Back at the Imperial Cinema on Chorlton Road

The Imperial in 1980

I am back with the old Imperial Cinema on Chorlton Road with some of Andy Robertson’s pictures.

Like so many of our old picture houses it suffered from a shrinking cinema audience although it lasted into the 1980s.

But the building has survived and Andy was able to record some of its interior which gives a hint at its former grandeur.

And as I have promised over the next few weeks it will reappear on the blog and I am hoping these pictures will encourage people to come up with their memories of the place.

Inside the Imperial, 2014

In the meantime I remember that Derek Southall in his excellent book on Manchester’s picture house quoted at least one person who thought the Imperial was a cut above the other cinemas in the area.*







Pictures; the Imperial in 1980, m09229, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and today from the collection of Andy Robertson, with a thank you to Imperial Timber 166-172 Chorlton Rd Manchester M16 7WW‎ 0161 226 9190its former grandeur.

*The Golden Years of Manchester's Picture Houses, Derek J Southall, http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/the-golden-years-of-manchesters-picture-houses.html#sthash.K4JJYJv9.dpuf

Passing Hartley's College on Alexandra Road South

This is one of those pictures which I never dreamed I would come across.

We are looking at Hartley’s College and it is another from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park.

Now I don’t have a date but judging by the tramlines and the fact that the building was renamed Hartley College in 1906 should be a rough guide.

The building was a training centre for the Methodist Ministry,  later a hall of residence and is currently a school.

Picture; Hartley’s College from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date unknown, courtesy of Ann Love

1934 and inside the Independent College in Whalley Range

We are in the grounds of the Independent College in Whalley Range and the year is 1934.

Our picture is a postcard which “R” says “is a new view of the college which I thought you might like to see.  

It gives rather a good view of the grounds I think.”

He was writing to Mr and Mrs Nelson of Garston Old Road in Liverpool and he went on to say that he had “managed a good spot of work,” and was looking forward to “seeing something of a friend of mine who is preaching at Ormskirk on Sunday.”

There is nothing more to help us with the identity of “R” but given that the college had been built “educate young men of decided piety and competent talents for the Christian ministry,”* I think we can be fairly confident he was destined for a religious career.

By the time “R” was doing his spot of work the college had been open for 92 years and had continued “the preparation of young men for the ministry of the Independent church”** carrying on the work of the  Blackburn Independent Academy which had opened in 1816.

Such independent establishments had been necessary by the ban on dissenters from attending universities.  So here along with the study of theology students “will have the opportunity of gaining philosophical and scientific knowledge, in addition to the classics and mathematics.”

There were to be two resident professors and about fifty-two students the cost was to be met by public subscription and the hope was that this would in time be met by endowments.

The original design was for a gothic style building with a tall tower and a principal front 261 feet in length including two professors’ houses at either end with cloisters in between serving as an arcade in which the students can take exercise in wet weather.  There were to be three stories surmounted by battlements about 40 feet high.

“The arrangements in the interior of the College, forming a communication with different suites of rooms, are well designed and exceedingly simple consisting of corridors running the extreme length of the front and of either wing. The lower story of the building which is sufficiently high above the ground to ensure dryness is intended entirely for servants, and the corridor which connects the different offices runs along the main building.

Entering the College by the broad flight of steps in the basement of the tower we come to the entrance hall on the second or main floor which is a lofty room about 36 feet by 32 and open to the roof.”***

And I suppose this description would have been recognised by “R” as well as the countless other students who continued to study there until its closure in 1980.

Later; more stories and pictures of the college.

Pictures; of the college in 1934 from the Lloyd Collection The Assembly Hall and grounds from The Lancashire Independent College, 1843-93

* resolution of the committee held in the vestry of the Mosley Street Chapel, Manchester February 1816, and quoted by Thompson, Joseph,  in The Lancashire Independent College, 1843-93, Manchester 1893 Memorial Volume, p18
** The Manchester Guardian 1842
*** The Manchester Guardian 1842

A little bit of religious dissent in Whalley Range .... The Independent Lancashire College

I like this picture of the Independent Lancashire College in Whalley Range.

It had been here since 1843 and even before it was finished it was causing a stir amongst “the Public and more especially by strangers, respecting this beautiful specimen of gothic architecture which is seen to great advantage from the roads leading westward out of Manchester.”

It origins lay in the fact that Dissenters along with the Catholics were still barred from entering the Universities, and lay professions.  They could not marry in their own places of worship and had to rely on Anglican Churches for registering births and deaths.

This had led to the establishment of an independent academy in Blackburn was opened in 1816 to “educate young men of decided piety and competent talents for the Christian ministry.”**

By 1838 the academy was no longer adequate for this purpose and a new “collegiate building affording more extensive domiciliary accommodation,”” was agreed upon which would be sited in Manchester.

A public subscription was launched to meet the cost of what was estimated would be £10,000.  It says much for the strength of dissent in the North West that within two years the sum of £14, 736 was raised which eventually exceeded £25, 000.

And with all such subscriptions the contributions ranged from the modest to the very substantial, so while Mr Joseph Taylor of Ashton handed over £2, George Hadfield from Manchester gave £2,100, Samuel Fletcher £1,300 and our own Samuel Brooks of Whalley House £1, 550.

Brooks however also benefited from selling the seven acre site for its construction for £3,650.

The foundation stone was laid In September 1840 and the college opened in 1843.

Pictures; of the college circa 1910 from the Lloyd Collection and the Blackburn Independent Academy from The Lancashire Independent College, 1843-93

*Manchester Guardian 1842

** Resolution of the committee held in the vestry of the Mosley Street Chapel, Manchester February 1816, and quoted by Thompson, Joseph,  in The Lancashire Independent College, 1843-93, Manchester 1893 Memorial Volume, p18

Lost Images of Whalley Range number 9 ....... the wedding reception at the Whalley Hotel

Now I couldn’t resist using this receipt for the wedding reception of Mr and Mars Sherratt which was posted recently on facebook by their daughter who has given me permission to reproduce it.

It is dated 1953 and is one of those wonderful little bits of history which are so often lost.

And reminds me of an earlier story about the Whalley Hotel from almost the same period.

Just two years earlier the Manchester City News carried the story of “Wally of the Whalley Says Goodbye.”

Mr Wally Summer and his wife Ethel had run the pub for four years and were leaving Manchester for Anglesey, where they were to take over the Anglesey Arms.

“It's going to be a wrench leaving” he told the City News, “we’ve made hundreds of friends since we came to Brooks’ Bar.  I’ve been amazed at the number of people who have come up to wish us luck.”*

The Anglesey Arms is still there just at the edge of the Menai Bridge.

But sadly the Whalley has closed its doors for good so the receipt and the story are a little of its history.

With a bit of digging I may be able to discover if Mr Bowden had succeeded Mr Summers but that is for another time.

Picture; from the collection of Jayne Sherratt Bailey

*Manchester City News November 16, 1951

Lost images of Whalley Range part 7............ the lake in the park

Now there will be the pedant who points out that the lake in Alexandra Park is still there and perhaps someone else who challenges linking the park with Whalley Range.

Added to which I bet a few will remember seeing this picture before on posts about the Alex Park and Whalley Range.

But that won’t stop me, so here from the Valentine collection produced around 1906 is that view of  the park.

Picture; the lake, Alexandra Park, from Valentine’s Snapshots of Alexandra Park, date circa 1906, courtesy of Ann Love

Lost Images of Whalley Range number 6 ....... the Allied Library 1962

This was the Allied Library which was on the corner of Upper Chorlton Road and Wood Road North.

It had grown as a chain of rental libraries in the years after the last world war and at its peak in March 1962 it hired out 362, 000 books through 1,489 bookshops.

And it is a reminder that a long side the public libraries there were a shed load of small shops ranging from newsagent to bookshops which rented out books.*

Picture; Allied Libraries at No 202 Upper Chorlton Road taken in August 1960 Downes A H m40870 Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Chorlton’s private lending libraries, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chorlton%27s%20private%20lending%20libraries

Lost images of Whalley Range part 5 the cinema and a mystery

Now here is a mystery I haven’t been able to solve.

I am looking at what I thought was an old cinema, long since converted into other uses.

It was on that stretch of Upper Chorlton Road, just before the Whalley Hotel and has gone now but back in 1960 it was the home of Ferodo Ltd and thirteen years later Advance Motor Supplies Ltd.

The building resembles the sort of picture house which began to go up  in the early decades of the last century, and might also have doubled as a variety theatre.

All of which made me assume that was what we had here in an earlier story.

But it is not mentioned in Derek J. Southall’s book on the cinema’s of Manchester* and the local historian Philip Lloyd has no memory of there being a cinema there.

So that is the mystery.

I suspect when I can get access to the street directories for the middle decades of the 20th century I might be to track down its earlier history and get a date for its construction which was sometime after 1911.

So in the meantime if anyone has anything to add I would like to hear from you. And pretty much righy away Chris Geliher, posted "1933 directory has it as Brooks's Bar Billiard Hall Co. Ltd. Andrew".

*The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses: Memories of the Silver Screen 1900-1970 by Derek J. Southall and

Pictures; Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40806 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Lost images of Whalley Range part 4 the Post Office opposite the Seymour, and a collection of Dinky toys

There has been a post office on Upper Chorlton Road for over a century and for most of that century it was run by the Lloyd family.

Of course things have changed.

The Seymour Hotel has gone, few now remember the area was called the West End and the post office is no longer run by the Lloyd's.

So I shall slip back to 1960 when the parade of shops including our post office looked pretty much as they had done at the beginning of the last century.

Back them the post office was also a stationer’s and a private lending library and offered up a whole range of other things including dinky toys.

These were made of metal and during the time I was growing up became ever more sophisticated featuring everything from plastic windows to working suspension, 'fingertip steering', detailed interiors, and jewelled headlights.

All of which was a far cry from the simple box on wheels that I had first been given and perhaps the point to stop before I slide into some nostalgic ramble about the toys of the 1950s.

Picture; the Post Office, Upper Chorlton Road, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40740 , courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 3 the Whalley Hotel

I only ever once visited the Whalley Hotel which I think was sometime around the summer of 1975.

There was never any particular reason for this other than it was always somewhere I passed on the bus from town home to Chorlton, and once on the bus it always seemed a faff to get off.

That said the place has dominated the corner since the 1890s.

From the outside it doesn’t seem to have changed much.

The hedges have gone as has the large building which is now the rear car park.

And the houses along Withington Road have also been demolished.

Like some of the other Whalley Range pictures I have been featuring I am hoping that these of the Whalley will stir a few memories which might appear as a post.

Of course it has now closed, and has been converted into residential use.

Picture; The Whalley Hotel, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40816, m40813, m40814, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye ......... stories of the Whalley Hotel

“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye

It is one of those headlines that you just can’t miss.

“Wally of the Whalley” Says Goodbye appeared in the Manchester City News for November 16th 1951 and featured Mr and Mrs Summer who had run the Whalley Hotel for four years.

Mr Wally Summer and his wife Ethel were leaving Manchester for Anglesey, where they were to take over the Anglesey Arms.

“It's going to be a wrench leaving” he told the City News, “we’ve made hundreds of friends since we came to Brooks’ Bar.  I’ve been amazed at the number of people who have come up to wish us luck.”*

The Anglesey Arms is still there just at the edge of the Menai Bridge.

Now in the fullness of time I would like to find out more about Mr and Mrs Summer.

Painting; The Whalley Hotel,  © 2013 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook:  Paintings from Pictures
*Manchester City News November 16, 1951

On the turn of a sixpence, the continuing story of Manley Hall and Sam Mendel

The Hall in 1879

Yesterday I was pondering a visit to Manley Hall in the June of 1879.*

This had been the grand home of Samuel Mendel popularly known at the time as the “merchant prince”

It was a magnificent house of fifty rooms set in 80 acres of grounds which included a greenhouse, an orangery, deer park, fountains and ornamental lakes.**

The estate extended east from Upper Chorlton Road as far as the Independent College, and south to Clarendon Road.  Today Manley Park is all that is left of those extensive grounds and the rest is a mix of houses.

Manley Hall 1888-93

But back in the 1860s and 70s Sam Mendel’s home was reckoned to be everything a wealthy self made man could desire and the inside of the house was as impressive as the grounds.

Here were paintings by Constable, Gainsborough, Leighton, Millais and Turner along with fine furniture, silver plate and old Chelsea porcelain.

So much that when in the spring of 1875 the contents of the house were put up for sale, the auction lasted for five days.

Not that Mr Mendel stayed around to watch for after more than a decade at Manley Hall he moved south to London and on to Hastings coming to terms with his dramatic fall from prosperity.

He had made his wealth transporting textiles to India and Australia around the Cape of Good Hope faster than any of his rivals, and from his offices in Cooper Street and a succession of warehouses around the city he was recognised as a successful entrepreneur who was never out of the papers.


But a too ambitious desire to add to his vast collection of art  left him in serious debt to an art dealer. 

Samuel Mendel

For a while the general public were able for a charge to wander the gardens and enjoy both the floral displays as well as performances by a variety of brass bands.

There were also various schemes floated to turn the estate into a “great pleasure resort.  A winter palace was to be erected which should contain an art gallery, concert hall, promenade, library, assembly room, skating rinks, baths, and refreshment rooms.  Shareholders were to be allowed to use the park for promenade purposes on Sundays, and the hall was to be converted into a club, membership of which should be limited to holders of one hundred or more shares in the company.”***

But these and other plans came to nothing and it was pretty much death by a succession of small building plots as bits of the estate were sold off for development or turned into a golf course for the Manchester Golf Club.

The Hall still attracted the curious, and so it was in the June of 1904 that this couple wandered into the grounds and had their picture taken at the rear of the grand old house.  By then its years of neglect were only all too clear to see from the overgrown kitchen garden and bricked up rear windows and was demolished in 1905.

The rear of the Hall in June 1904

But like all such stories there is still more.  Back in 1875 the house had been bought by the coal merchant Ellis Lever for £120,000 and according to the historian Cliff Hayes Mr Ellis never paid up.****

This in itself is intriguing but made more so by a letter from Mr Ellis in the Times from June 1887 in which he deplored the abandonment of the plan to transform the estate into pleasure resort.

“There is not in the United Kingdom a town that has greater need than Manchester of healthy and refining influences, and there is not a more attractive and charming property than Manley-park.  

But while the people of Manchester and Salford are perishing for lack of pure and healthy surroundings this magnificent property is being allowed to go to decay or become absorbed  by the builder.

The Hall soon after the sale in 1875

Manley-park is thoroughly well wooded, and all the trees being vigorous and healthy.  That there should fall to the axe man to be replaced by rows of houses I look upon as a misfortune to the city.”*****

Which raises all sorts of questions about the involvement of Mr Ellis in the estate but those are for another time.

As for Samuel Mendel he died in 1884.

Pictures; from the Lloyd Collection and map of Manley Hall from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1888-93, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and  picture of Sam Mendel, from a photograph by Franz Baum, 22 St Ann’s Square, Manchester Old & New, 1896, Manchester

*"the frown of fortune"...... the story of Sam Mendel and Manley Hall in Whalley Range,

** The land had cost £250,000 and the house another £50,000 to build.

*** City News on October 8, 1904, quoted in Manley Hall, http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/manleyhall.html

****Hayes. Cliff, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 1999
.***** The Times, June 11 1887

"the frown of fortune"...... the story of Sam Mendel and Manley Hall in Whalley Range

Now I don’t usually do stately homes, but back in 1879 I might just have made the effort to visit Manley Hall which had once been the home of the 'merchant prince' Sam Mendel.

It was an impressive place built in the Italianate style with fifty rooms in 80 acres of grounds which included a greenhouse, an orangery, deer park fountains and ornamental lakes.

Added to this was a fine collection of paintings including works by Constable, Gainsborough, Leighton, Millais and Turner.

All of which reflected the vast wealth of Sam Mendel who had made that wealth by being able to ship textiles to India and Australia around the Cape of Good Hope  faster than his competitors.

“He was the son of a rope manufacturer who started business off Blackfriars Street, succeeding to the business of Mr. Robert Gardiner, a Levant merchant [and] built a warehouse in Dickenson Street, removing thrice to Booth Street, to Portland Street, and finally to his splendid warehouse in Chepstow Street.  

It is said of him he was never known to do a shabby act, but in the end he felt the frown as well as the smile of fortune.  

In 1875 his magnificent estate – Manley House- was the scene of a memorable sale, and it has ever since been but the ghost of its former self, in spite of effort after effort to galvanise it into life. The estate was cut up into building lots, and the tenantless hall survives only to witness the short-lived greatness of its builder.”*

And the frown of fortune was no less than a too ambitious desire to add to his vast collection of art which left him in serious debt to an art dealer. 

The house and its contents along with the 80 acres were put up for sale in the spring of 1875 and the auction of the contents stretched out over five days.

Not that I would have been wealthier enough to consider biding for the fine furniture, paintings, silver plate and old Chelsea porcelain.

Nope, for me it would have a walk around the gardens when they were opened to the public later in 1875.

And I rather suspect it would have been the piece in the Manchester Guardian of May 30 1879 which pushed me out of Chorlton and in to Whalley Range to walk the gardens, because the “announcement of yesterday with regard to the coming sale of this fine estate ... [means] that in all probability Manley Hall will not much longer remain open to inspection.”**

So despite the poor weather which had done little for “the great floral display which might very properly have been expected at the Whitsun Holiday” there was still “much to admire in the greenhouses and ferneries.”  

Along with “the Clown cricketers who were to play in the park on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and the Latelle ‘aerial bicyclists’ who have lately completed a successful engagement at the Westminster Aquarium [and] Mr. J.A. Whelan of Huddersfield who will make an ascent in his balloon ‘The Duke of Edinburgh’ on Thursday and Friday as well as a variety of amusements for visitors.”

But I rather think it would have been the “bands of music” which would have attracted me, one of which may well have been our own Chorlton Brass Band.  They had been formed in the 1820s and while I do not have a complete list of where they performed, there are records of them at Bell Vue, Lytham, Blackpool and Stalybridge as well as closer to home in Chorlton and up at Barlow Hall.

Now Samuel had sponsored the band during the 1860s and it would be nice to think that they were there at Manley Hall in the June of 1879.

And that perhaps is an appropriate point to close, for Samuel’s eclipse appears to have been a loss for Chorlton.

For not only did he sponsor the band but was a very active patron of the old parish church and in that great schism over the building of a new church and ist location on Edge Lane he remained with the group championing the existing building.

Next; the fate of the Hall and something more on Sam.

Location; Whalley Range, Manchester

Pictures; of Manley Hall circa 1878 from the Lloyd Collection, and picture of Sam Mendel, from a photograph by Franz Baum, 22 St Ann’s Square, Manchester Old & New, 1896, Manchester

* Shaw, William Arthur, Manchester Old & New, 1896, Manchester

** Manchester Guardian May 30 1879

Lost images of Whalley Range part 2 the petrol pumps

I wonder when these petrol pumps on Upper Chorlton Road were taken away.

They were recorded by A.H.Downes in the summer of 1960 and were on the site of the furniture store.

In an age of big computer operated petrol pumps which do all most everything but make a coffee I like these three.

Simple design, and simple machinery but they did the business and take me back to my childhood.

They come from that time when someone would come out of the garage and work the pump,offering to wipe the windscreen and was available for motoring advice.

You still find this service in places like Greece and rural Italy and no doubt even here in remote communities.

They have long since vanished but the telephone kiosk was still on the same spot just a few years ago.

Picture; Petrol-Pump, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40781 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

Lost images of Whalley Range part 1 the cinema

I am on Upper Chorlton Road in 1960 with A.H. Downes who took a lot of pictures of the area.

In the distance you can just make out the Whalley Hotel and the junction with Brooks Bar beyond.

But what interests me is the Ferodo building which I must have passed countless times over the years and not given much thought to.

It vanished before I realized it was under threat and I wish I knew more about it.

That said I know there will be someone who does and kick myself for not taking more careful note of Derek Southall’s wonderful account of Manchester picture houses because I am pretty sure that he mentions this building.*

It is similar to many which were built in the early decades of the 20th century, and was one step up on the simple wooden huts and old vareity halls which were converted into picture houses as the novelty of cinema caught on.

But then I could be wrong we shall have to wait and see.

It certainly looks similar and  a little grander than the one further up Upper Chorlton Road which has survived as a furniture store.

So I shall just leave it there on Upper Chorlton Road in 1960 and wait for the memories, stories and details of the place to flood in.

Picture, Whalley Range, Upper Chorlton Road, north east side, 1960, A.H.Downes, m40806 and again in 1973, photographer unknown, m40728, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council

*The Golden Years of Manchester Picture Houses: Memories of the Silver Screen 1900-1970 Derek J. Southall

Down at West Point in 1911 before the Seymour Hotel ........ looking for the story of Jonathan Brown .... gardener and expert orchid grower

Now the Seymour has passed into history and soon memories will fade that this was the last pub before the long dry walk along Upper Chorlton Road to Brooks Bar and the Whalley Hotel

West Point, 1911

That said you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could remember when this grand old place was a private residence.

And now only history books will offer up its time as the hone of Samuel Gratrix who called his house West Point at the junction of Manchester Road, Seymour Grove and Upper Chorlton Road.

All of which l was reminded of when Jonathan Brown set me off on a hunt for his grandfather who was the gardener for Mr Gratrix.

Jonathan came across a reference to the both men in an article from The Orchid World published in 1911.*

He grandfather was living in the lodge with his wife Betsy. They had been married for less than a year and in 1914 Mrs Brown had a son. Their home vanished long before I knew the Seymour and l haven’t found a picture of the lodge.  But it had five rooms and was situated on the south side of Mr Gratrix's big property.

Samuel Gratrix, curca 1911

Locating the Brown's in 1911 was easy enough and the story then made its way to Rawtenstall where Jonathan had been born in 1883.

Just eight years later and his mother was a widow bringing up six children and working as a charwoman.

Her husband had been a teacher and while it is unclear yet when he died it will have to be after 1886 when their last child was born.

In time l will track Mrs Brown who had been born in Norfolk in 1855 which made her just 36 when she was bringing up her children.

All of which was new to Jonathan who an hour earlier knew nothing of his paternal father's family before 1914.

And the final twist was the 1871 census which not only revealed that his great grandfather was a pupil teacher but that his great great grandfather farmed 35 acres outside Rawtenstall and had been born at the beginning of the 19th century in Colne.

That might seem a long way from West Point in 1911 so I shall finish with an extract from The Orchid World which having praised Mrs Gratrix for “looking after the wants of these delicate and youthful Orchids” turned to Mr Brown “who has charge also of the 17 acres of grounds and] shows fully his capabilities as an experts Orchid grower, and the many rare and beautiful plants which he is entrusted should act as a great incentive to his ever willing desire to still further improve their good qualities.”*

West Point, 1894

I think Mr Brown would be pretty pleased with that.

Not that he stayed at West Point.

At some time he moved on eventually landing up in Huddersfield where the family settled and along the way set up a business, although Jonathan told me his grandfather was for moving on but his son put his foot down and Yorkshire became home.

And that is about it for now but I remain fascinated at how chance connections open up a whole new set of stories.

So for me apart from making a new acquaintance I have found a picture of West Point before it became the Seymour, discovered that its grounds extended to 17 acres and learnt a little about one of our gardeners and residents.

Location; West Point

Pictures; West Point, Whalley Range and Mr Samuel Gratrix from The Orchid World, Vol 1 nu 1910-1911, from the collection of Jonathan Brown, and West Point from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*The Orchid World, Vol 1 nu 1910-1911, pages 154-8

Discovering a little bit of Whalley Range’s history

Now here is a bit of history that I bet lots of people know but has passed me by and it concerns St Margaret’s playing fields in Whalley Range.

The land is on Brantingham Road and was gifted by the wife of one of the vicars of St Margaret’s and in in 1937 it was the destination of that years Chorlton carnival.

Back in the 1930s there were a number of carnivals across the city but Chorlton’s seemed to be the biggest according to the Manchester Guardian which reported that “the gala held in St Margaret’s playing fields, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, on Saturday [June 19th] may be said to mark the opening of the charity carnival season.“*

Now I recently wrote about the carnival but pretty much ignored the playing fields but after a few people asked where they were I went looking.**

The obvious place was beside St Margaret’s Church in Whalley Range and while I was close I wasn’t in quite the right place.

The church had been built in 1849 on land given by Samuel Brooks but the playing fields date from sometime later.

I have yet to establish when but I do know that in 1894 the land was still part of Whalley Farm and as late as 1911 Brantingham Road had yet to be developed fully.

That said I hope to talk to Mr Boulter the vicar at  St Margaret’s and perhaps even before then someone will come forward a bit more of the story.

And within minutes of posting this story,  Pawel Lech Michalczyk who pointed out that  "St Werburgh's Church owned playing fields.

These were opposite Parkgaye Farm, accessible via the short cul-de-sac off St Werburgh's Road.

It was the whole triangle between the railway line and Chorlton Brook, almost up to Mauldeth Road West.

Its now part of the Chorlton High School campus."

Location; Whalley Range

Picture; horses being paraded along Oswald Road sometime in the 1930s, courtesy of Mrs Kay, from the Lloyd collection

*Manchester Guardian June 21 1937

Alex Park ......... the people’s park ........ remembering a century and bit of protest

It was Keir Hardie who called Alex Park “the people’s park” in 1893 and I rather think that remains a pretty good alternative name for the place.*

Expressing free speech, 1980

On any day of the week at any time of the year there will loads of people doing something in the park, from walking the dog, to watching the sun glint on the lake or kicking a ball and of course once the weather gets just a little like summer out will come the picnic baskets, the old rugs and a heap of interesting sandwiches.

All of which fulfils Keir Hardie’s reference to the people’s park.

But Mr Hardie’s description was less about the park’s recreational opportunities and more about its place as a forum for debate, and on that day in May 1893 he wasn’t alone in addressing the crowds.

There were according to the newspaper reports a number of platforms each with speakers but all united by the issue of demanding an eight hour working day summed up by the slogan “work for all out work for none.”

But like some many demonstrations down the centuries it was also about free speech with Mr Hardie condemning “the authorities in refusing the legitimate demand of the citizens to the free use of the people's park, and regards that refusal as an overt attempt to crush the right of free meeting and free speech.”*

Mrs Annot Robinson, date unknown

And that has intrigued me. For almost a century one of the popular meeting places had been Stevenson Square, and long before that peaceful assembly gathered in St Peter’s Field the centre of much popular unrest had been New Cross at the junction of Oldham Street and Great Ancoats Street.

But now increasingly protest marches would finish with a rally in the park.

It was here that Mrs Annot Robinson spoke in 1908 spoke to a crowd of thousands on “Votes for Women” and was undeterred by a section of the crowd “of young fellows inclined to be hostile [and] frequently hostile.”

Now I have great admiration for Annot Robinson juggled the demands of being a single parent and played an important part in the politics of the labour movement here in Manchester.***

And two years later she was back, speaking from the Women Workers' platform, she argued “that women were ‘too cheap@ in the home and in the labour market. ...........The best step that could be taken to raise the position of women in society was to allow them to have some share of political power. 

There were cases in Manchester, Mrs. Robinson went on, of girls who worked long hours for six, seven, or eight shillings a week. In the mackintosh trade wages sank even below that. It was this underpayment of girls that incited them to evil living. If women were given an opportunity of influencing the laws of the land matters would be mended.”****

Nor was she alone because during the period after her first meeting there were a whole series of political rallies in support of extending the vote to women.

Busy with the business of protest, 1980

It was a tradition of political protest which has continued.

There will be many like me who remember finishing marches in the park in the 1970s and 80s and I even came across a reference to the veteran fascist Oswald Mosley attempting to peddle his bankrupt ideas.

So there you have it ........... the people’s park more than just a place for a picnic.

At which point I just have to say that the banner of the Moss Side Constituency Labour Party often appeared in the park but not in this picture which was taken in Liverpool in 1980 on another demonstration.

So if anyone has a picture of a demonstration in the park I would love to see it.

Location; Alexandra Park

Picture; popular protest, the Moss Side CLP banner, Liverpool, 1980 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* The Alexandra Park Labour Demonstration, Manchester Guardian, May 8 1893

**Annot Robinson, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Annot%20Robinson

*** Votes for Women, Interruption in Alexandra Park, Manchester Guardian, July 13 1908

**** Women's Suffrage, The Conciliation Bill, Meeting in Alexandra Park, Manchester Guardian, October 10 1910

Opps …….. when you get things wrong …..... apologise ....

So, after years of telling the story of Samuel Mendel who was the classic tale of fabulous wealth, and a  less than elegant descent into more straightened circumstance I have to confess I got a bit of it wrong.

Mr. Mendel, undated

He had made his wealth transporting textiles to India and Australia around the Cape of Good Hope faster than any of his rivals, and from his offices in Cooper Street and a succession of warehouses around the city he was recognised as a successful entrepreneur who was never out of the papers.

Manley Park, 1894

The wealth that he made was poured into Manley Park a fine house in Whalley Range and a huge art collection.

But it all went wrong, and almost at the turn of a sixpence, the frown of fortune resulted him going bankrupt, and the sale of his fine mansion and his art collection.

All of which I have chronicled but the exact nature of his fall I got wrong. *

I followed the received knowledge and reported that his fall was the changing shipping routes which followed the opening of the Suez Canal, which his rivals adopted making his long routes around the Cape of Good Hope redundant.

And I was wrong, a mistake I have Brian Groom to thank who pointed out to that suggested I “amend the blog to remove one of the biggest lies in Manchester history IMHO. It drives me bloody mad! Sam Mendel did NOT go bankrupt at the time that he sold his Manchester business interests. 

Manley Park, undated

He remained a wealthy man for several years and, at one point, even bought the Manley Park estate back. In the end, his real financial downfall came from the fact he continued to invest unwisely in art and ended up owing Thomas Agnew, his art dealer of choice, a considerable amount of money. Mendel had helped make Agnew a very wealthy man, so it was with considerable reluctance that he did indeed commence bankruptcy proceedings against the ageing Mendel. 

However, the proceedings were paused as soon as Agnew discovered that Mendel was in very poor health. They were never resumed, because Mendel died. There were subsequent rumours spread that Agnew had tried to take the very bed that the dying Mendel lay in during the final weeks of his life. 

Agnew, justifiably enraged, sued the person making the accusations and won. Even on the very brink of financial ruin, Mendel was able to leave a reasonable sum to his widow. Gone were the days of what would today be a billionaire lifestyle, but she would have still been comfortably middle class”.

All of which was new to me and of course makes for a much more interesting story.

Leaving me just to thank Brian and record that his two books on the history of the North have rightly received much praise.

They are Northerners A History, From the Ice Age to the Present Day, and Made in Manchester A People’s History of the City that shaped the modern World.

I got the Northerners as a Christmas present and thoroughly enjoyed it and will be splashing the cash on his second one.

So my apologies to Mr. Mendel and always own up.

Pictures; from Manley Park, undated, from the  Lloyd Collection and map of Manley Hall from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1888-93, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ and  picture of Sam Mendel, from a photograph by Franz Baum, 22 St Ann’s Square, Manchester Old & New, 1896, Manchester

*Samuel Mendel, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Samuel%20Mendel

Welcome back Wellfield ….. that impressive and historic house in Whalley Range

History hasn’t been kind to that grand old house at the end of Upper Chorlton Road close to the former Whalley Hotel.

Wellfield, 2023

Once it was home to a succession of wealthy families but for most of the last century it was the site of a series of commercial ventures, which included a laundry, a wallpaper warehouse and more recently a carpet showroom.

And to add to the indignity the property was divided into a number of self-contained flats, which were themselves subdivided over the decades.

But all that decline has been reversed by Peter Armistead and his team of architects, builders, and interior designers, and today as the development enters its final stages, 59 Upper Chorlton Road is once again an attractive place to live.

It first appears in the records in 1861 as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood, their four children and four servants.

Wellfield, 1894

The property commanded a rateable value of £160 which marked it out as one of the more expensive properties along the road with views across fields towards the gardens of Hullard Hall.  

Original floor, 2020

It was set in an extensive garden with two greenhouses and fronted the still private Upper Chorlton Road which had been cut by Samuel Brooks in the 1830s for his new Whalley Range development.

From the beginning it carried the name of Wellfield, and throughout the rest of the 19th century was home to merchants and manufacturers.  

Of these the McQuade family, bought the house in 1871 and stayed there until 1899 were the longest residents.

But by then the surrounding area was being developed, and the fine views towards Hullard Hall were obscured by row of semidetached properties, which included The Whalley Range Orphanage, while some of the grand houses close to Wellfield had vanished to be replaced by more modest homes. 

And by the turn of the century the Hichelwood’s former home had also undergone a transformation, and was being used as a laundry, with only part of the house occupied by a family who worked in the business.

Just when the laundry ceased is as yet unclear but the OS maps for 1933 and 1951 record the property as Wellfield Linen Works, which doesn’t preclude it still being be a laundry.

After the demolition of the industrial workshops, 2020

But in 1954 it is listed as the Paramount Wallpapers Ltd warehouse and in 1962 59 Upper Chorlton Road operated as “Linda Gay Dresses Ltd. Gown manufacturers” and 59a as "Needham F. (Shopfitters) Ltd". 

The last directory entry is for 1969 when the property was listed as “W.P.M ltd. Wallpaper mfs”.

That said in the 2000s it was a carpet warehouse, and I can attest to buying two cheapy carpets from them.

As for the house, by 1939 it was divided into three flats, and continued as such into 1962, and later still seems to have been further subdivided into 10.

It is a common enough story, which saw a once grand house converted to fit the changing needs of the 20th century when its size and decline in the use of domestic servants made it less attractive as a home for one family.

What perhaps adds a twist is its partial conversion in to industrial and retail use.

And that may have just saved it from being demolished in favour of a block of pedestrian flats which maximise the footprint to squeeze as many flats as possible onto the exiting plot of land.

That could still have been the fate of Wellfield, but instead it was acquired Armistead Property who specialise in transforming old residential properties into modern apartments while retaining as much of the original character as possible.*

Work in progress, 2020

Their work has featured on the blog over the years, including the award-winning Denbigh Villas development on High Lane and the equally impressive Carlton Terrace, at 199 and 201 Upper Chorlton Road.**

In the case of Wellfield the plan was to create 17 apartments using the existing house and an extension and creating roof top gardens.

Features like the large south facing window, and the floor tiles in the hall have been retained and any internal features which survived the brutal years of “laundry and multi occupancy”.

But modern planning regulations have precluded the retention of the barrel roof in the cellar.

That said the architect Simon Jones and the contractors have been alert to the possibilities of saving more of the original house as possible.

Added to these the original brickwork has been restored to what it would have looked like when Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood first took possession sometime in 1861. 

It will always remain an area of debate as to how far an old property should be saved and what the price of saving it will be.  

There are countless examples of where the conversion has been done badly and fails to honour the original building but done properly and it seems to me, we are on a winner.

Armistead conversions fall into that second category.  Witness Denbigh Villas on High Lane which was home to a famous industrialist and historian as well as a school

Finished rooms, 2023

Its survival and renovation by Armistead has done much to save a bit of our history, while the alternative would have been to see such a historic building left and sliding slowly into an increasingly parlous state till safety demanded its demolition.

That could have been the fate of Wellfield, and I am pleased it has also been saved.

And just after the story went live, Nick Turner got in touch and added, "My dad owned 59 Upper Chorlton Road in the 70s, 80s and 90s. 

It was an upholstery and soft furnishings business known as LE Swain and Turner.

 

The business was in the long warehouse. The block was offices and then converted into 10 studio apartments, I used to collect the rent from the tenants. They've done a great job on it, looks amazing!"

Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; Wellfield, 2022, from the collections of Andrew Simpson the site 1894, from the 1894 OS map of Lancashire and the 1894 OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and other  pictures by Jak Spedding, https://jakspedding.co.uk, courtesy of Armistead Property Armistead Property

Finished, 2023

* Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

**Denbigh Villas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=denbigh+Villas&max-results=20&by-date=true & Carlton Terrace,