Walking the Rochdale Canal …… all flowers, water and mills

On a warm sunny day, there is nothing better than a stroll along a canal.

Of course the hardy and resolute will do the walk in all weathers, even when the rain is coming down like stair rods and bouncing off the water.

But in spring and summer there is much more to see, and lingering beside a lock gate or admiring the canal architecture is so much more appealing.

And that is what Andy did yesterday, choosing to stop by the Victoria Mill which my Wikipedia tells me, "is a Grade II listed nineteenth century cotton spinning mill in Miles Platting, Manchester. It was a double mill designed by George Woodhouse completed in 1869.

It was built alongside the Rochdale Canal and Varley Street, Victoria Mills were constructed for William Holland, of the Adelphi Mill, Salford. 

It was designed by George Woodhouse of Bolton. It was designed as a six storey double mill with shared engine house. It had an octagonal chimney. It was worked to the 1960, and has now been converted into office space and residential."**

It is a mill I knew nothing about, and as you do I went looking for more, which I discovered in the form of another history of the building, and the site of the present owners advertising its role as a commercial and residential property.**

Location; Mile Platting

Pictures; the Victoria Mill and the Rochdale Canal, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson

* Victoria Mill, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Mill, 

**Victoria Mill, https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/outside/victoriamill.html, http://whitecroftgroup.com/projects/victoria-mill

Of ice cream ….. a van ….. and Cadelforte, Caserta in Campania

The fun and the history as they say are in the detail.

Unknown street scene, 1963

So, the story began with this ice cream van and the house, but as stories do it had a life of its own and went off in the most unexpected way.

But first to the original story which opened with “I think we are in Miles Platting.  The clue is Mr. Pandolfo’s ice cream van which carries the address of 15 Pearson Street Manchester 9”.

And from there the plan was to explore the gable end, reflecting on the evidence of the bricked-up fireplaces, which belonged to the end terrace, long ago demolished and those garages which inhabited an empty space.

Lost fireplaces, 1963

All of which was going to be an examination of Manchester before the clearance plans swept away the communities that lived in streets like these.

But the Pandolfo family stole the show.

I was curious to know where their home on Pearson Street was located, and after a bit of a search assisted by Andy Robertson the answer was in Miles Platting, off Queens Street.

Back in 1911 number 13, and 15, were home to “Mrs. Charlotte Lund, beer retailer”, but by 1941 they were occupied by the Pandolfo family, who ran a refreshment room from number 13, and made the ice cream next door.

This I know because like many Italian residents, he was interred during the last world war, and the records are available.  His stay in internment on the Isle of Man finished with a decision in the May of 1941 to release him the following month.  The advisory Committees judged that he could be “released without restriction”.

Celebrating Italian culture, 1911

The records also show that he at first been released in March 1941, “temporary for month”, readmitted in May before his final release in June.

And there the trail takes off in different directions.  Pasquele had been born on October 25th in 1892 and had been born in Cadelforte, Caserta in Campania.  His parents were Carlo and Filomenia and he had a sister, Paqsualina who was two years younger.

Traditional Italian dancing through Didsbury, 1911

I can’t as yet track them before 1911, but in that year, they appear on the census living at 51 Clarendon Street in Chorlton on Medlock.

Mr. Pandolfo, described himself as working in the confectionary business and his two children were employed as an “ice cream merchant” and “assistant in the business”.*

It should be possible to follow the family across the city using the directories and locate exactly when they moved into Pearson Street.

I know they are there by 1939, and amongst the residents is a Michael Di Cocco, born in 1870, and working as a “Biscuit maker”,  Winifred Jones who was just 19 and a “waterproof machinist”.

But the records also offer up three other people whose details have been redacted.

Mr. Pandolofo's ice cream van, 1963

It maybe that one of these is Tony Pandolfo whose name appears on the van.  That said there is another Anthony who was born in1951, married in 1969 but from another family.

So, the jury is out, leaving me to record that Pasquale died in 1952, leaving everything to his third wife, and his daughter who died in 1949.

At which point I could spin off into the story of Little Italy, the Italian community and ice cream making, but that has been covered by Anthony Rea, and I make it a golden rule not to trespass on the work of others, who will have done it better.**

All of which with Tony’s van brings us back to that unnamed street in 1963, which I suspect was long ago demolished, along with those garages which are stories for another time.

Location; unknown

Picture; unknown Manchester street, 1963, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection",
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY

*1911 Census Enu 35, 616, Chorlton on Medlock, South Manchester.

**Ancoats Little Italy, http://www.ancoatslittleitaly.com/index.html

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. 

Add caption

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