Back in the 1970s watching men at work on the canal

Earlier in the week I posted three pictures of the Castlefield area taken by David Easton.

And here are two more.

All were taken from a moving train and David apologised for “the quality of these images. 

I hope they are of some interest though. 

Those of Castlefield were taken from a moving train and have been scanned from ageing slides. 

This was about 1972/3 when there was still some barge traffic on the Ship Canal. 

Some barges occasionally found their way onto the Bridgewater Canal although I think the warehouses were already out of use.”

Pictures; from the collection of David Easton

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 52 ............ shared anniversaries

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.*

I am not sure how we will mark the centenary of the house or for that matter when we should do it.

My feeling is that it would be best to look for the time one hundred years ago when Joe and Mary Ann moved in, but the smart money is for when the Mr Scott senior finished the job with the last coat of outside paint for the front door.

But what makes it a tad more significant is that this year will also mark the centenary of one of the houses I grew up in which even now fifty years later remains a place I have very fond memories of.

And the two properties could not be more different.  Joe and Mary Ann’s house was a solid end terrace, fitted out with electricity and was one of a series of building projects which the family undertook from the opening decades of the 20th century well into the 1940s.

By contrast 294 Well Hall Road was a smaller more modest property which still retained some of the original fittings including the bracket for gas lights and a communal path in the back garden which linked all four houses.

Moreover 294 Well Hall was a part of grand plan by the Government to build in less than a year an estate for the families of men and women who were employed at Woolwich Arsenal that great factory for the manufacture of weapons and shells.

And of course it being 1915 the demand for more labour at the Arsenal was paramount.

Even so the creation of what is still regarded as a fine example of a garden suburb in less than a year was remarkable.

But despite the differences theses two houses have much in common.  Not only were they built during a period when were at war but they were both built at a time when the surrounding area was still pretty much open farmland.

From their back window Joe and Mary Ann had views across fields out past the Brook while on either side of the terrace there were farmhouses which dated back into the 18th century.

Likewise the first residents of 294 could look up at the woods on Shooters Hill and wander off towards the farm land which now makes up the Kdbrook estate.

All of which brings me back to that anniversary.

Now the preparations to mark the centenary of the Well Hall estate have been laid for a long time and there will be many different activities during the course of the year.

But I am not sure about Joe and Mary Ann’s house.  By all accounts they were a quiet couple liked by many who lived a modest life, and as they were here for nearly 60 years I rather think we will respect that fact and let the event pass with little fuss.

After all I have only clocked up 38 years here.

Picture;  Joe and Mary Ann’s house, 1975, from the collection of Lois Sparshot, and 294 Well Hall Road, 2014 courtesy of Chrissie Rose

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

Looking out from Medlock Street

Now here is one I like.

It was taken by Andy Robertson on one of those last days in December, between Christmas and New Year when the best thing you can do is to escape the arch chair and tell and get out and about.

And that is exactly what Andy did in a series of walks that took him in a few short days across the city into Salford and back again into Manchester.

This is one from his Medlock expedition.

I could have chosen a clutch more but this one I especially like with its mix of the old and the new and the range of shapes and colours.

Picture; from Medlock Street, December 2014, from the collection of Andy Robertson

That diary from 1918, a mystery envelope from France dated 1952 and a stories of wartime heroism

I continue to be intrigued by the way a story can go off in any one of a number of directions none of which were what I had planned.

So on January 1st I posted a piece on a diary which my friend Ann had come across.

It was for the year 1918 and so with the promise of more pages to come from Ann I thought it would all unfold in a fairly straight forward way and amongst the accounts of New Year resolutions might be some references to the Great War.

As it turned out the diary had no comments, reflections or even the odd descriptions instead we had a set of notes on French trains complete with locomotive numbers, and dates they were collected which I suppose was not surprising given that this was the “The Railway Carriage and Wagon Builders’ Pocket Diary, 1918" price 2 shillings and sixpence, published by the Locomotive Publishing Company of 3 Amen Corner London EC 4.

And this took me off on a journey of discovery which brought me face to face with the three railway apprentices who set up a railway magazine which became a publishing company and lasted for nearly 60 years.

Nor was that the end of the story because contained in the diary was an envelope addressed to the secretary of the RAF Escaping Society, at 83 Portland Place posted in France in 1952.

A search so far has not revealed anything of the named individual but the society was "founded in 1945 as a non sectarian and non political society and existed to give financial assistance to surviving helpers and dependants of those who  lost their lives assisting members of the Royal Air Forces to evade and escape, make charitable donations in their countries to worthy causes, as an expression of thanks, encourage visits between the helpers and the helped and foster good relations and friendship between their countries.”*

It continued in existence till 1995 when it was officially wound up having been established with a mandate of 50 years.

And as I came to the end of the story, Mr Stanton of The Escape Lines Memorial Society kindly provided with a little more information,

"The Royal Air Forces Escaping Society was born on 11 June 1945, one month after the war in Europe had finished.  In September 1945, the rules of the RAFES were established in the British Embassy in Paris. 

The Society was open to all RAF and Dominion airmen who successfully escaped from captivity or evaded enemy capture between 03 September 1939 and 9 May 1945. (Dates different for Far East). 

The Society had a mandate of fifty years after which they laid their Standard up in Lincoln Cathedral in September 1995.

The Society had offices in London throughout, the last one being 206 Brompton Road, London. 

On the closure of the Society in September 1995, many of their committee and members transferred to the WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society (ELMS) and continue with us today (many were members of both Societies). 

Our Society also includes Army Escapers, Resistance Groups, SOE members and similar organisations throughout the world.

At the end of the war many ladies from the FANY trawled through thousands of debriefing reports from aircrew evaders to extract where possible the names of the people who had assisted the evaders. 

An Awards Bureau was set up in Paris and Brussels and after confirmation with aircrew evaders awards were given out. 

The people that had assisted aircrew had affectionately been called 'helpers'. 

It is quite a long and interesting story of bravery under very dangerous situations. 

The 'helpers' had never met their 'parcels' before, could not speak their language, had hardly any food or clothing, yet shared all they had with their evaders. 

They acted as couriers, mountain guides and safe-house keepers. 

The expected life span of a helper on an escape line was 90 days. Very few survived the war unscathed. 

On capture they could only expect torture before execution for the men and torture followed by a concentration camp for women. Many women died in the camps. 

I must also point out the army had their own organisation known as the Army POW Escape Club. This was also set up in 1945 and disbanded in 2000. The army Escapers also joined ELMS and a number continue with us today. 

Although most evaders in western Europe were aircrew, most escapers were army, and a mixture of both used the escape lines. 

In Italy the vast majority of escapers were army. 

No escape lines existed as such and the Italian escapers were assisted by people from the mountain villages called 'contadini'. 

If caught the 'contadini' also suffered the same fate as the helpers in Western Europe. 

Italy was much more difficult for the evaders and escapers than western Europe. No official escape lines. No transport. High mountains. Deep snow and freezing temperatures. With the only way out by mountain walking. Italy has been for many years over shadowed by western Europe yet it was a more difficult area. 

There were also Germans, fascists and Bounty Hunters to contend with."

Sadly our envelope offered up no letter, or a name for the person who sent it but I am sure this is not the end of the story.

Pictures; of the diary, 1918 and envelope, 1952 from the collection of Ann Love

Additional material © Roger Stanton, 2015

* Royal Air Forces Escaping Society, http://www.rafinfo.org.uk/rafescape/

** The Escape Lines Memorial Society,www.ww2escapelines.co.uk &    rogerstanton.elms@tpiz.co.uk

I wonder where young Connie of Chorlton cum Hardy went with her suitcase that she won in the UCP tripe competition in 1939

I wonder where Connie Dick of Chorlton cum Hardy went with her suitcase that she won in the UCP tripe competition in 1939?

Now who could resist a question like that?

My friend Sally came across the UCP advert and like me was intrigued.

UCP stood for United Cattle Products and as the ad announces specialised in “Tripe and Cowheels Fresh Daily”

Now there will be many who remember the large UCP restaurant on Market Street which was one of 146 such places in the North offering up tripe dishes in the 1950s.

It was a large four storied building, emblazoned down the side with the initials UCP and announced that it offered  a “Restauraunt Cafeteria  [and] Banqueting”

I must have passed it loads of times but never went in and only years later discovered what the initials UCP stood for.

I can’t be sure when it closed but it was still offering up “ox tail, cow heel and other bovine extremities in an age when little was wasted.”*

Today there is even a web site dedicated which offers up some fascinating pictures and the chance to “OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY [and] BUY THE 1932 UCP RECIPE BOOK.”*

Now I doubt we will ever discover whether Connie enjoyed tripe and I have no idea if she went on holiday with her 25 shilling consolation prize, “British leather covered suitcase”

But I do know that was ten years old and was living in Eleanor Road in Chorlton.

Ten years later she married Thomas P Le Vicount and died aged 70 in Stockport.

Constance was one of three siblings whose father had also grown up in Chorlton.

All of which leaves me wondering what she thought of that consolation prize and above all whether she had entered a painting of an essay about the seaside which the advertisement promised could win “a wonderful free holiday” along with £500 in other prizes.

Picture; advert, 1939 courtesy of Sally Dervan

* UCP TRIPE, http://www.unitedcattleproducts.co.uk/

Telling the story of 12 young people given a better future by a Manchester charity in 1882

Austin, one of the twelve

Now here is a little of the lives of some of the young people who were given the opportunity of a better future with the help of the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges.

During the late 19th the provision of help for those who were on the margins of poverty or had fallen over the edge was pretty much limited to the Poor Law, charities and wealthy well meaning individuals.

And if you were young, destitute or at the mercy of improvident parents struggling to survive in our city you might well have come to the attention of the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges.

It is an organization I keep coming back to no less because of the excellent blog produced by the archivist of the charity.

This week’s edition focuses on twelve young individuals and the strength of the story is that it has been drawn from the archives of the Trust which just leaves me to point you to the link.*

Picture; Austin – one of the twelve, courtesy of the Together Trust

*More on the Moody party, http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/

Angels in the Meadow

Now it is always a privilege when I get a guest writer to contribute to the blog and so I was pleased when Richard agreed to write about the work being undertaken to regenerate Angel Meadow that once notorious part of Manchester.

Back in the 19th century

And I hope this will be just the first.

"The lowest, most filthy, most unhealthy and most wicked locality in Manchester is called Angel Meadow. It lies off the Oldham Road, is full of cellars and is inhabited by prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, cadgers, vagrants, tramps and in the very worst states of filth and darkness."  

So wrote Angus Reach for The Morning Chronicle in 1849. However, sixty years earlier Angel Meadow was anything but; the area occupied by a burgeoning middle class of Manchester whose Georgian town houses commanded views of the beautiful Irk Valley with its Rolling Meadows and trout-filled river.

In 1788 St. Michael's & All Angels Church was built as the area prospered.

Six years earlier Richard Arkwright had constructed Simpson's Mill- Manchester's first steam-powered cotton mill across the road from the church (today the new Co-op HQ site); an invention which would help to transform not just Angel Meadow and the city, but the whole world as the Industrial Revolution took hold.
 By the mid-19th century Angus Reach wasn't the only social commentator to discover that behind the new wealth and prestige of Cottonopolis lay a darker reality, described by Friedrich Engels as "a Hell on Earth" in his Conditions of the Working Classes in England & Ireland 1844.

In Angel Meadow the original Middle Class inhabitants had long since left for the new suburbs and cleaner air, replaced by the poorest migrant workers (many from Scotland and Ireland, fleeing the potato famines and land clearances) living out desperate existences, with life expectancy less than 27 yrs old.

The old elegant Georgian town houses were transformed into cheap lodging houses alongside squalid back-to-back terraces.

Before regeneration, 1980s

A Pauper's Burial Ground had been created adjacent to St. Michael's churchyard and within just 27 years nearly 40,000 bodies had been cast into a vast pit, covered with lime and then heavy flagstones to prevent the bones being stolen for fertiliser.

The demise of Angel Meadow had been compounded by the Leeds-Manchester train viaduct bringing smog and environmental disaster to accompany further aromas from the numerous tanneries, dyeworks and abattoirs located along the banks of the River Irk. Cholera particularly struck hard in Angel Meadow because of the poor sanitation of its residents.

The church graveyard was finally closed for burials in 1854, with approximately 3800 buried within its boundaries; neglected epitaphs which would be covered by moss and abandoned for the next 150 years.

After regeneration, 2005

The church itself stood as fortress to moral decline until 1935 as attendance dwindled (artist LS Lowry painted it many times) and the area was depopulated during post-war slum clearances.


And there the gravestones lay until the turn of the last Millennium when regeneration of the old red brick warehouses, alongside new apartments, brought residents back to Angel Meadow.

The Friends of Angel Meadow (FOAM) was set up in 2004 to campaign for the regeneration of St. Michael's Flags & Angel Meadow into a local park. Since then Lottery funding and other grants has seen improved paths, history boards, opening up of entrances and new seating.

Members of FOAM, 2009

FOAM members continue working to maintain the park as a community asset well as engaging in Local History research projects- a key element of its original constitution.

Many of the original St. Michael's church gravestones had been damaged or removed but there remain about 40, configured into a new seating area within the park.

But who were these people buried here, where had they come from and where did their descendants end up?

 FOAM's "Who do you think they were?" project seeks to answer those questions. Working alongside the Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society, members were guided in using both online and MCC archive resources; scraping back "all the moss which had grown over their names.” 


The research revealed families such as the Thornhills who had migrated to Manchester from Cheshire. One descendant, Sir Thomas Thornhill Shann, (a true Manchester Man: from child cotton mill labourer to influential industrialist) would serve as Lord Mayor of Manchester between 1903-05, greeting King Edward VII on his visit to the city in 1904.

Angel Meadow, 2005

Yorkshire born, William Buck was a descendant of the Redmaynes of Westmorland (who included Henry VIII's wife, Katherine Parr) within their family tree.

Joseph Cowlishaw was descended from Sir John Claye (b.1440) knighted by Edward IV, during the War of the Roses.

Further antecedents had migrated to America including anti-slavery politician Cassius Marcellus Clay.

A descendant of African-slaves, Herman H. Clay, would name his own son after him in tribute. His son, Cassius Clay Jr (b.1942) would later convert to Islam and change his name to Muhammad Ali.

FOAM members 2005

Heroes of the American Civil War and both World Wars, an Archbishop of a breakaway Catholic Church, a winning horse breeder of the Kentucky Derby, a three-time American Presidential election runner-up and just ordinary working men contributing to the economic vitality of Manchester during its heyday with the luck to make it out alive are just some of those who the project has already discovered.

FOAM received a commendation for the project from the Manchester Histories Festival in 2014 and continue to reveal stories.

Pictures, courtesy of FOAM

 All the research and further information, including ways to get involved, can be viewed at the GENEALOGY section of the FOAM website: http://www.friends-of-angel-meadow.org/index.htm