That interesting wall on Gould Street ........ Lost and abandoned walls no 2

Now it all started when Ted responded to a story with the question “do you do requests Mr Simpson? 

Here's an interesting wall on Gould Street, by Angel Meadows,” and included a picture.

And the rest was as they say a matter of detective work on a wet and grey Saturday afternoon.

But before I got there Nick had come up with a map and a picture of a building which seemed to be the candidate.

By 1972 it was home to a company called Wither’s and stood on Irk Street awaiting demolition. It had similar windows on the ground floor to Ted’s wall and because Irk Street ran parallel to Gould Street it seems the candidate.

According to Nick’s map the site was a Sunday School and the directories for 1903 through to 1911 list it as the Gould Street Sunday School.

All of which fits but just throws up a little bit of a puzzle, because Ted’s wall had not been on Gould Street but on Back Irk Street which was renamed sometime after 1894 becoming just a continuation of Gould Street.

Back Irk Street appears on the census returns for 1881 and maybe there later, but is not listed by 1911 which may be explained by a name change or equally by the simple fact that it was too small and too mean to warrant an inclusion.

I suspect there will be more to come on this one.

Location; Manchester

Initial research; Nick Rushton

Pictures; Ted’s wall courtesy of Ted and that building on Irk Street, 1972, m20523, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

What Andy found on Monsall Street

Now the casual visitor to Miles Platting might well walk past this wall on Monsall Street and give it no thought.

The curious however might well ponder on the bricked up entrance and those medieval looking windows.

And the serious investigator will go away and search out what was once on the site.

This of course is what Andy Robertson did yesterday.

Having taken the tram out to Monsall and encountering the said wall he photographed it and went home to see what he could find.

It turns out that this is all that is left of St Edmunds Church which was opened in 1896 and closed in 1994.

There after the church was sold.
And just after the story was posted, Maria Killeen added that

"I went there as a child , got married there and had all my children christened and make their holy communions there. 

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It was beautiful inside and when I was little there were quiet a few priests and a canon there , this ended up just the one priest as time went on who was really grumpy and not everyone's cup of tea lol but he was always fine with me. 

The church was built on mines and it was only a matter of time before it had to be demolished, there were massive cracks all around the church because of the movement and as a kid I used to be frightened to death the church would collapse whilst I was in it . 

Is it because it was a church the base has been left ? Often wondered"

Now that I don't know but I am guessing someone will.

Location; Miles Platting

Pictures; Monsall Street 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1968, T Brooks, m6952, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass