I maintain and I maintain most strongly that all parks should
have their story recorded for all to know.
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| The mystery of the park, 2020 |
And so, on June 24th at the invitation of the
Friends ofChorlton Park we will be taking a gentle stroll through its history.*
The ramble will start at Brookfield House that white
building at the Nell Lane entrance and during the hour from 2pm we will explore
the park’s past.
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| Looking at the park from the air, and clocking historic features, 2023 |
Now there will be plenty who remember the paddling pool, and
the pets’ corner, but few who now know that beside the paddling pool there was
a large open air swimming bath, a band stand with a covered seating area, and
that during the last world war the park had its own air raid shelters.
Added to that the historic records suggest there was a racecourse
and an observatory, which fit nicely with stories of Brookfield House, which
dates back into the 18th century, and was once home to the son of Francis
Deakin who had been brutally murdered in a beer house on Manchester Road in
1847.
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| Brookfield Park and the fields, 1853 |
And if you had strolled along Barlow Moor Road back in the
1840s, and looked out across what is now the park you might have been able to
make out the ponds close to Brookfield House and perhaps even had conversations
with the agricultural labourers working on the fields which had names like Pit
Croft, Long Croft, Great Field, and Scaffold Field.
I doubt we will ever know the names of those farm workers,
but I do know that the fields were owned by William Jackson, and that just
across Nell Lane was Henry Jackson who lived in Hough End Hall and farmed 250
acres stretching back from the Hall across Withington.
All of which places the park and its surroundings in an
agricultural context where tenant farmers, and market gardeners grew crops to
supply the Manchester markets in the 1840s and 50s.
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| Brookfield House, circa 1900 |
Their lives will feature during our walk, along with that of
John Stanway who lived in Brookfield House in the June of 1841 and was an
accountant. He may also have been the same Mr. Stanway who was found not guilty
of
“Conspiracy to defraud” along with a William Jackson and a William Froggall
in the December of that year.
And not to be shortchanged there will be plenty about the paddling
pool, pets’ corner, the large open air swimming bath, the band stand with its
covered seating area, and those air raid shelters, along with that racecourse
and observatory.
Leaving me just to thank the Friends of Chorlton Park and to
suggest the following reading material for those who want to know a bit before
they arrive.
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| Paddling in the pool, circa 1930s |
The list includes the stories
from the blog** and the chapter
in The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 2018, Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping which
is available from Chorlton Bookshop or us at
www.pubbooks.co.uk.
So meet us at Brookfield House that white building at the Nell Lane entrance
at 2 pm for a walk through the past which should last ah hour.
And for those who want more, the Friends of Chorlton Park have made the invitation as part of Chorlton Open Gardens and will be fundraising for the charity Freedom from Torture.
Location; Chorlton Park
Pictures;
Chorlton Park 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Chorlton Park 2023, showing historic features, courtesy of Google Maps, Chorlton Park, 1853, ,from the 1853 OS for Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,
http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk Brookfield House circa 1900, and the paddling pool circa 1930s, from a series of picture postcards produced by Harold Arthur Clarke from the Lloyd Collection *The Friends of Chorlton Park, https://www.facebook.com/groups/CholtonPark
**Chorlton Park, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Chorlton%20Park
For four decades the pictures I took of Eltham and Woolwich in the mid ‘70’s sat undisturbed in our cellar. 
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