Looking inside a grand Victorian house ….the view from the servant's bedroom …… part 2

Now, it is always fascinating to glimpse into the lives of how we used to live, and today it is the view from the servant’s bedroom.

Rye Bank in the distance, 1914

The room was in the grand house which fronted Edge Lane, and was the family home of the Smith family from 1871.

Mr. Bryce Smith was a wealthy calico printer with an office, and show warehouse in the city and a factory in Whalley near Blackburn.*

In the April of 1891 Mr. and Mrs. Smith employed seven servants to run the house and administer to the family’s every needs.

Which seems a lot, but there were eight members of the Smith family, including six children ranging from 26 years of age down to 4.

And there were twelve rooms to maintain, including a day and night nursery, a library, umpteen bedrooms, and the usual dinning room, drawing room and breakfast room.

The servants bedroom, 1892

In time I think I will explore the lives of the seven servants, but for now I shall just record that they were, Ellen Owen, 30, from Wales, Mary Davies, 28, from Buckley in Cheshire, Maria Holmes, 30, from Staffordshire, Martha Massey, 36, from Yorkshire, Elizabeth Satter, 17, also from Yorkshire, Annie Haboh 22, from Staffordshire, and the cook, Annie Roberts, aged 31.

Looking at the inventory of the house, it would seem that they all slept in the one room, which was sparsely furnished.

So along with some basic furniture, there were "two iron French Bedsteads each with straw paillasse, feather beds, bolster and pillows”.

All of which offers up a mystery, because even given the possibility that the seven shared beds, there does not seem enough to go around.

There is no record of a second “servants bedroom room” nor of any other alternative accommodation above the stables.

Moreover in previous decades the number of servants had been much lower.  In 1871 the Smith’s employed three, and a decade later four, so the jump to seven does seem excessive.

At which point it would be easy to fall into unhistorical speculation, which might focus on the size of the family, and in particular the fact that the youngest children were just six and 4.

Rye Bank, 1893

Alternatively there might be a connection between the number, and the death of Mr. Smith who died in the July of 1892, leading me to ponder on the possibility of a long illness.

The key might be his death certificate, but I rather think that may seem very intrusive and may still not offer up a clue to whether he was suffering from a long illness and required staff to nurse him.

The mystery of how the seven squeezed into one room will also remain in the shadows, along with where in the house their bedroom  was located, and just what it looked out on to.

If it was the garden, then there would have been much to see.

Rye Bank had a large garden with a wide range of plants, five garden seats and assorted large flower vases.

But here again there is a small mystery, because there does not appear to be a gardener on the staff, or for that matter a groom, which is odd given the extent of materials listed in the stables.  These included a phaeton, which was a sporty open carriage, two sets of silver plated single harnesses, a riding saddle, various other “riding bits” and a “oak grained corn bin with three divisions”.

The more modest property on the site of Rye Bank, 1958

Nor for that matter was there a horse.

Despite the death of Mr. Smith the family were still there in 1911, although sometime after that, possibly in the 1930s, the house was demolished.

There is one reference to the small modern properties that front Edge Lane, which gives a date of 1935, and according to the 1939 Register these were occupied.**

But we do have maps from the late 19th and early 20 centuries which show the footprint of Rye Bank standing in its grounds, and one picture from 1914 of the house.

And if I had to bet on which of the windows we can see belonged to the servants, I think it might well have been one of those high up on the Edge Lane side of the property.  For I doubt the Smith’s would want their servants staring down into the garden observing the family at play, which of course would never do.

But then that supposes they had plenty of time to just “stand and stare”, which is unlikely.

Mr. Bryce Smith, date unknown

All of which just leaves me to finish with Bryce Smith, and the discovery of his photograph which was kindly passed over by a relative.  I don’t have a date, but in the absence of anything more about the servants, it will do.


Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; page from the Inventory Rye Bank Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1892, courtesy of Chris Griffiths, Rye Bank in 1893, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1893, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/, Rye Bank, 1914, m17758, the two houses occupying part of the Rye Bank grounds, 1958, A.E. Landers, m17768, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Bryce Smith, date unknown from the collection of Jeffrey Swann                               

* Looking inside a grand Victorian house …. Rye Bank and the story of Mr. Bryce Smith ... part 1, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Rye%20Bank

** Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Edge Lane, North east side: 4, junction with Ryebank Road showing houses built c1935, A. E. Landers, 1958, m17758, Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

A wall and a sign …..

Sometimes that intriguing picture fails to deliver.

The wall, 2023

Now in the case of this wall there will be a story. 

It fronts a house which dates from sometime between 1934 and 1955 and occupies the garden of what was Rye Bank House, which may date back to the early 1860s and is one of those old Chorlton properties which pops up regularly on the blog.

The inn fill brick looks older and more weathered than the rest and it stretches down the side of the house acting as a boundary wall.

It may be all that now exists of Rye Bank House and I wonder if the builder decided to incorporate it when the new house was built.

The sign, 2023

I could of course knock on and ask the present resident, which I think I will do.

Leaving me with just the big road sign almost beside the bus stop on Edge Lane.

It is big and clearly is designed to make sure you know what is ahead.

Location; Edge Lane

Pictures; A wall and a sign, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

 *Rye Bank House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Rye%20Bank

The origins of Ryebank Road ………. by Richard Bond

In Old Stretford, Bosdin Leech recalls that on Edge Lane, there were very few houses east of Stretford railway station around 1860. 

Advert, 1864

However, this soon began to change and two early examples were the large houses known as Rye Bank and Meadow Bank, which at a later date came to be separated by Rye Bank Road.

The rate books suggest they were built around 1862, being owned by John Wright and Samuel McCoy respectively.

Both houses were substantial – full details of Rye Bank, including a fernery, are given in an advert of 1864, while by 1867, the rate book recorded Meadow Bank as being ‘house, garden and billiard room’.

Plan of Longford Estate

Between 1877 and 1882, John Rylands sought to consolidate the eastern boundary of his estate in a series of transactions with the Lloyd family.

In 1876, he bought the area marked green on the plan, and covenanted to make a road (marked green and blue). In 1881, he bought the area in yellow and paid a fee to build a house.

His aim was to create a new eastern drive to Longford Hall and Rylands lost no time. Within two months, his 1881 estate map showed both the new drive to the hall and the new house, and his estate steward moved in to the house the following month.

The house still stands at the Ryebank Road entrance to the Park, on the right, though it has a modern extension. Incidentally, the steward was Michael Lofthouse and it was his architect son William Albert Lofthouse who designed Stretford Town Hall, or Public Hall as we know it now.

Two additional houses were built just inside the Ryebank entrance – which again still stand – around 1886. The house at the entrance must have been both a lodge as well as an estate office, with several stewards recorded in residence.

Plan of Longford Park Estate, 1881

Up to about 1901, the only houses on (or off) Ryebank Road were on the Longford estate. The 1901 census however records that ten houses were being built by the Chorlton Land & Building Co. These semi-detached houses, just north of the lodge, were advertised for sale or rent later that year, with the description ‘backs overlook Longford Hall’.

The 1905 OS map shows 14 houses north of the lodge, and that Ryebank Road had become a through road, with Nicolas Road and Longford Road both shown.

There was an important change in 1912, when Stretford Council opened Longford Park, with one access point being Ryebank Road.

Not long after, the Council was complaining that people were taking a shortcut from the Ryebank Road lodge to the Cromwell Road lodge, and damaging the grass.

A number of warnings were given, and in 1914 it was resolved to place a shrubbery near the Ryebank entrance, with barbed wire across the middle.

Richard Bond © 2020

Location; Longford Park

Pictures; advert, Rye Bank Edge Lane, Manchester Guardian, March 12th, 1964, plan of Ryebank Road and and Longford Park Estate, 1881, , https://luna.manchester.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/Manchester~91~1~112908~197978:Plan-of-Longford-Park-Estate?qvq=q%3Alongford&mi=1&trs=22, both  © University of Manchester