"When history met art and became a book"

Now "When history met art and became a book" pretty much sums up the collaboration between me and Manchester artist Peter Topping.

Good Neighbours, 2018

It started as a request to use one of his paintings on a blog of mine, and quickly morphed into a series of projects, where I wrote the stories and Peter painted the pictures, culminating in the 80 meter installation along Albany and Brantingham Roads, which told the history of Chorlton from the 16th century to the present day.

It started with the story of Chorlton Green and by degree made its way across Chorlton to the site of the old Cosgrove Hall studio, and was designed as a walk, starting in 1512 and finishing in 2013, and quickly became known as the History Wall.

The History Wall, 2012

And with the success of the “Wall” we have gone on to write five books, with another ready for publication later this year, hosted a series of history walks and participated in Chorlton's Big Green Festival, Chorlton Arts Festival and played a part in the campaign to save Hough End Hall for community use.

All of which means we will have lots to share with Chorlton Good Neighbours who have invited us to their February meeting, which will take place on Thursday February 1st at 1.30. in St Ninian’s Church, on Egerton Rd South, Chorlton, Manchester M21OXJ

There will be lots of stories about Chorlton, a good selection of Peter’s paintings, along with copies of all our books, ............ and a few surprises.

Location; Chorlton

Painting; Good Neighbours © 2018 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures.
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*Chorlton Good Neighbours, https://chorltongoodneighbours.org/ 
Egerton Road South, Manchester Area, Manchester M21 0
Phone:0161 881 2925

How we lost Martledge, discovered the Four Banks and still miss “Kingy” ....... a new exhibition for the Arts Festival

Now as I often say every place should have a historian, and everyplace should have a festival so its good that we have both.

During the last century and a half a whole shedload of people have put pen to paper and told the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

The earliest drew on the memories of people born as the 18th century ended and who could talk confidently of what our township had been like in the 1760s drawing on the memories of their parents and grandparents.

And they included the lot from the shock of the new as first the Duke’s Canal and later the railway arrived at Stretford to dark deeds, and cruel sports.

And as you would expect along the way we lost a lot, including buildings place names, and a rural way of life.

So with the Chorlton Arts Festival about to burst forth all over again “featuring a quirky and colourful programme of music, comedy, theatre and more" I shall just say that a little bit of our past is there for all to see.

Spread out over three venues from Morrisons, to the Lloyd’s and on to Ken Foster’s  shop on Barlow Moor Road there will be some of Chorlton’s history told in pictures, contemporary paintings and ranging over the lost community of Martledge to our own burial scandal and the hidden delights of “Kingy.”

Added to which for for those who wondered where Kemp’s Corner, and Hardy were situated  we shall tell you with a sideways look into the origins of the “Four Banks" and of dark deeds from West Point to Dog House Farm.

And that is all   I am going to say about the exhibition but as you would expect I will be returning with more later.

Location; Morrisons, The Lloyds and Ken Foster's cycle shop

Artwork; ©  Peter Topping, 2016

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*Chorlton Arts Festival, May 20-May 29,  http://www.chorltonartsfestival.com/

Following the Chorlton History Trail down to Oswald Road in 1907

Now I am pretty pleased with the Glad to be in Chorlton History Trails and I doubt that there are many other places where you can read about the history of a locality by visiting a succession of local pubs and shops.

Learning a little bit of Oswald Road's history, 2015

The trails began three years ago with a series of story panels in the Horse and Jockey, Fanny and Filer on Beech Road and the Bar and tell the story of how Chorlton developed from a small rural community into a vibrant part of south Manchester.

And now can also be seen at Chorlton Eatery, Fosters Cycles, and Morrisons.

The project culminated with an 80 meter installation on Albany and Brantingham Roads which was designed to take you on a walk from Chorlton Green in the 16th century across Chorlton in both time and apace ending in the 21st century close to the new Metro line.

Inside the Phoenix Deli, 2015

The 16 giant panels remained on site for almost a year before moving to their permanent home at Chorlton High School.

And across the township there are smaller additions to the trail.  Each consists of an original painting by Peter Topping; some period photographs with a little bit of Chorlton’s history and included in the story is something unique to the building where the panel is on display.

So in the case of Franny and Filer the trail offers up a description of Beech Road in the 19th century and in particular the history of the building which for over 70 years was a beer shop.

And I can now announce that the latest addition to the trail is at the Phoenix Deli on Oswald Road.

Outside the Deli looking in, 2015

The shop has seen many businesses since it first opened in 1907 and I like the idea that just 108 years after it started up as a bakery selling fine bread and cakes it is again serving a mix of cakes sandwiches and much more.

Not that I am going to say anymore, for the history of the place and of this bit of Oswald Road you will just have go down there and read it for yourself.





Pictures; the history trail at the Phoenix Deli, text and research by Andrew Simpson, painting and design and layout by Peter Topping

*Glad to be in Chorlton, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Glad%20to%20be%20in%20Chorlton

The Phoenix Deli, 127 Oswald Road, Manchester M21 9GE, 0161 222 4990
e: :info@thephoenixdeli.co.uk
w: www.thephoenixdeli.co.uk
Opening times Monday-Friday 7.30 - 3 pm Saturday 8.30 - 2.30 pm

Painting; the Phoenix Deli © 2015 Peter Topping
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Cosgrove Hall, remembering a little bit of Chorlton's film history

Brian Cosgrove unveiling the plaque to Cosgrove Hall

I have always been a fan of Danger Mouse and so was chuffed to be invited to watch Brian Cosgrove unveil a plaque at Cosgrove Hall Court on Albany Road.

It was here that Danger Mouse along with Chorlton and the Wheelies was made.

And now Hardy Productions have released their short film of the day.*

"Glad to be in Chorlton" - Cosgrove Hall Court Plaque Unveiling,  is a memorable film of a good day when we all came together to celebrate an animation company which produced some magical short films here in Chorlton.**

So thank you to Michael and Nigel who made the film and to McCarthy and Stone for organising the event at their new development on Albany Road

Picture; Brian Cosgrove unveiling the plaque at Cosgrove Hall Court, February 1014, courtesy of Hardy Productions

*Hardy Productions, http://hardyprodsuk.blogspot.co.uk/

**"Glad to be in Chorlton" - Cosgrove Hall Court Plaque Unveiling, https://plus.google.com/109541117941034501945/posts/LoABrQ4uvPu

***McCarthy and Stone, http://www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk/?gclid=CILtqa2Nx7wCFUj4wgod0B4AFg

The Lloyd's Hotel, pub, fire exchange, public hall and now an exhibition

It’s the end of a little bit of the Chorlton I have come to like.  

The team that have run the Lloyd’s Hotel for the last few years are moving on and tonight will be their last.

After which the place will close until it reopens in about six week’s time.

So in recognition of the good nights I have had there and as a thank you to the team here is one of the Lloyd stories reprinted from 2012.


It was also one of the venues for that collection of Peter’s paintings and my stories which are the Chorlton History Trail.

It’s not our oldest pub in Chorlton but it has been up since 1870 and played its part in the history of the township.*

It arose out of a partnership between George Lloyd who owned the land and James Platt who built it and the partnership is recorded on a stone inset into the wall.

But once Platt died the place was renamed the Lloyd.

During the 1880s it was bought by a William Roberts and it was the landlady 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 which later became a car park and is now the site for the modern housing development.

For many years there was a small wooden hut just outside the hotel which was the cabman’s shelter when we still had horse drawn cabs.  Alongside it according to one story was the fire cart with a hand pump and ladder to be used in the event of a local fire.  I can’t say I would have felt reassured by this and so would have welcomed the fire phone.

This was installed in the Lloyd's In 1887 and in the event of a fire residents in the area of New Chorlton could use it and would be connected via the Withington Board Office to the Manchester Exchange who would pass it on to the fire brigade at Jackson's Row.

On the other hand, given that the emergency had to be relayed from Chorlton to Withington and on to Manchester, perhaps the hand cart wasn’t such a bad idea. Moreover the telephone link was fraught with difficulties as the manager of the Lancashire and Cheshire Telephonic Exchange pointed out in the February of that year, because it only needed “the switch at the Local Board’s offices to be left out of its proper position” and the signal from the Lloyd’s Hotel would not get through to the operator in Manchester. His solution was for the Withington Board to pay the annual fee of £30-40 to secure a line.

In its time the Lloyd’s was also at the centre of so much of the life at this end of Chorlton. For a short while the Conservative Association met there along with the Primrose League and the Clarion Supporters.  It was also where the enquiry into the great burial scandal took place and even had a body laid out after a suspected suicide on the railway in 1901.

So it is fitting that all this history should be rewarded by a new exhibition in the pub.  Peter has brought along some of his paintings and I have supplied the stories and it is another of those events from the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON series.

Pictures; the Lloyd’s Hotel circa 1900, from the Lloyd collection,  a new painting of the pub by Peter Topping and a preview of the exhibition © Peter Topping 2012 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Lloyds%27%20Hotel

Yesterday's walk in New Chorlton sometime at the end of the 19th century

Looking across Manchester Road towards the station, 1880 Aaron Booth

Now I have been writing about walks I would have liked to have taken in the Chorlton of the past, and so today I want to restage just such a walk.

At the start of Chorlton Arts Festival we walked down Beech Road in an effort to recreate a little of the township in 1847

And as the Festival drew to a close we staged a second walk exploring how  Chorlton had changed in just fifty or so years.

It was  a gentle stroll down past the Library and on via Longford and Oswald Road to the Lloyds. the sun shone and lots of people turned up.

Looking across the Isles, 1880, Aaron Booth

In the course of which we will take in Kemp’s Corner, Sedge Lynn, the Temperance Hall and Redgate Farm as well as the Carnegie Library an ice rink, brick works and our own Public Hall.

This was once Martledge but the housing boom of the last two decades of the 19^th century all but obliterated its rural character and as if to mark it off from what it had once been it became commonly called New Chorlton. It was a name which was still used as late as the 1970s.

Redgates Farm, 1900, now the site of the Library

This is part of the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON, contribution to Chorlton Arts Festival.

Chorlton-cum-Hardy past, present and touch of tassology is collaboration between me and local artist Peter Topping with photographs and stories of the past and paintings of the present and a hint of the future.

Now given that most attempts at predicting the future are usually wrong and that the best we can ever hope to do is guess the outcomes using the present as a template, Peter decided we might as well fall back on tassology which is the art of divination using tea leaves.

It is an old practice which some sources have traced back to medieval European fortune tellers who developed their readings from splatters of wax, lead, and other molten substances and evolved into tea-leaf reading in the seventeenth century.

And coincided with the introduction of tea by Dutch merchants in to Europe.  Not to be outdone my source also suggests that in the Middle East the practice is carried out using left-over coffee grounds.

This may work for Peter, but as a crusty old historian I rely on the past and present to suggest the things to come but tassology does have the added benefit that you get to drink a cup of tea.

The Lloyds Hotel, 2013, © Peter Topping

And as we finish at the Lloyds you can always go into the pub which is participating in our  tassology bit of fun, as are also The Post Office Cafe and the Horse and Jockey and look through the tea leaves.

Moreover at all three along with another nine venues you can read excerpts from our History Trail.*

Pictures; from the photographs of Aaron Booth are in the Lloyd Collection, Redgate Farm by courtesy of Carolyn Willitts and Glad to be in Chorlton poster and pianting of the Lloyds  ©Peter Topping

* The History Trail can be viewed at The Horse & Jockey, Franny & Filer, St Clements’s Church, The Lloyd's, The Library (occasions), Fosters Cycles, Unicorn, The Bar, Chorlton Eatery, Morrisons, Chorlton High School, The Post Box Cafe

Walking down Beech Road in the summer of 1847, today at 2 pm

The parish church, circa 1860

“this great tract of meadows, gardens and pasture land.”*

In 1857 the writer Edwin Muir had taken the train from Manchester to Stretford,  and after clearing the  “cotton mills, and dye works, and chemical manufactories of Cornbrook,” he arrived in Stretford where he saw “this great tract of meadows, gardens and pasture land.”  

To the south was the village of Stretford and to the north and east across open land and lost behind trees was our own township.

The Row 1847

Now I don’t think he came here and so would not have walked down the Row from Barlow Moor Lane to Chorlton Green which is a pity, because had he done so he would have been rewarded with views of some fine houses, much productive farm land, plenty of orchards and the relatively new Wesleyan chapel hard by the smithy and a beer shop.

All of which is a trailer for a walk down Beech Road in 1847, recreating something of what you would have seen, who you might have met and most importantly who you had to be polite to.

Sutton's Cottage on the corner of Beech Road and Wilton Road, circa 1890

Meet at the corner of Beech Road and Barlow Moor Road by the bus station, at 2pm today for a gentle stroll to Chorlton Green and the Horse and Jockey and lots of history

This is part of the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON, contribution to Chorlton Arts Festival.  Chorlton-cum-Hardy past, present and touch of tassology is collaboration between me and local artist Peter Topping with photographs and stories of the past and paintings of the present and a hint of the future.

Now given that most attempts at predicting the future are usually wrong and that the best we can ever hope to do is guess the outcomes using the present as a template, Peter decided we might as well fall back on tassology which is the art of divination using tea leaves.

It is an old practice which some sources have traced back to medieval European fortune tellers who developed their readings from splatters of wax, lead, and other molten substances and evolved into tea-leaf reading in the seventeenth century.

And coincided with the introduction of tea by Dutch merchants in to Europe.  Not to be outdone my source also suggests that in the Middle East the practice is carried out using left-over coffee grounds.

This may work for Peter, but as a crusty old historian I rely on the past and present to suggest the things to come but tassology does have the added benefit that you get to drink a cup of tea.

Gratrix Farm at the junction of Beech and Beaumont Road

And as we finish at the Horse and Jockey you can always go into the pub which is participating in our  tassology bit of fun, as are also The Post Office Cafe and the Lloyds Hotel and look through the tea leaves.

Moreover at all three along with another nine venues you can read excerpts from our History Trail.**

So all that leaves me to do is remind you of the walk and highlight walk number two starting at the National Westminster bank at the junction of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road on May 26th at 2 pm where we will pick up the story of the township and explore New Chorlton which developed from the 1880s.

Pictures; the parish church circa 1860s and Gratrix’s farm circa 1900, from the collection of Tony Walker,  Sutton's Cottage © Barri Sparshot, detail of Beech Road in 1847, from the OS map of Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and Glad to be in Chorlton poster © Peter Topping

* Muir, Edwin, Lancashire Sketches 1869

** The History Trail can be viewed at The Horse & Jockey, Franny & Filer, St Clement's Church, The Lloyd's, The Library (occasions), Fosters Cycles, Unicorn, The Bar, Chorlton Eatery, Morrisons,Chorlton High School,The Post Box Cafe

THE EASTER EGG HISTORY HUNT .... a first for Chorlton

Now here is a way of learning a bit more about the history of Chorlton with a family day out. 

The Easter Egg History Hunt starts and finishes at The Post Box Cafe Chorlton and takes in the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON History Trail with stories of the past by historian Andrew Simpson and paintings of the present by local artist Peter Topping.

So the challenge is to visit each of the eight sites listed below, answer a question about each venue and get back with the answers to the Post Box Cafe Chorlton.

You can do it in one day or over the whole of Easter. And you don’t have to do it in any order.

But as a historian I rather think you should start on the green with the Horse & Jockey in the 16th century and make your way via Beech Road in the 1830s, and finish in the Chorlton of the 20th century.

Now that of course is how I would do it, Peter I rather think fancies the scenic route and Chris at the cafe will just be there at the Post Box to judge the results.

EASTER EGG HISTORY HUNT, March 29th to April 1st,, A GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON EVENT Sponsored by The Post Box Cafe

Some venues may not be open all of Easter

Stories by Andrew, graphics by Peter and food by Chris

The History of Martledge, now showing at Chorlton Library

We are on Wilbraham Road around 1895 and I am drawn to the parade of shops and houses on the left of the picture.

In one of them lived the Shaw family, who were the same family who opened the first petrol pump outside their garage on Barlow Moor Road sometime after 1915.

But I want to start with the house on the end.  It was a fine double fronted eleven roomed building and went under the name of Sunwick.  In 1911 it was home to the Case family.  They were typical of that new group of people who had moved into Chorlton during the last two decades of the 19th century.  Neither was from here but their children were and they were well enough off to employ three servants.  Usually most of the families at this end of Chorlton had just one, but they could afford a cook, house maid and waitress.  But

Henry Case was a surgeon and had appearances to keep up.  And this was after all a big house which had stood in a large garden in splendid isolation for perhaps twenty years on the corner of Wilbraham Road with open land to the south.  I guess it dated from after 1860 when Lord Egerton cut Wilbraham Road through the township.

But its days as a residential property were numbered in 1911 and while I have yet to find the date when it became a bank that was what it had become by the 1920s.  The fine bay windows were taken out and all that remains is the name Sunwick on one of the stone gate posts

And by the time our picture had been taken a terrace of ten largish houses had been built from what is now the corner of Manchester Road, followed by the shops which appear on the left of the photograph.  Here in 1911 could be found a dress maker, photographer, a confectioners and a book shop.  They fitted well with the new people who were settling here, and in time as the area lost it rural character and its old name of Martledge become more urbanised it took on the name of New Chorlton.*

Peter and I have tried to capture that change in our new exhibition  at Chorlton Library which runs for the next month.  The History of Martledge, records that transformation in words, old photographs and Peter’s paintings.

As ever it is the mix of history with the paintings of contemporary Chorlton which make for something more than just a record of the past.

And so to end here is one of Peter’s latest paintings, which perfectly captures Sunwick and the adjoining building on Wilbraham Road, just over 117 years after the  Shaw and Case families looked out on that same road.

Pictures; from the Lloyd Collection and © Peter Topping 2012 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk


* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Martledge

The story of Martledge, the exhibition at Chorlton Library from October 4th

Few people today will have heard of Martledge, and yet it was as much a part of our township as Chorlton or Hardy.

It was that area stretching roughly from the four banks up towards the Library and was a mix of farms, labourers’ cottages, a few fine houses and the old Royal Oak.

As a way of bringing it out of the shadows Peter and I have mounted an exhibition at Chorlton Library beginning tomorrow.

The exhibition charts the changes to the area with pictures and stories and contemporary paintings.

And it is fittting that it should be the library because this was the site of Red Gates Farm which had been home to generations of farmers from the 18th century.

The last family to live at Red Gates left around 1910 and within four years the site had become the library.

Picture; Red Gates Farm from the collection of Carolyn Willitts and Chorlton Library from the Lloyd Collection

Coming soon THE GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON - HISTORY OF MARTLEDGE

Few people will have heard of Martledge, and yet it was as much a part of our township as Chorlton and Hardy.

It is somewhere I have written about already* and now Peter and I have decided to tell its story in a brand new exhibition at Chorlton Library from Thursday October 4th.

It will be that same mix of contemporary paintings of Chorlton by Peter and stories by me.

Now I could have chosen a picture from the past but instead here is the first showing of  Peter's painting of the Unicorn which will be on show at the exhibition  with other iconic buildings of the area and something of Martledge's history.

* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Martledge

Picture; © Peter Topping 2012 www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

The Manchester Evening News visits the History Wall

Today the Manchester Evening News visited the History Wall.

Yesterday the Wall attracted its first tourists all the way from North Carolina  and today our regional paper paid it a visit.

And read the story behind the History Wall at http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Glad%20to%20be%20in%20Chorlton

Picture; MEN September 19th 2012

Chorlton's first tourist attraction?

Now I am about to make the sort of claim which is  slightly flippant but has an element of truth.

The History Wall which opened on September 7th tells the story of Chorlton-Cum-Hardy.  It's a collaboration between local artist Peter Topping, myself, and the developers McCarthy & Stone who are building retirement homes on the old Cosgrove Hall site on Albany Road.

The project spans the 80 meters of the site and has attracted a lot of interest, and now has become a tourist attraction.  Well how else could it be when Cathy Santos Gonzalez and family from North Carolina chose to have their picture taken by the wall?  So is this the birth of Chorlton’s first tourist attraction?

Read the full story at http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Glad%20to%20be%20in%20Chorlton

Picture; from the collection of Tom McGrath

Chorlton pretentious? A late night conversation by a passerby

“Chorlton is s a pretty pretentious place.”

It was almost the last thing I heard last night from a passerby outside and given that I was fast falling asleep and it was nearly midnight I let it go.

But this morning I began thinking about the comment, no doubt thrown out as an ill thought out comment fuelled by six pints of lager, and a desperate attempt to impress whoever he was with.

Now historically it is pure tosh.  We were a small rural community where the majority of families were agricultural labourers, and even with the expansion of the township in the late 19th century there were plenty of low income families reliant on manual trades as witnessed by the large numbers of small two up and two down properties around Beech Road.

Nor had this changed by the mid 1970s when I washed up here on Beech Road.  My neighbours were bus drivers, mechanics and labourers.   Most of the shops along Beech Road were still the traditional ones which would not have been out of place forty years earlier.  Butchers, bakers, fishmongers and grocers as well as a green grocer and old fashioned hard ware shop.

Politically despite a very active Labour Party, Conservative Councillors were re-elected for Chorlton until 1986.

I suppose my late night passerby could have been referring to the Arts Festival, Book Festival or Beer Festival which all have been a feature of the place for many years.  But then we had the artist Tom Mostyn with his studio on High Lane during the early part of the 20th century and in 1910 were supporting a range of cultural and sporting societies.

And we had our own brass band started in the early 1820s and drawn almost exclusively from agricultural labourer’s market gardeners and farmers.  It ranks as one of the earliest predating Stretford and only just beaten by Stalybridge which had marched to Peterloo in 1819.

It played at many of the agricultural and garden shows which were a feature of the place into the 1920s, marched at the head of the Rose Queen Festival and paraded at the Whit Walks.

Of course we have our fair share of picture galleries, cafes, wine bars and restaurants, but then through most of the 19th century we had beer shops which sat beside the hotel and public houses and during the rest of the following century there were tea rooms and  business’s dealing in fine art and photography.

Nor should we forget that we were there at the start of cinema with our own picture house opened in 1904, and for most of the last century had three cinemas.

All of which bring a lot of pleasure and fun to the place, and of course I could mention the history wall on the Albany Road and Brantingham Road site of the developer McCarthy and Stone which Peter and I have put together to tell the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy but modesty forbids me to say more.

It is true that house prices have gone through the ceiling to the point where my sons can’t afford to buy here and I have to say I doubt I could either.  But that is how it is across much of south Manchester. Nor is that particularly new.

The expansion of the township along the Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Road corridors in the late 19th century brought both the middling and professional and business people, many of whom regarded Chorlton as a pleasant almost twee area, close to the city centre but on the edge of the countryside.

The train took you into Manchester in under ten minutes and well into the first decades of the last century there were farms, blacksmith and open land just a short walk away from the station.

So to conclude, yes there is something special about the place I have lived in for 36 years, there is a lot going on, and its fun, but I rather think it is not pretentious.

Pictures; from the collection of Carolyn Willitts and the Lloyd collection

A unique artistic and historical development on Albany Road in the heart of Chorlton opened yesterday

It is as Lord Bradley said a “unique partnership which has brought the history wall to Chorlton.”

I don’t think there is anywhere in the city where a developer a local artist and a historian have come together to tell the story of a place.*  And that is what McCarthy and Stone, Peter Topping and I have done.

McCarthy and Stone build “later life” properties and Peter  paints the pictures and I tell the stories.

So some months ago we decided to bring the story of Chorlton from its rural past to the present day touching as we went on the major developments in between.

And because we were on a building site it seemed sensible to design it as a walk.  So along the 80 meter stretch from Albany Road round on to Brantingham you can walk our history.

It starts on the green in the 16th century, moves on to Wilbraham and Barlow Moor Roads taking in many of the late 19th century buildings and finishes with the next phase in the history of Chorlton.

Peter called it a “history wall” and that aptly sums it up.  Here are stories of the old parish church, the Horse and Jockey and life in the village and on Beech Road.  There are also tales of the New Chorlton developed in the 19th century and references to our first cinema, Cosgrove Hall and the coming of the tram.

All of this is superimposed on Peter’s paintings of contemporary Chorlton, who began the project of recoding what the township looked liked “because it is changing so quickly”

And yesterday when the history wall was opened by Lord Bradley there were lots of people who came down to enjoy the fun, look at Peter’s paintings and read the stories.

Well there you have it, 80 meters of history pictures and paintings along Albany and Brantingham Roads and it’s free and will be up for 18 months.

Now that can’t be a bad deal.

Pictures; by Tom McGrath

* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%20the%20history%20wall

The biggest Chorlton exhibition yet

Now here’s a story.

Just suppose you were given permission to mount an exhibition about the history of Chorlton combining old photographs and contemporary paintings of the place.

And that the finished exhibition would be mounted on a site stretching 50 meters by 30, in a prominent postion in the heart of where you lived.

I think that would be pretty good, and that’s just what Peter and  I have gone and done with the help of McCarthy and Stone who are developing the site we have chosen to stage the story.

As many of you know Peter paints the pictures and I tell the stories.  We launched the partnership at the Big Green Festival in March, created a history trail across six venues which featured pictures,  paintings and stories of Chorlton’s past and on the way staged exhibitions in the Library.  So the idea of the history wall was a natural next step.

And now it’s here, on the old Cosgrove Hall site on Albany Road. It stretches the full 80 meters round onto Brantingham Road and will take you from our rural past, through the 19th and 20th centuries into the 21st.

Not only will you be able to follow that history but we have designed it so you can walk it in 80 meters.  On the History Wall you start at Chorlton Green in the 16th century you can travel along Wilbraham Road and Barlow Moor Road during the 19th century taking in the changes featured in the buildings along the route and end close to the modern tram station and the proposed new developments on the old Cosgrove Hall site.

It has already excited a lot of interest from people who saw it going up and all day yesterday there were lots stopping to look and read the story we have told.

And the event has been captured by another blog  http://loiselden.com/2012/09/06/presenting-the-history-of-one-small-town/. and the twitter chatter is out there passing on what there is to see down at Albany Road.

So come and join us at 12 as we open the "story on the wall".

Picture; from the collection of Peter Topping

Chorlton-cum-Hardy The Story at Albany Road, tomorrow

It’s the story of where we live, from the 16th century to now, spread over an exhibition site on the old Cosgrave Hall site on Albany Road.

Sponsored by the site developer McCarthy and Stone, the exhibition by Peter and I will be opened by Lord Bradley of Withington at mid day.  We have called it the History Wall.

Not only will you be able to follow that story but we have designed it so you can walk it in 80 meters.  You start at Chorlton Green in 1512, travel along Wilbraham Road and Barlow Moor Road during the 19th century taking in the changes featured in the buildings along the route and end close to the modern tram station and the proposed new developments on the old Cosgrove Hall site.

Picture; a preview of one of the 16 panels telling our story, by Peter Topping and Andrew Simpson

The biggest yet a new exhibition on the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

I suppose it was only a matter of time before Peter and I were offered a building site wall to tell the story of Chorlton.  

Now as you know I tell the stories and Peter paints the pictures and between us we have staged exhibitions at the Big Green Festival, the library and across six venues in Chorlton.

And this is the biggest to date.  We are working with the firm McCarthey and Stone to tell the story of Chorlton which will be displayed on the panels surrounding their building site on Albany and Buckingham Roads.

Above; panel 1 of the 16 across the 80 by 30 metre site

It is the old Cosgrove Hall site and the panels stretch for 50 metres along Albany and around Buckingham for another 30.  So no small project.

And with the artwork finished and the final site visit completed this new Glad to be in Chorlton  Exhibition should be up within the next few weeks.

Picture; Peter Topping

500 years of a building on the green

It is just 500 years since the first parish church was opened and an enterprising entrepreneur built three wattle and daub cottages on the green which are now the Horse & Jockey. 

In September St Clements will be staging a number of different events around Chorlton to remember its presence here in the heart of the township.

And the Horse and Jockey are hosting their own celebrations to mark the 500th birthday of the building it now occupies which was quite old by the time Henry V111 fell in love with Ann Boleyn.

It will begin on Friday May 18th with music and themed decor from the 1940s, roll into Saturday with a Tudor experience including a guest appearance from the touring theatre group, Sir Robert Cecil’s Men, along with a falconry display, traditional folk music and Morris dancing and conclude on the Sunday with a Victorian day out.

And that is where Peter and I come in to the fun.  We have been staging our History Trail across Chorlton during May and chose the Horse and Jockey as the starting point for an exhibition which has covered the story of where we live over 170 years in six venues.

So we thought it quite fitting that we should help celebrate the 500 years with a special display in the pub.  Peter as you know paints pictures of Chorlton and I tell the stories.  There will be a brand new painting of the Horse and Jockey by Peter along with stories from its past including the people who drank here, used it as a home, and a court of law as well as a welcome refuge from an illegal boxing match.

So come and find us in that part of the pub that was once the home of Miss Wilton and as you would expect we have plenty of tales about the Wilton’s including when her father Sam robbed the village of its green and built a bridge across the Mersey.

And there will something of the people who lived at the other end of the building including a bit of a mystery.


Peter’s work is on display around Chorlton and can also be seen at https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures and details of my book, Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Community Transformed which will be published in September can be found at
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

Pictures; © Peter Topping 2012

Using the building as a clue, the History Trail and Copperfield

Now if you have done every one of our History Trail venues, you will have got a pretty good understanding of how where we live has evolved over the last 170 years and seen some very nice paintings by Peter.  He paints pictures of Chorlton today and I tell stories about its past.

We chose six venues across the township each of which have something special to tell about those last 170 years and if you have followed them in chronological order then Copperfield is number five.  Of course you don’t have to do them all and you could visit them as you fancy, but then as a historian I do like time lines and historical order, which I guess is about the only time I try to impose any order on my myself.

Now part of what we have to say at Copperfield is contained in the building itself, not that you have to be a time detective or an architect to figure it out.  Just go there read the story board and compare the old photographs with Peter’s pictures and then tell us what you think either by posting a comment on the blog or on the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON site on facebook. 

Peter’s work is on display around Chorlton and can also be seen at https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures and details of my book, Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Community Transformed which will be published in September can be found at

http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

Pictures; ©Peter Topping 2012