Our own Elizabethan country house …… sixty years ago

This is Hough End Hall as it was on a summer’s day in 1965.

The Hall has a long and mixed history and is a place I often write about. *

It was built in 1596 by Sir Nicholas Mosley and was all a country house should be for a man who had done gooder in London and had returned to live in splendid retirement.

It’s mixed past included being the Mosley home, and later a farmhouse for over 250 years before becoming a restaurant, briefly an office suit and a restaurant again.

During the immediate years after the millennium, it stood empty with an uncertain future which mirrored a similar period in the early and mid-20th century.

That earlier time nearly saw it demolished when plans for Mauldeth Road West were being considered, and while it escaped it became the subject of various proposals to turn it into a community centre and a museum.

Eventually it was acquired by a local farmer who in turn sold it on to a developer, who very lightly followed a brief to restore it.

That restoration used the wrong materials, and at some point, the interior was gutted to create two large spaces at ground level and above.  Also, in the process the second floor was lost, and two office blocks were constructed to the west of the hall, almost totally obscuring Nicholas Mosley’s pride and joy.

They can only be described as “the abomination of desolation”, brutal, ugly and with no charm.**

The restoration did at least put a roof back on the building and end its association with groups of children who used it as playground while searching for ghosts.

The exact details of the sale, the restoration and those office blocks are now hazy. 

But we do have the memories of Oliver Bailey who acquired the hall, and a series of letters and articles from 1962 through to 1972 in the Manchester Guardian and Guardian newspapers as well as a book on the story of the building. ***

Along with these there are a heap of paintings, photographs and plans stretching back to the early 19th century, including a wonderful set of images taken in the mid-1960s of kids playing in the building by Roger Shelley.

To these can now be added these there from the 1965 Collection.

Location; Hough End Hall

Pictures; the Hall in 1965 from the 1965 Collection

*Hough End Hall, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Hough%20End%20Hall

**“the abomination of desolation” The Book of Daniel 12:11

***Hough End Hall The Story, Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping, 2015

And another satisfied audience learnt the tale of Withington’s dastardly theft ........

Granted the theft of a bit of Chorlton by Withington took place over 380 years ago, but theft is theft.

The audience, 2023

And some of us have never forgotten that Houghend was appropriated by Withington in a land grab.

Houghend looking towards Barlow Moor Road, circa 1900

The land was a stretch which ran from Barlow Moor Road to Hough End Hall and was bounded by Chorlton Brook and what is now Mauldeth Road West.

Just why and to whose benefit is still unclear but as the story unraveled there was a distinct ripple of disapproval from some of those in the audience, and if unrestrained Eric of Needham Avenue would have called for its return and a hefty sum in compensation.

Of course the irony is that in 1928 the area became Chorlton Park which sort of set the record straight.

And I doubt with the passage of three centuries many will know of the crime or for that matter show any indignation.  

Except of course Eric but he was only one out of two dozen who attended the history talk at Chorlton Good Neighbours and even Eric was mollified by stories of the lost hamlet of Martledge which once stretched along Manchester Road from what was the Four Banks out towards Longford Park.

Wilbraham Road circa 1900

All of which I have to thank Chorlton Good Neighbours for the invitation to tell the story, which also allowed Peter to talk about the new initiative to set up the Friends of Chorlton Graveyard, which is looking to improve the site in partnership with the City Council.

Pictures; today at Chorlton Good Neighbours, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Houghend, circa 1900and Wilbraham Road circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection

*Chorlton Good Neighbours, https://chorltongoodneighbours.org/

**The Friends of Chorlton Graveyard, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1381914932356270

When Withington stole a bit of Chorlton ....... today ... the story

 So tody you can discover the story of how Withington pinched a bit of Chorlton and how for almost a century people talked about the old and new villages.

Along the way there will be some rather dastardly individuals who engaged in murder, theft, and unruly behaviour, a thank you to Aaron Booth and the lost places of Martledge, Kemp’s Corner, and The Four Banks.

And at the centre of it all will be the day Withington stole Houghend from us, followed by the equally appalling disappearance of Martledge, with an investigation in to “All silk knickers and fancy cakes”.

The talk will be by Andrew Simpson ably assisted by Peter Topping and the magic lantern show begins at 1.30, today, Wilbraham St Ninian's Church Hall, Corner of Egerton Road South and Wilbraham Road, at 1.30pm and will last for about an hour, but by popular acclaim may go on a tad longer.

Admission £3 plus tea and coffee.

Another in the series of History talks at Chorlton Good Neigbours.

Pictures; Houghend, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Chorlton Park, 1934 from the OS map of Manchester & Salford, 1934

*Chorlton Good Neighbours, https://chorltongoodneighbours.org/

On a warm sunny morning on the edge of an adventure in south Manchester …………………

Now the best adventures are the ones that are unplanned.

Adventures by  a busy main road, 2019

Of course, that does have its pit falls. 

When we were young, any mention of an adventure, had mother rushing off to prepare sandwiches, a selection of seasonal fruit and a canteen of orange squash.

On the other hand, the sheer logic of an adventure was that we just took off early one morning, with no plan, no food and no drinks.

But we always carried our army surplus green canvas bags which might have once carried a gas mask or some other vital piece of military equipment.

Back in the 1950s, these were all the rage, cost one shilling from the local hardware shop, and lasted for years.

Into these would go a small unsliced loaf of bread, and a bottle of Tizer, bought along the way.

During the course of the adventure the inside of the loaf would be eaten, and if we were lucky to fall across a fish and chip shop, the hollowed-out loaf would be filled with chips.

Getting lost

I don’t ever recall eating fruit, but depending where we were and the time of year, there would be the chance of wild blackberries or raspberries.

The one certainty was that by mid-day the Tizer had lost its fizz and had become lukewarm.

Not that deterred in any way from the thrill of being out with your mates and doing some “exploring.”

There will have been days when it rained, and we ended up by a derelict canal, with a landscape dominated by a gasometer, a warehouse and factory chimney.

But looking back with nostalgic optimism, the sun always shone, the only sounds were those of bird song accompanied by the lazy whiz of insects about their business.

And sixty years on, nothing much has changed.

Although now, the bag comes from a sporty shop and is filled with shorts, trainers and a bottle of water, and the aimless journey has been replaced by a purposeful trip to the gym at Hough End.

Back in 1854

But at 7.45 on an already warm sunny day with the promise of more sun, the temptation to wander off across the playing fields is irresistible.

Once this was all fields, cultivated in a variety of ways, and crisscrossed by watercourses with the odd pond through in.

Today, most of it is laid out in a series of pitches, but on the edges of Mauldeth Road West and the old Parkway there is a belt of trees and bushes with more than a few secret paths which beckon you in.

Sadly, that the strip of vegetation is just that, and pretty quickly it vanishes, to be replaced by open vistas of neatly cut grass and goal posts, while the low buzz of traffic never quite goes away.

Still, a Tuesday morning out on Hough End has the power to re awake my childhood sense of adventure.

Location; Hough End

Pictures; Hough End, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the same spot in 1854, from the the OS map of Lancashire, 1854, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Urban Manchester ………………last May

Now, it is easy to forget that just 4 miles from the city there are stretches of open land which team with wild life.

And with just a bit of imagination it is possible to think your self back into a rural time, when many people derived a living from the land.

So, there I was walking away from the gym towards the Withington metro stop, and for once I had brought a camera.

The watercourse runs from Withington across Hough End before briefly disappearing into a culvert, and coming back out into the sunlight to join Chorlton Brook and flow on to the Mersey.

Even in the winter this stretch of land can transport you back into that rural past, but on a day like yesterday with the early morning sun warming the trees, and the Parkway hidden from view, it was perfect.

And a little later standing waiting for the tram, with no one else around you could hear the birds and the buzz if insects.

Not bad for a bit of urban Manchester.

Location; Hough End
















Pictures; Hough End 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson