Higginbotham's farm and the parish church from the air

This is one of those pictures taken by Tony Walker from one of his own model planes sometime in the 1980s. 

To the right at the bottom are the farm buildings and house of the Higginbotham family who lived here on the green from the 1840s and farmed land across the meadows and what is now the Rec.

By the time the picture was taken the working part of the old farm was used as a building yard by the Walker family.

But it is still possible to get a clear idea of the lay out and the of the farm yard.  It was here in one of the barns that the Methodists held services before the first chapel on the Row was built.

In the same way it is possible to make sense of both the geography of the old parish church and the its graveyard.  The original chapel was built in 1512 and its replacement at the beginning of the 19th century.

There is evidence that the graveyard was extended and the shape of the plot may be the clue to this.

Picture; Higginbotham's farm house and the parish church from the air circa 1982, from the collection of Tony Walker

Tony Walker

This week I was thinking of my old friend Tony Walker.

He had long been recording the history of Chorlton and had a wonderful collection of photographs books and vivid memories of the place he had grown up in.

Tony could turn his hand to almost anything. A keen photographer, and model aeroplane maker, he had taken to computers and merged his love of Chorlton’s history and photography creating a wonderful web site containing a fine collection of stories and information about the area. I still return to his collection of photographs, including a series of aerial pictures which combined his love of model making, photography and history.

What I like about this picture is the way it shows Higginbotham's farm house and what would have been the barn and farm yard, and parish church yard in the process of being landscaped.

To which Paul Maylor has added, "The photo shows an aerial view which also includes the buildings of Chorlton Evangelical Church, including the church lounge, which was built around 1982, so I would put the date as no earlier than 1982".

Picture; looking down on the parish church yard, circa 1980, from the collection of Tony Walker, circa 1980s

A little bit of the old Assize Courts in a farm house garden in Chorlton

Now I have to confess that this picture of Manchester Assize Courts interests me more for the story behind one of the figures that adorned the roof.

And this is the stone figure which sat in the garden of Park Brow Farm at the bottom of Sandy Lane where it joins St Werburghs Road.

My friend Tony Walker maintained that it came from the old Manchester Assize Courts on Great Ducie Street in Strangeways and looking at pictures of the building the figures do look the same.

It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and finished in 1864.

Sadly this magnificent building did not last a century and after being hit during the blitz of December 1940 and again in ’41 it was demolished in 1957.

Some of the exterior sculptures were designed by Thomas Woolner who was one of the founding members of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, but I rather think our figure was the work of the Irish stonemason firm of O’Shea and Whelan.

Picture; The Assize Courts,   from the series Manchester United Kingdom, marketed by Tuck & Sons, 1903, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/ and stone figure from the collection of Tony Walker

Remembering Sparks the garage on Chorlton Green

Now here is one of those lessons in how history can pretty much fall off the edge of the counter without any one much noticing.

We are on Chorlton green sometime in the 1970s looking across at Sparks the garage.  Like most people I just took it for granted and was not even aware that once this had been one of our farm houses.

And somehow despite passing through the green all the time I failed to clock that Sparks had shut up shop, and what had once been the garage offices had been returned to residential use or that where once mechanics had toiled over leaky engines, broken exhausts and crunched side panels there were now flats and houses.

So for anyone who never knew or worse still had forgotten here is a picture of the garage.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester

Picture; Chorlton Green circa 1975 from the collection of Tony Walker

Sunday night in the Lloyds ............ memories of the 1970s

Standing outside the pub in 1979

The first in a short series which looks at what Chorlton was like in the recent past.

Today Lorna remembers the Lloyds Hotel in the 1970s.

Back then the pub still retained its small more intimate set of rooms where if you wanted you could have one of those quiet evenings almost to yourselves with just the regular visit from the waiter who could be summoned from the bar by the push button on the wall.

Those of us who went in there will also remember the staircase which gave access to the upstairs and it was there on Sunday nights that Lorna remembers in this piece she wrote for the blog.

"I remember the Lloyds in the early 1970's when Bill Caroll was the landlord and ruled the pub with a "rod of iron". 

Sunday night upstairs in the top room was very popular and people went in early to make sure they got the best seats in order to listen to the variety of live singers (no karaoke then) who turned up voluntarily each week. 

Highlight of the night was waiting to see who would be 'top of the bill'. 

It was usually Bill, who was an ex policeman, or Jimmy Gale, who were both very good singers. 

Little Jimmy would get everyone in the swing by singing Mardi Gras where all would join in with great gusto. 

Good memories.

I should add that Sunday night always finished with the same two songs where everyone linked arms and sang together. First 'Strolling' followed by 'I'll See You In My Dreams'"

It would be nice to hear other stories about the Lloyds. I am trying to remember the name of the piano player. A Mr Quinn from Keppel Road used to step in now and again, but he was not the regular . Mr Quinn was piano player in the Royal Oak

Lorna has promised to go looking for pictures and they are important because all too often it is photographs of the inside of pubs which seldom survive.

And in the meantime perhaps it will spark off other memories we can share.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Sunday in the Lloyds by Lorna Davies, 2015

Picture; the Lloyds Hotel, 1979, from the collection of Tony Walker

One stone statue ........ late of Park Brow Farm and the Assize Courts ............ looking for a new home

Now I have a soft spot for this chap.

He once resided in the garden of Park Brow Farm down on St Werburgh’s Road but originally had sat high up on the old Assize Courts in Manchester.

How it got from one to the other involved one of Mr Hitler’s bombs which did for the courts and led eventually from  a stone mason’s yard to the farm.

He wasn’t a small thing and I have every bit of respect for the men who got him from the ground up to the top of the courts and equally to Oliver Bailey who along with his dad and brother wrestled with the object in the garden of the farm.

Oliver remembers that “when we off loaded the beastie using the front loader on an old grey Ferguson tractor, despite having a one ton counterweight on the back we had to sit people on it to keep the back wheels on the ground but fortunately it was only a short distance.”

By the time it had arrived in Chorlton it had lost two small horns “where the lighter patches are on its head but they were broken off, possibly during removal so there were two small square plugs to show where they had been.”

And then with the sale of the farm in the 1980s the statue was on off on another adventure.

All of which may seem trivial stuff but I think not.  Its journey from the grand law courts to a garden is fascinating in itself and points to that simple observation that there are stories everywhere and in this case part of the fun has been tracking down the history.

I grant you it doesn’t involve some great event of a deep State secret but it offers up a close up of mid 19th century public sculpture mixed with the dram of the Blitz and that wonderful almost eccentric wish of the part of someone to preserve it.

All of which just leaves me to reveal where it went next.

But like all good detective stories that will have to wait.

Location the Assize Courts, Park Brow Farm and another place

Picture; stone statue, circa 1980s,  from the collection of Tony Walker

A little bit of the old Assize Courts in a farm house garden in Chorlton

Now this story appeared at the beginning of the year but given the interest in Park Brow Farm it just has to come out again.

Now I have to confess that this picture of Manchester Assize Courts interests me because of  the story behind one of the figures that adorned the roof.

And this is the stone figure which sat in the garden of Park Brow Farm at the bottom of Sandy Lane where it joins St Werburghs Road.

My friend Tony Walker maintained that it came from the old Manchester Assize Courts on Great Ducie Street in Strangeways and looking at pictures of the building the figures do look the same.

It was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and finished in 1864.

Sadly this magnificent building did not last a century and after being hit during the blitz of December 1940 and again in ’41 it was demolished in 1957.

Some of the exterior sculptures were designed by Thomas Woolner who was one of the founding members of the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood, but I rather think our figure was the work of the Irish stonemason firm of O’Shea and Whelan.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy



Picture; The Assize Courts,   from the series Manchester United Kingdom, marketed by Tuck & Sons, 1903, courtesy of Tuck DB, http://tuckdb.org/ and stone figure from the collection of Tony Walker

In the summer of 1975, walking around Chorlton .......... number 3

This is an occasional series featuring the photographs of Tony Walker.

I only got to know Tony just a few years before he died but we struck up a friendship based our shared love of history, photography and the odd things of life.

In the summer of 1975 Tony went out with his camera and recorded what he saw.

The old pub sign of the Horse & Jockey

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

Echoes of the past ............ Higginbotham’s farmhouse and yard from the air, in the summer of 1975

Now that I seem to be into  posting pictures of Chorlton from the air I thought I would go back to my old friend Tony Walker’s collection of pictures he took around 1975.*

I featured one of my favourites back in early November which showed the farmhouse of James Higginbotham who farmed on the green in the 1840s, the remains of his barns and part of the parish church.

This one is of the same general area but looking at the old farm complex from the south and what I like about it is both what it tells us about the past and something about what has changed since Tony took it.
Higginbotham’s 18th century farm house stand in its own gardens.

Tony told me that the last Mr Higginbotham who was still living there in the 1960s filled in the well which stood in the smaller back garden. Something of the odd shape of the cottage can be seen from the air and the only obscured building is the diary between the tree and the extension. It faces north which means it is colder than the rest of the house and so perfect for making butter and cheese.

I like also the detail of the farm buildings which at the time were part of Walker Brother’s building and timber yard. The site including the barns, have been converted into dwellings as have the area further north which were once Sparks garages.

It always surprises me how the township has and continues to undergo so much change. Later pictures of the Bowling Green from the air.

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker, circa 1982
* http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/tony-walker.html

In the summer of 1975, walking around Chorlton....nu 1

An occasional series featuring the photographs of Tony Walker.

I only got to know Tony just a few years before he died but we struck up a friendship based on our shared love of history, photography and the odd things of life.

In the summer of 1975 Tony went out with his camera and recorded what he saw.

Today we are on the green with the old Horse & Jockey.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

In the summer of 1975, walking around Chorlton .......... number 4

This is an occasional series featuring the photographs of Tony Walker.

I only got to know Tony just a few years before he died but we struck up a friendship based on our shared love of history, photography and the odd things of life.

In the summer of 1975 Tony went out with his camera and recorded what he saw.

The corner of Beech Road was the home of Whittaker’s for over a century and has in the last decade gone through a number of different uses.

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

In the summer of 1975, walking around Chorlton .......... number 2

Another view of Chorlton Green, in the summer of the mid 1970s.

Back then the old farmhouse and yard were part of Spark’s the Garage.

This is an occasional series featuring the photographs of Tony Walker.

I only got to know Tony just a few years before he died but we struck up a friendship based our shared love of history, photography and the odd things of life.

In the summer of 1975 Tony went out with his camera and recorded what he saw.

Picture; from the collection of Tony Walker

So where is this chap?

Now never one to pass up a detective story here is one for anyone with a magnifying glass, a second hand violin and time on their hands after solving the case of the Red Toad Diamonds.

It is the mystery of what happened to this chap.  I have written about him before and he reappeared in a story yesterday. For nigh on 80 years he adorned the top of the Assize Courts in Manchester and ended up in the garden of Bailey’s farm on the corner of Sandy Lane and St Werburgh's.*

And then he disappeared and that disappearance has set quite a few people off on wanting to know his final resting place.

None more so than my new friend Catherine who even gave him a name.

I would like to think he went to a good home somewhere in Chorlton or perhaps he is looking across to the rose bushes in well healed Bramhall.

Sadly it is more likely that he is hardcore under one of our motorways.

Still we shall see if there are any takers.

But at least today I have found out a bit more of its origins.  Oliver who lived on the farm  remembers, "exactly what happened to it as it was removed before Baileys sold the farm house. 

Its origin is that it once adorned the law courts in Manchester (see Manchester Shield) and after they were demolished, my father purchased it from the demolition company. 

As far as I remember it originally had two small horns where the lighter patches are on its head but they were broken off, possibly during removal so there were two small square plugs to show where they had been. I remember it taxed our ability to off load it from the Land Rover and then put it in position in the back garden.

In any event, it isn't one of the Queen's beasts as at one time we were in touch with the College of Heralds to find out what it might be."

Location; unknown

Picture; stone figure 1980, from the collection of Tony Walker

* A little bit of the old Assize Courts in a farm house garden in Chorlton, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/a-little-bit-of-old-assize-courts-in.html

Goodbye to Daniel Sharpe’s house on Beech Road after a 183 years

Well after 183 years that sad looking house on Beech Road has gone.

Half gone, 2016

It was the home of Mr Daniel Sharpe who lived there from certainly 1841 and maybe earlier and now leaves only one example of the sort of house built for the people of plenty here in Chorlton in the early 19th century.*

We do have a few farmhouses which will be mid to late 18th century but that is it.

The very big houses one of which stood on the corner of Beech Road and the other between Barlow Moor Road and Corkland Road went at the beginning of the 20th century and that other fine middling property by Acres Road went one night a decade or so ago.

Still a home with historic promise, circa 1985-87

Of course Mr Sharpes‘s house had as one commentator put it become an eyesore, having suffered two fires and decades of neglect.

But it was once a fine house and deserved better.

I don’t know when Mr Sharpe moved in but it will have been around the time of his marriage in 1833.

He was a wine merchant and appears in the property on the 1841 census.

Sadly his wife died in 1846 leaving him a widow until his own death in 1861.

Although that is not the full picture because in 1852 he married his servant Ann Bailey who was much younger than him.

Not a lot left, 2016

The marriage seemed not to be successful for nine years later she is no longer with him and in his will made shortly before he died having left her nothing he adds a codicil and awards her a small sum of money.

It is a story I will return to.

The house has had a varied set of occupants since then, gaining the jutty out bit at the end of the 19th century and even featured in a television series.

There was one planning application in to convert it into a mix of residential and retail but nothing seems to have happened to the plan.

And now it has gone.  There will be those who shrug and say with some justification that the community showed no interest in its preservation and given its years of neglect demolition was the kindest solution.

But that ignores the fact that for years it was difficult to ascertain who owned it, and even given what might have been structural issues, some nearby properties have been renovated and so saved.

And that is all I am going to say.  I shall await the verdict of the people of Chorlton and just thank Alexx for being in the right place to record the demise of Mr Sharpe's fine country house on what was Chorlton Row.

Location, Beech Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; a demolition in progress, 2016, courtesy of Alexx O’Shea, and  sometime between 1985-87 from the collection of Tony Walker

*Daniel Sharpe and 131 Beech Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Daniel%20Sharpe%20and%20131%20Beech%20Road

Saving the home of Mr Sharpe on Beech Road

Well it is a place with plenty of history which I have feared would soon be gone.

133 Beech Road survived a serious fire which destroyed half its roof, and while a planning application had been in from 2011 nothing seemed to be happening.

The application was  “for conversion of single dwelling house to five self contained flats and refurbishment of shop unit (A1), involving a two storey rear extension and rear dormer windows.”

And now it appears that some work is being done and the word is that it will indeed become flats. 

Historically it is one of our oldest surviving houses, only beaten by the farm houses and Lime Bank.

It was home of Mr Daniel Sharp who lived there from certainly 1841 and maybe earlier.

He was a wine merchant and may have moved into the property with his new wife after their marriage in 1833.

Sadly she died in 1846 leaving him a widow until his own death in 1861.

Although that is not the full picture because in 1852 he married his servant Ann Bailey who was much younger than him. 

The marriage seemed not to be successful for nine years later she is no longer with him and in his will made shortly before he died having left her nothing he adds a codicil and awards her a small sum of money.  It is a story I will return to. 

The house has had a varied set of occupants since then gaining the jutty out bit at the end of the 19th century 

And even featured in a television series.

Now its conversion may seem an awful fate for the old house but I suspect better than its demolition which was what I feared.

This way we will retain something of what is one of the oldest residential buildings in Chorlton, only beaten by our surviving farmhouses and Lime Bank.

Mr Sharpe's house does appear on the blog** and in the book*** and I regularly correspond with one of his descendants.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson 2013  and Tony Walker 1980

*Manchester City Council Planners, 131 Beech Road, Chorlton Manchester, http://www.publicaccess.manchester.gov.uk/associateddocs/MCCList1.aspx?095811/FU/2011/S1

**Daniel Sharpe and 131 Beech Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Daniel%20Sharpe%20and%20131%20Beech%20Road  

***The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

Pictures of Chorlton and a rant

Now just occasionally I go off on a rant and this is one of them.

Beech Road in the 1980s

It started in a pub which had bought into one of those montage pictures of Manchester and had displayed it on the wall opposite the bar.

It was tastefully done and in its way an interesting picture of how we lived.

That said it included one photograph which was not from the city and set me going.

At which point there will be those muttering “get a life, it’s only a picture” and of course in the great sweep of things getting a tad upset is silly.

But I think it does matter otherwise we might just as well include a picture of the San Francisco Bay Bridge in sepia along with a Pearly King and Queen.

It is about historical accuracy.

And in turn it opens up that other issue of publishing pictures found randomly on the net with no acknowledgement and no attempt to give a context to the picture.

I fully accept that copyright is a minefield and that if you have laboured over something you deserve the credit and possibly some financial recognition.

But it can be baffling to see why an old image can only be used by paying an inflated fee.

Richardson's, the fabric shop and a council office

Of course many organisations and individuals are happy to let an image be used with just a credit and a link back and others operate a sliding scale preferring not to charge non commercial users.

Either way what also matters is that the context is fully explored.

Putting up a photograph of a group of people somewhere in Manchester, sometime in the past does little to advance our knowledge.

Not that I want to stop people sharing the past but just offer up this cautionary tale.

I remember coming across a picture of the old Palais de Luxe cinema on Barlow Moor Road.  It was a small image and much of the detail was lost.

But I tracked it back to a local studies centre in east Scotland and  established that it had been taken by Charles Ireland a local photographer.

Jointly the archivist and I explored how it had come into their possession and the research revealed a fascinating story linking a Scottish iron works with our Chorlton cinema and Mr Ireland with the added bonus that they supplied a very good quality picture which allowed me to read the posters advertising the films and a musical concert thereby providing a possible date for the picture

None of which came to light when some one hovered up the picture from the blog and just reproduced it in a social network site.

So yes getting it right does matter.

Picture; Beech Road circa 1980s from the collection of Tony Walker

A piece of Beech Road which will soon be gone

The Home of Daniel Sharpe in 2013

It is a place with plenty of history but I fear won’t be with us for much longer.

It is 131 Beech Road and I have written about it in the past.

Once it was home to Daniel Sharp who lived here from certainly 1841 and maybe earlier.

He was a wine merchant and may have moved into the property with his new wife after their marriage in 1833.

Sadly she died in 1846 leaving him a widow until his own death in 1861.

Although that is not the full picture because in 1852 he married his servant Ann Bailey who was much younger than him.

The house circa 1985-87

The marriage seemed not to be successful for nine years later she is no longer with him and in his will made shortly before he died having left her nothing he adds a codicil and awards her a small sum of money.  It is a story I will return to.

The house has had a varied set of occupants since then gaining the jutty out bit at the end of the 19th century, and now after a second fire which destroyed part of the roof it sits neglected.

A planning application last year has come to nothing and I suspect this fine example of what may be only one of two remaining town houses built in the 1830s will soon disappear.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2013 and Tony Walker, 1985-87

Faded glory

131 Beech Road is today a boarded up ruin. Half its roof was lost to a fire and despite stories that it will be restored and converted into apartments it stands neglected and for the most part forgotten.

But it was not always so. Once it was a grand enough house commanding fine views across Chorlton Row to High Lane and beyond. It was during the 1840s through to the ‘60s the home of Daniel Sharp. There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Daniel Sharp described himself as a man of independent wealth and a long with a handful of other people was at the top of the social pile here in Chorlton.

There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Just a little of its faded elegance can be made out from Tony Walker’s picture from the 1980s.In it’s time it must have been a pleasant place to live, surrounded by its own gardens and cut off from Chorlton Row* by a high wall.

But time has not been kind to the place and by the end of the 19th century it served as a home and trading place, and a little later gained the ugly brick extension. Later still it was divided into bed sits before being abandoned, taken over by squatters and finally vandalised and set on fire.
Tony’s picture does however open one last episode in its history, which dates back to the time of the photograph. One night sometime in the mid 1980s we were walking past the place and noticed signs that advertised the grounds as a car park which according to my friend was all very irregular as there had been no planning permission granted for such use.

It was perhaps fortunate that before any of us could raise the issue with the Corporation we noticed that the firm was based in London and the vehicles parked up consisted of a London black cab and a London Transport bus. Had we looked a little closer at the signboard above the entrance to the brick extension we might have recognised the name Bulman and made the link with a television drama. And had we then turned up in the morning we would have seen the TV crew and actors.

Such today is Beech Road that it regularly features in television dramas and was the backdrop for the film, Looking for Eric, which provided gainful employment for some of our residents.

It would be nice to think that a restored 113 Beech Road could become a backdrop for a period drama, as well as a comfortable home. We shall have to see.

Picture; 131 Beech Road from the collection of Tony Walker

*Chorlton Row was the old name for Beech Road