When a bit of the Ship Canal came to Longford Park ……

This is one of the desks which once belonged to the Manchester Ship Canal.

The desk, 2025

I like the idea that it has come home to Longford Park because one of the prime movers of the Ship Canal project was John Rylands who lived in the big house in the grounds which is now the park.

To be strictly accurate this bit of ship canal history now resides a few yards away in the home of Juliette Tomlinson who has written a fictional account of Mr. Rylands and his wife Enriqueta.

The book, Longford A Manchester Love Story came out last year and has caught the imagination of everyone who has read it.*

And so, it is fitting that the second in the trilogy is being written on that desk and explores his contribution to the Canal and of course to the relationship between John and Enriqueta.

I have to confess that standing in front of the desk this morning, I did what we all would do and “touched a bit of history”.  

Longford Hall former home of John and Enriqueta, 1914

To be very honest while Juliette was out of the room I did more than run my had over the polished surface and sitting at the desk I scribbled a note to myself and pondered on the generations of clerks who will have laboured away writing up minutes, checking receipts and composing letters to long vanished shipping companies.

The romantic in me even whiled away the minutes wondering if the man himself used the desk, but that would be unhistorical tosh, so instead I looked to see if any bored clerk had left their name carved in the wood.

Longford Park, 1914

I didn’t but I will await Juliette to do the full search and report back.

Leaving me just to say it had holes for inkwells and a bank of electric sockets which will have been installed long after the first ships sailed up the canal into the docks.

Pictures, The Ship Canal desk, 2025, courtesy of Juliette Tomlinson, the book Longford, 2024, Longford Hall, 1914 from the series Longford Park, issued by Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/, 

That desk, 2025

*Longford A Manchester Love Story, available from Chorlton Bookshop, Waterstones and The Squeeze Press, www.woodenbooks.com

Remembering our own Ship Canal ...... last month of the exhibition

 

"The exhibition showcases a range of original publicity material and print adverts created from the 1920s to the early 1950s as marketing for the Port of Manchester.

These decades saw a revolution in publicity with modern ideas on typefaces, much more dynamic imagery and bolder use of colour. Manchester Ship Canal Company started using imaginative visual designs to sell itself more effectively internationally and encourage industrial growth around the docks.

The exhibition highlights the work of nine commercial artists employed by the Ship Canal Company. The most innovative in their designs to promote the docks were born locally and trained at the Manchester School of Art.

The exhibition is on display in Manchester Central Library from 29th July 2023.

Curated by Martin Dodge, Department of Geography, University of Manchester.

Exhibition supported by Manchester Archives+,  The University of Manchester and Manchester Geographical Society"

The posters like this one by Norman Shacklock will be displayed in  lightboxes in the library. 

This follows on from the very successful exhibition last year on the Simon's of Wythenshawe.*

Location; Manchester Central Reference Library, St Peter's Square

Picture; Marketing the Manchester Ship Canal, 1919-1939, 2023 and En route to Manchester, undated, Norman Shacklock

*Wythenshawe Exhibition, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Wythenshawe%20ExhibitionLocation; 

Celebrating our own exhibition ..... one to do

 

"The exhibition showcases a range of original publicity material and print adverts created from the 1920s to the early 1950s as marketing for the Port of Manchester.

These decades saw a revolution in publicity with modern ideas on typefaces, much more dynamic imagery and bolder use of colour. Manchester Ship Canal Company started using imaginative visual designs to sell itself more effectively internationally and encourage industrial growth around the docks.

The exhibition highlights the work of nine commercial artists employed by the Ship Canal Company. The most innovative in their designs to promote the docks were born locally and trained at the Manchester School of Art.

The exhibition is on display in Manchester Central Library from 29th July 2023.

Curated by Martin Dodge, Department of Geography, University of Manchester.

Exhibition supported by Manchester Archives+,  The University of Manchester and Manchester Geographical Society"

The posters like this one by Thomas Dugdale from 1926 will be displayed in  lightboxes in the library. 

This follows on from the very successful exhibition last year on the Simon's of Wythenshawe.*

Location; Manchester Central Reference Library, St Peter's Square

Picture; Marketing the Manchester Ship Canal, 1919-1939, 2023 and Civic Week, 1926, Thomas Dugdale

*Wythenshawe Exhibition, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Wythenshawe%20ExhibitionLocation; 

Celebrating our own Ship Canal ..... the exhibition at Central Ref

"The exhibition showcases a range of original publicity material and print adverts created from the 1920s to the early 1950s as marketing for the Port of Manchester.

These decades saw a revolution in publicity with modern ideas on typefaces, much more dynamic imagery and bolder use of colour. Manchester Ship Canal Company started using imaginative visual designs to sell itself more effectively internationally and encourage industrial growth around the docks.

The exhibition highlights the work of nine commercial artists employed by the Ship Canal Company. The most innovative in their designs to promote the docks were born locally and trained at the Manchester School of Art.

The exhibition is on display in Manchester Central Library from 29th July 2023.

Curated by Martin Dodge, Department of Geography, University of Manchester.

Exhibition supported by Manchester Archives+,  The University of Manchester and Manchester Geographical Society"

The posters like this one by Paxton Chadwick from 1926 will be displayed in  lightboxes in the library. 

This follows on from the very successful exhibition last year on the Simon's of Wythenshawe.*

Location; Manchester Central Reference Library, St Peter's Square

Picture; Marketing the Manchester Ship Canal, 1919-1939, 2023 and To the Door of the Mill, 1926, Paxton Chadwick

*Wythenshawe Exhibition, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Wythenshawe%20ExhibitionLocation; 

Marketing the Manchester Ship Canal, 1919-1939 .......... at the Central Reference Library ... the exhibition to do

 The exhibition.

"The exhibition showcases a range of original publicity material and print adverts created from the 1920s to the early 1950s as marketing for the Port of Manchester.

These decades saw a revolution in publicity with modern ideas on typefaces, much more dynamic imagery and bolder use of colour. Manchester Ship Canal Company started using imaginative visual designs to sell itself more effectively internationally and encourage industrial growth around the docks.

The exhibition highlights the work of nine commercial artists employed by the Ship Canal Company. The most innovative in their designs to promote the docks were born locally and trained at the Manchester School of Art.

The exhibition is on display in Manchester Central Library from 29th July 2023.

Curated by Martin Dodge, Department of Geography, University of Manchester.

Exhibition supported by Manchester Archives+,  The University of Manchester and Manchester Geographical Society"

The posters like this one by Horace Taylor from 1927 will be displayed in  lightboxes in the library. 

This follows on from the very successful exhibition last year on the Simon's of Wythenshawe.*

So with the exhibition about to open today, here are some of items on display.

Location; Manchester Central Reference Library, St Peter's Square

Picture; Marketing the Manchester Ship Canal, 1919-1939, 2023 and Place your Factory on the Waterline, Horace Taylor, 1927

*Wythenshawe Exhibition, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Wythenshawe%20ExhibitionLocation; 

Ghosts ………….. Salford No 9 Dock …… 1943

Now the blog doesn’t often  post a picture from the past without an explanation or a commentary.

But this one speaks for itself.

The caption says “Salford Dock Floating Grain Elevators and Barges, 1943”.

I like it because it is a reminder that once we had a set of docks capable of taking ocean going ships which off loaded their goods close to Salford and Manchester Town Halls.

And I like it because it captures a way of work now vanished.

It comes from a collection belonging to Tony Goulding who I thank for giving me the opportunity to use it.

The history of the docks are well documented and I wouldn’t dream of lifting someone else’s research.

The story of Dock No 9 can be read by using the link, which will also give those who like then and now pictures an opportunity to find out what it looks like now.*

And that is it.

Location; “Salford Dock Floating Grain Elevators and Barges, 1943”

Picture; “Salford Dock Floating Grain Elevators and Barges, 1943”, courtesy of Tony Goulding

*The Salford & Manchester Docks, https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/salforddocks.html

A Salford bridge over the Irwell …..Mr. Richard Husband …. and a twisty turny story

It started with this picture of the plaque commemorating the opening of the Cromwell Bridge over the river, linking Pendleton to Broughton.

2021

Now I don’t usually go looking for the stories of the good and the great because they tend to have acres of print already dedicated to their lives and achievements.  Instead, I prefer those individuals who at best history has forgotten and at worst never even noticed.

But Mr. Richard Husband who was born in 1816 and died a wealthy man in 1898 seemed a bit of a challenge.

He is listed on Salford City Council’s civic history as Lord Mayor from 1881-82, again in 1882 to 83 and finally between 1897 to 1898, and that is it, unless I have missed something.

So, it was down to an old fashioned and laborious search through the census returns and street directories, which established he was a hat manufacturer employing 15 men, and lived variously in Pendleton, and Alderley Edge, before following the well-worn path of the ageing rich and settling first in Southport and finally in the Lake District.

But such a distinguished civic career meant that the Manchester Guardian showed an interest in him, even if sadly it was after his death while still in office as Lord Mayor.

1898

And here his life proved twisty turny, having been a teacher in the National School in Oswestry, and afterwards a bank clerk he moved to Manchester in 1836 and rose to head clerk in a construction company. 

“On surrendering this position, he took up a patent for hat making the invention of a friend.  The enterprise occupied him for many years and achieved great success"*

I have yet to find where his hat company was based, but I will.

He was elected to the Salford Town Council in 1857, and despite a short break remained as an active member of the Council through to his death.

Outside politics he raised a company in the 1st Salford Volunteers, and gave extensively to charity.

2021

He “was Conservative in politics, but took little share in the management of the party.  He had a great dislike for the interference of the community in any matter that could possibly be left to individual initiative.  

For this reason, he was never reconciled to the Education Acts, and much other legislation, both Liberal and Conservative was equally distasteful to him.  Nor had he any share of the Toey Hankering for Protection but was a steady follower of Cobden”.*

All of which makes me think he was not sympathetic to any State interference on behalf of those who because of ill health, or unemployment needed health.

But maybe I am doing him a disservice and I should go looking for any pronouncements he made in the press or details of his judgements as a JP, before I draw any further conclusions.

So a work in progress, leaving me just to say …. “a man of his time”, but a man who signed up at the Towers for that visionary project which was the Manchester Ship Canal.

Location; Salford

Pictures; the plaque on Cromwell Bridge, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Memorial Notice The Mayor of Salford, Manchester Guardian, April 15th, 1898

That stone …..a Victorian worthy ……… and a walk through Styal ….. the puzzle

So, a walk in the woods above the river Bollin offered up this stone, close by the remains of a ruined building.

Had we stuck to the conventional paths we would never have come across it, but on a sunny Easter Bank Holiday Monday the normal routes were piled high with people, and so we struck out and headed for the high footpath on the very edge of the park.

And there it was completely surrounded by trees and facing out down across the valley.

The Victorian worthy was Henry Boddington who owned Pownhall Hall and in 1925 gave some of the estate as a public place.

The Hall still exists and now is a school and there is an excellent account of the building's history which I will not attempt to lift.*

The inscription on the stone refers to Henry Boddington, who as a “Director of the Manc/r Ship Canal ….. carried home the first sod cut by Lord Egerton at Eastham and planted an acorn in it”.

And to emphasis the act there is a carving of an acorn at the base of the stone.

I wish there was more.  

That said I bet there will be someone who can fill out the story.

For now, it remains a puzzle.  Is this the original resting place of the Boddington stone?  Is there a connection with the stone structure close by?

Henry Boddington bought the hall in 1886, and according to the stone planted the sod with the acorn three years later, and that is it.

And no sooner had I posted the story, and Glenys Paterson commented, 

"The second picture shows the ruins of St. Olaf's Chapel, originally part of the estate. 

The ship canal connection is well known locally, I don't know any more except the local public land is Carrs Park, where I swam in the Bollin with my Dad when I was little. 

We had trips out from Chorlton and thought we were on holiday. You are right, it is always busy not just locals but visitors too. Same with Alderley Edge, Styal village and woods and Quarry Bank Mill.".

And that led me to the story of the chapel, at Architects of Greater Manchester.**

Location; Styal

Pictures; the Boddington stone and building, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The History of Stockport in 100 Halls Part 69: Pownall Hall, Wilmslow, https://thehistoryofstockportin100halls.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/the-history-of-stockport-in-100-halls-part-69-pownall-hall-wilmslow/

**St Olaf's Chapel, Pownall Hall, Wilmslow, Architects of Greater Manchester, 1800-1940, https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/buildings/st-olafs-chapel-pownall-hall-wilmslow

Snaps of Manchester Number 3, on the Manchester Ship Canal

We are on the Manchester Ship Canal sometime in the 1920s and this is one of those wonderful photographs from the collection of Sandra Hapgood.

And like the others it is a snap rather than a carefully worked out photograph, and for me that gives it something extra.

Snaps are not always carefully framed and often a bit of the detail is lost but they are real history.

I say that because snaps are what you and I would take.  They are instant, often on the spur of the moment and capture scenes that many a profession would think unworthy.

So here we are looking down on this busy waterway when it really was a modern wonder of the world.

The canal  was begun in 1887, took six years to build and cost £15 million and was one of those bold commercial ventures which ranks with the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway fifty years earlier.*

I remember the noise from the ships’ sirens welcoming in the New Year,  failed to notice the canal’s decline and have watched as the Salford end reinvented itself with an art gallery, theatre, war museum and Media City.**

But for thousands of people in the twin cities the canal and the docks were a source of livelihood and for many a reminder of the big world which existed beyond the waterway.

And that takes me back to the picture with the cargo ship making its way to the swing bridge, passing the cranes and warehouses with the city away in the distance.

Back then cargoes were still unloaded by hand and the crews of the ship had shore leave in the heart of Manchester and Salford, a far cry from the container led industry of today.

I hope the picture will generate some memories and perhaps even the odd story along with a correction to the date of the photograph.

Like all snaps Sandra’s relative felt no need to add any detail other than the title.

After all it was a picture destined for a photograph album which would regularly be brought out showed around and spark family discussion.

But all that said I like the way the image captures the slow progress of the ship and wake from its propellers stretching out behind.

*Opened in 1830, and was instantly a success.

**In 1958 38 million tons of freight came through the Canal which had fallen to 7.8 million tons by 2001.

Picture; from the collection of Sandra Hapgood.

Travelling with the Manchester Ship Canal in 1927

Now like most people I have always taken the Manchester Ship Canal for granted. 

I remember the noise from the ships’ sirens welcoming in the New Year,  failed to notice the canal’s decline and have watched as the Salford end reinvented itself with an art gallery, theatre, war museum and Media City.*

It was begun in 1887, took six years to build and cost £15 million and was one of those bold commercial ventures which ranks with the building of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway fifty years earlier.**

And as a way of celebrating its construction and its role in the prosperity of the twin cities, here is one of the posters advertising its work from the 1920s and 30s by courtesy of Adge Lane.

*In 1958 38 million tons of freight came through the Canal which had fallen to 7.8 million tons by 2001.
**Opened in 1830, and was instantly a success.

Picture; from the collection of Adge Lane, from the Manchester Archive Flickr account