The listed pub….. a famous railway line .... and something I never knew about Patricroft

This is the Queen’s Arms in Patricroft, which is a pub I have never visited.

But I rather think I will given that after Andy took the picture he discovered a bit of it’s history , which he tells me, is that  “I sent you this pub a few days ago. I have since found out it is listed and was built in 1828 and altered in the early 20c.

It is known locally as the Top House and was formerly called Patricroft Tavern. It was purposely built as a refreshment stop for the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. It claims to be 'the world's first railway pub'”.

To which another source records that it was "built in 1828 in anticipation of the Liverpool-Manchester railway which opened in 1830, although the internal arrangements are probably late Victorian. 

Inside the front door is a small, cosy drinking lobby with a hatch-like screen to the serving area in the vault (a name appearing in the window glass).

 Here the counter seems to be Victorian although the bar-back is a replacement from 1997. Right of the entrance is the snug with draught screens and fixed seating. At the rear of the pub two rooms have been practically turned into one (done in 1996): note the ‘billiards’ and ‘bar parlour’ inscribed in the glass”.*

So one to visit I think, and in the meantime I shall trawl the old directories to find out more.

Location; Patricroft

Pictures; Queen’s Arms, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

In praise of Chorlton authors ..... part 1 .... Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping

Chorlton can boast an impressive list of writers, stretching back into the 19th century.*

Not all of them were born here and only some have chosen to write specifically about the township, but it is by any standards an impressive list.

And two of those who were born elsewhere but made their home in Chorlton are Andrew Simpson, and Peter Topping.

Andrew has written three books, of which one was a study of Chorlton-cum-Hardy in the first half of the 19th century, while Peter is a well know local artist who has just published his first book.

Together they have collaborated on another eight of which three are about Chorlton, and are currently working on three more projects.

What continues to fascinate them are the lives of people who seldom get into the history books.  It is less that history has forgotten these people but rather it just ignored them.  So, theirs are the stories behind the doors which no one has bothered to open.

This fascination has also led them to work on a series of history walks and exhibitions, culminating with two major installations, one of which covered an 80 meter site and told the history of Chorlton in sixteen panels, starting at the village green in the 16th century and finishing in the 21st.

Both were unique partnerships with local developers, and each became known as the History Walls, because as Peter says “You could stroll through our past following the panels”.

Peter’s new book, “Smile Dammit Smile!!! Chorlton”, is inspired by  the popular broadsheet Billy’s Weekly Liar which was sold across the northwest in the middle decades of the last century and offered up humorous implausible stories which had a ring of truth about them.  

Building on these Peter has presented a whole new set of Chorlton stories, supported by over 270 paintings, contemporary and period photographs, illustrations, documents and maps. 

Purporting to be a journal dedicated to investigative journalism it has lead with stories on “Bodies Found in Southern Cemetery” to a story on the proposed revised route for HS2 through Chorlton and the construction of a new station to be sited in the township.

Andrew’s most recent book, published in January, was a commission by the children’s charity, the Together Trust and records their work since 1870 in supporting young people in Manchester and Salford.  

Of his remaining two books, one was about Manchester during the Great War and the other was The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

When asked which was his favourite of the three, he nominated the book on Chorlton in the first half of the  19th century.  “I had planned to write a straight history of the place, but the more I dug deep, the more I realized the book should be about Chorlton when it was still a small rural community on the edge of Manchester when the city was going through the Industrial Revolution. There was so much materia,l that it turned into a description of the lives and customs of the people who lived here”. 

And those very lives and customs became the basis for a favourite of both Peter and Andrew’s which was The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, which affectionately recorded the lives of past and present residents, along with some of our most notable buildings.

All of which just leaves a roll call of their other books, which include the story of Hough End Hall, three books on the history of pubs in Manchester, Chorlton and Didsbury, an affectionate look at changing Didsbury , and their book on Churches, Chapels, Temples A Synagogue and Mosque.

All of which are available from Chorlton Bookshop or direct from them at from www.pubbooks.co.uk

As for the future,  their book on The Lost Stories of Chorlton-cum-Hardy told from the objects in our attics, cellars garages and sheds, is nearly finished, while the one on canals and one on the history of Greater Manchester by Metro tram are proving fun to write.

And that is how it should be for two retired individuals, who just enjoy writing and painting about the place they love.

Location; Chotlton

Pictures;  from the collections of Andrew Simpson & Peter Topping

*Joshia T. Slugg, Reminiscences of Manchester Fifty Years Ago, 1881, Thomas Ellwood, A History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, published in 26 articles between 1885-86, Nora Templar, John M Lloyd, The Township of Chorlton cum Hardy, 1972, and in the 21st century Andrew Simpson, Peter Topping, Michael Billington, Steve Kelly, Ed Caesar, Phil Pearson, and Copland Smith

A library .... lots of books .... and Mr. Carnegies’ donation ………. Eccles Library in 1907

Now Andy Robertson collects pubs and police stations and more recently he has branched out into Carnegie Libraries, which were the libraries paid for by the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

For those of us in south Manchester, we have the one in Chorlton, opened in 1914, Didsbury in 1915, and Withington in 1927.

They were three of the 660 he funded in Britain, 1,689 in the United States, 125 in Canada and more elsewhere between 1883 and 1929.

From humble beginnings he had built up a huge steel business before selling out for an estimated $500 million in 1901 and devoting himself to philanthropist projects. Even before he retired, he had been spending money on all sorts of projects of which the establishment of public libraries was just one.

But there are those who would argue the money was not his to give away, having been made by the men who toiled in the steel plants and who were denied the right to organize collectively in his workplaces. But that is another story.

The Eccles Library cost £7,500 and was opened in October 1907 with a gold key by Edward Potts who was the chair of the Library Committee.  So committed was Mr. Potts to the building of the Library that in his opening speech he asserted that "had Mr. Carnegie declined to help them he would still have advocated the erection of that building  even if they had to economise in other directions.  

Indeed, had he been committed to alternatives, he would rather have submitted to badly lit streets than allowing the minds of their people to grope in darkness.  

The library, he held, would tend to  economy.  Ignorance bred vice, and vice was costly in all communities”.*

It was a sentiment which was met with applause and I rather think is still a ringing endorsement of the importance of a library service.

That said, just seven years later,  the Libraries Committee, regretted that "they were unable to purchase many new books again this year”, because of its limited revenue, but argued that it was perhaps time to ask Parliament for powers to raise the library rate beyond penny limit”.**

After which the Library settled to the business of providing books, but the odd bit of controversy did rear its head. In 1938, after objections from the public, the Town Council banned the Library’s copy of Mein Kampf.

Less controversial was the third annual open air art exhibition staged in the gardens of the library in 1950 which the Manchester Gaudian judged a success.

Location; Eccles

Picture; Eccles Public Library, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*Eccles Library, A Fine Carnegie Institution, Manchester Guardian, October 21st, 1907

**Few New Books for Eccles Library, Manchester Guardian, June 9, 1914

Didsbury Civic Society …… the one to join

Now I have pretty much given up joining things, as Grouch Marx once remarked, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member”.

But I put that rule to one side last week and signed up to Didsbury Civic Society.

Most people when confronted with a civic society, think of local worthies with more time on their hands, passionately interested in preserving open spaces from litter and graffiti, which they combine with a fascination for preserving the past.

None of which I would disagree with, but the Didsbury Civic Society is much more than just these things.

As it says on its web site, it “aims to represent the interests of residents of all ages in an ever-changing world by, supporting the needs of local businesses, ensuring Didsbury is well represented in any discussions with Manchester City Council and liaising with other relevant agencies and residents' groups, and promoting good planning policy which conserves the best of the present environment and ensures new development is of appropriate quality”.

And that in turn means “encouraging a greater awareness of local history, welcoming and encouraging local and council participation arranging visits, talks and social events to bring people together” as well “creating new green spaces such as the Jubilee Garden and the Stenner Lane Community Orchard” and “involvement with Didsbury in Bloom, Carols and Lights, Didsbury Festival, the Classic Car Show and the Guitar Trail”.

All of which I would suggest is far more than just a band of local worthies doing a bit.

And its latest newsletter carried articles on Margaret Ashton, Warburton Street, Didsbury’s Heritage Week, a new bakery and an opening discussion of the future of the township.

As a historian I confess I gravitated to the piece on Margaret Ashton, who was born in Withington and died in Kingston Road.  She was the first woman to stand for election as a city councillor, and was the first woman to be elected to the Council.

As a councillor she devoted herself to the issues of women's health and education, and campaigned to improve the conditions of employment for women. 

She supported new legislation to improve the wages and conditions of factory girls, to raise the age of employment of children, and to abolish the sweated system.  

And campaigned for an extension of the Parliamentary vote to women as well as campaigning for peace during the Great War.

Modesty forbids me from writing about the Warburton Street story, other than to say I wrote it and it focuses on some of the people who lived there during the 19th century.

But I will just refer to La Choquette, that new French bakery, the article on the Women’s Institute, and the coverage of local issues. 

So I rather think my subscription was worth it.

Location; Didsbury

Pictures; Warburton Street and Wilmslow Road, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Didsbury Civic Society, https://www.didsburycivicsociety.org/

Messing about by the water ……. the canal at Eccles

Now not for Andy, the picturesque scene of the canal in the warmth of a bright sunny day.

Rather he chose one of those grey days which will become more common as we slide through autumn.

As he said, “this morning I got up early to go to Eccles. I knew it might be raining and it was. Gave up after a while”.

But before he closed the camera case he collected some interesting pictures of the canal which few people record.

They include one of those work a day vessels without which the easy flow of water traffic would be a tad more difficult.

It is a long time since I strolled down Barton Road following the line of the canal and I realise what I have missed.

So later today I will dig out my old maps and follow it path in the 19th century to see what I uncover.

Location; Eccles

Pictures; the canal at Eccles, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

50 ways to use a gasometer …….. no. 32 a block of apartments

I collect gasometers.  

They are a vanishing collector’s dream, and I have to confess I restrict myself to pictures and stories.

Once every self-respecting town would have its own gasworks and the accompanying gasometer to store the manufactured gas.

As a kid I was fascinated by the telescopic ones, which rose and fell with the amount of gas they held, and have always thought the steel and iron lattice frame which contained them were things of beauty.

But then I never lived next to one.

And today few people do, as increasingly they are redundant and are on the danger list.

Many have gone, but occasionally some have benefited from a bit of imagination, like the surviving ones by the Regents Canal.

Now I have to confess that I have never walked the Regents Canal.

When I was growing up in south east London I had little reason to go and visit it, especially as we had our own near by in the form of the Surrey Canal.

And on the rear occasions we made a visit home, Well Hall and the family offered up all we needed for a holiday.

All of which brings me to “50 ways to use a gasometer …….. no. 32 …. a block of apartments", and my friend Bronwen, who alerted me to the fate of those along the canal.

She was reflecting on our conversation about gas holders and commented “I think there are many older buildings now part of tourist attractions but there is something interesting these re old gas ironworks. We were by Regents Canal not so long ago where they have incorporated the ironworks into apartments.  We came across them as  part of my brother in law's London Walks.*

So, there you have it, I can now add the Regents Canal gasometers to my collection, and for anyone who wants to know more about them, just follow the link to an interesting article from the Hackney Gazette, dated 2019.**

Leaving me just to thank Bronwen for sending up the pictures.

Location; Regents Canal

Pictures; Regents Canal, 2020, from the collection of Bronwen Woods

*info@battlefieldjourney.com, https://www.battlefieldjourney.com/london-walks/markets-kites-and-canals/?fbclid=IwAR3_u_bExcRHhiZ_tJqWWgAlTJccgsUhJkSHS0ueNrXFyC8XHdjuIA1kRKc

**“‘Regent’s Canal gasholders should be turned into a museum, not taken apart’ urges East End Waterway Group’s founder Tom Ridge”, Emma Bartholomew, October 15,  2019 Hackney Gazette, https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/heritage/hackney-history-regent-s-canal-gasholders-1-6321714

A bit of sun, some boats, and a last walk along the Duke’s Canal

Now for all those wondering where the sunny weather went, here are Andy’s last pictures of an autumn day when the sun shone, and shorts could still be worn.

Yesterday he did the water walk from Northenden Road to Marsland Road, taking in a bit of a boat jam along the way.

The Duke’s Canal is one of my favourites, partly because it takes you into the heart of the city, and because it is full of history.

Added to which during the last decade the land on either side of the canal has and is undergoing a transformation, with the old brown sites cleared and slowly being redeveloped.

But yesterday Andy was less bothered with all that, and concentrated on the boats, the sunshine, and a stroll ……. Unlike today when the rain has adopted that particularly tiresome behavior of coming down not like stair rods, but just intermittently, making everywhere wet, grey, and pretty miserable.

The history of the canal is one I keep coming back to along with many of Andy’s pictures, so I shall close, with an eye of the weather forecast and the hope that by the weekend Sammy sun will be out again and there will be an opportunity to collect some wild fruit from the canal bank.*

We shall see.

Leaving me just to ponder on the intriguing gateway to Springfield Primary School.

In time I will explore its story, for now I note that there is a date of 1906 on the main building on Springfield Road, that it has a fine new addition and of course the grounds back onto the canal.

But I am confident someone will offer up something of its story.

Location; the Bridgewater Canal

Pictures; Northenden Road to Marsland Road, 2020, from the collection of Andy Robertson

*The Duke’s Canal, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Duke%27s%20Canal