Of tennis courts, a Soya Mill and a new project …….. down by Old Trafford ..... part two

About a week ago I featured Andy Robertson's new project which is to record the demise of part of the Soya Mill on Skirton Road in the Old Trafford.

Over the years Andy ghas done quite a few of these and they stand as a wonderful record of our changing industrial landscape.

So this is one of the dozen he took and it is my favourite.

Location; Skirton Road

Picture; demolition in progress, 2019 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Of tennis courts, a Soya Mill and a new project …….. down by Old Trafford, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/09/of-tennis-courts-soya-mill-and-new.html

The transformation of the Throstles Nest on Seymour Grove

Now there will be plenty of people with fond memories of the Throstles Nest on Seymour Grove.

I am not one of them but that is purely because it was not on my route of places to go.

Having lived all over south Manchester as well as Beswick, Bradford and Ashton-Under-Lyne by the time I setteled in Chorlton in the 70s I was happy just to stay very local.

That said Andy who took these pictures of the transformation of the old pub along with me would welcome any one who has a story to tell or even a picture of the place in its heyday.

Like so many familiar pubs it went.  I have no idea exactly why but I suspect it will be the usual explanation of being unable to buck the trend of cheap supermarket alcohol, and wine bars.

But unlike the Princess and the Mersey Hotel the building is still there although as the pictures show much changed.

Which just leaves me to thank Andy for this one which is a project he has kept going back to since he first noticed that the last pint had been pulled and the final last orders called.

Location Seymour Grove








Pictures. the Throstles Nest, 2014, and 2016 from  the collection of Andy Robertson

Down at the Throstles Nest something is stirring

Now Andy Robertson has been out again on Seymour Grove with a new picture of the Throstles Nest.

He was last there in July at which time I speculated on the future.*

The one planning application just referred to “Erection of a pitched roof to existing two storey flat roof, including an increase in the height of the eaves”**

And eight months on its the only one that I could find on the data base.

So that must be the work that is about to be undertaken.

Location; Old Trafford, Greater Manchester








Pictures; the Throstles Nest, 2015 &2016 from the collection of Andy Robertson


*What's happening with that not so historic Throstles Nest on Seymour Grove?
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/whats-happening-with-that-not-so.html

**Trafford Council Planning,  82950/FULL/2014,  http://publicaccess.trafford.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=ZZZW32QLTA001

Just what has been going on down at Warwick Road South? ......... now that’s another zippy title

I am ever ready for more pictures from Warwick Road South and Andy Robertson in the interests of archaeological history obliged with this one he sent yesterday.

It is another from his ongoing project to record what is quickly vanishing.

Like many I guess the passing of this building will not rank a footnote in the industrial heritage books of Trafford.

But it was a place where people went everyday, earned a living and for that it shouldn’t go without a comment.

The history of the building was researched by Andy when he first stumbled over the place back in 2014.

He was back a year later after the site had been cleared and a big sign announced “Quality Homes for rent” which the developers added would be “60 Apartments for affordable rent.”

And as Andy’s new picture shows, progress is well under way.

The land was long ago broken, the foundations are in and the walls are going up.

So watch this space because in the next few months Any will return to document the transformation of another bit of where we live.


Pictures; Warwick Road South, 2014, 2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Gone and soon to be forgotten ......... on Warwick Road South, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/gone-and-soon-to-be-forgotten-on.html

Revealing the history of Batsford House on Seymour Grove ............... another Red Cross Hospital

This was Stretford Memorial Hospital on Seymour Grove which closed earlier this year.

It had opened its doors as a Red Cross Hospital in October 1914 and before that had been the home of the Nuttal family when it was known as Batsford House.

I recently wrote about its time both as a hospital and a private residence* but have been drawn back by an entry in the official history of the Red Cross in East Lancashire during the Great War.**

The book was published in 1916 and contains descriptions of all the Red Cross hospitals in the area during the first two years of the war along with the names of the nursing and ancillary staff and offers a fascinating insight into the working of each establishment.

According to the book,

“Batsford House was lent to the local British Red Cross Branch for conversion into an Auxiliary Hospital by James Nuttall, Esq., of Hale.

Seven wards have been arranged, together with mess room and day room, staff room, kitchens, etc., and the light airy aspect of the patients’ quarters has proved very cheerful.

Practically all the furniture and appurtenances were given or loaned by the local residents, and in consequence the cost of equipping was low, being under £100.

The Hospital was opened on October 28, 1914, providing accommodation for twenty patients but ten more beds were added during April, [1915] when more provision was essential to meet the requirements of the increased number of wounded soldiers coming to Manchester.

The upkeep of the Hospital has cost about 2s 8d  per bed, and this has been defrayed by the War Office Capitation Grant, augmented by public subscription.

Numerous entertainments have been provided in the wards, and the ample grounds surrounding the hospital have afforded facilities for tennis, croquet, football, etc.”**

Of the 154 men who were cared for between October 1914 and August 1915, 138 were British, 11 were from Australia and five were Belgians.  Most had “contracted their primary wounds” on the Western Front with having been wounded at Gallipoli and three from with Great Britain.

Of these 87 were bullet and shrapnel wounds, 5 were suffering from having been gassed, 18 from frost bite and the remainder were listed as “Miscellaneous.”

The average stay was 32 days and most went on to a period of sick furlough.

In this respect the information differs little from what was recorded from other Red Cross Hospitals and so offers up an insight into the impact of the fighting during the first year and a bit.***

Added to that what comes through is the huge voluntary contribution made by the local community.

We know that in the case of the Chorlton hospital on Edge Lane local fund raising provided a substantial amount towards the cost of running the establishment and caring for the patients.

And like Chorlton it should be possible to track the named staff using the Red Cross data base,**** census material, street directories and newspapers which will take us deep into the local community.

Now the book lists the names of 27 nurses, 25 orderlies and 12 cooks and at random I picked Mrs Cochrane who the database tells me was a Mrs Elizabeth Bertha Cochrane who was engaged on the day Batsford House opened and may well have been related to Miss Madge Cochrane who also started in October 1914 and Miss Muriel Cochrane who began service two years later.

With a bit of research it should be possible to track them down and maybe reveal a little of their work at the hospital.

We shall see.

Picture; Batsford House, circa 1914, from East Lancashire Branch - An illustrated account of the work of the Branch during the first year of the war, 1916 and the hospital circa 1914 from the collection of David Harrop

Painting; Stretford Memorial Hospital © 2015 Peter Topping from an original photograph by Andy Robertson

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Additional material courtesy of the archivist of the Red Cross Society http://www.redcross.org.uk/

*Stretford Memorial Hospital, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Stretford%20Memorial%20Hospital

**East Lancashire Branch - An illustrated account of the work of the Branch during the first year of the war, 1916

***First World War volunteers, The Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War

***Red Cross Hospitals, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Red%20Cross%20Hospitals


****First World War volunteers, The Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War

A painting, a hospital and a story of a local building company ............. at Stretford Memorial Hospital

This is Stretford Memorial Hospital on Seymour Grove, or at least it was because it closed in October of this year.

And that closure ended a century of medical care which had begun with the Great War.

Now I am deep into researching its history as a Red Cross hospital which in time will yield how many beds it had, the number of patients it received during its first year of service and the names of its medical staff.

And judging by its size and location close to the railway it would have been welcomed by the Red Cross when it was handed over by its last owner who I am pretty sure was Mr James Nuttall who lived there with his wife Beatrice, five children and four servants.

The property was known as Basford House and contained fourteen rooms set in its own grounds.
James Nuttall was a public contractor, and in the space of a decade had risen from being an assistant in the family firm to running the business with his brother.

In 1911 Edmund Nuttall & Co was  based on Trafford Park Road.

"The company was founded by James Nuttall Snr in Manchester in 1865 to undertake engineering works associated with infrastructure developments, such as the Manchester Ship Canal, which opened in 1894 and the narrow gauge Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, which opened in 1898.

In the 1900s and 1910s James Nuttall Snr's two sons—Sir Edmund Nuttall, 1st Baronet (1870–1923), who was made a baronet in 1922, and James Nuttall (1877–1957)—built the company into a nationwide business.”*

In the 1920s and 1930s the company was run by Sir Edmund's son, Sir Keith Nuttall, 2nd Baronet (1901–1941), who served in the Royal Engineers in the Second World War."

And in the course of its long history was responsible for a shed load of civil and industrial projects including the Liver Building, tunnels under the Mersey, the Thames and the Tyne and during the Second World War were one of the contractors engaged in building the Mulberry harbour units.

All of which means that James Nuttall was no jobbing builder, but does not help me with the big question of where the family went in 1914 when they handed their home over to the Red Cross.

That and much more about the building will unfold, and when it does I rather think I will feature Peter’s painting of the hospital all over again.

Painting; Stretford Memorial Hospital © 2015 Peter Topping from an original photograph by Andy Robertson

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

*BAM Nutall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAM_Nuttall

Stretford Memorial .................. and the promise of more to come

Now Stretford Memorial is a place I have never been in and one that I tend just to give an occasional nod to as the bus goes down Seymour Grove.

And that is a shame because as Andy Robertson’s picture shows it is still a grand building and one that hints at its former grandeur.

From memory my mate Lawrence was born there and there will be plenty of other people with memories of the place.

In time Andy has promised to go back and take more pictures which will also be the moment to delve into its history.

But for those who can't wait, it was once Basford House, became a Red Cross Hospital during the Great War and  remained a hospital until it closed  in October 2015.

And as it has an entry in the Red Cross book covering the hospitals of east Lancashire during the war I rather think three will be lots to say about the place, along with memories, stories and old photographs which I hope will flood in.

So no pressure there then, Andy.

Picture; Stretford Memorial, December 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson and in 1915 courtesy of David Harrop

A bit of Little Italy on Warwick Road South ............ another project from Andy Robertson

Never ever be surprised at how little bits of our history can turn up in the most unexpected places.

That said I am rarely surprised at Andy Robertson’s ability to turn up those bits of history which others have so totally missed.

So last weekend while out on Warwick Road South he came up with a fascinating bit of industrial history which has links with Little Italy and Manchester’s ice cream past.

And not to out change Andy I will leave the rest to him and his links to one of my favourite bits of our city’s story.

“I decide to take these of Warwick Road South yesterday as it was nice light and nobody about. 

Then I noticed a sign on the rear of a building on Ayres Road for The International Wafer Company. 

Presumably this sign was pretty much hidden when the other buildings were there. 

It was founded by Domenico Antonelli, an immigrant from Italy, in 1912. 

In 1926 they moved to this purpose built building on Ayres Road.

Check out The Antonelli Story -- Little Italy on the  internet.*

Also there is an excellent aerial photo of the brand new building on Trafford Lifetimes site, aerial view of Old Trafford, 1926.”**

And that is it.

Other than to say the entrance is still an impressive way into an ice cream factory.













Pictures;  The International Wafer Company, November 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

* The Antonelli Story, http://www.ancoatslittleitaly.com/antonelli.html

** Trafford Lifetimes,  https://apps.trafford.gov.uk/TraffordLifetimes/

Gone and soon to be forgotten ......... on Warwick Road South

Now I know that not all old factories and warehouses are worthy of being saved especially when they will be replaced by low cost affordable homes.

And I have to say the old industrial complex down on Warwick Road South had little to commend it as an example of industrial heritage.

Andy who took the pictures linked the building  to “Thomas Goldsworthy founder of Emery Mill who had been  born 1798 Redruth, Cornwall.

The business was taken over by his son Robert who was born 1833.

When Robert died in 1904 having retired to Southport, he left £109,000 (£11million today)”
I doubt that the building will be missed and their epitaph might well be that they had “seen better days and done better things.”*

Having said that someone may well come forward with an interesting story or an equally interesting person who was linked to the place.

But for now all that can be said is that they have gone, and the gaping space is just awaiting the ground to be broken by the builders who in a matter of months will have developed the area leaving nothing but Andy’s pictures and a few records to show what was once here.

Pictures; Warwick Road South, 2014, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*"I see better days and do better things”, .....I Shall Be Free, Bob Dylan, 1963

Down on Lucy Street with a mystery

The romantic in me lingers over names like Lucy Street which offers up all sorts of speculation on who Lucy was and how her name ended up on a street stretching from City Road down to Stretford Road.

And in the same way I have wondered about that other Lucy Street in Lower Broughton

Of course there will as ever be some tedious and mundane explanation usually focusing on the surname of the developer responsible for cutting the road.

All of which is a lead in to Andy Robertson’s picture of this bit of brick wall.

It stands on the east side of the street just a little bit down from City Road and I am puzzled.  The adjoin building has an owner whose name and telephone number are neatly fastened to the wall and judging by the place it has undergone many uses.

But when it was built and its original function eludes me.  Looking at the OS map for 1894 the plot of land seems empty and sixteen years later the first buildings recorded on the directory are a school and timber merchants.

And the rest of the street on both sides appears to be residential.

So, a little mystery which may not be very exciting but one that I would like to understand.

Picture; Lucy Street, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson

What's happening with that not so historic Throstles Nest on Seymour Grove?

Now I wonder how history will treat the Throstle’s Nest on Seymour Grove.

There will be many who have fond memories of the place and others who would rather draw a veil over the night when it just seemed a good idea to treble up the drinks at last orders having already drunk the night away to the strains of Fleetwood Mac and a series of stories from Ken from Dispatch.

All of that said it is another of Andy Robertson’s projects, and having visited it a few times since it shut up shop yesterday he was back recording the first signs of movement with three pictures, commenting on “the very slow and slightly unsure progress of the 'Nest.

You can now see the new flooring layout.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the existing windows and where new ones might go?”

Well there is an application in for the “erection of a pitched roof to existing two storey flat roof, including an increase in the height of the eaves.”*

Andy I know did some research on the building and that excellent site Manchester Pubs has written"this once-popular local's boozer on the Old Trafford - Whalley Range border closed down in 2010.  The Throstles Nest was also a match day boozer for Man Utd fans but despite this it has gone the way of so many inner city alehouses." With one of its contributors adding that it opened in 1968.**

All of which will just leave Andy to go back and see how things are developing.










Pictures; the Throstles Nest, 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Trafford Council Planning,  82950/FULL/2014,  http://publicaccess.trafford.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=externalDocuments&keyVal=ZZZW32QLTA001

** Throstles Nest, Seymour Grove, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/throstles-nest-seymour-grove.html

Down at Ayres Road at another old factory

I am back with images of some of our recent industrial landscape which I suspect will soon be gone.  

We are at the Jesse Oldfield Bakery on Brixham Street, Ayres Road and Andy Robertson who took the pictures told me

“for a brief period ten or so years ago I cleaned their office carpets, so I have an attachment to this place. 

The rather large office was on the first floor but you'd be amazed at how many ingrained raisins I had to get rid of!  

I was surprised to see the gates closed and I could only see one car. 

Being so quick on the uptake it only took me about two hours to think perhaps they had closed down.

In January 2014 it was about to close losing 60 jobs. 

It being a part of the Blue Foods Group. 

In 1969, Knightsbridge Cake Manufacturers were on the site.

Given how the large the site is, it seems hard to imagine any other company moving in, but who knows?”

Pictures; Jesse Oldfield Bakery, 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Another bit of our recent industrial past about to disappear ........... down at Warwick Road South

Now we pretty much neglect our most recent industrial history.

Those solid textile mills with their tall chimneys, the giant iron and steel works along with the iconic pit head gear are all images which capture a moment in our past.

But the modern office and factories which were built often on the site of the older industrial past are at best ignored and at worst seen as modern blots on the landscape.

Many of these now seem in danger, not that I hasten to add I am calling for their preservation some seem ugly and brutal to me.  But then fifty years on I dare say they will be judged in the same way we regard those 19th century industrial buildings.

So here are two shots from Andy Robertson’s camera of Warwick Road South which is close to the Old Trafford tram stop.

With a degree of modesty which belies the work Andy does he commented that “with it being my day off and after various chores I was getting cheesed off with the weather but determined to go out.

At about 2.30 the rain had almost stopped hence these pictures. Perhaps they deserve the backdrop of miserable skies!

Boring pictures but who knows what might be developed there in the future. Given the proximity to the tram stop and the Cricket Ground it could become a car park?”

Now I disagree that they are boring and I suspect that not so long into the future hen the site is developed with a retail or office unit standing above a sprawling underground car park his pictures will provide a unique
record of when this bit of Old Trafford had its own industrial history.

Pictures; Warwick Road South, 2014 from the collection of Andy Robertson

So what is the story behind the arched wall of the house on Chester Road?

I am intrigued by Andy’s picture and I would like to know more about the building and the story behind this odd bit of design.

We are on Chester Road close to the entrance to Gorse Park and I can’t quite make up my mind about the arch.

It was clearly designed to let light into the well behind it but that begs the question of why it was constructed in the first place.

I thought it might have been part of what looks to be an addition at the side of the house which is not quite in keeping with the rest of the front elevation.

That said I think our arched wall may be an even later addition and was part of something else.

The lower half of the side elevation shows evidence of another building which is there by the line of stones in the brick work and the apertures which may have taken roof beams.

But I am no expert and someone I hope will come along with a perfectly sound explanation, plus pictures and documents.

As it is I have no access to the street directories for this section of Chester Road, and I can’t source a picture of the building but that will come with time and then I shall be able to put names to the property and a date.

So, all still to play for.

All of which just leaves me to thank Andy again who is in that long line of photo-historians who is patiently recording the city and surrounding areas as they are today with often a glance over his shoulder at what they were once.

And it is an important task because we tend to take these buildings for granted, and then when they have gone quickly forget that they ever existed.

Already some that Andy took only months ago have gone.or have undergone extensive refurbishment as to make them unrecognisable.


Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson

Always look beyond the old stone wall, out on Seymour Grove in the 1890s

Seymour Grove in 2014

Now here is a lesson in always looking at what you pass by.

Over the years I have passed this spot on Seymour Grove countless times and never clocked the stone wall and the gateposts.

And yet here is a little history and perhaps some stories.

It was Andy Robertson on one of his regular wanders around the city armed with just his camera and a  notebook that recorded what was once here and is now long gone.

Fairlawns in 2014

I say long gone but I don’t really have a clue when the block of flats went up on what had been Fairlawns and the Sycamores.

Nor for that matter when the original two houses were built.  Andy has dated Fairlawns and its northern neighbour which was Beech House to 1871 and within another 20 years the Sycamores had joined the other two.

There was still plenty of open land around the houses in the 1890s and all three properties were big houses.

The Beech and Sycamores had ten rooms a piece and Fairlawns weighed in with 8, and all three were set back from the road with largish gardens.

Seymour Grove in 1894

In 1911 all were occupied by those who could regard themselves as comfortably well off.

At the Sycamores was Mr Rueben Bennet who described himself as a former director of the Old Trafford company of Bennett’s which made church stained glass, while at Fairlawns was Richard Haig Brown who had been a railway manager, and at the Beech lived George Forbes who was listed variously as a nurseryman and Cut Flower Merchant.

Now in the fullness of time I think I shall go digging into the lives of all three but in the meantime will content myself with reflecting on just how easy it is to overlook even our most recent past.

Travel down Seymour Grove today and I doubt that many will give a second thought to what was here  or rather not here just over a century and a bit ago.

Back in the 1840s our spot was still farm land dissected by a culverted water course with views north east to woodland and Hullard Hall and west out across more farmland to Great Stone Farm and Chester Road.

The Sycamores in 2014

The Botanic Gardens had yet to get it’s Royal title and the railway was waiting for the funds to drive the plans into a working line.

That said just a little to the north on the opposite side were Lime Grove House, Broom House and Brainerd Terrace which with a additions and name changes were still there 50 years later.

Today only Broom House has survived.  I doubt that any of the original features are left inside but I bet Andy will be down there soon to photograph it, and  I shall go looking for Mrs Emily Lawton who was there in 1911 along with the other residents back as far as the 1840s when Fairlawns, the Sycamores and Beech House were still just a field.

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson and the OS for South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/