Travels to Pomona …….. and other stories

Last week Andy wandered back to Pomona commenting “the other day we went to Pomona again. We noticed much of the undergrowth around the Dock had been cleared so we were able to explore new Territory!”

And among the pictures of lost stone setts, and half hidden ancient coils of rope were some interesting pictures of what has happened over the last decade and what is still to be, given Derek the Developer’s ambitious grand plan and the granting of planning permission.

All of which will appear over the next brace of weeks.

But for now, the images that caught my attention were of the new builds rising from to the sky.

The first is an unusual view of the developments that dominate the lower end of Chester Road as it runs towards Knott Mill and the second across the open ground.

Location; Pomona

Pictures; of developments and developments yet to be, 2023, from the collection of Andy Robertson

So ........ what is stirring down at Dock 4 in Pomona?

Now I never knew the old Pomona, but like so many areas left empty by the retreat of traditional industries, the land that was once Dock 4 is about to get a new lease of life.

Not that we should be surprised, for across the twin cities any brown site is being earmarked for development.

And with each of them, young Andy Robertson is on hand to record the changing landscape.

In the course of the last few years, he has patiently photographed the two Owen Street towers, wandered across Salford recording the demise of old buildings and everywhere taking pictures of cranes, building sites and near completed blocks of apartments and offices.

This week he was back on one of his favourite places which is the area around Pomona.  The pictures speak for themselves.

And as ever they raise questions about the flurry of new developments which some people complain about, bewailing the demise of old Pomona, old Salford and old Hulme.

To a degree they have a point, but the question that hangs in the air, is what should happen to brown sites?

The obvious answer is social housing and lots of it, but behind that solution is the assumption that any old bit of land is OK for social housing however industrialized the sites had been.

But money and nature abhor a vacuum and so we have private developments in abundance.

And before we all shudder at that, it is well to remember that rightly or wrongly much of the “old places” were built in the 19th century by property speculators, businessmen and industrialists with an eye on profit above anything else.

So while some of our great warehouses and factories were built with beautiful and intriguing features, the rows of terraced housing that went up beside them, were basic, and in the early 19th century pretty low on quality.

Well rant over, apologies to Andy for hijacking his pictures and I await the next stage.

Location; Pomona

Pictures; Pomona, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Of things to come ....... the tram that takes you to Trafford Centre

Now I am a great fan of the tram, and will be one of the first to travel on any new route.

I was there for the opening of the last bit of the line from St Werburgh's to East Didsbury, took the long trip up to Rochdale, and happily watch out of the window as the tram passes through east Manchester.

 My preferred route through town remains the Second City Crossing, although I do also love the journey from Cornbrook via Deansgate Castlefield in to St Peter's Square.

All of which means I want to be one of those trams that takes the spur to Trafford Centre.

Andy Robertson was down by the construction of the line where it is about to join Pomona tram stop, and took a series of pictures.

I will of course now lay down the challenge for him to follow the route and record more of the construction which should be ready in 2020.

So Andy, plenty of time to take plenty of photographs.

Location; Pomona





Pictures; the new Trafford Centre spur under construction; 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Walking the canal to Cornbrook no.4 ......... discarded things

This will be the last of the short series accompanying Andy Robertson on his walk along the canal to Cornbrook.

I say the last but like me he is fascinated by this stretch of land which regularly yields up lots of relics from out industrial past.

But perhaps not this time, for I fear we are with Derek the Dumper and his selection of unwanted things he chose to deposit, which are only slightly less unpleasant, than the scrawling of Sylvia and Sidney which do nothing for me.

Some might argue the graffiti is brightening up a grey and drab spot, but I like grey and drab which perfectly fit with this post industrial scene.

Pictures; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Walking the canal to Cornbrook no.3 ......... flowers and things

Now I have been walking the canal to Cornbrook with Andy Robertson.

To be more accurate Andy did the walk I have just posted the pictures.

Along the way he came up with a series of mysteries and puzzles which some have now been solved.

But today it’s less a puzzle and more just an observation on how quickly nature claims back the land.

Once and it will be within living memory the stretch of land on either side of the Duke’s Canal and beside the Ship Canal were full of buildings, docks and railway rack where industry busied itself.

All that is now in the past and the flowers are back.

I have no idea if they are the ones that inhabited the area before the first industrial development of the site or if they are modern invaders.

But someone will know.

Suffice to say, that Andy liked them and so do I.

Pictures; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Of mysteries and puzzles ....... walking the canal to Cornbrook no.2

Now yesterday I posted a mystery.*

Wooden sleepers? 2018

It was of a lump of word attached to a canal bridge which puzzled both Andy Robertson and me.

He had been walking along the towpath towards Cornbrook when he came across the lump, but I am happy to say that within minutes Liam and David had supplied the answer which has led to my second mystery, because Andy uncovered two more.

The first appears to be wooden railways sleepers, and Andy always being an inquisitive cove went looking on an old OS map and located them on a snaking railway line which ran just south of what was No. 1 Dock which was situated between the Ship Canal and the Duke’s Canal.

Abandoned floor tiles, 2018

And not content with that relic of the working docks he came up with these tiles close by.

The tiles now stand abandoned in a stretch of open land which will soon I guess will be destined for redevelopment.

So this may be the last time that they will be seen.  Looking again at Andy’s map there are plenty of buildings close by which could once have boasted these tiles as a floor covering.

Location; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Pictures; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Of mysteries and puzzles ....... walking the canal to Cornbrook ...no. 1, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/07/of-mysteries-and-puzzles-walking-canal.html

Of mysteries and puzzles ....... walking the canal to Cornbrook ...no. 1

Now someone will know the answer.

They may like Andy have looked over old maps or may actually remember what this lump of wood was once fastened to.

I doubt that it was part of a support for the bridge, which seems after 250 years and a bit to be doing okay with the stone blocks.

So are we dealing with a building and if so what sort of building?

Of course Eric will mutter so what?

But Andy and I would like to know.

In the meantime I shall just say that on his walk to Cornbrook along the canal Andy turned up some more mysteries, but they are for tomorrow.

And quick as a flash Liam and David gave us the solution.

Liam wrote, ", and David confirmed it with an article which described how there would a a series of wooden post along the towpath to assist the tow ropes attached to the boats http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/2014%20horse%20towage.pdf

So mystery solved in double quick time, watch for tomorrow.

Location; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Pictures; walking the canal to Cornbrook, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

A stretch of sun kissed water ......... a mystery and a flower

Now you can’t ask for more.

Yesterday Andy Robertson was out on one of his favourite jaunts that took him up to Cornbrook, and along the way he recorded a bridge, a pleasure cruise and some dumped sofas.

Now in the fullness of time all will appear on the blog, but today I have cherry picked, starting with that bridge and moving on to the mystery of the shaft.

Andy added that “here are a few of these knocking about. Could they be ventilation shafts? I read that there are network of tunnels running alongside the docks”.

And I am pretty confident that before this post has travelled far someone will offer up an explanation, with a detailed history, set of maps and old photographs.

They may also be able to suggest an answer to Andy’s other question “what is this flower? It is very widespread especially along the metrolink”.

And that I think it is.

Other than to say I suggest you follow Andy on his trip because before too long the landscape will have been altered forever.

Location; walking to Cornrbrook

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, 2018

Green door, what's that secret you're keeping? .......... out by Pomona

Now the door isn’t green, and Andy Robertson who took the picture doesn’t sound like Frankie Vaughan who had a hit with the song of the same name, but it will do for starters.

The red door featured  in a story prompted by one of Andy’s pictures of Pomona.*

And I wrote that I was “fascinated by this picture of the door which comes amongst the batch showing the water” continuing “I will ask Andy, but in the meantime let its story and what secrets lay behind it to hang in the air.

That said someone will come up with a practical explanation which does not admit a mystery or a fascinating story”.

But it was Andy who got back first with “it belongs to the ‘bridge house’ on the Salford side of Trafford Road bridge seen here immediately to left of bridge”.

And as he says, followed up the explanation with a picture.

So, sadly no mystery there then, which forces me back on that song, The Green Door, which is all about the mystery of what was behind the door.

The song was written by Marvin Moore to the music composed by Bob ‘Hutch’ Davie in 1956 and was a hit, recorded by Jim Lowe in the United States, and Frankie Vaughan in Britain.

I grew up with the mystery and in 1981 for some silly reason bought the version by Shakin’ Stevens which I promptly lost.

Back in the 1950s it was just something to sing along to, but listen to the lyrics and there is much to marvel at. From,

“There's an old piano
And they play it hot behind the green door
Don't know what they're doing
But they laugh a lot behind the green door
Wish they'd let me in so I could find out”,
to the frustration of the singer at not being let in made worse by the fun behind the Green Door.

Not that I suspect from Andy’s explanation there’s much fun inside the room with the red door.

Location; Pomona

Pictures; Pomona 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson 

*Secrets and vast expanses of water, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/06

The New Our Times .......... the changed skyline

Now, it is pretty much a given that where ever you look, the new towers of Owen Street and the Beetham Tower rise to dominate the skyline.

This, Andy Robertson on his latest adventure from Pomona to Cornbrook was quick to point out.

Nothing more to say.

Location; Pomona


Pictures; Looking toward the City, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Secrets and vast expanses of water

Now yesterday I was down at Pomona sharing Andy Robertson’s latest adventure.

And today I am back because like him I love pictures of water.

I could have chosen half a dozen, but this one allows us to see the first hints of a new development, and no doubt Andy will be back to record its progress as the ground is broken, the buildings go up and finally the for sale and to rent signs appear.

But for now I am fascinated by this picture of the door which comes amongst the batch showing the water.

I will ask Andy, but in the meantime let its story and what secrets lay behind it to hang in the air.

That said someone will come up with a practical explanation which does not admit a mystery or a fascinating story.

We shall see.

Location; at Pomona














Pictures; down by Pomona, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Of things to come ....... and of buildings as yet unbuilt .......down at Pomona

“A quick trip on the tram to Exchange Quay, and a stroll back to the Pomona stop”. 

So began Andy Robertson’s new adventure, one which by his own admission kept him “going all the way to Cornbrook, with a little help from some minor trespassing, [which] if questioned I would say ‘Andrew Simpson sent me’”.

Now there indeed is fame, although whether my name would get him out of trouble is debateable.

I toyed with starting at the beginning of the adventure with one of Andy’s road pictures, but instead chose this one, which has got the lot, from a spot of wild nature, to the hint of what was once and with the cranes and tall buildings in the distance is a hint of what is to come.

There will be someone better than me who will identify the spot and call up an old map or photograph, and someone else with details of what might be about to rise from the ground, and finally someone who can identify the “green stuff” as more than “green stuff”.

So I shall await those communications.

For now I just like the picture, and given just how much of the area has been developed and is being developed as I write, Andy’s picture is one to treasure.

But then so is his road picture, which captures the iconic bridge and something of the Dallas style properties.

I have to say the traffic seems quite sparse but again there will be somebody with a theory.

For now I shall close with yet another of those green things, which pretty much proves the old observation that nature abhors a vacuum and given half a chance something will start growing where once carts and wagons rolled purposely over pathways.

And I bet someone will know what the plant is. And quick as a flash Bill Sumner came back with, "recognised your plant immediately as Evening Primrose (gives out its scent after dark), a quick check on Google gives us -Genus Oenothera and species biennis this being the wild variety it flowers in its second year", followed by Ted who suggested that the site was a former chemical plant.  Now that can't be bad.

Location; at Pomona

Pictures; down by Pomona, 2018, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Pomona Docks ........ a vanishing scene........ number two .... the visitor

Now as ever Andy Robertson’s accompanying text to his pictures of Pomona Dock were short, precise and did the business.

He wrote “Got tram to Pomona, and walked down. 

This area will soon be pretty much all developed and much of the old Pomona Strand is now a private road or the developers' vehicles. 

You can still walk along the path by The Ship Canal to one side of Dock 3, although how safe for a doddery old blighter like me, and 

I suspect it is technically trespass!”

All of which is why these three pictures will be an important record of what was there and what will soon have gone.

At which point it is easy to fall into the trap of becoming sentimental about a patch of post industrial land, but as today's picture shows hat patch can offer up some fascinating scenes.

Location; Pomona Docks

Pictures; Pomona Docks, 2017 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Pomona Docks ........ a vanishing scene........ number one .... the walk

Now as ever Andy Robertson’s accompanying text to his pictures of Pomona Dock were short, precise and did the business.

August 2014

He wrote “Got tram to Pomona, and walked down. 

This area will soon be pretty much all developed and much of the old Pomona Strand is now a private road or the developers' vehicles. 

You can still walk along the path by 

The Ship Canal to one side of Dock 3, although how safe for a doddery old blighter like me, and 

I suspect it is technically trespass!”

October 2017

All of which is why these three pictures will be an important record of what was there and what will soon have gone.

At which point it is easy to fall into the trap of becoming sentimental about a patch of post industrial land, but as we shall see tomorrow that patch offers up some fascinating scenes.



Location; Pomona Docks

November 2017

Pictures; Pomona Docks, 2014-2017

Something is stirring down at Pomona

Now Andy has been back to Pomona and something is happening.

For years the area has been a mix of industrial sites and wasteland.

But now with that ever relentless advance of new residential development across the twin cities a bit more of Pomona is being “done.”

And that really is all I want to say other than that Andy is a modest chap who makes light of his contribution to the history of Manchester, Salford and beyond.

There will be other people taking pictures of the changes to our sky line, but what marks Andy’s work out as different is that he keeps going back to sites at regular intervals.

All of which means we have a growing bank of photographs recording places from abandoned old mills, houses and pubs through to demolition, building sites and completed flats, offices or leisure complex.

Location; Pomona

Pictures; down at Pomona November, 2016, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Celebrating our waterways

It is easy sometimes to forget just how much open water there is close to the centres of the twin cities.

We may not be Venice and while there are those who make claims about the water ways of Birmingham I remain impressed by what we have.

And something of all that was caught in 2014 by Andy Robertson who was down by Pomona Docks.

I like the way he matched all that open water with scenes of our industrial past and the fast growing new sky line.

And in almost all the pictures he shot there is the Betham Tower which is both hated and loved in equal measure.

But there also is the clock tower of the Town Hall, jumbled up with the railway viaducts and the new build on the Salford Manchester boundary.

Now I am not alone in rediscovering the docks and there have been, and are plans for the redevelopment of the area, all of which I suspect means that Andy’s pictures will soon be as much a  record of a vanished scene as those made almost a century ago.



Pictures; Pomona Docks, November 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

“A few more in near perfect light” .............. out by Pomona with Andy Robertson

Earlier in the year Andy was back out on Pomona land and took these which are two in a series that will feature over the next few days.

They were taken in "near perfect light" on a May day in 2015.

Pictures; Pomona land, May 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Out on Pomona land

Now strictly speaking there are no buildings to tell a story but I suppose that in a sense is the point.

There was once and there will be again.  Andy Robertson’s caption for his pictures reads, “two more views across Pomona land, this time from Ordsall Lane from near the hall.” 

The evidence for what had once been a little bit of Salford’s industrial history is there to see along with that creeping bit of nature which can never be eliminated.

And in time the developers and the Corporation will bring these spaces back into some sort of community use.

All of which makes Andy’s pictures a valuable record of a moment in time.

The digital archives of Manchester, Tameside and Trafford are full of images of our industrial past but the collections are in need of constantly being added to if only to make the transition from what was to what is now.

And pictures like these are an important contribution to our history.

Pictures; Salford 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

Back at Pomona Docks, look carefully they may not be with us for much longer

Now I am back at Pomona Docks with more pictures by Andy Robertson.

I never knew the docks when they were busy workaday places but something of the size can still be got from these photographs.

I thought about researching their past and looking for more modern stories about them but in the end decided I would leave that to others and instead just post these.

Like so many of the pictures Andy takes of places around the city I doubt that this place will long still look like this.

After all here is a vast area that is empty, close to the city centre and beside a big stretch of water which in the summer is a pretty attractive spot.

So like so much of our industrial heritage, here you saw it first and maybe not for much longer.

Pictures; Pomona Docks, from the collection of Andy Robertson, August 2014

At Pomona Docks one wet August day

Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer size of Pomoma Docks.

It is a place I haven’t explored and so I am grateful that Andy Robertson went off with his camera and wandered across the derelict place a few days ago.

And so I think I shall post a number of his pictures over the next few weeks recording what is still there and a little that has already been lost.

As for the history of the area along with the docks I will leave that till later and include a map of the area in 1894 and one from 1845.

But all that in good time.

Pictures; Pomona Docks, August 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson