Lost views of Chepstow Street and the Peveril of the Peak, 1994

“I took this in 1996. I don't think you've seen it before. You won't be able to view the Peveril from this angle anymore. When re-viewing this photo just now I was rather (selfishly) hoping that that old tall building on the left had been demolished. However today it is The Rain Bar, 80 Great Bridgewater Street.”

Across to the Peveril, 1994

And with that intriguing opening comment Andy Robertson set me off on another of those journeys around the city which threw up fascinating insights into our city’s past.

So first that picture taken in 1994.

Today a whole slab of new build stands between us and the Peveril of the Peak and had Andy chanced down that way a little earlier he would have had had no chance of seeing uninterrupted from his vantage point across to the pub.

Great Bridgwater Street, 1964

I had quite forgotten the set of old buildings that ran along Great Bridgewater Street which Andy found in a 1964 photograph.

The one still standing had been home to a set of printing firms back in 1911 and the remaining section belonged to the Corporation and was the “Town yard” of the Highways Committee and included the Public Weighing machine.

And comparing the two pictures tells us quite a bit about how the owners and architects set about the design of the building that remains.

The front facing Bridgewater may have been basic but still managed to look impressive, while the rear was far more utilitarian with its loop holes on each floor to receive materials and hat large arch.

Chepstow Street, circa 1900

Delve even deeper into the area using the maps of the period and you get a sense of just how the nearby streets were crisscrossed with  arms from the Rochdale Canal.

So running off north under Great Bridgewater and then parallel with Chepstow Street was a stretch of water way that looped round terminating higher up Bridgewater Street.

Now I bet Andy has others from that period when this bit of the city was undergoing changes.
I hope so.




Picture; Looking across to the Peveril of the Peak, 1994, from the collection of Andy Robertson, Great Bridgewater Street, 1964, W Higham, m02008, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pas  and map of Chepstow Street circa 1900 from Goad’s Fire Insurance map courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

The Peveril of the Peak is one of those gems it is easy to miss

The Peveril of the Peak, © 2013 Peter Topping

The Peveril of the Peak is one of those gems it is easy to miss.

And I have to say it is one I only went in recently.  I have passed it loads of times but for all sorts of reasons never actually went inside, which is my loss.

The last time I was there was a week day afternoon and to my surprise last orders were called just before 3, which is pretty much a novelty these days.

But that is in keeping with a place which looks like a traditional old fashioned pub.

Inside the place is still divided into small rooms many retaining the old bell pushes, tiles and other original features.

Now I say original features but I suspect most are late 19th century while the pub was certainly serving beer as the Peveril of the Peak in 1841 when the landlady was an Elizabeth Johnson.

I would like to know more of Mrs Johnson but the records are not very helpful.  There were a lot of Elizabeth Johnson’s in Manchester in 1841 but our candidate may have been a 45 year old widow living with her three sons and a servant.

She is down as running the pub in the January of ’41 but seems to have moved on by the June, and a decade later the place is run by someone else.

As for the magnificent exterior tiles, these were added sometime at the beginning of the 20th century by the Manchester Brewery Company which did the same to the Sawyers Arms on Deansgate and the Turks Head.

Painting; Peveril of the Peak,  © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

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