That hole on Wilbraham Road ............the story of one garage in Chorlton

Now I do like the way stories begin to take shape and take off.

So it is with the old garage on the corner of Wilbraham and Buckingham Roads.

For years I took it for granted and now it has gone.

While it was still selling petrol, chocolate bars and bags of wood I was more interested in the old cinema and variety hall that had stood on the site from the beginning of the 20th century and survived into the 1930s.

It was replaced by a simple petrol station which I think used some of the old cinema which inturn made way for the one that we have all been familiar with.

It too has now gone and as Andy Robertson’s picture reveals the site is just a hole in the ground but in time will again sell petrol and much more.

Now one of Andy’s earlier pictures revealed a few secrets and that pretty much has continued to ignite my interest in this bit of Chorlton.

So in the fullness of time I will return courtesy of Andy’s photographs which are a unique record of how Chorlton is changing.

Picture; another hole in the ground, 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The story of a garage, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20garage

The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now I am not one given to self promotion, but as we have just passed the second anniversary of the publication of  THE STORY OF CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY,  I thought I should just mention it.*

Of course it has nothing to do with the imminent advance of Christmas more just a celebration of the story of where we live during the  first half of the 19th century I thought I would just revisit it.

I had originally planned just to write about the history of Chorlton from rural community to suburb of Manchester but there was so much material on that first fifty years that it took up the book and as someone said to me a general history of the township had already been done so instead here are the lives of the people who farmed worked and lived here between 1800 and 1850.

Modesty prevents me from saying more, except that it is available from Chorlton Book Shop.**


*A new book for Chorlton http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20for%20Chorlton

**Chorlton Book Shop, http://www.fire-hire.co.uk/bookshop.html

Looking down into that hole in St Peter's Square a century and a bit later

That hole in 2014

Now I have to thank Sally because on a day when the skies threatened to hurl down a mix of snow, sleet and rain she went out of her way to take pictures of that hole in the ground which continues the story from yesterday.*

It is the one in St Peter’s Square and I have been wondering about it ever since Sally told me they were opening up the ground in front of One St Peter’s Square.

I have wanted to go down there to see what the remains of St Peter’s Church which stood on the site from 1794 till it was demolished in 1907.

Looking into that hole in 1907

After all there can be no one left alive who was there when the workmen began back filling sections of the crypt leaving the rest just to be capped over.

According to Sally, "the hole you can see obviously has some of the foundations of the church in it, but I bet the crypt bit is in the other 'ole . I fear you need a taller assistant for this mission!”

I offered our step ladder but Sally had done the business, so here pretty much for the first time in a century and a bit is that hole.

Bricks and the hint of something more, 2014

Of course there may be a few pictures of that spot taken in 1908 when the was Cross erected, or during the erection of the Cenotaph in 1924 but I am confident few will have seen them today.

And judging from the picture of the church being demolished in 1907 Sally must have been standing close to where the chap was peering down into the hole.

And for those who want me to be even more precise I reckon it will be just beside  the pillar.

In front of One St Peter's Square, 2014

That said I bet there will be someone who prove me wrong.

Either way it is near enough to make for a fascinating glimpse into what was and is again.





Pictures; of the hole in 2014 from the collection of Sally Dervan and the church in the process of being demolished in 1907, m80961, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Deep in the ground in St Peter’s Square, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/deep-in-ground-in-st-peters-square.html

Down at Ayres Road at another old factory

I am back with images of some of our recent industrial landscape which I suspect will soon be gone.  

We are at the Jesse Oldfield Bakery on Brixham Street, Ayres Road and Andy Robertson who took the pictures told me

“for a brief period ten or so years ago I cleaned their office carpets, so I have an attachment to this place. 

The rather large office was on the first floor but you'd be amazed at how many ingrained raisins I had to get rid of!  

I was surprised to see the gates closed and I could only see one car. 

Being so quick on the uptake it only took me about two hours to think perhaps they had closed down.

In January 2014 it was about to close losing 60 jobs. 

It being a part of the Blue Foods Group. 

In 1969, Knightsbridge Cake Manufacturers were on the site.

Given how the large the site is, it seems hard to imagine any other company moving in, but who knows?”

Pictures; Jesse Oldfield Bakery, 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

More from Worktown, Bolton in 1937, a new online exhibition

I hadn’t planned on going back to Bolton and the Worktown exhibition, but the images of working class life are so compelling that I am drawn back to them.

BOLTON WORKTOWN, PHOTOGRAPHY AND ARCHIVES FROM MASS OBSERVATION http://boltonworktown.co.uk/

Having said that, the real difficulty comes in choosing an image, so I have selected two and that will be it, otherwise you might not go to the site, and that would be a shame.

The caption reads Woman wearing a shawl leaves the polling station at St Thomas School, Bentinck Street, on the day of the 1938 Farnworth by-election.

I rather think it speaks for itself and is a vivid reminder that a woman in a shawl was still a common sight and would remain so till after the last word war.

And in the same vein the picture of a woman cleaning the stone in front of a house is iconic



Pictures; courtesy of Bolton Library Museum Services,  1993.83.06.20 and  1993.83.19.03, 

Deep in the ground in St Peter’s Square

Now something is stirring in St Peter’s Square and I think it has bit to do with the Second City Crossing.

My friend Sally told me of the hole which has opened up underneath what were the gardens by the Cenotaph and since then a few pictures have appeared on social network including the old tramlines some pipes and bricks and what I reckon will be the crypt of St Peter’s Church which was built in between 1788-94 and demolished in 1907.

I guess that the new lines mean that all the services directly below where the trams will run have to be strengthened or moved and hence the hole in the ground.

But I am also prepared for those who know about these things to correct me and point out that it is to do instead with the new concourse in front of One St Peter’s Square.

And as these things usually work someone will also post the development plans which I have missed.

In the meantime I reckon there might be some fine views down into the old crypt.  I only wish I could go down and ask for one of the old bricks as a souvenir.

This has become of those things I do, and in the last few years have collected handmade 18th century bricks from the gig on Miller Street and from an old fine house here in the township.

All I had with the permission of the people at the sites.

Now I have asked Sally to take a few pictures next time she passed but in the meantime here is the church on September 23 1907, and for those that like detail the first image comes from a glass negative and that chap is standing pretty much where the recent pictures were take.

Picture; St Peter’s Church, 1907, m75252, and the church in the process of being demolished in 1907, m80961, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 48, lino, Habitat and glazed tiles .... a century of interior design

Leaded lights and blinds, 2004

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

A century is a pretty long time when it comes to interior design and our house will have gone through the full sweep of changing fashions.

Now I don’t know what is what like during the fifty years that Joe and Mary Ann lived here but I can guess.

The walls would have had thick heavy wallpaper, the floors a mix of carpet and lino and the walls in the hall would have been covered with those embossed papers which in turn would have been painted in dark colours.

The windows contained leaded lights and each of the rooms would have had tiled fireplaces differing only in the degree of elaborate finishing touches.

Now some of this can be reconstructed from what has survived amongst the six houses that make up the block and the rest I remember from the houses I grew up in.

The dining room, 1976

There was much to be said for the design and fittings.

The carpets and heavy curtains kept down the draughts and the embossed and painted wallpaper in the hall were perfect for an area which would see a lot of people passing through.

The kitchen remained a fairly small room  but Joe and Mary seemed to have got rid of the old cast iron range fairly soon after they moved in relying instead on a state of the art gas cooker,and because Joe built the block he ensured that all of the houses were wired for electricity from the outset.

And here come the tales of vandalism because when John bought the house many of those features were ripped out and stripped and varnished floors replaced those thick carpets matched by stylish blinds.

Now I say vandalism but I was as guilty doing much the same in the houses I bought in the 70s before taking my place in this one.

We were after all part of that Habitat generation in love with clean design and wanting to banish all those late Victorian and Edwardian fiddly bits.

And on reflection we lost a lot, so that a decade later we were looking to reintroduce open fires and picture rails, examining period books for things we had thrown out.

The dining room in 2012

The supreme irony was that in south Manchester house owners were scouring the east and north of the city for period features which were coming out of properties being demolished.

It led to me reinstalling a cast iron bath and lavatory suite, along with a tiled fireplace.

We had totally ignored that simple rule that you tamper with the original design of a house at your peril and in slavishly adopting the fashionable interior design lost sight of what made the house work.

Pictures; of the interior of the house in 1977 from the collection of Lois Elsden and the house in 2012 from the collection of Andrew Simpson



*The story of house, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house