton Norris”, was for sale, along with several parcels of land, and “an excellent DOUBLE and SINGLE PEW, in Didsbury Chapel.  The large pew is subject to an annual payment of £1.1s and the other of 10s”. **

The same adverts provide a clue to as when the Ring o’Bells became the Church Inn, because in 1830 the sale of the home of Mr. Leech was offered up as “a Desirable Country Retreat” to be sold “at the house of Samuel Bethell, the sign of the Church Inn, Didsbury”.***

Location; Didsbury

Picture; map of the Ring o’Bells and surrounding area

* Plan of the Ring o’Bells, 1821, DCB 1595/36/8, Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, http://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/home.aspx 

*Valuable Estate in Didsbury To Be Sold by Auction, Manchester Guardian, September 14th, 1822

***Desirable Country Retreat Manchester Guardian, May 1, 1830

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 3 ........... the advert ..... 1824

Now, in the November of 1824 Parrs Wood House was not the only fine residence in Didsbury, but it was the only one up for sale, which made it a talking point in the elegant dinning rooms of the township and the less elegant pubs and beer houses.

Parrs Wood House, 1970

Those with a heap of money might well have wondered if the property was for them, while the curious and less well off might just have wanted to know how many rooms there were in the house.

And how “extensive”  were “the offices, and out buildings” how productive, “the hot houses, gardens, orchard, plantations, and rich meadow and pasture land” along with just how pleasant was “the lawn and pleasure ground”.

Parrs Wood House, 1824

Parrs Wood House, 1980

According to the advert of sale, “Tickets maybe had for viewing the premises, on Fridays only, between the hours of ten and three”.

Not that I would have been vouched safe a passport into a viewing.

We come from a long line of agricultural labourers and I have no reason to think that had I lived in Didsbury in 1824, I would have been anything other than a lowly farm worker.

So, I would have had to content myself with reading this advert, providing of course that I could read.

But that is another story for another time.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; the Parrs Wood House notice of sale, Manchester Guardian, November 6th 1824, Parrs Wood House, 1970, m21314, and the interior, 1980, m0604, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Didsbury Walks ..... part 1 Parrs Wood

A short series exploring a collection of walks  across Didsbury from east to west, starting at  Parrs Wood.

Parrs Wood House and estate, 1853

Now even the most avid supporter of Parrs Wood might well concede that the junction of Wilmslow Road and Kingsway is a bewildering mix of cluttered signs, busy traffic and a rather ugly box which is the entertainment centre.

But it was not always so. Until almost the beginning of the last century the area was still open land, dominated by an elegant 18^th century house set in a large estate.

This was Parrs Wood House and according to one source the estate changed little from the 1790s through to 1960.

Go back to say the 1820s, and this spot might have seemed very attractive to a casual visitor to Didsbury who took a fancy to stroll along Wilmslow Road from the direction of the parish church with the intention of crossing the river at the Cheadle Bridge.

As now, the road would have taken a sharp turn to the south as it passed Parrs Wood House, but even given the height of the estate wall, she would have had a view of the building and had she then ventured into the grounds, there was more than a few interesting features.

Parrs Wood House, 1970

These included the stables, the kitchen garden, the fruit wall, glass houses and the homes of some of the staff.  And for those fascinated with 18^th century gardens, there was a ha-ha, which consisted of a ditch and wall which acted as a barrier preventing livestock from entering the garden from the estate but gave anyone looking out from the garden the illusion of an unbroken, continuous rolling lawn.

Sadly, it disappeared in 1970, when the ditch was filled with the spoil from nearby building work which resulted in the loss of a colony of lizards who had made their home in the south facing wall.

Location; Parrs Wood

Picture; Parrs Wood, 1853, from the OS for Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/   Parrs Wood House, 1970, m21314, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass