So goodbye to Carlton House on High Lane ……… well almost

Carlton House is that building on High Lane and Acres Road.

Carlton House, 2022

For well over a century, it has been in the business of education, starting out as a convent school and then becoming the Islamic High School for Girls.

But all that is about to change as the Islamic High School is relocating to West Didsbury and the site is about to be redeveloped.

Cube Homes propose to build “22 high quality, energy efficient and sustainable new homes comprising 14 four bedroom townhouses, 6 two-bedroom apartments, and the retention and refurbishment of Carlton House, which will be converted into 2 homes”.*

We are at the early stage where Cube Homes have bought the land, had preliminary discussions with the Planners at the City Council and have floated a “Preapplication” statement and consultation.

The Convent, 1959

All of the details are available online and make for an interesting read, particularly because the developer amended the plans in the light of conversations with the City Planning Department.

One of which was the retention of Carlton House.

It is a building I have passed countless times but never once gave it much thought.

For most of the time I have lived in Chorlton it was the Convent School before becoming the Manchester Islamic Grammar School For Girls.

But it started as the home of Thomas and Catherine Harrison who I suspect were pleased with their impressive property which consisted of 10 rooms with a garden which stretched down towards Beech Road and included stables, a greenhouse and heaps of ancient fruit trees.

I have written its story and always intended to go back.  That first story set off a heap of memories from those who attended the convent school and no doubt the second will bring forth more from its time as the Islamic High School.**

Carlton House and garden, 1894

Now the historic records offer up heaps of possible avenues of research including the cottage which  stood on the site in the 1840s and 50s, when this strip of land was owned by William Brundrett.

But also highlight just how twisty turny historical research can be, because I came across Carlton House almost by accident as I was looking for the story behind 97 Beech Road which if I have got it right dates back to 1886, and has in its time sold many different things

Carlton House dates from 1866 and may have been sold in 1898 when Mrs Harrison died.  Either way sometime between 1903 and 1909 her grand house became the Convent. The 1911  census records it was home to the Principal, six teachers, one pupil teacher and the house keeper.  

Walking the garden wall, 2020

They ranged in age from 49 down to 18 years old, all were single, and were drawn from across the country and beyond.  So, while four were from Ireland, one was from Dorset and the remaining three had been born in Woolwich, Hackney and London.

And now that link with education has come to an end.

I could at this point reflect on the proposed plans, or the bigger issue of new homes in Chorlton but I won’t, suffice to say the proposals recognises that despite real  environmental concerns provision has been made for more than one car per house hold, which in turn may prevent the squeeze on on road parking.

Added to which Acres Road is to be widened, which clearly makes sense.  The historian in me acknowledges that this will alter the historic character of what was popularly known as “Acres Crack” and originated as a small watercourse covered over sometime before the 1880s, but the trade off is the retention of Carlton House.

That said the scale of the development does seem over large for that corner of Acres Road.

So, the rest are stories yet to come.

Location; High Lane

Pictures; Carlton House, and the line of what was once the garden, 2022,  from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Carlton and house and grounds 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives, https://digitalarchives.co.uk/  and Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959, A.E. Landers, m17917, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Cube Homes High Lane Consultation, https://www.cubehomeshighlaneconsultation.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR0RpY4WJSNMpEm-cSD6fIFNrQfHjnh9M1Dhccez1k9WCISxdPBYZTNpfyA

**Carlton House …… the convent on High Lane and …….. the trail that led back to a Beech Road bar

https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/10/carlton-house-convent-on-high-lane-and.html

Carlton House …… the convent on High Lane and …….. the trail that led back to a Beech Road bar

This was Carlton House on High Lane which was the home of one family from 1866 to the early years of the 20th century.

Carlton House, 2022

And it is a building I have passed countless times but never once gave it much thought.

For most of the time I have lived in Chorlton it was the Convent School before becoming the Manchester Islamic Grammar School For Girls.

But it started as the home of Thomas and Catherine Harrison who I suspect were pleased with their impressive property which consisted of 10 rooms with a garden which stretched down towards Beech Road and included stables, a greenhouse and heaps of ancient fruit trees.

Just how long that garden was can be gauged by walking down Acres Road from High Lane and following the brick wall of the present school.

Carlton House, 1894

I have yet to find out when Thomas died but I know it will have been before 1871 when Catherine was recorded as a “Widow” at the age of 44.  

She died in 1898 leaving £29,511, and sometime between 1903 and 1909 Carlton House  became the Convent.

Walking the garden, Acres Road, 2022

Two years later the census records it was home to the Principal, six teachers, one pupil teacher and the house keeper.  

They ranged in age from 49 down to 18 years old, all were single, and were drawn from across the country and beyond.  So, while four were from Ireland, one was from Dorset and the remaining three had been born in Woolwich, Hackney and London.

Now the historic records offer up heaps of possible avenues of research including the cottage which  stood on the site in the 1840s and 50s, when this strip of land was owned by William Brundrett.

But also highlight just how twisty turny historical research can be, because I came across Carlton House almost by accident as I was looking for the story behind 97 Beech Road which if I have got it right dates back to 1886, and has in its time sold many different things

Some will remember it as Marcelle’s Fabric shop, and later briefly when it sold “interesting things” before settling on a succession of bars and cafes.

 Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959

And here is the connection with Carlton House, because 97 Beech Road had been built and owned by William Henry Acton who was the son in law of Thomas and Catherine Harrison. 

In 1871 he was living at Carlton House along with his granddaughter and at 28 was already a widower. 

So, the project turns on where next?  

I know that Mr. Acton was still on High Lane in 1901 but along with other members of the family had retreated to the delights of a large hotel or guesthouse in Bournemouth, having described himself as a “Wood carver” in 1871, forty years later was styling himself “retired builder”.

Or equally fascinating might be a study of the Convent which I am sure will elicit plenty of memories, or the cottage on High Lane before Carlton House.

Beech Road Tap House, 97 Beech Road, 2020

We shall see.

97 Beech Road, 2023

And an anonymous contributor reminded me that "No 97, I remember after Marcelle's was 'Jean Genie', a card / gift shop, and also that 'interesting things' shop you mention, before becoming 'the Library', the 'Tap House' and latterly the short-lived 'Seb's Bar'".

Which reminded me that I had passed the latest "happy" venue to occupy 97 Beech Road, which is appropriately named 97.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Carlton House, and the line of what was once the garden, 2022, Beech Road Tap House, 2020,and (7 Beech Road, 2023,  from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Carlton and house and grounds 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives, https://digitalarchives.co.uk/  and Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959, A.E. Landers, m17917, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

What fate for our Lady?

 I am looking at the mosaic of “Our Lady of Good Counsel” on Stockton Road.

Our Lady, 2024

It is to the left of the entrance to the former Convent school extension and now has an uncertain future.  

The main school was in Carlton House on High Lane.  

The house dates back to the 1860s and has an interesting story all of which I have written about.*

In the early 20th century it was taken over by the Sisters of the Christian Retreat , and there will be many who remember attending the school before it in turn became the Islamic High School for Girls.

But with the removal of the Islamic High School to Fielden Park the site is up for development.  There is a planning application in from Cube Homes who propose to build “22 high quality, energy efficient and sustainable new homes comprising 14 four bedroom townhouses, 6 two-bedroom apartments, and the retention and refurbishment of Carlton House, which will be converted into 2 homes”.**

Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959

The details of the proposed development are available on Manchester’s Planning Portal, which reveals that the school extension on Stockton Road will be demolished in favour of two “dwelling houses” along with a much larger development occupying High Lane and running down Acres Road.***

So I wonder the fate of Our Lady.  I couldn’t see any reference to it in the planning proposals, but maybe I missed them.

The Sisters of the Christian Retreat still exist, and St John’s is just round the corner.

In the face of its possible destruction some will mutter so what, but it is a little bit of our history.  Just how much of our past is unclear.  The extension post dates 1956 and looks to be 60s/70s build, that said there will be someone who remembers it being constructed and might have press cuttings of the unveiling of the mosaic.

A tree, some fruit and Our Lady, 2024

We shall see,

Location; Stockton Road

Pictures; Our Lady, 2024 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959, A.E. Landers, m17917, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov

*Carlton House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Carlton+House

**Cube Homes High Lane Consultation, https://www.cubehomeshighlaneconsultation.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR0RpY4WJSNMpEm-cSD6fIFNrQfHjnh9M1Dhccez1k9WCISxdPBYZTNpfyA

***Manchester Planning Portal, 37994/FO/2023. Erection of 12 no. 2.5 storey dwellinghouses; a pair of three storey semi-detached dwellinghouses; a three storey building comprising 6 no. apartments; the retention and change of use of the existing mansion house together with the erection of a two storey side extension to form 2 no. dwellinghouses; creation of vehicular access points, associated landscaping, car parking and boundary treatment following the demolition of the other existing buildings and structures. https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=S0IQG9BCMGC00

What was lost is found ……… and the race is on to save this bit of our history

 Now I fully appreciate that for some the story of convents, churches and even redundant pubs do not catch the imagination but each in their way make up our past.

The beautiful mosaic scheme 2025

One such bit is Carlton House on High Lane.

In it’s time it was a private residence, and then a convent, finishing as the Manchester Islamic High School for Girls, and is now part of a new development which spans High Lane, one side of Acres Road and a short stretch of Stockton Road.

And I have written about all its various stages, culminating in that mosaic of Our Lady on Stockton Road*.

I remember the mosaic and often wondered if it had survived underneath the big black and gold sign for the Islamic School and it has, which in itself is a rescue project, but now I understand from Bronwen O'Donoghue that “a beautiful mosaic scheme has just been uncovered. It was hidden beneath layers added in the 1980s when the Islamic school took over the site.

Our Lady, 2024

And there will be many former students of the convent who will remember them and want them preserved, to which I think there will be many who like me see those mosaics as an important story wanting to be recorded and kept.

The convent comes from that time in Chorlton’s history when there were many small and not so small schools catering for the growing middle class who were moving into Chorlton from the 1880s.

Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959

They included private infant and junior schools as well as  “crammers” designed to offer quick paths to business and professional qualifications.  

One such was Mr Dadley's Grammar School on High Lane which occupied the two properties making up what was and is again Denbiegh Villas.

These schools occupied what had been private residences which is where Carlton House comes in and the story of the convent.

They stand in direct line to smaller private schools running back into the early nineteenth century which coexisted with the church school on the village green.

All of which makes the project of recovering and preserving the mosaics important as part of that continuous story of how our children were taught.

For those who want to read  about the development of the site just follow the link.**

So, it is all to work for.

Pictures; The beautiful mosaic scheme, uncovered 2025, courtesy of Bronwen O'Donoghue, Our Lady, 2024 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Convent of the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, 1959, A.E. Landers, m17917, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov

*Carlton House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Carlton%20House

**Manchester City Council Planning Portal, Manchester Planning Portal, 37994/FO/2023. Erection of 12 no. 2.5 storey dwellinghouses; a pair of three storey semi-detached dwellinghouses; a three storey building comprising 6 no. apartments; the retention and change of use of the existing mansion house together with the erection of a two storey side extension to form 2 no. dwellinghouses; creation of vehicular access points, associated landscaping, car parking and boundary treatment following the demolition of the other existing buildings and structures. https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=S0IQG9BCMGC00

97 Beech Road …… the shop that did the lot

Now I must confess that over the years I have neglected no. 97 Beech Road.

In 2020

Looking back to the collection of photographs stretching back a heap of decades it rarely features and that is a shameful oversight.

I think I have just half a dozen from the early 1980s till today. By comparison pretty much all the other shops, bars, and pubs have been snapped multiple times.

And yet it deserves more.

I can track it back to 1886 when it appears for the first time, and in that long retail history it has been a butcher’s, a grocer, and more recently a fabric shop as well as a furniture dealer before beginning it’s erratic association with bars cafes and restaurants.

2022

I say erratic because in the space of the time since it embraced the café society it has been run by various people and traded under different names.

But it’s earlier history is intriguing, because in 1921 it was run by Miss Elizabeth Howard and was a “Millinery shop” to which it became again in the 1960s when it was Marcell Materials, and as a fabric shop it stayed into the turn of this century.

There are a few gaps to fill in in its nearly 140 years of trading.  I know that in 1939 it had reverted to a grocer’s, leaving just the 1950s to explore.

When it was brand new it was part of that commercial revolution which offered up all sorts of things you could buy along Beech Road, which 30 odd years before would not have been possible.

1980s

Back in the 1850s there were few shops trading in Chorlton-cum-Hardy and if you wanted a set of needles, or the latest Charles Dicken’s episode, you had to buy it in Manchester or order it up from one of iterant traders who would collect it and deliver it. 

So the construction of the shops either side of the Police Station mirrored by the other development opposite must have marked a consumer revolution, perhaps more significant for local residents than the present plethora of bars cafes and restaurants which have sprung since the mid 1990s.

And for those interested in Mr. Acton he appears in the Carlton House story, where he lived with his daughter and parents in law for thirty years.*

Leaving me just to record that it is now that cocktail place and very swish it is.

Location; Beech Road

Circa 1911

Pictures; no.97, 2020 and 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and circa 1980s from the collection of Tony Walker

*Carlton House …… the convent on High Lane and …….. the trail that led back to a Beech Road bar, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/10/carlton-house-convent-on-high-lane-and.html

 

Wellfield .... in Whalley Range ...... rises again …………

 No. 59 Upper Chorlton Road has had one of those “interesting stories” which is only to be expected for a house which is 161 years old.

Work in progress, 2022

It first appears in the records in 1861 as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood, their four children and four servants.

The property commanded a rateable value of £160 which marked it out as one of the more expensive properties along the road with views across fields towards the gardens of Hullard Hall.  

It was set in an extensive garden with two greenhouses and fronted the still private Upper Chorlton Road which had been cut by Samuel Brooks in the 1830s for his new Whalley Range development.

The site of Wellfield marked in red, 1854

From the beginning it carried the name of Wellfield, and throughout the rest of the 19th century was home to merchants and manufacturers.  

Of these the McQuade family, bought the house in 1871 and stayed there until 1899 were the longest residents.

But by then the surrounding area was being developed, and the fine views towards Hullard Hall were obscured by row of semidetached properties, which included The Whalley Range Orphanage, while some of the grand houses close to Wellfield had vanished to be replaced by more modest homes. 

And by the turn of the century the Hichelwood’s former home had also undergone a transformation, and was being used as a laundry, with only part of the house occupied by a family who worked in the business.

Wellfield surrounded, 1894

Just when the laundry ceased is as yet unclear but the OS maps for 1933 and 1951 record the property as Wellfield Linen Works, which doesn’t preclude it still being be a laundry.

But in 1954 it is listed as the Paramount Wallpapers Ltd warehouse and in 1962 59 Upper Chorlton Road operated as “Linda Gay Dresses Ltd. Gown manufacturers” and 59a as "Needham F. (Shopfitters) Ltd". 

The last directory entry is for 1969 when the property was listed as “W.P.M ltd. Wallpaper mfs”.

That said in the 2000s it was a carpet warehouse, and I can attest to buying two cheapy carpets from them.

As for the house, by 1939 it was divided into three flats, and continued as such into 1962, and later still seems to have been further subdivided into 10.

It is a common enough story, which saw a once grand house converted to fit the changing needs of the 20th century when its size and decline in the use of domestic servants made it less attractive as a home for one family.

Work begins, 2022

What perhaps adds a twist is its partial conversion in to industrial and retail use.

And that may have just saved it from being demolished in favour of a block of pedestrian flats which maximise the footprint to squeeze as many flats as possible onto the exiting plot of land.

That could still have been the fate of Wellfield, but instead it was acquired Armistead Property who specialise in transforming old residential properties into modern apartments while retaining as much of the original character as possible.*

The original floor tiles, 2022

Their work has featured on the blog over the years, including the award-winning Denbigh Villas development on High Lane and the equally impressive Carlton Terrace, at 199 and 201 Upper Chorlton Road.**

Transforming the upstairs, 2022

In the case of Wellfield the plan is to create 17 apartments using the existing house and an extension and creating roof top gardens.

Features like the large south facing window, and the floor tiles in the hall will be retained and any internal features which survived the brutal years of “laundry and multi occupancy”.

But modern planning regulations may preclude the retention of the barrel roof in the cellar.

That said the architect Simon Jones and the contractors have been alert to the possibilities of saving more of the original house as possible.

Added to these the original brickwork is in the process of being cleaned to brig it back to what it would have looked like when Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood walked in on for the very first time.

It will always remain an area of debate as to how far an old property should be saved and what the price of saving it will be.  

There are countless examples of where the conversion has been done badly and fails to honour the original building but done properly and it seems to me, we are on a winner.

After the laundry and warehouse were demolished, 2022

So, the survival of Denbigh Villas which was home to a famous industrialist and historian as well as a school does much to save a bit of our history, while the alternative is to see such historic buildings left neglected in an increasingly parlous state till safety demands their demolition.

Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; Wellfield, 2022, from the collections of Andrew Simpson and Armistead Property and the site in 1854 and 1894, from the 1854 OS map of Lancashire and the 1894 OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

**Denbigh Villas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=denbigh+Villas&max-results=20&by-date=true & Carlton Terrace, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%20200%2F198%20Upper%20Chorlton%20Road

Painting Peckham ............. standing in a pub with no beer ....... the Carlton Tavern on Culmore Road

Now it’s just one of those things that “there's nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.”*

The Carlton Tavern 2015 from a photograph, 2008

Which I guess might well be the closing words for the Carlton Tavern.

It did the business of pulling and serving pints on Culmore Road from 1867 till sometime around 2011.

But like so many pubs around the country that fateful mix of cheap supermarket beer, changing life styles and the onward march of the bar culture have done for so many traditional drinking places.

So as part of Peter’s ongoing project to paint the pubs of Peckham here is his painting of the Carlton Tavern taken from a 2008 photograph on London Pubology that excellent site for all things to do with London pubs and from where I discovered a little of his history.**

The Carlton tavern, 2015

And by sheer coincidence just a few days earlier Adam Burgess sent me another photograph of the place which he tells me “is now a block of flats but  has still got the advertising for the world cup on the blackboards” and if you look closely there also is the old  sign standing outside.

But for all that it is still a pub with no beer which brings me back to that song which I must have first heard sometime in the late 1950s.

It was adapted by Gordon Parsons from Dan Sheehan’s poem "A Pub with No Beer"  and was made popular by fellow Australian country singer Slim Dusty.

Since then it has been covered by a shedful of singers and has settled so deep into our culture that I assumed it was an old Victorian music hall song.

And along the way it has become the anthem for any one whose pub has temporarily run out of beer which is why it was such a hit in Ontario in 1958 when a strike at of Canadian brewery workers stopped the flow of beer for 48 days.

Slim Dusty

But that like the song is for another time leaving me only to reflect that having spent the last hour listening to the songs of Dusty Slim I have become a fan.***

Not that I suspect I will win many converts in our house for his brand of Australian country music which like all good country music mixes simplicity with a dash of truth and humour.

All of which is a long way from Culmore Road and that pub with no beer.

Location; Peckham, London

Painting; The Carlton Tavern, © 2015 Peter Topping from a photograph, 2008 in London Pubolgy 

Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Facebook: Paintings from Pictures https://www.facebook.com/paintingsfrompictures

Picture; The Carlton Tavern, 2015, courtesy of Adam Burgess and Slim Dusty reproduced from ABC News, 2003


*Slim Dusty sings a Pub with No Beer,  https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?p=Slim+Dusty+sings+a+Pub+with+No+Beer&fr=mcafee&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av%2Cm%3Asb%2Crgn%3Atop&ei=UTF-8

** Carlton Tavern, 45 Culmore Road, Peckham SE15
http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/Camberwell/CarltonTavern.shtml

***State funeral planned for Slim Dusty, ABC News  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-19/slim-dusty-hangs-up-his-spurs/1481156

Welcome back Wellfield ….. that impressive and historic house in Whalley Range

History hasn’t been kind to that grand old house at the end of Upper Chorlton Road close to the former Whalley Hotel.

Wellfield, 2023

Once it was home to a succession of wealthy families but for most of the last century it was the site of a series of commercial ventures, which included a laundry, a wallpaper warehouse and more recently a carpet showroom.

And to add to the indignity the property was divided into a number of self-contained flats, which were themselves subdivided over the decades.

But all that decline has been reversed by Peter Armistead and his team of architects, builders, and interior designers, and today as the development enters its final stages, 59 Upper Chorlton Road is once again an attractive place to live.

It first appears in the records in 1861 as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood, their four children and four servants.

Wellfield, 1894

The property commanded a rateable value of £160 which marked it out as one of the more expensive properties along the road with views across fields towards the gardens of Hullard Hall.  

Original floor, 2020

It was set in an extensive garden with two greenhouses and fronted the still private Upper Chorlton Road which had been cut by Samuel Brooks in the 1830s for his new Whalley Range development.

From the beginning it carried the name of Wellfield, and throughout the rest of the 19th century was home to merchants and manufacturers.  

Of these the McQuade family, bought the house in 1871 and stayed there until 1899 were the longest residents.

But by then the surrounding area was being developed, and the fine views towards Hullard Hall were obscured by row of semidetached properties, which included The Whalley Range Orphanage, while some of the grand houses close to Wellfield had vanished to be replaced by more modest homes. 

And by the turn of the century the Hichelwood’s former home had also undergone a transformation, and was being used as a laundry, with only part of the house occupied by a family who worked in the business.

Just when the laundry ceased is as yet unclear but the OS maps for 1933 and 1951 record the property as Wellfield Linen Works, which doesn’t preclude it still being be a laundry.

After the demolition of the industrial workshops, 2020

But in 1954 it is listed as the Paramount Wallpapers Ltd warehouse and in 1962 59 Upper Chorlton Road operated as “Linda Gay Dresses Ltd. Gown manufacturers” and 59a as "Needham F. (Shopfitters) Ltd". 

The last directory entry is for 1969 when the property was listed as “W.P.M ltd. Wallpaper mfs”.

That said in the 2000s it was a carpet warehouse, and I can attest to buying two cheapy carpets from them.

As for the house, by 1939 it was divided into three flats, and continued as such into 1962, and later still seems to have been further subdivided into 10.

It is a common enough story, which saw a once grand house converted to fit the changing needs of the 20th century when its size and decline in the use of domestic servants made it less attractive as a home for one family.

What perhaps adds a twist is its partial conversion in to industrial and retail use.

And that may have just saved it from being demolished in favour of a block of pedestrian flats which maximise the footprint to squeeze as many flats as possible onto the exiting plot of land.

That could still have been the fate of Wellfield, but instead it was acquired Armistead Property who specialise in transforming old residential properties into modern apartments while retaining as much of the original character as possible.*

Work in progress, 2020

Their work has featured on the blog over the years, including the award-winning Denbigh Villas development on High Lane and the equally impressive Carlton Terrace, at 199 and 201 Upper Chorlton Road.**

In the case of Wellfield the plan was to create 17 apartments using the existing house and an extension and creating roof top gardens.

Features like the large south facing window, and the floor tiles in the hall have been retained and any internal features which survived the brutal years of “laundry and multi occupancy”.

But modern planning regulations have precluded the retention of the barrel roof in the cellar.

That said the architect Simon Jones and the contractors have been alert to the possibilities of saving more of the original house as possible.

Added to these the original brickwork has been restored to what it would have looked like when Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood first took possession sometime in 1861. 

It will always remain an area of debate as to how far an old property should be saved and what the price of saving it will be.  

There are countless examples of where the conversion has been done badly and fails to honour the original building but done properly and it seems to me, we are on a winner.

Armistead conversions fall into that second category.  Witness Denbigh Villas on High Lane which was home to a famous industrialist and historian as well as a school

Finished rooms, 2023

Its survival and renovation by Armistead has done much to save a bit of our history, while the alternative would have been to see such a historic building left and sliding slowly into an increasingly parlous state till safety demanded its demolition.

That could have been the fate of Wellfield, and I am pleased it has also been saved.

And just after the story went live, Nick Turner got in touch and added, "My dad owned 59 Upper Chorlton Road in the 70s, 80s and 90s. 

It was an upholstery and soft furnishings business known as LE Swain and Turner.

 

The business was in the long warehouse. The block was offices and then converted into 10 studio apartments, I used to collect the rent from the tenants. They've done a great job on it, looks amazing!"

Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; Wellfield, 2022, from the collections of Andrew Simpson the site 1894, from the 1894 OS map of Lancashire and the 1894 OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ and other  pictures by Jak Spedding, https://jakspedding.co.uk, courtesy of Armistead Property Armistead Property

Finished, 2023

* Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

**Denbigh Villas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=denbigh+Villas&max-results=20&by-date=true & Carlton Terrace, 

Following the 81 bus on a winter’s day along Upper Chorlton Road ……. now that’s a zippy title

I am the first to admit that following the 81 Corporation bus along Upper Chorlton Road on a winter’s day sometime in the early 1960s might seem a little dull.  

But not so, and I am indebted to George Cieslik who posted his picture a while ago and gave me permission to add it to the collection and tell its story.

We  are heading towards town and this is the bus stop just before Wood Road, and for those who know the stretch the block of flats to our right still exist, but pretty much everything else on either side has gone.

That starts with the large house, pocking out of the trees,  behind its impressive brick wall on the corner of Wood Road and Upper Chorlton Road .

While the even grander house close to the bus stop, and marked only by the stone gate posts, had only a few more years.

It had once been the residence of Mr. Demosthenos Tchaoussoglou, who was a shipping merchant, from the Ottoman Empire.  He had applied and was granted naturalization in 1905 and in 1911 was living in the house, with his wife, Helene and three children along with a cook, housemaid and “nursery governess”.

Mr. and Mrs., Tchaoussoglou, had married in 1906, and their first child was born the following year.

Theirs was a large house which in 1911 had thirteen rooms which I suppose made it perfect as the home of the Allied Libraries Ltd.

Just when the company moved into the property is yet to be discovered.

It had grown as a chain of rental libraries in the years after the last world war and at its peak in March 1962 it hired out 362, 000 books through 1,489 bookshops.

Just when it closed is also yet to be discovered, but I do know it was still there in 1969.

Look more closely and there beyond Mr. and Mrs.Tchaoussoglou's, home is Carlton Terrace, which had been built in 1871 and has recently been renovated and redeveloped into modern apartments.

Location; Upper Chorlton Road

Picture; following the 81 along Upper Chorlton Road, circa early 1960s, from the collection of George Cieslik

Hermann Ree ….. that Chorlton memorial ….. and several mysteries

Now this is the memorial in the parish graveyard to Hermann Philip Ree and it is surrounded with mystery.

Hermann Philip Ree, 2011

He was born in Denmark but was a British citizen, lived for most of his adult life in Manchester, but died in Devon and was buried here.

And so far, I cannot find how he was connected to St Clements, or to the Township of Chorlton.

He was born just two years before the close of the 18th century, was living and working in Manchester by 1836, describing himself as a merchant and occupying various offices around the city until he finally settled at 27 Faulkner Street in 1845 where he remained until 1873.

But looking through the various documents there is an apparent elasticity to his date of birth which ranges from 1778, to 1800 and even 1808.

Along with the puzzle of what his association was with Chorlton and exactly when he was born, there is the question of what took him to Cheltenham where he married Catherine German in 1838.  

The Home,  Whalley Range 1894 , residence of the Ree family

She was just 19 and if I am being generous, he might have been 30, and if I am less generous, he was a full decade older.

That said the newly weds had four children between 1839 and 1842 and were leaving on Oxford Street in a fine-looking semi-detached property just north of the junction with Grafton Street.

The two houses were set in a large garden and surrounded by even larger and more impressive homes.

All of which suggests that Mr. Ree was doing well, which is evidenced by the even grander house in Whalley Range which they moved into in 1855, and which was simply called The Home.

It occupied a plot which ran back from Whalley Road to Carlton Road and was bordered on the east by Russel Road, and as well as the large house there were several greenhouses a large number of trees, several formal gardens along with some outhouses.

The property was large enough to have become in 1905 the home of an order of  nuns.  They were the “Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition [who had been] exiled from their native France and set up a non-sectarian nursing home at Whalley Range, Manchester [which had by 1930] grown considerably till it could accommodate 150 people”.

The Home, 1961

All of which meant that the hospital added a “wing containing twenty-five room, for private patients, a chapel connected with the main building by a gallery along which inform or poorly residents can be wheeled to attend Services”. *

And as late as 1966 adverts appeared in the Irish Press for “pre Student nurses [who were] offered excellent opportunities to gain practical experience of nursing in our Private Hospital, board and residence provided”.** 

The premise was later acquired by the Spire as a private hospital who have demolished the old buildings, for a new one.

Happily, a few pictures have survived of the Home taken in the 1960s which offer an idea of what the house might have looked like when the Ree family lived there.

And that takes me back to Mr. Hermann Philip Ree.  I still can’t square the disparity over his date of birth but am confident about the other mysteries.

The Home, 1961

I now know that his wife Catherine was baptised in Wigan and that her father was a coal master, and with a bit more research I shall find out the family connection with Cheltenham.  Suffice to say Wigan is a lot closer to Manchester and the father and husband may well have had business links.

I also know that she was buried in the parish graveyard in Chorlton in 1855, making it logical that her husband would also be interred there on his death twenty-two years later.

But why they should have chosen St Clements’s when they lived in Whalley Range is a puzzle but it may be that the parish boundaries extended that far, leaving to make a note to check that out.

Original location of all graves, and Mr. Ree's marked in red 1975

As for the memorial, I know some will ponder on the broken pillar which has nothing to do with vandalism but was symbolic of a life cut short.

It remains roughly where it was erected in 1877, close to the Lych Gate, having survived the cull of many of gravestones.

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; the memorial to Hermann Philip Ree, 2011, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, The Home, Whalley Range, 1894, from the OS map of South Lancashire, 1894, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/, The Home St Joseph's Convent, 1961, A E Brown,m40903 and m40904, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Nursing Home at Whalley Range, Extensions Opened, Manchester Guardian March 20 1930

**Sligo Champion, 1965-66

Dusting down that china souvenir of the Great War.............. stories behind the book nu 4

An occasional series on the stories behind the new book on Manchester and the Great War.*

I doubt I will ever know who bought this bit of crested china.

It belongs to my old friend David Harrop and when he first showed it to me I thought it might have been bought by someone with a connection to HMS Manchester, but a quick bit of research has revealed that of the five ships bearing the name none served in the Great War.

Now that bold statement opens me up to a challenge but if I have missed a First World War HMS Manchester someone will tell me.

In the meantime I can only assume it was acquired by someone who liked crested china, and apparently there were lots of people who did.

According to one source they “were popular souvenirs with many people who travelled in the years immediately before the First World War, especially at seaside resorts. 

Crested china was typically bought on holidays or day-trips to the places on the crest, and carefully carried home. 

During the First World War, holidays continued to be possible at most coastal resorts, despite defensive works on, in particular, the East and South coasts and the makers began to create designs related to war time."

And David has others in his collection including a fine range of tanks all with the crest of a different place.

So I guess this bit of hollow white crested china which will have been manufactured in thousands was just one of a batch to have Manchester’s coat of arms and would have sat on the shelf with others bearing the names of Liverpool, Glasgow, London and Belfast.

It was made by the Arcadian company of Stoke-on-Trent who in peace time would have turned out figurines, local museum antiques and functional items like ring trees, stamp boxes and pin trays.
Nor were they the only company.  There was also Carlton, Grafton, Shelly, Swallow, Willow, Art and WH Goss.

But despite the huge numbers that must have been turned out I find it remarkable that many have survived the full century.

In our house they may well have had a short life.

The chances are they would have been dropped and broken, or more likely discarded when the war came to an end with just a lingering period having first been consigned to a back bedroom and then by degrees a cupboard before ending in the bin.

I am glad this one survived and with it a reminder of the Great War and I rather think it will takes its place in the book.

Location; Heaton Mersey

Picture; crested souvenir, HMS Manchester, circa 1914-1918, from the collection of David Harrop and first seen on ebay

*Manchester and the Great War, Andrew Simpson, was published in February 2017, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War

**Crested China, Fergus Read, IWM, http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/crested-china

Starting on Upper Chorlton Road and exploring bits of Whalley Range

Carlton Road, 2016

Once a very long time ago Upper Chorlton Road was the private road of Samuel Brooks who having bought the surrounding area in the mid 1830s set about creating an estate for the wealthy of Manchester.

And according to one source appropriated the Black Brook as part of his own sewage system which while that may have seemed quite modern was not I suspect embraced by those who lived further down stream in Chorlton.*

There had been a “footpath from West Point to Brooks’ Bar as a means of communication between Hulme and the village [Chorlton] along which a brook run, afterwards arched and utilised by Mr Brooks as a main sewer which he drained into the watercourse called Black Brook,” complimenting the new road he cut in 1838 which we now know as Upper Chorlton Road “or Brook’s-road as it is better known ..... in the year 1838 to give access to his residence, Whalley House.”*

Ruford Road, 2016

And in the course of the next century Upper Chorlton Road became the site of some pretty impressive houses a clutch of more modest properties, along with a barrage and cinema.

All of which is a way of introducing a new series of stories about Whalley Range.

The pictures are from Andy Robertson who set out yesterday down Upper Chorlton Road and took a turn down Sylvan Avenue to record what happened to Mr Brook’s grand design in the roads and avenues of Whalley Range.

Location; Whalley Range, Manchester

*Thomas Ellwood, History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, nu 6, December 12 1885, South Manchester Gazette