Sedge Lynn …….. the missing picture

Now I am looking at a photograph of Sedge Lynn on Manchester Road.

Two Sedge Lynn's .... for the price of one picture, circa 1907-1920

It stood on the site of what was the cinema and later still the Co-op Undertaker’s and its name has now been appropriated by the Wetherspoons pub which in turn was once a temperance snooker hall.

The house dates from 1882 and was the home of the Booth family, who occupied it from when it was built till it was demolished in 1919 or 1920.

It consisted of eleven rooms and the rear offered up views across the fields towards Stretford.

Sedge Lynn, circa 1907-1920

The house and the family have fascinated me for a decade, and I have written about them along with the story of the cinema and the temperance hall. *

Mr. Arron Booth was a successful businessman and a photographer, and we have some fine pictures taken by him of Chorlton in the 1880s, including one looking out on the back garden and across to Longford Hall when the area was still open land and known as the Isles.

One of his daughter’s Ann Shepley Booth owned a private school on High Lane which later transferred to Napier Road, in what appears to be a swap with a Mr. Dadley.

He ran a Grammar school was looking for a larger premises and so transferred his school to 59 High Lane, and later extending into the neighbouring property.

But for those more interested in the Weatherspoons next door, is that irony that it began as a temperance hall, built by the Temperance Billiard Halls company with office in Pendleton.  In 1911 the company had halls across the city and beyond.**

The Temperance Hall, circa 1907-1920

These included Moss Lane East, Stockport Road, Rochdale Road, Ashton Old Road, Bury New Road, Broad Street, Eccles New Road, Liverpool Road, Station Road, Altrincham, Cross Street Sale, Manchester Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Wilmslow Road, Rusholme, Hyde Road in Gorton, Stretford Road, Old Trafford and Cheetham Hill Road. 

All were built to a basic design with those large windows along the roof to admit the maximum amount of daylight.  Some still survive but have morphed into different uses, from a restaurant in Urmston to garages and supermarkets.

Ours in Chorlton long ago lost its temperance connection but remained a place to play snooker until quite recently.

Leaving me just to thank George Cieslik who kindly gave me permission to use the image and point out that the lamp post outside the house was still there in the 1950s.

Location; Manchester Road, Chorlton

Picture; Sedge Lynn circa 1907 -1920, from the collection of George Cieslik

*Sedge Lynn, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Sedge+Lynn

**Temperance, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Temperance

"Away, away with rum by gum,"* signing the pledge to forgo the demon drink

The temperance movement and in particular The Band of Hope haven’t always got good press.  

More often than not the campaign against “demon drink” is the butt of jokes and its adherents seen as dour kill joys.

And yet nothing could be further from the truth.  There was passion, humour and above all a real sense of commitment to addressing a social problem which plunged individuals and families in to distress and poverty.

Many employers still paid out in pubs with all the intend ant dangers of drinking the family money away and pubs were designed to be warm welcoming places which were often more pleasant places than the home.

And it was not till not till 1901 that was it made illegal to sell alcohol to children under the age of 14 and even then it did not apply if the container was in a corked or sealed container.

Earlier in the century according to Annemarie McAllister in “The lives and souls of the children”: The Band of Hope in the North West** “A select committee reported that in public houses in Manchester ‘on a single Sunday in 1854 there were 212,243 visits to drink shops and 22,132 of these were made by children, some of whom went to drink on their own account – some to fetch drink.’”

It is an interesting account of both the temperance movement and the degree to which children were encouraged to become part of that movement and remain lifetime abstainers.

Temperance was an important part of many of those working class organisations which developed in the 19th century to improve working conditions and generally advance the cause of Labour. "Temperance men and women " could be found in the trade unions, and in the co-operative movement, and there was even a temperance wing of the Chartists.

Much was made of the links between the the big brewers and the Conservative Party and abstinence was at the center of some of the religious groups.  All of whom saw alcohol as  dangerous to health, a source of family poverty and  a bar to social advance.  Some like the Cross Cross Mission Emigration Society which sought to assist working class families settle in Canada were totally convinced that a life without "drink" was a powerful weapon in families bettering themselves.

It extended into every community and even here there were those who fought applications for new pubs and supported such temperance halls like our own on Manchester Road.

* Salvation Army Song, it has other titles, the author and composer is unknown, and the  verses grow with time, folksongcollector.com/tetontea.html

** The Band of Hope in the North West, in Growing Up in the North West, 1850s-1950s, Manchester Region History Review Volume 22 2011

*** People’s History Museum Left Bank, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/

Pictures; Band Of Hope, Open air Temperance Meeting in Manchester, 1910, m68996, Temperance Demonstration, m18044, Temperance Billiard Hall, Chorlton, November 1958,  A.H. Downes, m18044, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

When you collect stuff ……….. always go for the big items ..... Temperance Halls

 Now many and varied are the things I collect.

And a long time ago, I put aside cigarette cards, old Eagle comics and period picture postcards for the really big things.

The things you would class as street furniture, ranging from coal hole covers, to roadside gas lamps and  ghost signs.

Even larger are temperance snooker halls of which there are still a fair few in Greater Manchester.

As far as I am aware most are no longer used for their original purpose, but long ago were converted into workshops, restaurants and in the case of the one in Chorlton transformed into a Weatherspoons.

They were built by The Temperance Billiard Hall Co Ltd which had been founded in 1906 and was based at 3 Ford Lane in Pendleton.

In 1911 the temperance empire, included sites on Moss Lane East, Stockport Road, Rochdale Road, Ashton Old Road, Bury New Road, Broad Street, Eccles New Road, Liverpool Road, Station Road, Altrincham, Cross Street Sale, Manchester Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Wilmlsow Road, Rusholme, Hyde Road in Gorton, Stretford Road, Old Trafford and Cheetham Hill Road. 

And into the collectors box today goes this one collected by Alan Jennings.

It is on Bolton Street in Bury, and as yet I am not sure if it was built by The Temperance Billiard Hall Company, but it looks like the others.

So thank you to Alan.

Location; Bolton

Picture; former Temperance snooker hall, Bolton Street in Bury, 2020, from the collection of Alan Jennings

*Temperance, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Temperance

          &

Snooker Halls, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=snooker+halls

Lost in Gorton …………. part 3, the Temperance Billiard Hall on Hyde Lane

Now there would have been a time , when you could have made your way across the twin cities playing in a different Temperance Billiard Hall every night of the week.

Temperance as was Hyde Road, 2020

Although Sundays may have been the exception.

They were built by The Temperance Billiard Hall Co Ltd which had been founded in 1906 and was based at 3 Ford Lane in Pendleton.

In 1911 the temperance empire, included sites on Moss Lane East, Stockport Road, Rochdale Road, Ashton Old Road, Bury New Road, Broad Street, Eccles New Road, Liverpool Road, Station Road, Altrincham, Cross Street Sale, Manchester Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Wilmlsow Road, Rusholme, Hyde Road in Gorton, Stretford Road, Old Trafford and Cheetham Hill Road. and

The Temperance empire, 1911

And with an eye to a good site and perhaps a captive audience some at least of the more enterprising early cinema owners chose to site their picture houses beside temperance halls. The Chorlton hall, n was next to the lavish Picture House built in 1920 while across in Cheetham  the Circuit Cinemas Ltd opened their Premier Picture Hall in 1925 which changed its name to The Greenhill when the company opened a new luxury cinema opposite.*

They can still be found across Greater Manchester and beyond, and while some retained their sporting links until quite recently, others were converted a long time ago into shops, restaurants and industrial units.

This one in Gorton has retained its familiar appearance, but long ago forsook billiards, and today is occupied by a bookies, a charity shop and a Christian mission.  The latter I suppose retains a sort of link with its past, although until recently space now given over to the mission and the charity shop, was a carpet business.

Picture; the old temperance hall, Hyde Road, 2020 from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses, Derek J. Southall, 2012

Chorlton’s own snooker club ………..

This is how I remember the old Temperance Billiard Hall which opened in 1907 and was part of an influential movement.*

1990s

The hall was one of a number opened across Greater Manchester, which pretty much conformed to a uniform design.

Most have gone, with a few being adapted to industrial or retail use.

Ours survived, continuing to offer up billiards and at some point, morphed in to the Chorlton Snooker Club.

I can’t be exactly sure when the picture was taken but it will be in the mid to late 1990s, by which time the exterior had been much mucked about, and part of the hall was rented out to a taxi firm.

1958

All very different from the beginning of the 20th century when the power of the movement was such that plans for the rebuilding of two Chorlton pubs. 

The Bowling Green after initial objections went a head in 1908, but The Royal Oak had to wait till the 1930s.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton Snooker Club, circa 1990s, courtesy of Steve, and the Temperance Billiard Hall, Chorlton, November 1958,  A.H. Downes, m18044, Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*"Away, away with rum by gum," signing the pledge to forgo the demon drink
https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Temperance