The church ... the hall …….. and two Chorlton mysteries

Now, the stretch along Brantingham Road up from Manchester Road to Albany Road might not seem to have a lot to offer, consisting of a few houses on the eastern side, and a car wash and garage on the opposite side.

But this bit of Chorlton has history, starting with the name which was once Stamford Road and the now lost Davenport Hall and St Andrew’s Protestant Episcopal Evangelical Church.

They date from sometime between 1907 and 1909. The church later become St Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Evangelical Church and by 1910 the church and hall were unlisted.

And that for a long time was all I knew, until last week when I came across a set of programmes for the Chorlton Operatic Society which was established in 1907.*

During 1912-13 the Davenport Hall was their headquarters and according to one programme, the  “The Hall measuring 45 ft long and 16 ft wide with Ladies’ and Gentleman’s Clock Rooms, Kitchen, etc may be hired for Parties, Socials, Whist Drives, Meetings etc, on very moderate terms.  Crockery, Chairs, etc., may also be hired separately”. **

It now seems that the hall or the church was still there in 1950 because we have a painting by the artist J Montgomery who painted the building in 1966, using a picture postcard.

The notes accompanying the painting merely say, “Chapel on Albany Road, from a 1950 photograph. The site was later occupied by a garage”.

Not much I know, but it is a bit more than I knew last week, and the logical conclusion is that Davenport Hall and the church of S Andrew/St Luke were one, with the hall serving as both the headquarters of the operatic society

and the church.

But there is a second mystery and that is centred on J Montgomery who painted upwards of 200 paintings from the 1940s through to the mid 60’s and despite them being in the digital archive of Manchester Libraries, there is no information on the artist.

And after a long search stretching back six year’s I have come up with only one reference to him, in a catalogue listing some of his works in a neighbouring library.

During that time, I have appealed for information, introduced the subject of the missing artist in countless talks and walks and got nowhere.

All of which is a puzzle because you would think someone would have a memory of the person, who they had come across in a local church, or the library or just living nearby.

But just as the Davenport Hall has started to come out of the shadows, perhaps Mr Montgomery will also.

We shall see.

A thank you to Lawrence Beedle who reminded me of the hall and church and went looking from Mr Montgomery's painting.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; Programmes from the ChorltonOperatic Society, 1920 & 1927, Chapel on Albany Road, from a 1950 photograph. The site was later occupied by a garage, J. Montgomery, 1960, m80123, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, https://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* Chorlton Operatic Society, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Operatic%20Society

** La Fille De Madame Angot programme. La Fille De Madame Angot was performed between May 1st and May 3rd 1913, at the Public Hall West Didsbury

That hole in the ground on Ayres Road ................... lost Churches nu 2

It has been a long time since Andy Roberstson was down on Ayres Road.

Last time he just managed to capture what was left of the Congregational Church on the corner of Ayres Road and South Croston Street in the summer of 2013.*

It was built in 1861 and just over a hundred years later it joined with the English Presbyterian church to become the United Reform Church.

Back at the end of the 19th century it also had a large Sunday School hall on the other side of South Croston Street.

But changing population did for the church and after a long time lingering on as a shell it has gone.

All of which just leaves me to post Andy’s pictures with a promise that as the site is redeveloped he will be there to record the next chapter.

Location, Ayres Road Old Trafford




Pictures; Ayres Road and the Congregational Church 2013-2016 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Lost Churches, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Lost%20Churches

What we have lost on Ayres Road down by Brook's Bar

The Church in 2013

Now this is one of those buildings Andy Robertson captured on film just before it went.

This was all that was left of the Chorlton Road Congregational Church on the corner of Ayres Road and South Croston Street in the summer of 2013.

It was built in 1861 and just over a hundred years later it joined with the English Presbyterian church to become the United Reform Church.

Back at the end of the 19th century it also had a large Sunday School hall on the other side of South Croston Street.

The Church in 1894

Both were still standing when Mike Berrell took his pictures in 2006 but in the following years the Sunday School was demolished and when Andy happened this way in the summer of 2013 the church was about to follow.

Already the sale of land sign was up and half the roof had gone.  But even by then the church was a shadow of its former self.

Looking at the OS map for 1894 the foot print of the church pretty much extended up to Chorlton Road.

At sometime in the last two decades most of it was knocked down and replaced by a block of flats which abutted the remaining part of the church, and now even this has gone.

The church plot in 2014

Those with a keen eye will still be able to trace the original stone wall that ran along Ayrers Road and round on to Chorlton Road and in one of Andy’s pictures the tiled drive can still be seen.

Now for some this will have little meaning and be of no consequence, but I like to know where the old buildings were and something of their fate, so yet again it is a thank you to Andy who was in the right place at just the right moment.

Pictures; of the Chorlton Road Congregational Church in 2013  from the collection of Andy Robertson, and the church in 1894 from the OS for South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Chorlton Road Congregational Church Mike Berrell in 2006, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Stretford/ChorltonRoadCongregational.shtml