Washing at Mayfield ……….. the story that won’t go away

Now yesterday I was reflecting on the discovery of the Mayfield Baths which were opened in 1857, enlarged in the 1920s and destroyed in an air raid during the last world war.*

Uncovering the Mayfield Baths, 2020

I always knew I would be returning to the story, but didn’t expect it would be the following day.

However, that changed when Richard Hector-Jones posted this picture with the comment “I was working at Mayfield Depot across the way before Christmas when the diggers uncovered this. Absolutely remarkable”.

And as you do I decided to go back into the records of the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company which built the Mayfield establishment along with others in Salford, Hulme and Victoria Park.  It had a short life, having been formed in 1855, it sold all its assets  to Manchester Corporation in 1877.

In an age when for many State intervention was still to be mistrusted it fell on charities and organizations like the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company to plug the gap.

And while there is no disguising the fact that the Baths offered the shareholders a return on their investment, the motivation was in part driven by philanthropy.

Today we might view that “desire to do good” with a degree of cynicism, given that some of the wealth held by these benefactors had been made from enterprises which exploited sections of the working population.

But as the chairman of the baths reaffirmed in a speech in 1856, “Their great object in establishing the baths was not so much to get a dividend as for the purpose of benefitting the working classes”**

Adding that the Manchester baths were better run and “paying better than any other public baths in the Kingdom”

Tomorrow; the mechanics and advantages of washing your clothes on the wash house.

Location; Manchester and Salford

Picture; Mayfield Baths excavations, December 2020, from the collection of Richard Hector-Jones

*What was lost is found .... the forgotten Manchester Baths in Mayfield, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2021/01/what-was-lost-is-found-forgotten.html

** Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company, Manchester Guardian, March 3, 1865

What was lost is found .... the forgotten Manchester Baths in Mayfield

 Now like a lot of people I was fascinated at the news that “A large Victorian washhouse that served Manchester textile workers more than 150 years ago has been uncovered during work to create the city’s first public park in a century”.*

Leaf Street, 2016

It appeared on an online Guardian report on Sunday and promises to be very exciting, given that "The ornate tiles of the Mayfield baths, whose pools measured nearly 20 metres, were found in ‘stunning’ condition beneath a car park 164 years after it opened”.

Since then, Graham Mottershead, the project manager at Salford Archaeology, has been on radio 4 to explain the significance of the find, which  he said “is a fascinating example of the social and public health advancements that came about during the Industrial Revolution”.

The baths were opened in 1857 by the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company which had been formed two years earlier and had  built baths in Salford, as well as Mayfield, Victoria Park and Leaf Street in Hulme.**  Its assets were bought by Manchester Corporation in 1877. 

At the company’s first shareholder’s meeting on January 7th 1857, the company proudly announced the details of their first bathhouse in Greengate on a plot of land bounded by Rolla-street and Collier-street which was owned by the Salford Union.

Leaf Street, 2016

And having commissioned six architects to submit plans  of which three did, and while the successful plan was more expensive it was decided that it was affordable given that the demolition of the old workhouse would provide materials which could be used in the construction of the new building.

The Directors pointed out that “This establishment is placed  in the centre of a large and dense population with convenient thoroughfares and approaches leading thereto from every direction and is situated only eight minute’s walk from the Exchange”.***

And having opened the "Greengate establishment to public bathing on August 27th [1856] and the laundry on September 1st the receipts during the limited period have exceeded the most sanguine expectations …”

Leaf Street, 2016

So with the promise of even greater returns, the Directors announced that their second bathhouse was to be built at Mayfield in Ardwick.  

The company had already secured an “arrangement with the corporations of Manchester and Salford for a supply of water at the rate of 3d. per 1, 000 gallons of water" and having bought the plot expected the Mayfield Baths to be open on March 31st 1857.

They explained that “This establishment will be placed in the midst of a large and dense population .  The vendors of the land will construct a bridge over the Medlock by means of which , through Boardman-street, a ready and convient access from the districts of Ancoats as well as from all parts of Ardwick, will be secured”.

Mayfield 1924

The rest as they say is history, with the Baths being enlarged in 1925 only to be destroyed during the last world war.  The OS map for 1950 marks the site as “ruins” and the decision to just fill it in and use the site as a car park saved it.

But it isn’t the first of the company’s establishments to reappear into the daylight, because back in 2016 the Leaf Street comples was also redisvovered and excavated.  It had closed it 1977 and like Mayfield had just been filled in.

And it is from the Leaf Street baths that I have taken the pictures, which were taken by Andy Robertson.

Mayfield Baths, 1894

The Leaf Street remains show a striking similarity to those from Mayfield which is not unsurprising.  Sadly copyright considerations have precluded the use of those from the Guardian article, but I bet there will be more Mayfield pictures to see soon.

Location; Mayfield and Hulme.

Pictures; remains of Leaf Street Baths, 2016, from  the collection of Andy Robertson, the opening of the Public Washhouse Mayfield Baths, 1924, City Engineers, m57352, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and Mayfield Baths, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Victorian bathhouse uncovered beneath Manchester car park, Josh Halliday, January 10th, 2021, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jan/10/victorian-mayfield-bathhouse-uncovered-archaeologist-beneath-manchester-car-park?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR1mK29vk49WyMlFafXQ2vSnx9ZXETrIUBtSxRHCJN1yjhEXiPBeIxxjAGM

**Leaf Street Baths, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Leaf+Street

***Manchester and Salford Baths and Laundries Company, the Manchester Guardian, January 8th, 1857

More fascinating pictures of the lost Leaf Street Baths.

Just when you think that is the end of a story up pops something new.

And just about an hour ago Andy Robertson sent over some fine pictures of the site.

With his usual modesty he made little comment, but they reveal so much of the old baths and make me want to go down there and explore the site.

But Andy has done an excellent job so here are some of what was lost under back fill and is now again open to the sunlight.

The baths had been in by 1860 the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company which  had been formed in 1855, and built baths in Salford, Mayfield at Ardwick and Victoria Park.*

Its assets were bought by Manchester Corporation in 1877.

The company had added a Turkish bath in 1860 which was the first in a public baths in Manchester.

The Leaf Street Baths were demolished in the clearances of the 1970s and today the site is open ground.

When I first posted the story I pondered on who remembered them and the response has been impressive.

There are those who wrote to me describing their first swimming lessons and those who still have their certificate proudly proclaiming their achievement at swimming a length, and memories from Tom who supervised children from nearby Royce School when they attended in the early 1970s.

Nor were the baths just a place for recreation, most also had a washhouse and facilities for families and individuals to take a bath, and in the case of Leaf Street it's own Turkish Baths.**

Location; Leaf Street, Hulme










Pictures; remains of Leaf Street Baths, 2016, from  the collection of Andy Robertson

*Leaf Street Swimming Baths, the first of a set of stories,http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/leaf-street-swimming-baths-first-of-set.html

**Manchester and Salford's Public Baths, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%27s%20Public%20Baths

A last chance to go visiting Leaf Street Baths in Hulme

Yesterday I suggested that anyone interested in the old Leaf Street Baths in Hulme should get down there because after half a century of being buried they are briefly open again to the sunlight.

It has all been prompted by a couple of pictures Ian Wilson posted on facebook, and having read the story my old friend Andy Robertson was down there in a trice.

Andy has been steadily recording our disappearing past from old textile mills and warehouses to shops houses and the odd garage.

So Leaf Street was a project not to be missed.

With breakfast out of the way, and the blog read, he was down there taking pictures which will become a record not only of what is going on now but what will be to come.

And yesterday in a series of pictures he captured the work being done, but more importantly the geography of the site, including one of the almost intact pools but also the base for what I think is one have been a stone column archways and cellars and my own personal favourites, a set of floor tiles.

Now for the practised visitor to Roman ruins it may not mean much but for me and countless others who remember the baths with fondness these bits of the past will be fascinating.

I never used them but there will be lots who did and they will be able reel off memories of swimming lessons, visits with mum and dad and of course magic moments with their mates.

What I always find interesting is the way so many of these remains are just below the surface which I suppose makes sense when the land above was just being landscaped.

But what a find for the archaeologists and reminds me of the work done in the mid 1970s down at Castlefield when a complex of early 19th century working class cottages revealed that they sat on top of the old Roman town outside the fort.

And for once the lack of foundations and poor construction of those houses was a positive in that the builders had not disturbed the Roman remains.

Of course there will be someone who mutters Leaf Street was no Roman villa but the provision of public baths in working class area in the 19th century is an important bit of history, as is the whole development of municipal baths and wash houses.*

Some are being restored and saved like Victoria Baths just across the city and the impressive one in Ashton-under-Lyne.  Others like the one on Ashton Old Road are empty and neglected.

And so I am pleased Leaf Street is out in the air again and something of its past and the part it played in the lives of Hulme people is briefly remembered again.

Location; Leaf Street, Hulme



Pictures; down at Leaf Street Baths, 2016 from the collection of Andy Robertson


*Manchester and Salford's Public Baths, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%27s%20Public%20Baths 

Leaf Street Baths in Hulme .............what was lost has been found ............ if just for a short time

Open to the sunlight again .............. the pool, 2016

I am always fascinated when a bit of our collective history is found.

In this case it is the pool of the Leaf Street Baths in Hulme which vanished during the clearance programmes of the 1970s.

It is place I have written about before *and features in the series on our Public Baths.**

To be honest my path to Leaf Street Baths had been via the old workhouse which had been established by the Chorlton Union in the 1830s and which within two decades had been replaced by the bigger and more impressive workhouse in Withington.

Leaf Street Baths, 1920

So in the course of the research I came across  the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company which opened Leaf Street in 1860.

This  was their third public bath house since the company had been formed in 1855, and it built baths in Salford, Mayfield at Ardwick and Victoria Park.  Its assets were bought by Manchester Corporation in 1877.  The company had added a Turkish bath in 1860 which was the first in a public baths in Manchester.

The Leaf Street Baths were demolished in the clearances of the 1970s and today the site is open ground.

Tiles unseen for nearly half a century

Well it is open ground but not for long because there are plans to build here and that takes me to these two pictures of the uncovered baths which were taken by Ian Wilson.

I had no idea that just below the surface bits of those baths were still there or that they would be uncovered.
When Ian posted the pictures on facebook they brought forth quite a few memories from people who had learned to swim there and I suppose for them as much as for me seeing the pool open to the sunlight again is quite wonderful.

Entrance, 1920

All of which just leaves me to suggest you take a visit down there before they vanish again.***

Location; Leaf Street, Hulme





Pictures; Leaf Street Baths, 2016, from the collection of Ian Wilson, and Leaf Street Public Baths, 1920, m57327 and entrance m57328, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Leaf Street Swimming Baths, the first of a set of stories, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/leaf-street-swimming-baths-first-of-set.html

**Manchester and Salford's Public Baths, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%27s%20Public%20Baths 

***170 new homes expected to be built in Hulme, Bell, Alex MEN, August 3 2015, http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/170-new-homes-expected-built-9780001

Inside the Whitworth Baths on Ashton Old Road .......... what we might lose

I am back with the Whitworth Baths on Ashton Old Road.*

They date from 1890, served the community of Openshaw for almost eighty years and now stand forlorn, empty and waiting for another use.

Today public buildings tend to be bland, all pretty much look the same and have those plain plastered walls painted in neutral colours.

Go back a century, and town halls, public baths, and even minor Corporation offices were decorated in tiles, and interesting stone figures and shapes.

Now the realist will point to the fact that the tiles made the walls  easy to clean while both the tiles and the stone detail were mass produced and just bought off the shelf.

That said they gave a dignity to even the modest of buildings and said something about civic pride and that simple belief that even the most humble and work a day places could look attractive.

So I am indebted to Nick Bowles who photographed the inside of the Baths and featured them on his site.**

The future of the building is uncertain and already the facade is beginning to deteriorate which in time if unchecked may make saving the place uneconomic.

I still hope that someone will take the place over a develop it for this I suspect will be the only way it will survive.

If that happens the tiles and other features may be seen and enjoyed all over again.

Pictures; Whitworth Baths, Ashton Old Road, 1960, H W Beaumont, m12602, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass  interior courtesy of Nick Bowles

And tomorrow looking at the baths today courtesy of Ron Stubley


*Manchester and Salford’s Public Baths, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%27s%20Public%20Baths
**HJISTORYME, http://historyme.wordpress.com/

Going swimming on Ashton Old Road in 1905 in the Whitworth Public Baths

Outside the Baths in 1960

Whitworth Baths on Ashton Old Road is a place I have passed countless times and never even knew existed.

It was just one of those buildings which you passed on the bus but never gave any though to.

I wished I had made the effort to visit them when we were leaving off Grey Mare Lane, but I am not quite certain when they closed.

I guess the whole sale clearance of the area of houses made them less used and by the time we were there along with a few other old public and industrial properties they stood isolated and alone surrounded by grassed open areas.

The Turkish Bath Cubicles, 1906

They were designed by the Manchester architect J W Beaumont and was built in 1890 by the executors of the engineering magnate Joseph Whitworth and were then donated to the Openshaw Local Board and when Openshaw was incorporated into the city in 1890 were run by Manchester Corporation.

Like Leaf Street Baths* which were built a little earlier they also had a Turkish Bath and may have had facilities for washing.

I would really like to know more and a trawl of the net turned up a number of sites including one with pictures of the interior** with some very evocative images of it’s now abandoned inside.

And one that I fear will not long survive in its present state.

Of  course there will still be many who remember them and so I hope there will be people wanting to share their memories and a little of the history of the place.

There is even a petition calling for the baths to be saved, and I rather think it is one of those places worthy of protection which can be accessed via the link below.

Now not all old buildings can be protected but here is a one which with a little tender care and attention could live again.

Not I grant you as a swimming baths but there are plenty of imaginative and exciting uses this place could be put to, particularly since the area is being redeveloped.

First class pool, 1905

Sadly the place looks to be fading fast.

Trees and bushes are growing at the roof level and more have taken root in front of the building and are slowly obscuring the place from the road.

Soon the fabric will have deteriorated too far for a rescue to be mounted.

Which of course raises the question of why should it be saved?

Part of the answer lies in the wonderful interior, with the glazed tiles, and iron work  and the sheer beauty of the some of the big rooms.

And then there is the part the building has played in the history of the area and  its contribution to the health and hygene of  the people who lived here.

For many this was one of the only grand buldings they could ever hope to enter, more impressive in its way than many of the local churches, and far superior to the pubs.

Now not even many of the pubs have survived the changes of population and the big development plans.

The last time I was on the Old Road there were few of them left, and the old engineering works and factories.

So the romantic in me hopes it can be saved.

Pictures, Whitworth Baths, Ashton Old Road, 1960, H W Beaumont, m12602, interior showing Turkish Baths cubicles, 1906, m51842, and First Class Swimming Baths, 1905, m51839, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass


*Manchester and Salford’s Public Baths, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20and%20Salford%27s%20Public%20Baths
**Whitworth Baths Ashton Old Road, http://historyme.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/whitworth-baths-ashton-old-road-openshaw/

Who remembers Leaf Street Public Baths?

Now one of the things I like about writing history is that you get to meet lots of people all of whom have a story to tell, but in the way that history used to be written, most of these people would have been ignored.

They did not hold great offices of state, did not engage an enemy in heroic combat and didn’t come up with some profound invention.

My history lessons at school were full of Kings and Queens, and generals as well as politicians but never about the army of cooks, maid servants or foot soldiers without whom all these noble people could not have done sterling things.

This came back to me recently when I was rereading a story on the old Chorlton Union Workhouse which had stood on the island formed by Leaf Street, Streford New Road, Nelson Street and Devonshire Street. It was replaced by the Withington Workhouse built in 1855.

And the site was taken over by the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company opened their third public baths on the site between 1858-60.

The company had been formed in 1855, and built baths in Salford, Mayfield at Ardwick and Victoria Park.  Its assets were bought by Manchester Corporation in 1877.  The company had added a Turkish bath in 1860 which was the first in a public baths in Manchester.  The Leaf Street Baths were demolished in the clearances of the 1970s and today the site is open ground.

All of which is a roundabout way of wondering if any one remembers the baths, and more importantly has stories about them?

Picture; Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, Leaf Street Public Baths, 1920, m57327 http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Leaf Street Swimming Baths, the first of a set of stories

I pretty much took the old Victorian and Edwardian Swimming Baths for granted. 

After all when you are ten the ornate splendour of the wrought iron, the bright glazed tiles and the stained glass is just background to  the business of playing in the water.

I wish I had taken more interest in my surroundings and so now fifty years on I am having to rediscover that magnificence of the Municipal Public Bath.

Sadly all too many have gone, victims of changing recreational habits, cost cutting exercises and the fact that some at least had come to the end of their useful life.

All of which is the lead into a new series on Manchester and Salford’s Swimming Baths and Washhouses.

Now I have always had a fascination for them and the part they have played in the provision of public services by local governemnets.

And this was further advanced by the talk recently at Chorlton History Group on the Swimming Baths of Greater Manchester.*

So this is the start of the series with a second look at Leaf Street Baths in Hulme.

In 1860 the Manchester & Salford Baths and Laundries Company opened their third public baths in Hulme.

The company had been formed in 1855, and built baths in Salford, Mayfield at Ardwick and Victoria Park.  Its assets were bought by Manchester Corporation in 1877.  The company had added a Turkish bath in 1860 which was the first in a public baths in Manchester.  The Leaf Street Baths were demolished in the clearances of the 1970s and today the site is open ground.

When I first posted the story I pondered on who remembered them and the response has been impressive.

There are those who wrote to me describing their first swimming lessons and those who still have their certificate proudly proclaiming their achievement at swimming a length, and memories from Tom who supervised children from nearby Royce School when they attended in the early 1970s.

Nor were the baths just a place for recreation, most also had a washhouse and facilities for families and individuals to take a bath, and in the case of Leaf Street it's own Turkish Baths.

Next, Whitworth Baths on Ashton Old Road and later the role of the Municipal Public Baths in keeping the people of the twin cities clean

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-swimming-baths-have-to-be-one-of.html

Pictures; Leaf Street Public Baths, 1920, m57327 and entrance m57328, Bath cubicle for private washing washing, 1920, m57333 courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

The swimming baths have to be one of the great municipal investments. Listen to their history today with Chorlton History Group

Victoria Baths, 1905

The swimming baths have to be one of the great municipal investments.

They were relatively cheap, and many doubled up as a place to wash the family.
In my case there were two that we visited.  The first was the Laurie Grove Baths in Deptford.

It had been built between 1895-98 “by the vestry board of St Paul's Deptford under the Public Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. As well as a large and a small swimming bath the 1st floor had 1st class Ladies and Men's Slipper Baths. 

These individual baths were provided for personal bathing as working class people did not have bathrooms in their own homes. There were also washhouses (laundries) which later had early washing machines installed. On the ground floor there were separate entrances for men and women linked by a ticket office.*

And like our own Victoria Baths these were ornate and grand.  By comparison the pool in the Peckham Health Centre was a complete contrast, with its modernist simple design and large expanse.

I used both but it is of The Deptford one that I have the fondest of memories.

Entrance to Victoria Baths, 1905

As you entered you were hit by that mix of warm air, chlorinated water and noise.

And even before you had bought your ticket and gone through the turn style the hot sticky atmosphere made your winter clothes stick to you, which continued as you walked along the pool side to the changing rooms.

The bigger of the two contained a water shute along with diving platforms which were both a terror and an abiding source of attraction for the young and a constant challenge to achieve the slide or dive without being stopped by the attendant.

But for many the Baths were less a place of fun and more an essential to everyday life.  Most offered a laundry and of course the slipper bath.

We were lucky in that we had a bathroom but my friend John and his siblings would make the short journey across the road armed with soap and then own towels.

Miles Platting Public Wash House, 1950

When I share that memory with my sons they can only look on and ponder that their father truly did belong to a time unlike anything they can imagine.

And it is no good fastening on the lighter moments, like the day Paul Driver fell into the baths fully clothed and for ever after was known as Dribble.

Such stories just confirm that Dad’s youth is as distant to them as the first flight of the Wright Brothers or the opening episode of Coronation Street in 1960.

My childhood along with the many functions of the old Public Baths has pretty much receded into history.
The buildings themselves have proved too costly to maintain or have just succumbed to age and changes of leisure activities.

So the Laurie Grove Baths in Deptford was converted in to art studios for Goldsmiths College, and many like the Leaf Street Baths in Hulme closed when new pools were opened.

All of which is a nice lead into the talk by John Mather on the history of Greater Manchester Swimming Pools on Thursday September 5th at 1.30.

Sharston, 1966

This starts off the autumn programme of the Chorlton History Group which hold their monthly meetings at Chorlton Good Neighbours, Wilbraham St Ninian’s Church, Egerton Rd South, Chorlton £1.50 charge for tea & biscuits.

Now that should have been the end but for a memory prompted by looking at the picture of the Sharston Baths in 1966 It was here a full twenty years after my first visits to Laurie Grove that I had the job of accompanying classes of year 7 students for swimming lessons.  Not that I was expected to get my feet wet.
I saw them onto the coach saw them off at the baths and travelled back to Poundswick High School.

Pictures; First Class Swimming Baths, Victoria Baths, 1905, m51825, entrance to the Victoria Baths, 1905, m51823, Miles Platting Public Wash House 1950, m57371,  Sharston Baths, 1966, m51865, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* Laurie Grove Baths, Deptford, Greater London, Heritage Explorer, English Heritage, http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=8307&crit=bathroom