A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 14 ……. a very special memorial

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

There are a number of war memorials in Didsbury, but the most prominent is the one beside the library.

It was unveiled on July 2nd 1921, and was dedicated to “The memory of the sacred dead of this village who, having left all that was dear to them endured hardships, faced dangers, and finally paid the supreme sacrifice in defence of our King and Country”.

The fourteen men responsible its erection were listed in the order of service, and they were, John T Seale, Rupert C Samuels, James Clayton Chorlton, James Frederick Motorhead, Thomas William Evans, Frank Taylor, G. Biddle, F. Merrill, C. B. Owen, J Davenport, Councilor E. D. Simon, George Edward Crowe, T Malloy and R Bramwell

Of the fourteen, eight have come out of the shadows, and their backgrounds throw an interesting light on how such committees were constituted.

One was a doctor, one a surveyor, one was employed by Manchester Corporation and the remaining five were manufacturers, and all by 1921 were in their late 50s and into their sixties.
George Biddle and Frank Taylor both had sons who died in the war and were commemorated on the memorial, and interestingly of the eight, these were the two men who were not professionals or manufacturers.

The order of service consisted of 10 pages, detailing the address, the hymns and men commemorated, and begins with a dedication that “The memory of the sacred dead of this village who, having left all that was dear to them endured hardships, faced dangers, and finally paid the supreme sacrifice in defence of our King and Country”.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Order of Service, 1921, courtesy of David Harrop

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 20 ……. go east

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

I began the series with a bus garage and the demise of the old Corporation trams, and we have come full circle.

Today, you can head east from the city centre and be in the heart of Didsbury in next to no time.

And that journey will take you along the old railway track constructed in 1880, which at the time was a major new contribution to how we travelled into the city and travelled home.

So, it is fitting that 143 years after the railway came to Didsbury, we can once again take the trip “that takes the strain”. 

Location Didsbury

Picture; travelling home, 2016, Market Place, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 19 ……. the tourist’s tale ….

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

I doubt that Alexander Somerville was the first tourist to fall in love with Didsbury.

He was a journalist and in the June of 1847 had come over to Chorlton looking for potato blight, moved across the Mersey by the Greyhound pub at Jackson’s Boat and ended up in Didsbury.

A place he wrote “of great beauty- not surpassed even by the beautiful fields, meadows, gardens, and the public pathways through them, lying around London.” *

And went on to revel in the place, stating boldly, “Let the traveller, passing out of Cheshire into Lancashire by the Northern Ferry, who loves to loiter on the road, and see sights, come at the hour of summer sunset.  

Let him approach Didsbury, and look back suddenly through the trees, the traveller will see the houses standing on the brow of eminence, and the gardens with them, and the people looking out of opened windows, the very houses gazing, as it were, with wonder; and the old church, with its graveyard, and the dead of a thousand years around it, standing in the very brink of the eminence.”*

And yes I know Ford Lane, 1933, is not Alexander Somerville in 1847, but try finding an appropriate image.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Ford Lane, from the collection of A.H. Clarke, 1933

*Somerville, Alexander, A Pilgrimage in search of the Potato Blight, The Manchester Examiner, June 19th, 1847

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 18 ……. the charity shop

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

Now it is stating the obvious to say that the charity shop has come to be one of the main players on most of our high streets.

The demise of the traditional shops like hardware stores, grocers, and haberdasheries, has been filled by a range of charities which vie with estate agents and bars as the dominant business most of us will visit.

And there is nothing wrong in that.

Of course, the continued presence of that virus, and restrictions on how we shop, may prove fatal for some.

But I suspect they are here to stay.

Location Didsbury

Picture; Barnardo's on Wilmslow Road, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 17 ……. always beware the Mersey

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

The Mersey has been both a gift to Didsbury and at times a threat.

On the upside it has provided a natural barrier in more unsettled times, driven the mills along its banks, and provided water.

But it remains a powerful and at times a dangerous force, that can breach the defences and flood large parts of the neighbouring land.

Location Didsbury February 1930

Picture; Didsbury February 1930

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 16 ……. plotting the quiet revolution in a pub near you

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

It began when a group of revolutionaries, harmoniously "took tea together” at the Church Inn on November 12th, 1853, after which they set about challenging the social order.

Now I said they were revolutionaries set on challenging the social order, but that may have been a wee bit of an exaggeration.

They were in fact members of the British Freehold Land Society and amongst their members were the radical Abel Heywood, and the equally radical Richard Cobden and John Bright who were MPs.

The aim of the society was the simple one of acquiring estates which could then be divided up into smaller plots to be bought by people of modest means, enabling them to own sufficient property to qualify for a Parliamentary vote at a time when ownership of property secured you a vote.

And that brings us back to the harmonious tea meeting in the Church Inn which is now the Didsbury Hotel, because having taken “tea together” they apportioned the newly bought Kingston estate amongst “the various members who had accepted the 133 allotments” and discussed the “recently purchased second estate consisting of 27 acres situated at Crumpsall Green, within five minutes’ walk of Cheetham Hill omnibus office”.*

The Kingston Estate was situated on what is now either side of Kingston Road, and each plot amounted to one share, which cost £40, and these could be purchased by subscriptions of 4/- per month.

At the meeting those present expressed “the greatest satisfaction at the appearance of new street, extending through the whole estate.”

The Rate Books for the year, record that the rateable value of the estate was £45 and the estate had belonged to our old friend John Arnold, who ran the Prince Albert beer shop and worked the iron in his smithy.

This may not seem in the same league as storming the Bastille, or participating in the attack on the Winter Palace, but it was a serious attempt to address the failure of Parliament to pass a second Reform Bill which would widen the electorate and offer some working-class men the vote.

Of course, it was not about giving the vote to women, or to those with no means even to purchase an allotment, but it was nevertheless a challenge to the existing order.

All of which just leaves me to reflect, that as you sit in the Didsbury Hotel, or look out of that small window across to the parish church, this was where a little bit of our history was made.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Kingston Road, date unknown

*British Freehold Land Society, Manchester Guardian, November 12th, 1853

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 15 ……. Parrs Wood Environmental Centre

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

The Parrs Wood Environmental Centre, which once went under the grand name of the Parrs Wood Rural Studies Centre has been delivering ‘countryside’ to the children of our inner city from the late 1940s.

It occupies land which was previously the kitchen garden and orchard of the small 18th century country estate centred on Parrs Wood House.

In 1922 Manchester Corporation bought the estate and following the outbreak of the Second World War, the gardens were cultivated as part of the Dig For Victory campaign.  Then in 1947, the Council opened the Rural Studies Centre with a remit to provide classes in gardening and natural history.

What followed was an exciting project funded by the City Council, which involved schoolchildren from all parts of the City, who were bused out to Parrs Wood for either weekly or fortnightly half-day sessions, during which the children cultivated their school's own plot.

There were 3 or 4 teachers dealing with 64 schools, which visited every fortnight, with an extra teacher dealing with other aspects of environmental work for single school visits. The grounds were tended by a team of four fulltime gardeners and three administrative staff.

In 1990 the Centre underwent a series of challenges with the threat of closure, but these were successfully seen off, and despite another period when it looked like the project would come to an end, in April of 2003 the first gardening groups were reestablished.

Location; Parrs Wood

Picture; School Children’s Produce, Anthony L Jones, pre 1990, courtesy of The Parrs Wood Environmental Centre

The full story can be read in Manchester Pubs-The Stories Behind the Doors,-Didsbury, Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping, 2018

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 13 ……. messing about on the water ….

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

I shouldn’t really be surprised that there was a time when the Mersey was a huge attraction for anyone wanting to mess about on the water.

The Didsbury Rowing Club was formed in 1850, and its most successful period was from 1866 to
1878 when it took part in many principal regattas.

However, after 1878, interest waned and the club was wound up in January 1885 with the sale of all its boats.

But in 1903, the club was revived and was so successful that by 1909, a new clubhouse had to be built to accommodate a membership
of over 100.

The new boathouse opened on 28 August 1909, which attracted a large number of
spectators who watched the thirty-four races that ran over six hours.

And in recognition of that I have broken the rule and featured two pictures
Location; The River Mersey

Pictures; The River Mersey, dates unknown

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects ... number 12 …….Didsbury gets a big new road ….

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

The Manchester and Wilmslow Turnpike Road opened to much celebrations on December 26th 1862, and thereafter became Palatine Road.

That said some in Didsbury may question its appearance here in the story of our township, given that it ran from Withington to Northenden, and “upwards of twenty of the road trustees, with several friends living in the neighbourhood, met at the Red Lion Inn, Withington and went thence in a procession of carriages along the road, [with] a merry peal from the village bells ringing on the occasion, and many of the inhabitants of Withington turned out to watch the proceedings”.

But Didsbury did alright by this new road.  Back in the 1850s apart from Lumn Farm and a few cottages there would have been little to see save fields.

Soon after the new highway had been cut the value of land began to climb and the area to the east of Barlow Moor Road was developed as Albert Park.

To the west hidden by high walls and set back in their own grounds were a selection of grand houses with names like Woodstock, Oakdene and the Headlands.

“The road which is about two miles long, leaves Withington near the White Lion Inn, and, crossing the Mersey on an elegant girder bridge – the only bridge between Cheadle and Stretford, reaches Northern at appoint near the parish church.  It is from ten to fourteen yards wide, is provided with a footpath and will prove of considerable advantage to the traffic between Manchester and Northern, and the places in the neighbourhood”.*

Location; Didsbury

Picture; finger post, minus its fingers, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Manchester and Wilmslow Turnpike Road, The Manchester Guardian, December 27th, 1862

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 11 … .the plan of a pub

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

I am looking at the plan of the lost Ring o’Bells, which stood the site of the Church Inn which in turn became the Didsbury Hotel.*

The plan is dated 1821 and formed part of the sales transaction by which Mr. Bethell bought the Ring o’Bell,s which he later demolished for his new pub which he called the Church Inn.

The name, the Ring o’ Bells goes back a long time and was a venue for the annual election of the township’s constable, was used by various Friendly Societies and once for a short while was used to hold a suspected criminal.

Added to which like many public houses it was occasionally used for the public sale of local properties.  In 1822 “at the house of Mr. Bethell, the Ring o’Bells in Didsbury the valuable estate of Mr. Lawrence Walker of Heaton Norris”, was for sale, along with several parcels of land, and “an excellent DOUBLE and SINGLE PEW, in Didsbury Chapel.  The large pew is subject to an annual payment of £1.1s and the other of 10s”. **

The same adverts provide a clue to as when the Ring o’Bells became the Church Inn, because in 1830 the sale of the home of Mr. Leech was offered up as “a Desirable Country Retreat” to be sold “at the house of Samuel Bethell, the sign of the Church Inn, Didsbury”.***

Location; Didsbury

Picture; map of the Ring o’Bells and surrounding area

* Plan of the Ring o’Bells, 1821, DCB 1595/36/8, Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, http://www.cheshirearchives.org.uk/home.aspx 

*Valuable Estate in Didsbury To Be Sold by Auction, Manchester Guardian, September 14th, 1822

***Desirable Country Retreat Manchester Guardian, May 1, 1830

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 10 …….don’t grow old, fall sick, or lose your job

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

Today’s offering  is a round metal disk, measuring just over 2 cm, which bears the name Chorlton Union Workhouse on one side and has a small ring fastener on the back.

And it is a button from the uniform of an inmate of the workhouse.

It was found by Frances Farrow on her allotment just off Nell Lane and was about 80 centimetres below the surface.*

There is no date on the disc, but it will date from between 1837, when the Chorlton Union was established, and 1930, when the workhouses were abolished.

And I think we can narrow that timeline, because from 1837 the Union’s workhouse was situated in Hulme, until it was replaced by the new one on Nell Lane in 1855.

It is easy to forget that for most of the 19th century and into the 20th, many who became old, sick or unemployed had no alternative but to seek help by entering the workhouse.  These were grim institutions nicknamed Poor Law Bastilles and were predicated on the idea of less eligibility which maintained that the conditions inside the workhouse had to be so austere that only the very desperate would apply.

Despite this, many saw the workhouse as just one of the alternatives which they might be forced to consider.  In the industrial north this might be because of trade fluctuations which closed factories, while in the countryside it might be during the quiet times between sowing and harvesting crops.

I have no idea who the button belonged to or where they came from, but Didsbury was one of the townships within the Chorlton Union.  As such those seeking relief might have to apply to the Stretford Road Workhouse, or after 1855 the one in Withington.

Location; south Manchester

Pictures; the Workhouse disc, 2020, found by Frances  Farrow

*Plot  40A, Southern Allotments, Nell Lane, Frances Farrow and Akram Dadafarid

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 9 ........... Goodbye teachers

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

It was billed as “The People’s Farewell to Didsbury” and marked the end of over 200 years of teaching on the site that looked out on the village green.

Sometime around 1812, the fine house known as the Pump House, became a boarding school.

Later it was turned into a theological college and later still into teacher training college.

And before that was a private residence dating back to about 1744.

The stone cladding to what was originally a brick building was added by the Wesleyans when they took it over in 1841.They also added the wings at either side and that is what generations of people from Didsbury have seen as they pass by.

 And in 1965 Manchester Corporation added a set of teaching buildings and a gym to mark the expansion of the site into a teacher training college.  My brief contribution to its history was as a postgrad student between 1972 to 73.

All of which meant I was not going to miss the farewell Didsbury Picnic in the June of 2014, to mark the closure of the site and its move to Hulme.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; The People's Farewell to Didsbury, June 25th, 2014

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 8 ........... catching the tram*

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph or more.

Now the caption gives a date of 1937, but the flats in the distance are Parrs Wood Court, which were built in 1939 and opened for sale in the following year.

That said it perfectly records a Parrs Wood in a more gentle and less busy time.

Location East Didsbury

Picture; Parrs Wood Terminus, circa 1939, from the collection of Allan Brown


*The history of Didsbury in 20 objects, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-history-of-didsbury-in-just-20_18.html

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 7 ........... a country lane

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph.

Lapwing Lane, circa 1914

I could have chosen any of Didsbury's country lanes, but this one I like, because the house on the right featured in an earlier story*, and it hints at the transformation of Didsbury from small rural community to a suburb of Manchester.  We are on the corner of Wilmslow Road, looking west along Lapwing Lane.  The house dates from 1896, and to the south there are still just fields, but this small spot of the township would soon be built over.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; Lapwing Lane circa 1914

*The house, a field and the stories of Mr. Nathan Slater and Henry Hawkins ……… 174 years of Didsbury’s past, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-house-field-and-stories-of-mr.html

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 6 ........... a Victorian postbox and the story behind the wall

It began with the Victorian postbox set in the wall on Wilmlsow Road, and a vague feeling that here was a bit of research that might uncover some of Didsbury’s history.

The Post Box, 2019

I had no expectation that I would be able to date precisely the installation of the box but reasoned that as I dug deep into the archives something would popup, and of course it did.

As ever the starting point was the big house which stood behind the brick wall.

This was Fairfax House, which dates to 1872, when it was owned by William Jabez Muckley.

The property sat in its own grounds, a little away back from both Wilmslow Road and Fog Lane, and consisted of eleven rooms with views south across the road towards Didsbury Priory.

I say it dates to 1872, and on that I am fairly confident, because it doesn’t appear listed in the rate books any earlier.

That said the post box could have been inserted at any time between 1872 and 1901, but I suspect we can narrow that a little, as ours matches a design which was in use from 1881 to the death of the old Queen.**

But I am prepared to be corrected by an expert in all things posty.

Fairfax House, 1894

So, for now I shall climb the wall and deal with Mr. Muckley, who was still in residence at Fairfax House, until sometime just before 1891.  After that, we can track him to Essex where he had retired and would live out his remaining four years.

He turns out to have been an interesting chap, having been Principle/Headmaster of the Manchester School of Design which also went under the name of the Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Art

It was located on Bond Street which is now part of Princess Street and he was there by 1879 if not earlier.

The school has gone along with Fairfax House, but the romantic in me likes the idea that he might just have popped out and used the post box.

But I suspect it is more likely he asked one of his eight children or better still the servants of which there were two.

Either way that tpost box and the brick wall is all there is left of Fairfax House.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; the post box, 2019 and Fairfax House, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects no. 5...... the tithe map

Today I went walking the lanes of East Didsbury in the summer of 1845.

Now as daft as that might sound it is possible to recreate such a walk using the census returns, the OS map for the period and the tithe documents.

And it is the tithe document and more especially the tithe map which has helped me with this imaginary stroll along the Wilmslow Road, past Parrs Wood House and on to the parish church, the village green and the two pubs.

It was based on a survey undertaken by Mr. J Tinker of Hyde in the February of 1845, and details the ownership of the land, the tenants who worked it, and the use the land was put to, as well as the size of each field and its rateable value, along with who owned or rented the properties spread out across the township.

So armed with the map I know that as I made my way along Wilmslow Road I would have passed a mix of meadow and arable land, with the odd little orchard before reaching the village green which had yet to be enclosed by Mr. Bethell as his own personal garden in front of his pub.



 And then if I so chose, I could have wandered off west across the township, all the way to the border with Chorlton.

Later I may return with stories of some of the people who lived along Wilmslow Road, but that will be for another time.

Leaving me just to explain that the numbers on the map refer to an entry in the  schedule which listed the owners of each parcel of land, and properties, the names of the tenants, and the values of the land as well as the use it was put to.

Location; Didsbury

Picture; detail of the 1845 tithe map for East Didsbury part of the tithe survey, undertaken,in 1845, by Mr. Tinker, Joseph Townsend, and Charles Robert Brandy and redrawn by Frank and Teretta Mitchell, 1978

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 4 ........... the postcard and the flying machine

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph.

In the June of 1911 young Bertha Geary aged just 13 of School Lane heard history and wrote to her friend “We saw the flying man on Tuesday night fly over head.  Beaumont is his name.  I wish you could have seen him.  It made such a noise.” He was André Beaumont and he was one of 30 competitors in the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Air Race in 1911. Flying in a Blériot XI he was the first to complete the course which was no mean achievement as many of the aircraft either failed to take off or crashed along the way.

Picture; the postcard sent by young Bertha from the collection of Paul O’Sullivan

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 3 ........... the advert ..... 1824

Now, in the November of 1824 Parrs Wood House was not the only fine residence in Didsbury, but it was the only one up for sale, which made it a talking point in the elegant dinning rooms of the township and the less elegant pubs and beer houses.

Parrs Wood House, 1970

Those with a heap of money might well have wondered if the property was for them, while the curious and less well off might just have wanted to know how many rooms there were in the house.

And how “extensive”  were “the offices, and out buildings” how productive, “the hot houses, gardens, orchard, plantations, and rich meadow and pasture land” along with just how pleasant was “the lawn and pleasure ground”.

Parrs Wood House, 1824

Parrs Wood House, 1980

According to the advert of sale, “Tickets maybe had for viewing the premises, on Fridays only, between the hours of ten and three”.

Not that I would have been vouched safe a passport into a viewing.

We come from a long line of agricultural labourers and I have no reason to think that had I lived in Didsbury in 1824, I would have been anything other than a lowly farm worker.

So, I would have had to content myself with reading this advert, providing of course that I could read.

But that is another story for another time.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; the Parrs Wood House notice of sale, Manchester Guardian, November 6th 1824, Parrs Wood House, 1970, m21314, and the interior, 1980, m0604, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 2 ........... the polling book …. 1836

Now most people will know that there was a time when few people could vote in elections, but I am always taken aback by just how few that was.

Didsbury in 1853

Here in Didsbury, the total population who were over the age of 21 in 1841, was 1,789, but those entitled to cast their vote in Parliamentary elections amounted to just 52, and of course all the 52 were men.

Added to which 30% of those electors, didn’t even live in Didsbury.

Now this I know because of the Poll Books, which are a list of voters entitled to vote by virtue of a property qualification.

They are a wonderful resource, providing the name of each elector, where they lived, the nature of their qualification and the location of that property.

And for good measure, the entry also provides the name of who lived in each property, many of whom were tenants, which extends our knowledge of who was resident in Didsbury in the year the register was compiled.

% of electors living in Didsbury in 1836

And that is very important, because apart from the census returns, there are few documents which offer up the names of people who were not either wealthy or in trade.

The first census to record individual names, was the 1841 census and while there are parish records for births deaths and marriages, these can be fragmentary, and early directories, tend only to list the “people of plenty”.

So, with names of even the humblest, it is possible to visit the rate books and search for both owners and tenants, and that will yield how much they paid in rates, as well as the estimated rental value of the property.  These rate books were compiled every year and so it is possible to track the movements of an individual tenant or property owner around Didsbury.

And that is particularly useful given that the time between each census was ten years, and many street and trade directories are not inclusive.

There is of course the tithe record, which lists who owned the land, who rented it, its value and it's use.  It also came with a map, which makes it easy to plot where people lived, but these were one off exercises.

The Didsbury Hotel, once the Church Inn, circa 1860-70

So, our Poll Books are a fascinating insight in to Didsbury, more so because in an election year they also record how people voted.

This was after all, a time before the secret ballot and how you voted was seen by everyone who attended on the day of the election and was recorded for everyone to read..

Alas our Poll Book dates from 1836, a year when there were no Parliamentary elections, so I cannot find the voting preference of Samuel Bethell who interests me because he was for a time the owner of the Church Inn which sometime after 1855 was renamed the Didsbury Hotel.

He also owned the smaller beer shop known as the Prince Albert, which stood roughly on the corner of Millgate and Wilmslow Road.  The Church Inn had a rateable value of £74 which was matched by its near competitor the Old Cock, but was far ahead of the Prince Albert which paid just £14.

That shouldn’t be a surprise given that in the 1850s, the Prince Albert appears to have been run by John Arnold who was also a blacksmith and the beer shop may well have been a secondary venture.  So far, he has proved elusive and is not on either the 1841 or ’51 census, and while there is a John Arnold on the Poll Book for 1836, I do not think this is he.

Detail of the Didsbury Hotel, 1860-1870

But there are 73 names on the Poll Book which pretty much opens 72 more investigations which in turn may tell us a lot more about Didsbury back in 1836.

And along the way I might also uncover more about Mr. Bethell, who according to one Didsbury historian “acquired squatter’s rights over the space [in front of the Church Inn] by enclosing it with boundary stones sometime between 1821 and 1855 and treating it as his own”. **

In so doing he will have deprived the villagers of an open space, leaving me to reflect that such a dastardly act may also have led him to watering down the beer.

But that may just be one scurrilous accusation too far.

We shall see.

Location Didsbury

Pictures; Didsbury showing the Church Inn and Old Cock, 1853, from the OS for Lancashire, 1841-53, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and the Didsbury Hotel, formerly the Church Inn, 1860-70 from the Lloyd Collection

*Poll Book, 1836, Didsbury, Southern Division of the County of Lancaster, page 62-63

** A History of Didsbury, Ivor R. Millon, 1969, page 25

A history of Didsbury in just 20 objects number 1 ........... a bus garage

The story of Didsbury in just twenty objects, chosen at random and delivered in a paragraph.

This is all that remains of our bus garage which was opened in 1926. Since the beginning of the last century Didsbury had been served by trams and in 1928 the Corporation had 953 trams running 46 routes along 292 miles of track but the decision had been taken to replace them with motor buses and trolley buses.  Our garage was designed to take fifty buses and served Didsbury well for 45 years but the amalgamation of the county’s bus services and the inevitable rationalization of depots meant that it was closed in 1971.









Painting; Clock Tower at Tesco’s Didsbury  from the series East Didsbury, © 2014 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures, Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk