Historians of Chorlton ............. Nora Templar

Nora Templar was a well known historian.

 She wrote a series of articles about the township which were published in the St Clements parish magazine during the 1960s.

She had been born in 1910 and spent most of her life at Dog House Farm in what is now Whalley Range. Dog House was over 300 years old when Nora moved there in 1910 and was only demolished in 1960. Her father Herbert was a talented artist and some of his paintings are in the City’s collection.

It was from Dog House that Mary Moore set out in 1838 to sell farm produce at the Manchester markets only to be murdered on her way home. Nora remembered the “large barn and coach house which was sheltered from the north and east winds” and the “cobbled yard, pump and trough close to the kitchen and the well” all of which would have been familiar to Mary Moore.

As well as writing about the history of the township she witnessed some of the key events during the 20th century, including the Royal Agricultural Show held at Hough End fields in 1916, the Royal Lancashire Shows of 1924 and 1937, and the first aircraft to land at Hough End.

Pictures; Harvest Festival October 1981, Nora Templar from the Lloyd collection and an extract from Chorlton-cum-Hardy At Work and Play, St Clements Parish Magazine, November 1961

Chorlton from Alexandra Road 1920 by Nora Templar

Looking towards Chorlton from Alexandra Road, 1920 

It is hard to think that just within living memory there will be people who remember the cows beeing brought back to the farms on the green, and of farmers cutting the harvest crops.

Nora Templar captured this scene looking across the fields from Alexandra Road towards Chorlton in 1920.

Nora was a well local historian who had lived at Dog House Farm from 1910 until the late 1950s. Like her father she was also an artist and some of his work will feature later in the year.

Picture; from the Lloyd collection

Back at Chorlton's own Aerodrome

The aerodrome, circa 1924

You can never get enough of stories about aerodromes, especially when the aerodrome in question was here in Chorlton.

So I am back with Hough End Aerodrome,* and in the interests of accuracy it was actually called Alexandra Park Aerodrome, taking its name from the nearby railway station.

The site had been chosen by the War Department in 1917 partly because this was still open farmland and also because of the railway line which meant the aircraft could be transported direct from factories in Newton Heath and Stockport to the airfield and assembled on site.

Its operational life had two short periods.  It lasted as a military aerodrome for just a year from May 1918 till May 1919, and operated as civil airfield until 1924.

During the later phase it operated flights to London, Southport, Blackpool and Amsterdam.  But for great chunks of this time there was uncertainty about its future.  Almost as soon as civilian aircraft began using aerodrome there was a debate about whether it should be taken over by Manchester Corporation. Much was made of its closeness to the city centre and the boost it could give to the economy.  Birmingham Council had already bought the West Bromwich Aerodrome and this was a 40 minute car ride from the centre compared to just the ten minutes it would take to get to Albert Square.  There was also a strong belief that the Air Ministry would sell for a very low price.

But reading the newspaper reports of the period there is a sense that it was still not as successful as it could be.

One journalist commented that “the aerodrome has known many vicissitudes.  The travellers on the railway between Manchester and Withington have seen it alternate between a place of stirring activity during and just after the war and a place of flat desolation untroubled by the whirr of a single propeller, the great sliding doors of the hangars firmly closed, the weather gauges streaming out in indication of breezes that interested no one.  Now and then awakened by the measure activity of a civilian service or its pulse has been quickened to a very swift beat by it being a station for the round Britain air Race.”*

Part of the problem I suspect was just the cost of flying.  A flight from Manchester to Paris would shave six to seven hours off the journey by rail and channel crossing but the fare would be 9 guineas making it a third more expensive than the conventional trip.  Moreover this assumed that the service had been subsidised “by £10,000 to cover the installation and inauguration of a service.” Which even then might as one newspaper reported only be used by businessmen “whose time is worth money, earns say £2000 a year, which is £2 an hour, [who would] save six hours and so make between £8 and £9 on the deal.”**

The demolition of the hangars, 1924

The case became even more important with the development of the surrounding area for housing.  Soon the argument ran there would not be enough land for an airport.
The Egerton estate appeared to view with favour a Corporation buy up and promised to hold off selling the land till a decision could be made.  

But in the event there was no Corporation buy out and by the terms of the original lease agreement all flying use stopped five years after the war’s end and on September 24^th 1924 all the buildings and power plant were put up for auction including nine hangars and other buildings, two generators, cables electric fittings, boilers, heating piping, water piping, baths, wash basins, lavatory fittings and other items.”****

Already some of the wooden huts had been used by the City Police to house its unmarried officers.

And that pretty much is that for the aerodrome, leaving me only to record that the name of the Alexandra Park Railway Station was changed to Wilbraham Road in July 1923, almost a year before the airfield closed and that the station itself closed in 1958.  It’s one last buzz of activity coming when Granada used it for the venue of its Blues train show in 1964.  But that is another story.

Pictures; courtesy of Nora Templar and now in the Lloyd collection

*Alexandra Park Aerodrome, Ministry’s Lease Expiring, The Manchester Guardian August 22^nd 1924

** The Alexandra Park aerodrome. Pros and Cons of Purchase, The Manchester Guardian September 27^th 1922

*** Sales by Auction, The Manchester Guardian September 6^th 1924

When we had an aerodrome

There are always more stories to tell, and I think it’s time for one on our own aerodrome.

I first came across Hough End Aerodrome while reading articles by Nora Templar* who lived at Dog House Farm for 47 years.

She remembered “the landing of the first small aeroplane in the fields, the forerunner of many between 1916 and 1918. Manchester’s first aerodrome was built by the Government at Hough End.  

The first planes were delivered by train.  Pilots came in low over the Dog House chimneys and waved from their Avro’s and Handley Pages.” **

It may well be that the plane that took our first picture of the aerodrome had already flown over Nora's home.  It is a wonderful picture showing not only the hangers and admin buildings but a military aircraft on the ground.

The aerodrome was on what is now Hough End Playing Fields and was opened in May 1918 by the War Department for the assembly and delivery of aircraft to the RAF.

The planes were built by A.V. Roe & Company at Newton Heath and the National Aircraft Factory No 2 at Heaton Chapel and were brought in sections by railway to the Alexander Park station which was just 300 yards away.

After the war it became a civilian airfield and from 1922 flew a service down to Croydon Airport near London, and as Nora remembered was used by aircraft competing in the King's Cup Race air races in 1922 and 1923. “There were also a number of flying displays at the aerodrome and the Lancashire Aero Club, the oldest flying club in Britain, was formed at and operated from Alexandra Park until 1924, when it moved to Woodford Aerodrome.”***

But the aerodrome closed in 1924.  Like our brick works it had been given a set life by the Egerton estate who leased the land on condition that it ceased being used five years after the end of the war. So on August 24th 1924 the place closed and the hangers and workshops were demolished.

Today nothing remains save two plaques recording the presence of the aerodrome.  One in the sports pavilion at Hough End Playing Fields and the other in the grounds of No. 184 (South Manchester) Squadron, Air Cadets in Hough End Crescent.

There are of course a few photographs and there is also one special picture.  It is a pencil sketch of the aerodrome as it was being demolished and what makes it special and I think unique is that it was drawn by Nora Templar’s father which I suppose takes us full circle.

Pictures; courtesy of Nora Templar and now in the Lloyd collection

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Nora%20Templar
**Chorlton Journal 1977
***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Park_Aerodrome_(Manchester)

In celebration of Chorlton artists, historians, writers and photographers

I am getting quite excited about Chorlton Arts which “aims to reconnect everything to do with art and the people of Chorlton [by promoting] art in, by and for the people of Chorlton and assist existing art facilities”.

The “primary aim is to bring together residents and venues active in the, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts, and Crafts at all levels facilitating creativity within the Chorlton Community”. *

Now being interested in all thing’s history, I thought I would reflect on those people who made their own contribution as artists, historians, or writers to the story of Chorlton.

Not all of them were born here or died here, and some had only a fleeting association with the township, but each in their different way made an impact.

The first is Nora Templar, Nora Templar who was a well-known historian and artist who wrote a series of articles about the township which were published in the St Clements parish magazine during the 1960s.

She had been born in 1910 and spent most of her life at Dog House Farm in what is now Whalley Range.

Dog House was over 300 years old when Nora moved there in 1910 and it was only demolished in 1960.

Her father Herbert was also talented an artist and some of his paintings are in the City’s collection.

It was from Dog House that Mary Moore set out in 1838 to sell farm produce at the Manchester markets only to be murdered on her way home. Nora remembered the “large barn and coach house which was sheltered from the north and east winds” and the “cobbled yard, pump and trough close to the kitchen and the well” all of which would have been familiar to Mary Moore.

As well as writing about the history of the township she witnessed some of the key events during the 20th century, including the Royal Agricultural Show held at Hough End fields in 1916, the Royal Lancashire Shows of 1924 and 1937, and the first aircraft to land at Hough End.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Harvest Festival October 1981, Nora Templar from the Lloyd collection and an extract from Chorlton-cum-Hardy At Work and Play, St Clements Parish Magazine, November 1961

**About Chorlton Arts, http://chorltonartsfestival-org.stackstaging.com/?fbclid=IwAR25MbfqNpd1NeX6Qp1ROLnXYfbvSgldVo4eT-XrpDJk8iN5846McGYZaBY