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 Stretford was sniffy about Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now I know this will upset the residents of Stretford and no doubt bits of Chorlton too but it happened and here is the story.

Strolling by the park circa 1900

Back in 1913 the Manchester Courier reported on plans by the Stretford District Council “to establish a public museum at Longford Park”*

It was felt that “that among the residents many relics of Old Stretford, historical and literary, and probably natives who had removed further afield might have in their possession objects which would be of great interest to the present generation.”

And to this end one room of Longford Hall would be given over to the exhibits.

So far so good, but the chair of the Stretford District Council also chose to take a swipe at the residents of Chorlton commenting that the said Chorlton residents were “making a footpath across the park from the Ryecroft road entrance to that in Edge Lane.  If it still persisted he should feel it his duty to recommend to the Council to close the entrance from Chorlton-cum-Hardy.”

And that is all I shall say.

Location Stretford

Picture; on Edge Lane strolling by Longford Park in the early 1900s, courtesy of Sally Dervan

*Local Art Collection in Longford Park, Manchester Courier, July 2, 1913

The forgotten hospital in Longford Hall

 I know l shouldn't be surprised that Longford Hall was given over to use by the Red Cross as an Auxiliary Hospital during the Great War.

Many family homes, along with schools and other public buildings were requisitions or volunteered as hospitals for soldiers  recovering from wounds and illnesses. 

Here in Chorlton l have tracked three with the promise of another, and over the years l have written about more in Didsbury, Whalley Range, Salford and across Manchester and beyond.

I just didn't think of Longford Hall but I should. It was a fine large building, formerly the residence of the  Ryland family and from 1908 it was owned by Stretford.

So at the outbreak of war it became a centre of war activity including its role as a hospital.

After the war most of these hospitals were returned to private use or continued as hospitals. 

The equipment from beds to cooking pans and typewriters were sold off and with two generations their existence had started to fade.

So l am off to do the research, starting with one of those scrap books recording photographs and comments of the hospital.

Location; Longford Hall

Pictures; pictures, undated courtesy of Bill Sumner

How we used to play ........... part 1 the roundabout ........

Now I have never been a fan of roundabouts.

So despite them making me feel ill, so many people like them that a new series has been born.

At first I was going to limit it to roundabouts, but I rather think it will be about all playground features, from the seesaw to the rocking horse and on to  the slide and the swing.

All were popular in the 1950s and into the 60s.

This is one of those very simple roundabouts which were still there in the 1984 in Longford Park.

The photograph was taken by David Dunnico and I like it, not least because it offers up that promise that playgrounds and the apparatus are not just for the young.

So, if there are people with pictures, or stories of the Corporation Rec and the things they played on .... just post them over.
You can see more of David's work at https://daviddunnico.wordpress.com/

Location; Longford Park

Picture; merry go round, Longford Park, 1984, from the collection of David Dunnico, https://daviddunnico.wordpress.com/

The origins of Ryebank Road ………. by Richard Bond

In Old Stretford, Bosdin Leech recalls that on Edge Lane, there were very few houses east of Stretford railway station around 1860. 

Advert, 1864

However, this soon began to change and two early examples were the large houses known as Rye Bank and Meadow Bank, which at a later date came to be separated by Rye Bank Road.

The rate books suggest they were built around 1862, being owned by John Wright and Samuel McCoy respectively.

Both houses were substantial – full details of Rye Bank, including a fernery, are given in an advert of 1864, while by 1867, the rate book recorded Meadow Bank as being ‘house, garden and billiard room’.

Plan of Longford Estate

Between 1877 and 1882, John Rylands sought to consolidate the eastern boundary of his estate in a series of transactions with the Lloyd family.

In 1876, he bought the area marked green on the plan, and covenanted to make a road (marked green and blue). In 1881, he bought the area in yellow and paid a fee to build a house.

His aim was to create a new eastern drive to Longford Hall and Rylands lost no time. Within two months, his 1881 estate map showed both the new drive to the hall and the new house, and his estate steward moved in to the house the following month.

The house still stands at the Ryebank Road entrance to the Park, on the right, though it has a modern extension. Incidentally, the steward was Michael Lofthouse and it was his architect son William Albert Lofthouse who designed Stretford Town Hall, or Public Hall as we know it now.

Two additional houses were built just inside the Ryebank entrance – which again still stand – around 1886. The house at the entrance must have been both a lodge as well as an estate office, with several stewards recorded in residence.

Plan of Longford Park Estate, 1881

Up to about 1901, the only houses on (or off) Ryebank Road were on the Longford estate. The 1901 census however records that ten houses were being built by the Chorlton Land & Building Co. These semi-detached houses, just north of the lodge, were advertised for sale or rent later that year, with the description ‘backs overlook Longford Hall’.

The 1905 OS map shows 14 houses north of the lodge, and that Ryebank Road had become a through road, with Nicolas Road and Longford Road both shown.

There was an important change in 1912, when Stretford Council opened Longford Park, with one access point being Ryebank Road.

Not long after, the Council was complaining that people were taking a shortcut from the Ryebank Road lodge to the Cromwell Road lodge, and damaging the grass.

A number of warnings were given, and in 1914 it was resolved to place a shrubbery near the Ryebank entrance, with barbed wire across the middle.

Richard Bond © 2020

Location; Longford Park

Pictures; advert, Rye Bank Edge Lane, Manchester Guardian, March 12th, 1964, plan of Ryebank Road and and Longford Park Estate, 1881, , https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/Manchester~91~1~112908~197978:Plan-of-Longford-Park-Estate?qvq=q%3Alongford&mi=1&trs=22, both  © University of Manchester