Taking a swing ...... to Salford

I was never allowed to take Geography O level which may account for my reluctance to  be precise on the location of the Barton Road Swing Bridge.

But Tony my old Salford chum and fellow dabbler in dusty stuff from the past assures me that the 1974 local government boundary changes left it with Salford.

That said I fear my other trusty pal Bill from Stretford my have something to say about Trafford’s claim to the bridge.

Being from southeast London with a Manchester occupancy permit dating back only to 1969 I shall retire from the debate, and just say that the images come from the 1965 Collection and were originally colour slides

Of course the date may prove a challenge to Tony's claim but happily back in 1965 I was still travelling the Thames by the Woolwich Ferry and those two foot tunnels that ran underneath the river, with an option on the link by Underground between Rotherhithe and Wapping.

But now I am showng off.

So I will leave to allow those who wish to complete "If it ain't got ....." and suggest a location.

And quicker than a gerbil can eat a lettuce Tony responded with "Great photo taken from the Davyhulme side with Barton High Level Motorway Bridge in the distance..in 1965 was under Eccles..the swing bridge is owned and (badly) maintained by Peel Holdings..a great photo none the less".

Location Barton Road, [note my care in not saying which authority]

Pictures; Barton Road Swing Bridge, 1965, from the 1965 Collection

Tram jam, ........ waiting for the shift to end at Trafford Park

The caption is not over helpful.  Just “Car 929, AEI Trafford Park.”  

But I guess we will be sometime in the late 1930s or ‘40s.

The photograph perfectly captures that moment just after the end of the shift at AEI.

The long line of trams waits for the workforce which is just appearing through the factory gates.

This was the period when Trafford Park was still a major industrial centre.  In 1945 75,000 people worked there and produced everything from bricks to electric cables, and food.

All of which is well documented, so instead I shall concentrate on the detail.  The first of the workforce is out of the factory and hurrying to catch the first tram.  It is a scene captured countless times in photographs and news reels from the period.

What is missing are the hundreds of of people who any minute will appear on their bikes, reminding us that this was still the time when the cycle was a cheap alternative to the tram or bus.  And of course what we won't see in any great numbers are workers driving home in cars.

I had hoped that the products in the shop might give a clue to a date.  But Robin cigarettes were being marketed at the beginning of the last century and were still being produced in the 1950s, long after our line of trams had gone to scrap heap.

But the shop front in its way is also a comment on the period.  Look closely and almost all of the products being advertised are cigarettes or tobacco.

A timely reminder that this was still a time when smoking was common place and when the upstairs of the bus or tram would be blue from the tobacco smoke.

Much of which would be from the roll up which like the tram is almost a thing of the past.



Picture; from the collection of Allan Brown

When the mysteries keep coming …… stories from a municipal park

Now I am back in Walkden Gardens which is a place I have never visited and yet has begun to offer up some fascinating stories.*

All of which come courtesy of Andy Robertson who a week ago photographed a group of  stones, some of which were quite clearly taken from a cemetery.

The research took the story to a John Royle Whittick, stone carver, modeller and sculptor, of 8 Railway Street Altrincham and  Peter Spence, sculptor, stone and marble mason of 132 Hyde Road, Ardwick.

Of the two it was Mr. Spence who proved the easier to research.  He ended his days as a “master mason” and was buried in Philips Park Cemetery, which is long way from Walkden Gardens in Sale.  

B

But Barry Botherton from Friends of Walkden Gardens, offered up the explanation that "These stones are edging stones and kerbs that were removed from Brooklands Cemetery in Sale many years ago. 

They had been dumped in the Gardens and the Friends Group later reused them to make walls".**

And yesterday Andy went back and came across another three, all of which look to be promising research projects.  

Alas so far he “couldn't trace HOLDEN but HAMPSON might actually be a part of a gravestone and HILTON could be the ones on Barlow Moor Road opposite Southern Cemetery”.

Most mysteries can be solved.  

In the case of Holden and Hilton these will be the names of the stone mason’s who were commissioned to make the graves and added their names on the edging stones at the foot of the monuments.

But the stone bearing the name of Hampson might well be a gravestone.

I don’t have access to the records of Brooklands Cemetery, and there are 38,586 burials recorded there from September 1862 to November 1999, added to which Trafford’s online search service costs £89.

And while Manchester does also charge it offers a free limited search which is usually sufficient.

So I won’t be going down the route of looking Mr./Ms. Hampson, and there I think the search will stop, leaving me just fall back on a description of Sale and Brooklands cemetery, which according to one source, “is a mid-19th-century cemetery that was later extended twice, although only the original cemetery is registered by English Heritage. 

It has an informal layout of winding intersecting paths and surviving chapels, which are no longer in use. Other features include a Gothic Revival-style lodge and an underpass.

Plans were prepared in 1861 by architect William Wilson of Manchester and the cemetery was opened in 1862. It was extended in 1895 and again in the 20th century.

The cemetery contains a great density of notable 19th century and early 20th century monuments, in a wide variety of sizes, styles, and materials, and the graves of many notable local people”.***

Of course the question that remains is why did some end up in Walkden Gardens?  

I know that some parish graveyards and public cemeteries have in the past "dispensed" with old monuments but it does seem a poor reward for a family who paid for an eternal resting place.

Although it may be that Sale and Brooklands were merely following the practice of offering only a limited resting place, or simply those that ended up in the Gardens were damaged and beyond repair.

We shall see.

In the meantime, I find it interesting that all but one of the named stone masons were based in Manchester, but that is a story for another time.

Location; Walkden Gardens

Pictures, Walkden Gardens, 2020,from the collection of Andy Robertson, and Brooklands Cemetery, Sale, Scanned from a glass plate negative, date unknown, TL7772. courtesy of Trafford Local Studies Centre, https://apps.trafford.gov.uk/TraffordLifetimes/

* Hyde Road, Ardwick, and Railway Street, Altrincham ….. turn up in a small park in Sale … and the mystery is?, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=walkden+gardens

**Friends of Walkden Gardens, http://walkdengardens.co.uk/

***Sale and Brooklands Cemetery, Parks and Gardens, https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/sale-and-brooklands-cemetery

Road signs with a story …………… just waiting to be found

I am intrigued by this stone road sign and its story.

Andy Robertson sent the pictures over, adding 

“I spotted this on the corner of Derbyshire Road and Northenden Road in Sale. 

I don't suppose it is in its exact original location but still interesting. 

Even when It was brand new and glistening I guess the passing motorists of today would have had trouble reading it?”

And I wondered if the local resident was happy to have such a sign above his stone wall.

It is one of those silly historical stories which might just lead somewhere.

After all there will be a few people with detailed local historical knowledge who can answer Andy’s question on the sign’s original location, as well as explaining how common these road inscriptions were and perhaps offering up some more.

And finally, it does allow me to use a delightful image from Trafford Lifetimes, dating from the 1880s.

Sadly my knowledge of Derbyshire Road is scant, so I can do no more than suggest this might be the other side of the road.

But someone will correct me, and that is both the fun and the joy of sharing pictures and stories on the blog.

Location, Sale

Pictures; Derbyshire Road and Northenden Road in Sale, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and Derbyshire Road, 1880, TL3126, courtesy of Trafford Lifetimes, https://apps.trafford.gov.uk/TraffordLifetimes/

*Derbyshire Road, Sale, view from Northenden Road, terrace beyond trees on the right 12-16 cottages. Beyond was the Smithy (see 1876 OS map) and Gough's field, now a pair of semis and town houses. 1880

History laid bare …………….. looking into the end of a building

There is always something fascinating and a bit sad at capturing the end of a building.

Even more so when, as here Andy, was on hand to record what was left in the derelict building.

Visions of the Mari Celeste jump to mind, or the fragment from that Stephen Spender poem,"Pylons, those pillars Bare like nude giant girls that have no secret”.*

But enough of such literary stuff. 

The pictures are of the demolition of the building fronting Skirton Street and were taken by Andy on Saturday.**

He has been regularly going back to the site of what was once the Arkady Soya Mill, and will continue to do.

Recording first the end of the old block and then bit by bit, the work to clear the place, after which it will the story of the builders breaking the ground and the rise of something new.

So, lots to look forward to.


Location; Skirton Road

Pictures; demolition in progress, 2019 from the collection of Andy Robertson












*Pylons, Stephen Spender

**Of tennis courts, a Soya Mill and a new project …….. down by Old Trafford, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/09/of-tennis-courts-soya-mill-and-new.html

The bridges of Salford and Manchester .......... nu 17 ...... the Trafford Road Bridge

 From Ron Stubley











Picture; from the collection of Ron Stubley, 2017

That little bit of history many of us miss........ lemon curd, jelly and fertilizer

Now, I have passed that brick arch countless times and never clocked the inscription which sits a little way off.

Nor am I alone, because Andy who took these pictures also has missed it in the past.

But this week he rectified that with a photograph of the arch, the inscription and an intriguing map of the area from the 1932 OS.

In sending them over he added, “I found this plaque near the arch, not noticed if before”.

And of course many of us will agree.

Leaving me to say I like lemon curd and have done so since I was young.

And I close in anticipation that Bill and some of the others who read the blog will come up with a full story.

Location; Cornbrook

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, 2018

Looking out from Salford nu 1 .................. and an apology

Now there is nothing more embarrassing than discovering you have got a story so wrong. 

But it happens even though on this one I should have known better.  

The story featured the Imperial War Museum North, and carried the caption “In celebration of the new Salford ......... nu1 the Imperial War Museum North.”

And quick as a flash both George and Bill pointed out that actually “the Imperial War Museum is in Stretford, Trafford, on Trafford Wharf, you have to cross the Ship Canal from Salford to get to it. We have little enough in Stretford to boast about as it is and would like our boundaries left as they are. Not in Salford, in Stretford.”

This is not the first time I have muddied the boundaries and for that I fully apologise and in future will look at the map rather than make lazy assumptions.

But underlying the mistake and the corrections is the positive one that people do go to the trouble of pointing out where I went wrong.

So the old story has been pulled which is quite correct and this one has been substituted.............. should really have passed O level Geography.

Location Salford looking out to Trafford Wharf.

Picture; the Imperial War Museum North 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Standing on Talbot Road watching the progress

Now never say that the blog is just about the past.

Here is 39 Talbot Road as it was in September of last year and yesterday as recorded by Andy Robertson who commented that the pictures “shows the area has been cleared, at least of vegetation, presumably for some imminent redevelopment.”

And I can report that according to Trafford Council’s Planning on line site, the cleared land will become "a car park for a temporary period of two years including erection of timber gates as a site entrance.”*

Which followed on from a previous

application for "the  demolition of existing building and erection of part five/part six storey block of offices. 

Provision of 90 parking spaces with access from Talbot Road." Which was approved in 2003.

So as they say watch this space and in the fullness of time I reckon there will a few more pictures from Andy, all of which will add to the growing portfolio of images of how where we live continues to change.

And that is important because we so seldom bother to clock the changes.

Pictures; 39 Talbot Road, 2014-15 courtesy of Andy Robertson

*39 Talbot Road Stretford, Ref. No: 83473/FULL/2014, http://publicaccess.trafford.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage

Lost images of our industrial past ........... no 5 the construction of the Petrograd Boot Company

Now I know there will be a story here and more over someone will come back with a full account of the history of the Petrograd Boot Company.

But for now all I have is this picture collected by my friend Sally from a book including many other pictures of Trafford Park from the first half of the last century.

The only other reference comes from the National Archive which took me to the Greater Manchester County Record Office, now with the Manchester Archives at Central Ref and lists  what I guess will be the same image, “Workers, or builders, or both, at the Petrograd Boot Company warehouse (Russian) in Trafford Park during World War I, reference 580/3, negative sheet number K1/29” with a date of 1914-18.

And I guess this may be the same image but of course this short description does not do justice to what will be a fascinating piece of history.

The starting point will have to be a directory for Trafford Park during the war and a visit to the Trafford Local History Centre.

But in the meantime I am full of questions, ranging from who owned the company, was it originally a Russian business and that obvious one did it survive the Revolution?

All of which will have to wait a tad bit longer.

Picture; the construction of the Petrograd Boot Company Trafford Park, during the Great War from the collection of Sally Dervan

Lost images of our industrial past ........... no 4 munitions workers at Westinghouse Works Trafford Park, during the Great Wa

Now this began as a one off showing pictures from a Derby foundry sometime in the 1930s but given my friend Sally’s wonderful collection of pictures from Trafford Park in the first half of the 20th century it has become a series.

This was featured recently by Sally on that excellent facebook site Greater Manchester History, Architecture, Faces and Place

More to follow.

Picture; munitions workers at Westinghouse Works Trafford Park, during the Great War from the collection of Sally Dervan

*Greater Manchester History, Architecture, Faces and Places, https://www.facebook.com/groups/646597565403712/

Lost images of our industrial past ........... no 3 engineers in Trafford Park in 1925

This is one of those pictures which I guess will never off up its full story.

I know that these were a group of men employed by Redpath and Brown Engineers in Trafford Park and the photograph was taken in 1925.

In time I will find out the exact location in Trafford Park and perhaps something of what the firm made here in Manchester.

But what I have found out so far is interesting enough and by one of those bits of historical coincidences links me to the company.

They started as ironmongers in Edinburgh in 1802, moved into structural ironwork and from 1896 having sold the ironmongery side of the business and later the firm's boiler business they became structural engineers.

A Glasgow office of the firm was opened in 1885 and in 1897 a new factory was built at Albion Road, with new bases established in London and Manchester during the 1900s.*

And that of course brings the link, with me because the London factory was built in East Greenwich not that far from where I grew up and where my father finished his working career.

Nor is that all for in 1911 “the Company had constructed, for a Manchester office building, a framework containing over 7,000 tons of steel, the first 2,000 tons of which was erected in 8 weeks! “**

And in time I think I might even be able to locate that building but for now I shall  just leave you with that photograph.

And one last thought which focuses on that man with the pipe and just what had caught his attention as the picture was snapped?



Picture; men employed by Redpath and Brown Engineers in Trafford Park, 1925, from the collection of Sally Dervan

*Source: Slaven, A and Checkland, S (eds.), Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography 1860-1960, vol 1, (1986, Aberdeen) quoted on the University of Glasgow Archives Hub, http://cheshire.cent.gla.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=search&fieldidx1=dc.subject&fieldrel1=exact&fieldcont1=construction%20engineering,

**Redpath Brown brochure text, taken from, Greenwich Peninsula History, https://greenwichpeninsulahistory.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/redpath-brown-brochure-text/

On Chester Road with Andy Roberston

Now there will be lots of stories about Trafford Press and the adjoining buildings  running along Chester Road to Empress Street.

Once they were all busy hubs of old fashioned industries.

I am grateful to Andy Robertson who continues to record the changes to the city and the surrounding area and in the fullness of time I bet those stories will feature here on the block.

Pictures; courtesy of Andy Roberston