The Furness Vale Local History Society

It’s always nice to be recognised and yesterday The Furness Vale Local History Society http://furnesshistory.blogspot.co.uk/ told their members of my blog and I want to return the favour.  
Furness Vale is a village in the High Peak between New Mills and Whalley Bridge. The society  hold an archive of documents, maps and photographs of the area and hold meetings on the first Tuesday of each month except July and August. A guest speaker usually presents an illustrated talk of local or regional interest. Membership is available at an annual fee of £5. For further information contact George Tomlinson 01663 742440.

Now I know Furness Vale.  It is another of those places that canal, road and a railway come together.  The High Peak Canal which was begun in 1794, completed in 1805 and connected Ashton Under Lyne with Buxworth while the railway came through fifty or so years later.  I guess at that period it would have had a similar feel to it as our township.

Pictures;  The recent and forthcoming programme of events of The Furness Vale Local History Society and detail from Bradshaw’s Canal maps 1830, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

Belle Vue and Pomona Gardens ....... at the cutting edge of 19th century popular entertainment

Now I have to be honest and say zoos like circuses do nothing for me.  But in an age before the internet and the telly for many people the zoo and circus were their introduction to exotic animals.  After all however nice a rabbit and next door’s cat were they exotic they weren’t

And here in Manchester there was always Bell Vue Zoological Gardens, which contained not just a zoo but also an amusement park and exhibition hall.  I am told that at its peak it occupied 165 acres and attracted over two million visitors.  And yes I was one of them, usually as a part of a school trip at the end of the summer term.  If memory serves me it must have been 1974 and perhaps 75.  I know it can be no later than 1977 because that was the year the zoo closed followed three years later by the amusement park.

So this advert from Leisure and Pleasure in the Open Air 1963 which I hasten to add was not a dubious publication brings back many memories.  Here laid out are all the attractions that Bell Vue had to offer.And Bell Vue had been pulling them in since 1836.

But during the 19th century  it was not the only such place.  "Closer to home were the Botanical Gardens on Chester Road and the Pomona Gardens at Cornbrook in Hulme.    The Botanical Gardens was a more gentle place, with what one observer described as “fine specimens of trees and shrubs in the extensive arboretum and plant houses and conservatories.... holding beautiful specimens of plants collected from around the world.”    
Pomona Gardens was in contrast another of those boisterous gardens of fun.  Like Belle Vue it boasted a similar mix of attractions including “the magic bridge, Gymnasium, flying swings, bowling green, rifle shooting, romantic walks and a promenade for both adults and juveniles as well as boat trips on the Irwell.”    


In the summer of 1850 it pulled out the stops with its “Splendid representation of the ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS, as it occurred in 1849, the most terrific on record.”   Here was the “magnificent Bay of Naples, painted and erected by the celebrated artist Mr. A.F. Tait, and extends the whole length of the lake covering upwards of 20,000 yards of canvas and is one of the Largest ever Erected in England.” 


These places truly played to the Victorian desire for self improvement with a dash of raucous fun.  So when in 1857 Manchester staged an Art Exhibition in the grounds of the Botanical Gardens it was a great success attracting great numbers of people.  Nor all of whom were from the more privileged sections of society.  Special excursion trains catering for working people were organised, with some travelling down from the north east.


Still the gardens were not cheap.  Bell Vue had originally charged a subscription ticket of 10s [50p] for a family and 5s [25p] for an individual while Pomona Gardens in the summer of 1850 demanded 1s [5p] for adults and 6d [2½p] for children.  These prices were beyond the reach of our labouring families and may have been a deliberate ploy to keep such places for the better off.  Sound commercial sense however won out and in the case of Bell Vue, the subscription tickets were abandoned in favour of a general admission price of 4d which later rose to 6d in 1851."*


Picture; from Leisure and Pleasure in the Open Air, Parks Committee Manchester Corporation 1963, courtesy of Linda Rigby
*From Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Society Transformed due out in September
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

Here’s an offer you can’t refuse

It’s not every day that you get the chance to decide on becoming part of a city.

But that was exactly what happened in the January of 1904, when the ratepayers of Chorlton along with those of Burnage, Didsbury, and Withington were asked to take a leap and join the big city neighbour.

We had been part of the Withington Urban District Council since it was set up in 1876  and bits of its legacy are sill knocking around if you know where to look.  Some of the streets grids still bear the name Withington UDC and out by the meadows are the remains of the sewage works, although I have to confess my favourite bit of this long vanished little local authority is Withington Town Hall.

Now it is one of those places I have passed countless times and even once sat in the great hall during an election meeting in 1987 but at the time never really thought much of it.  I always thought of it as a pale imitation of the Town Hall in Albert Square, but then there was a time I didn’t much care for it either.   Of course I have changed my opinion about both.

In that town hall on Lapwing Lane took place some of the really important debates about the development of the township including the extension of the sewage system, the provision of more schools and of course the amalgamation with the city.

Manchester had been steadily expanding from its creation as a borough in 1838.* So it was natural that those areas to south which included the Withington UDC and Moss Side should at some point look to the advantages of being incorporated. 

For some the advantages were so clear that they openly campaigned for our inclusion.  The Withington Amalgamation League set up in 1902 argued that the rates would fall, and we would gain “libraries, baths, reduction in water and gas rates, lower cemetery charges, music in recreation grounds better fire and police protection more deliveries of letters, technical classes, shares in tramway and electricity profits and the prospect of Ship Canal and School Board rates decreasing.”**

This was for many an offer to good to refuse and one that was shared by the City Council.  At their October meeting in 1903, much was made of the assets that Withington would hand over to the Corporation, including the newly built “hospital to which attracted 20-30 acres of land, ....[and] beyond that land for a smallpox hospital, a field for the extension of the tram services and the sewage farm, 80 acres in extent.”  And as Fletcher Moss pointed out amalgamation would bring Alexandra Park “that large park into the hands of the Council” and furthermore “the Corporation was the largest ratepayer in the Withington district and by far the largest owner of freehold estate with the possible exception of Earl Egerton” which meant they would be no longer paying out rates to Withington UDC.

And it seemed only to get better.  Under the terms of amalgamation all existing staff of the Withington UDC were taken on by the Corporation and “the price and conditions of supply of gas, water and electricity to the inhabitants of Withington shall be the same as those of the citizens of Manchester.  That all future tramways inthe district of Withington shall be laid as double linesalong carriage ways not less than 32 feet wide between curbs.  That two free libraries and two swimming baths to be established in different parts of Withington within five years..... that for a period of twenty years the rate  shall not exceed 4s in the £.”  There was to be a special Withington Committee of the City Council.

Of course there was opposition some of which centred on whether the rate deal could have been improved, and the degree to which the assets were being handed over too cheaply but even these tended to accept that eventual amalgamation was inevitable.

So it fell to the vote of all rate payers which curiously was done by postcard.  “A circular on the subject to be posted to ratepayers on the Thursday of January 21^st, along with a reply postcard to be returned by the morning of the 26^th”which according to one aggrieved letter writer gave only the weekend and the Monday with no public meetings before returning the vote.  This might strike us as an odd way to vote but was the method which had been adopted by the various poor law councils in the townships since 1834.

The result was pretty conclusive with 4,086 voting for incorporation and 805 against.  And in the April of the same year Moss Side UDC also voted by 2,781 to 643to join the city.

Now if like me you enjoy crawling over election results then the first one of the new Chorlton Ward is fascinating.  The story of the campaign including the candidates, their election platforms will come later, but on Tuesday November 1^st 1904 the electors here in Chorlton ward had a choice six candidates for three seats.  The Progressive Party fielded three, the Conservatives two and there was an independent.  In some ways the Progressives were the most interesting and you can read about them at http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/more-reflections-on-international.html

The result was bizarre, because the electors chose one from each of the parties standing, which may reflect the wish to give each party a fair chance which was how one voter told me she would vote in 1982 when all three council seats here in Chorlton were being contested.

Picture; Courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, Withington Town Hall, October 16^th 1906 m52133, election result from the collection of Lawrence Beedle

* When it was formed from the city centre, Ardwick, Beswick, Cheetham, Chorlton upon Medlock and Hulme.  And despite being unable to expand to the west because of Salford, took in Harpurhey, Bradford with Beswick and Rusholme in 1885, followed by Blackley, Clayton, Crumpsall, Moston, Newton Heath, Openshaw and West Gorton five years later and Heaton Park in 1903.

**The advantages to be derived by this district becoming amalgamated within the boundaries of the city of Manchester, Withington Amalgamation League, 1903

Coming soon, Oswald Field, five cottages, a slice of rural Chorlton and a bit of a mystery

It started as a simple story of five cottages on the edge of the township, and turned into something much more.  They were the homes of gardeners, and shoemakers and might seem nothing very remarkable but they are full of our history, and have a bit of a mystery.

And while they were demolished sometime in the 1860s they have left their foot print just off Oswald Road to this day.





Picture; detail from the 1841 OS map of Lancashire by courtesy of Digital Archives,http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ /

Barton Arcade, a Victorian shopping experience

I think the first time I came across Barton Arcade must have been an accident. I guess it would have been in the early 1970s perhaps 1971 on one of those days when rather than sit in the library I had taken myself off to discover the city.

 Even today it is easy to miss the place. If you walk along Deansgate the two entrances are set into the Barton Building, and even from the other side it is possible to fail to glance down the narrow alley between Exchange Street and St Ann’s Square. But if you do there it is in all its Victorian glory, wall of glass and iron four storeys high.

It was built in 1871, listed as a Grade 11 building in 1972 and restored in 1980 and given our record in the late 60s and early 70s it is almost a miracle that it wasn’t demolished.

Now in the years I have known the place there has been quite a turnover in the shops on the ground floor, so the shop where we bought a settee became a lamp shop and has changed its use yet again, while what was once The Exclusive Oillly Store is a restaurant. I suppose it is the way of things. After all in the Arndale not far away retail businesses come and go.

Upstairs there are offices but I must confess I have only been up there once, looking for help for a broken camera, but sure enough there was some who could help. Of course once we had more arcades but they have all gone which is sad really because I can remember the rather rundown one in the old Corn Exchange which offered stuff that seemed unavailable elsewhere.

There are equally impressive ones. I always like going to the one in Leeds and was recently in The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan but the Barton Arcade is special, perhaps because I always associate it with a very happy time in Manchester, or just because it is a nice place.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The end of the History Trail, at the Bar on Wilbraham Road

The Bar is the end of the History Trail. And I think it is quite fitting that it should end here in this parade of shops. The story began on the green in the Horse & Jockey which is one of the oldest pubs in the township in one of the oldest buildings.

And here we are in one of the last parades of shops to be built sometime at the turn of the 20th century in the Bar which is a fine example of the new Chorlton.

There are six venues where bits of our history are on display with some of Peter’s paintings, and if you don’t know by now he is the artist and I am the story teller. In the course of rolling out the trail we discovered it would be fun to invite people to be part of the exhibition by posting a comment either on the blog or on the GLAD TO BE IN CHORLTON site on facebook.

 Now there is plenty to take in from the station to our first cinema. Both in the way helped transform the lives of those who lived here.

 Peter’s work is on display around Chorlton and can also be seen at https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures and details of my book, Chorlton-cum-Hardy A Community Transformed which will be published in September can be found at http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton Pictures; © Peter Topping 2012

Rare pictures of Manchester children in Canada

Now I have made no secret of my reservations of the British Home Child scheme but in researching the story I have been drawn into the work of the Manchester & Salford Boys and Girls Refuge which was founded in 1870 to give destitute children a bed for the night.

 During its first decade it broadened its activities, and the more I know of its work the more I have a lot to admire. It did send children to Canada but so did other children’s organisations.

The Together Trust which holds its records have published some of the photographs of the children that were sent from here and they appear on the blog at http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/photographs-fom-canada-1894.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+TogetherTrustArchive-GettingDownAndDusty+(Together+Trust+Archive+-+getting+down+and+dusty!

 They remain a fascinating archive and one that I hope will continue.

Picture; Courtesy of the Together Trust