Back on Hulme Hall Road ............... five years on

Now, it has been five years since Andy wandered down Hulme Hall Road, and began recording the sad fate of the warehouse which had been damaged by fire, and was eventually demolished.

And Andy being Andy, then began regularly revisiting the site, photographing first the demolition, then the moment the builders broke ground on the new development, and the slow rise of the new building.

Yesterday he was back on what might be one of his last visits.  The building seems complete and with a nod to the history of the site the developers have included a little bit of its history a on a plaque.

But not content with taking pictures of the property Andy also took a few of the Duke’s Canal which I rather liked.

Location; Hulme Hall Road







Pictures; Hulme Hall Excelsior Works, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Stories of our industrial past .......... when Andy and Cathy returned to Hulme Hall Road

This is a story which goes back four years, and involves a warehouse, a fire and a new development.*

It began when Andy Robertson spotted a news item about a fire in a building in Hulme Hall Road, hard by the Duke’s Canal in the summer of 2015.

And quick as a flash, he was down there with his camera, and so began another of those remarkable projects where Andy s regularly revisited the site, recording the changes, which began with the demolition of the old building, the moment when the construction gang broke ground, and has continued ever since.

And now, his daughter Cathy has joined in, taking these pictures from Andy’s car earlier this week.

Together the catalogue of images is a fascinating insight into a tiny part of our history, and as ever I am in awe of both Andy and Cathy who turn out in all weathers to make the passing of little bits of our heritage, and the shiny new things that take their place.

And in the process, I must thank all those who over the years have added their recollections of the building, and I have every confidence that this will continue and in time there will be many more from those who inhabit the new apartments.

Location; Hulme Hall Road




Pictures; Hulme Hall Road, 2019 from the collection of Cathy Robertson


*Hulme Hall Road, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=hulme+hall+road

Revealing a little bit more of that warehouse on Hulme Hall Road

It has been three years since Andy took an interest in the building on Hulme Hall Road, which backed on to the canal.

After a fire which badly damaged the property Andy Robertson began a meticulous project in recording its demolition and the clearing of the ground.

Each twist and turn has been recorded on the blog, and yesterday he was back.*

Apparently the last bit of the old wall has gone, and Andy will return when the builders break ground for the new development.

But an unexpected bonus from the demolition is a good set of pictures of the canal arm which ran off from the Duke’s Canal and allowed boats to be unloaded.

Location; Hulme Hall Road by the Duke’s Canal









Picture; Hulme Hall Road, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Hulme,  https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Hulme

“Rubble at Mill” .......... down by the Duke’s Canal at Hulme Hall Road

It has been sometime since I have featured the story of the building at Hulme Hall Road.

It was a subject I regularly covered as Andy Robertson, visited the site after a fire had ripped through the building, and he then went back recording its demolition.

And now he has returned, with a new series of pictures which I suspect will have the promise of many more.

In the intervening period Derek the Developer has got there and the posters along the side of the site announce “CANALSIDE LIVING IN THE HEART OF HISTORIC MANCHESTER” with "one, two and three bedroom apartments”.to the sky in a huge block

The finished project, judging from the artist’s impression will rise eight stories into the sky.

It is not on a par with the giant towers which are springing up nearby but is in keeping with others in the vicinity.

But it does look big.

So, where once tall warehouses, factories and mills stood by the canal side, we now have equally tall blocks of apartments, reflecting that move from manufacture to "Canalside living".

I could say more but will await events.

That said I will close with the image which prompted Andy’s title of “Rubble at Mill”.

Location; Hulme Hall Road







Pictures; Hulme Hall Road, from the collection of Andy Robertson

The continuing story of an unloved 19th century warehouse on Hulme Hall Road ......... "now totally JCB clear."

I keep thinking we will soon come to an end of the story of that warehouse on Hulme Hall Road.

It was partially damaged by fire last year, was the subject of an article  in the Manchester Evening News and regularly appears here on the blog.

It was a pretty unremarkable building not particularly liked by some who worked there and I doubt will ever be even a foot note in our industrial history.

But that has not stopped Andy Robertson charting its story from the day after the fire through the various stages of its demolition.

And yesterday his daughter Cathy added this picture to the story to which Andy added, “this was taken by Cathy today. The land is now totally JCB clear.”

All of which promises a new set of pictures from the both of them as the builders get to work, breaking the ground and creating something new.

I haven’t had time to search the Corporation’s online planning applications to see what that might be but from memory there is already an application in for a new residential development of 164 apartments at Pomona Wharf/Pomona Island.

So we shall see.

Location Hulme, Manchester

Picture; the site of the warehouse, 2016 from the collection of Cathy Robertson

The continuing story of an unloved 19th century warehouse on Hulme Hall Road

I last featured the story of that warehouse in December.

And now that the weather has improved Andy Robertson was back continuing that unique record of the end of an undistinguished building.

As far as I know it has never warranted a survey, no historian has dug into its past and so far just a few people have owned up to working there.

So for all those reasons I think Andy’s project has been an important one and a few days ago he sent me the latest batch of pictures commenting that there have been  “further developments at Excelsior.  Half the canal side wall has now gone as has that big bit of vertical metal sticking out.

I spent ages watching the  JCB lifting and dropping this 50foot+ length of metal, but  could not understand the logic,  then realised this was an attempt to dislodge the concrete from the metal. 

A few pieces fell off during the vigil.”

All of which just leaves me to say watch this space and in the fullness of time demolition will give way to a building site and in a matter of years few will remember what once stood beside the canal.

Location; Hulme, Hall Road, Manchester

Pictures; from the Hulme Hall Road project, 2016, courtesy of Andy Robertson

Gazing into the secrets of that warehouse on Hulme Hall Road .............. what Andy Robertson uncovered

There is always something quite fascinating about the partially demolished buildings from our industrial past.

Much of what is on display as the building falls to the demolition ball would never usually be seen by all but a handful of people which makes the next brace of pictures from Andy Robertson so interesting.

They are of that building on Hulme Hall Road which was damaged by a fire in the summer and is now all but gone.

He was back on Friday and recorded this scene of the basement and immediately I am drawn into the bits and pieces of the building.

It starts with those large lumps of bricks and stone which have tumbled from a vanished floor and moves on to the pipes and cables and the white washed walls and finishes with the arches which were utilized in many different ways including a lavatory.

And then there is that door still hanging on its hinges but offering no explanation for what it once enclosed.

Of course any one walking along the canal and crossing that bridge would have no idea of what existed just beyond the wall, and very soon all of what Andy has recorded will also be gone.

Pictures; from the Hulme Hall Road project, 2015, courtesy of Andy Robertson

It began with a fire and ended as a pile of rubble........... four months in one story

Now this is one of those stories where no one got hurt, no great secrets were unearthed and which in all probability would have passed quietly into the shadows.

The news that the warehouse on Hulme Hall Road had been damaged by fire back in the summer was featured by the MEN* and I guess in the normal run of things that would have been that.

It was not a particularly remarkable building, had no significant history as far as I know and its passing would not have clocked by many.

But Andy Robertson decided to record its last few months and to that end its demise has featured on the blog from when the demolition men first went in to now when the last bits of brick wall came down.

That said I am sure Andy will be back, after all the site has to be cleared and then once a developer has come along and planning permission granted, the ground will be broken and perhaps in another few onths a new apartment block will have taken the place of that warehouse.



Pictures; from the Hulme Hall Road collection, by Andy Robertson, 2015

**Castlefield mill collapse: Aerial pictures show extent of damage to building on Hulme Hall Road, BY AMY GLENDINNING, July 28 2015, Manchester Evening News,http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-m