To lose one bank may be deemed unfortunate …..but three? ……. the sad end to a much used place name

The loss of three banks in a short space of time in the centre of Chorlton is bad news.

It may be that the staff of all three have been redeployed, and some customers will still be close to another branch or will fill the gap through internet banking, but for some employees and some who use the three banks this will be more than an inconvenience. 

But for a historian with the long view in sight, the disappearance of the three banks marks the end of that popular place name for the junction of Barlow Moor Road and Willbraham Road.

For perhaps two decades this spot was known as the Four Banks or Bank Corner.

I can still remember the first time I heard the name used, and it seemed perfect, and far more appropriate than the official planners name of Chorlton Cross, which never caught on.

And the reason why it was so appropriate, was that it described what was there, nothing more and nothing less.

Added to which it arose from people’s experiences, which remain the best way of finding a name for a place.

In the same way for almost a century the corner which included the HSBC Bank was known as Kemp’s Corner, after Harry Kemp’s chemist shop.

And in an age before the mobile phone  people arranged in advance to meet at Kemp’s Corner, a decision which made even more sense as there was a large clock above the door, allowing you to judge how late your friend was.

Earlier in the 19th century the junction of Hardy Lane, and Sandy Lane with Barlow Moor Road, which was originally called Barlow Moor Lane was known as Lane End.

It is a name which appears on old maps, but didn’t stop locals referring to it as Brundrette’s Corner after Mr. Brundrette’s grocery shop which stood nearby.

The loss of the first bank a year ago gave rise to a debate on whether the spot would now be “Three Banks and something else”, but the loss of two more made that discussion redundant.

But something will emerge, and it is as well to remember that before Kemp’s Corner, some people referred to the junction as Bank Square, although at one point there was only the one bank.

I vaguely knew that Santander was going and going in advance of the HSBC, but it was still a surprise when Peter presented his painting from 2019 of the closed bank.

Now the story of the Four Banks has rumbled on in the blog for years, and when that new name arises I shall be back to explore its history.*

And for those curious about who occupied the bank sites, I can reveal that in 1911, the HSBC was Harry Kemp's Chemists, opposite in the former RBS bank was a surgeon whose house was called Sunwick, and the name is still there on the gate post.  Across the road in what is now the Nat West, there was The Manchester & Liverpool District Banking Company, leaving the former Santander, as a grocer's shop.

But for now …. It is just Goodbye.

Location; The Four Banks

Painting; Santander Chorlton © 2019 Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures

*The Four Banks, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=four+banks

One bank …. a tile shop ….. Café Nero …. and a return of an old favourite

 There are many who mourn the instantly memorable “Four Banks” name for the junctions of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

Two of four banks, circa 1995

And of course, it made perfect sense given that there was a bank on each corner.

Just when “Four Banks” came into common usage is I think lost in time.

I don’t remember it much before the turn of the century, and anyway in the 1980s one corner was still a butcher’s shop while the Midland Bank didn’t move into its corner until the 1990s.  

Go back further into the past and the corner now occupied by the tile shop was a private residence called Sunwick which only became a bank in the 1920s.

No bank, 1983

All of which means that Four Banks or Bank Square* has had a short existence and has not even had the longevity of the former name Kemp’s Corner which owed its place in popular usage to Harry Kemp who opened a chemist shop in the early 20th century. 

Being a canny businessmen Mr. Kemp added a large clock above the entrance, and a meeting place was created, which lasted well after Mr. Kemp had died and the chemist shop became a fast-food outlet to be succeeded by the Midland Bank.

Like so many popular names it arose out of the obvious.  Here was Mr. Kemp’s shop with its clock which made it a perfect place to arrange a meeting, all too important in the time before mobiles.

Wilbraham Road the return of a name, 2025

And the observant will have noticed that the name Kemps Corner has reappeared on the building which was once Mr. Kemp’s and subsequently became the fourth bank.

At which point purists will point out the mistake in how the name has been painted on the wall.

The District Bank, circa 1930

All of which brings me to the current speculation on the demise of the last remaining bank on Bank Square, which given the swift demise of all the others seems a bet to be made.

But not so, as Peter Topping told me having gone into the Nat West on Tuesday to ask if they were closing.

 “The bank Manager Heather said definitely not... seeing as how they had just done a massive refurb and installed new ATM machines.

 I said I was glad about that because I didn’t want to have to rewrite the song about 4 Banks Corner!!!

 Anyway, she let me take a photo of a big picture on the wall which showed the bank in 1930”.

When Mr. Vincent Van Gogh visited, 2024

And that in turn will lead some to coin any one of a dozen variations on “one bank, a tile shop, Café Nero and a return of an old favourite”.

Those in the know will appreciate Peter’s dilemma given that he is currently writing songs about Chorlton some of which appear in his new book, “Musical Poems and Pictures of Chorlton-cum-Hardy which has its launch at Chorlton Library on Saturday between 2 & 4”.

This book breaks new ground, mixing his poems set to music and designed to "not only appeal to the visually impaired and hard of hearing but to everyone young and old".

All of which means his song Four Banks needs no alteration, but I suspect may inspire him to compose a new piece on the big clock on Kemp’s Corner.  

 Pictures; Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads, circa 1995, courtesy of Steve, almost the same corner in 1984, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Kemp's Corner is back, Anne Hall, 2025, [permission being sought], The District Bank circa 1930 courtesy of the Nat West and the bank in the style of a painting by Mr. Vincent Van Gogh Painting 2024, Peter Topping

*The name Bank Square appears on a postcard from the late 19th century

When asking for the "Four Banks" could have become "Three Banks and a bar"

Now for a long time if you told someone here in Chorlton you would meet them by the Four Banks all you had to worry about was which of the four corners of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Road they would be on.

Not that it was much of a problem because from the HSBC or the Nat West or for that matter the other two you had a commanding view of anyone standing there.

Of course if you are older you will know the spot outside the HSBC as Kemp’s Corner, a name it retained from the beginning of the 20th century through to the 1960s and was derived from the fact that here was Harry Kemp’s Chemists with the added advantage that he had had the foresight to attach a big clock to the front of the shop.

All of which made perfect sense in a pre mobile age when many didn’t even have a watch which meant that Hurry’s clock was the perfect spot to gauge whether your friend was late or on time.

And for those wanting an even more timeless and indeed seamless link, back before Hary Kemp our spot was known as “Bank Corner.”

The names all point to that simple observation that places acquire their names less because of an official decision but more often arise from custom and practice and arise out of peoples’ experiences..

So the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Road is officially Chorlton Cross but in the two decades and a bit since it was given that name I have heard only one person use it.

By contrast “The Four Banks” makes perfect sense given the position of a bank on each corner.

But yesterday a For Sale sign went up on one of the Four and for a brief few minutes I wondered if this was the end of an era.

Added to which given the growth industry in bars, restaurants and fast food outlets perhaps we would be asking for “Three Banks and a bar.”

That said I have been told that the For Sale sign does indeed refer to the floor above the bank, leaving the now popular name of the Four Banks intact.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; looking down Wilbraham Road, circa 1910, from the Lloyd Collection

One bank …… a tile shop ….. Café Nero ..... and a block of flats ….. the new Four Banks

So as everyone will remember there was a Chorlton discussion on retaining the name the Four Banks for the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

The planners preferred name of Chorlton Cross was and is unloved and unused. The historic name of Kemp’s Corner has all but passed out of living memory as has the previous Bank Square.

And like these two earlier names the Four Banks arose out of the everyday experience of those who lived in Chorlton.

In the first half of the last century, Kemp’s Corner made perfect sense because of Harry Kemp’s Chemist shop with its big clock which made it the commonly accepted meeting spot in Chorlton before the age of the mobile.

And likewise if you have a bank on each corner, then the Four Banks, or Four Bank Corner makes equal sense.

But the days of suburban banks is going, and Chorlton is no exception.

So, the news of planning applications for a set of apartments and shops on the site of the old HSBC and a Café Nero in the former Santander Bank offers up challenges for new names.

We shall see.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; Chorlton former banks, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

When banks become dinosaurs …………. in Chorlton

Now there are things about the digital age which I have embraced like a man marooned in the sea embraces a log.

But online banking remains in the unsure box along with those automated tills in supermarkets.  

Given a push I will use them but reluctantly, if only because that is one less person’s job and deprives me of talking to someone.

That said the remorseless advance of doing electronic transactions rolls on and here in Chorlton that has led to the disappearance of three of the four banks at the junction of Chorlton and Wilbraham Roads, and of course depriving us of that unofficial but popular name for the spot.

The Four Banks or Four Bank Corner has gone the way of Kemp’s Corner which was pretty much used by everyone for half a century.

And now I read that Barclay’s around the corner will close in autumn, leading to a planning request for a “bank pod” in Morrison’s Car Park.

I have yet to check out the details on the City's Planning Portal, as to exactly where the pod will be located.

There is of course a history to write, both about the grand story of the demise of the bank branch, and more specifically of the history of banks here in Chorlton, which for those who regularly read the blog will know marks the difference between Old and New Chorlton.

Old Chorlton was the historic centre of the township situated around the village green and up Beech Road.  

New Chorlton was the area of new housing developed from the 1880s onwards catering for the middling people, many of who whom worked in the city but wanted to live in an area which was still semi-rural.

The development stretched our from the newly cut Wilbraham Road and along Barlow Moor and Manchester Roads.

Here could be found many professional, clerical and self-employed people who looked to use a bank.  So, while historically New Chorlton had the banks, Old Chorlton had just a small post office and a Penny Savings Bank which operated for just a few hours from the village school on the green.

Now the march of online banking with its ruthless commercial considerations may soon obliterate all the banks in Chorlton.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures, Chorlton branch banks and former banks, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*"Plans to install a 'banking pod' in the car park of Morrisons store to provide a place for Barclays staff to meet customers after their Wilbraham Road branch closes in the autumn." Chorlton Voice Newsletter August-September 2022

Chorlton no banks? …………….

The Four Banks, or Four Bank Corner, was one of those simple but effective place names, which no official invented, but just arose from the fact that there was a bank on each corner of the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

And because people do, they described what they saw, and made it the destination name of choice, and that I like.

Go back several decades and the corner which once was home to the Midland Bank and later the HSBC was known as Kemp’s Corner because here was Harry Kemp’s chemist shop which had a large clock above the door, making it a perfect place to arrange to meet in those pre mobile days.

And for those wanting more, the junction of Barlow Moor, Sandy Lane and High Lane was officially marked as Lane End but for generations was Brundretts’ Corner on account of the grocery shop belonging to Mr. Brundrett which was situated there.*

And returning to the Four Banks it was at the very beginning of the last century known as "Bank Corner" and appeared as such on messgaes sent on various picture postcards.

But the Four Banks, became Three banks and something else, and is now down to two.

And now what was the TSB on Barlow Moor Road and from memory was once the Bank of Ireland has also closed.

Although here I am prepared to be corrected by the Friends of Barlow Moor Road, who may point out it closed a while ago ….. but then I haven’t been out as much during the series of lockdowns.

Location; Chorlton

Picture; the closed TSB, Barlow Moor Road, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*Living at Lane End in two rooms, more stories of one up one downs, part 2, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2012/03/living-at-lane-end-in-two-rooms-more.html

Kemp’s Corner .... the Four Banks and Bank Square ....... names that speak of our history

The news that the RBS Bank in Chorlton is to close in August is sad news and more so because according to press reports, the closure of 162 branches across the country will lead to the loss of 800 jobs.*

Sunwick, circa 1900

How the closure will impact on the staff here is unclear, and nether the Guardian or the Manchester Evening News** who also reported the story give any indication of the potential job loss.

And the news of the closure has led to a deal of speculation on the future of the popular name the “Four Banks”, for the junction of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads.

In a lapse of judgment I joined in, but on reflection it is a little in bad taste, given the loss of one of our local banks.

Not that what I say or think will change the decision or the speculation.

So instead I will return to one of my popular preoccupations which is how place names evolve.

For years the spot was known as Kemp’s Corner after Harry Kemp’s Chemist shop which occupied what is now the HSBC Bank and was a popular meeting place well into the late 1960s.  Before that, there is a reference in a picture postcard to the junction as Bank Square.

Kemp's Corner and Sunwick, circa 1900

What all three have in common is that they were popular names which arose from ordinary usage and have been more enduring than the official title of Chorlton Cross.

And that leads me to the building which is at present inhabited by the RBS.

It was called Sunwick and the name is there on one of the stone gate posts facing out onto Barlow Moor Road.

In 1911 it was home to Mr and Mrs Case, their two children and three members of staff.  Mr Case described himself as a “Doctor of Medicine” and playing to the stereotype his handwriting is all but illegible.

But I can make out that amongst the three servants, there was Jesse Lambert who was 30 and was employed as the cook, Mary Carpenter, the Housemaid and Sara Brow who is listed as “waitress”***

Sunwick was a large house consisting of 11 rooms, with small gardens at the back, front and eastern side, and was encompassed by a tall brick wall.  A little of the wall still survives on Wilbraham Road in front of that low level addition to the original building.

Sunwick, 1896

The property was distinctive enough for the map makers to include the its name on the OS map for 1896 and it appears to have been built sometime around 1885, when it was occupied by a Dr Andrew Denholme who sold it onto Dr George Byrne in February of the following year.

Dr Byrne was still there in the early years of the last century and by 1911 was home to the Case family.****

All of which points to the property having been associated with doctors from the outset.

A close trawl of the directories will offer up the moment it passed from a residential property to a bank, which it certainly was by the 1930s.

But, as what it will become that is idle speculation although some may assume it will become another bar, leading one wag to rename the junction, three banks and a bar.

We shall see.

Location; the Four Banks

Picture, Kemp’s Corner and Sunwick circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection and Sunwick in 1896, from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archive Association, digitalarchives.co.uk/

*RBS to close 162 branches with the loss of 800 jobs, Julia Kollewe, The Guardian, May 1 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/01/rbs-to-close-162-branches-with-loss-of-800-jobs

**RBS to close 31 branches in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, Ravender Sembhy & Stuart Greer, Manchester Evening News, May 2 2018, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/rbs-manchester-branch-closures-list-14600276

***Census, Enu 18 664, Didsbury, South Manchester, Lancashire, 1911

****Manchester Rate Books, 1885-1900

In memory of the Four Banks and Bank Corner

 I can’t be exactly sure of the date of the picture, but I know it must be sometime around the late 1990s.

Now I can be pretty sure of that because what was the National Provincial Building Society with its distinctive yellow lettering on a green background became the Abbey Building Society in 1996 which in turn became part of the Santander Group thirteen years later.


Added to which the Midland Bank which had moved into its present building in 1978, adopted the HSBC logo in 1997, having been acquired by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1992.

Those who want will look carefully through the picture and identify other lost shops and offer up stories.

What I like about the image is that in some ways it looks more dated than one of those black and white photographs from the 1900s which we know show a very different Chorlton.

But this one is close enough to us today to look very familiar ……. But just not quite.

And for those about to mutter about the name, Four Banks, our building societies had begun to become banks in 1989, and so by the time this picture was taken there were indeed four banks on each corner, hence the accurate title, which harps back to references from the late 19th century on picture postcards when people referred to the spot as “Bank Square”.

That said, as many will know the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road, now occupied by the HSBC was popularly known as “Kemps Corner”, after Harry Kemp’s chemist which stood there.

As so often happens, remained the accepted name for the corner well into the 1960s, long after it ceased being a chemist.

All of which points to that simple observation that names for locations arise from popular usage, which I suspect will mean that the official name for the junction which is Chorlton Cross, will never catch on.

Location; Chorlton







Picture; Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads, circa 1995, courtesy of Steve

When there were still four banks on Bank Square

I can’t be exactly sure of the date of the picture, but I know it must be sometime around the late 1990s.

Now I can be pretty sure of that because what was the National Provincial Building Society with its distinctive yellow lettering on a green background became the Abbey Building Society in 1996 which in turn became part of the Santander Group thirteen years later.


Added to which the Midland Bank which had moved into its present building in 1978, adopted the HSBC logo in 1997, having been acquired by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1992.

Those who want will look carefully through the picture and identify other lost shops and offer up stories.

What I like about the image is that in some ways it looks more dated than one of those black and white photographs from the 1900s which we know show a very different Chorlton.

But this one is close enough to us today to look very familiar ……. But just not quite.

And for those about to mutter about the name, Four Banks, our building societies had begun to become banks in 1989, and so by the time this picture was taken there were indeed four banks on each corner, hence the accurate title, which harps back to references from the late 19th century on picture postcards when people referred to the spot as “Bank Square”.

That said, as many will know the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road, now occupied by the HSBC was popularly known as “Kemps Corner”, after Harry Kemp’s chemist which stood there.

As so often happens, remained the accepted name for the corner well into the 1960s, long after it ceased being a chemist.

All of which points to that simple observation that names for locations arise from popular usage, which I suspect will mean that the official name for the junction which is Chorlton Cross, will never catch on.

Location; Chorlton







Picture; Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads, circa 1995, courtesy of Steve

Welcome back Kemp’s Corner ….. you have been missed

To all those who remember meeting up at Kemp’s Corner and the many more who only know it as part of the Four Banks I was pleased to see the development on the former HSBC  has adopted the name Kemps Corner.

Kemp's Corner is back, Wilbraham Road, 2025

Pedant’s will no doubt remark on the missing apostrophe but it’s a recognition of a bit of our past, because here on the corner of Barlow Moor and Wilbraham Roads was Harry Kemp’s chemist.*

Mr Kemp is listed in the Rate Books as present in the property from 1886, went on to open another pharmacy on Beech Road and had previously occupied a shop on Stretford Road.

And he was an enterprising individual.  

In 1900 he applied to be granted the Freedom of the City of London “by redemption of the Company of Spectaclemakers of London", was elected to the Manchester City Council in 1904, and published his own Chorlton Alamanak and Handbook in 1910.

Added to all this he was also an agent for Sutton & Co Parcels office and a regular correspondent to the newspapers.

So I am not surprised that he erected a large clock above the door of his chemists, which quickly became a popular meeting place.

In the age before mobiles, Kemp’s Corner was the place to arrange to meet, with that added bonus that if your companion was late you could admonish them by pointing to the clock face.

Just when the term Kemp’s Corner came into common use is unclear but throughout the 20th century it was in use.

A name still in use, 1978

As late as 1978, the local newspaper referred to Kemp’s Corner in an article on the redevelopment of what was once the Midland Bank into the former Chemist, leading with the headline, “Kemp’s Corner is having a facelift”.

All the more remarkable as the chemist had long ago past out of Harry Kemp’s ownership, was for a while a Co-op Pharmacy and was briefly a fast-food outlet.

And there are still plenty of people who remember the corner as Harry Kemp’s as there will be more who knew it only as only one of the corners of “The Four Banks”

I like the way that places get names reflecting their usage or location which often defy the official name.  

More than just a chemist, 1910

So, in the same way the junction of High Lane, Sandy Lane and Barlow Moor Road were known as Lane End during the 19th century which made perfect sense, more so as Barlow Moor Road had been Barlow Moor Lane.

Kemp's Corner, cieca 1900

Well done the developers for bringing back Kemp’s Corner, although like my friend Tony Goulding I am a little puzzled at addition of "Est 1878" which accompanies the pained sign.

Now Harry Kemp didn’t wash up there till 1886, and the building post dates 1881 when the Withington Board of Health’s map records the land as an orchard.

And while he was practicing as a chemist in 1881 it was from a business in Hulme.

But I guess the developer knows something I don’t, leaving me just to observe that in 1845 the land was known as Hollingworth Acres and was an orchard owned by the Egerton’s and farmed by a Francis Dakin [Deakin]

And that is that.

Other than to say the return of Kemp's Corner may prempt the call for officialy naming the junction The Four Banks which briefly was to the go to campaign on social media with the accompaying petition.

All that Mr. Kemp could sell, undated

I said at the time it was a name and campain to far, and then up pops Mr Kemp's legacy.

And incidentlty Harry Kemp was elected to the City Council in 1904 and again the following year despite what the Manchester Guardian reported  had been "some personal elements introduced into the contestby his [Tory] opponent", along with "certain insinuationsregarding his actions on the City Council".**

When Mr. Kemp sought your vote, 1904

He retired six years later through ill health and was judged to be a hard working councillor not affraid to be controversisla as with his accusations of a "land grab" by a Withington developer in 1905.***

And he died in North Wales in 1927 leaving £9,892.9s.2d to his wife and daughter.

Slater's Manchester & Salford Surban Directory, 1903

Which I thought was the end, but then I decided to follow up Sutton & Co Parcels Office and found this, which will need more investigation.

Pictures;  Kemp's Corner is back, Anne Hall, 2025, [permission being sought], Harry Kemps’ chemist shop, circa 1900, from the Lloyd Collection, the 1904 election address, courtesy of Lawrence Beedle, Chorlton-cum-Hardy District Almanack and Handbook for 1910, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, Otto of Rose tub top, date unknown from the collection of Jay Hurst, and news story from the Stretford & Urmston Journal, April 12, 1978 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Harry Kemp, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Kemp%27s+Corner

**Todays Elections, Manchester Guardian, November 1st, 1905 Chorlton-cum-Hardy & Whalley Range 

***Mr. Kemp on Workman's Wages, Manchester Guardian, November 1st, 1905

Divided Chorlton

It is still possible to talk to people who describe themselves as living in old or new Chorlton. Of course once upon a time there was no old or new Chorlton, just the township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy which in turn was made up of three hamlets of which Chorlton centred on the green and Chorlton Row was the largest. But there was also Martledge to the north which covers the area from the Four Banks along Manchester Road and east towards Stretford and finally Hardy which ran from Chorlton Brook on to the Mersey. Of the three Hardy was not only the most remote but also the least populated. Given that it was often flooded it is not surprising. So apart from three farms, there were few cottages and the last of these was abandoned in the middle of the 19th century after a particularly bad flood.

Now the name Martledge has all but been forgotten and Hardy is rarely used and only then in connection with the townships old title of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. I guess soon the distinction between and old and new Chorlton will also disappear. But for most of the 20th century it was a vivid reminder of how the area had developed. Old Chorlton was the heart of the rural Chorlton and as such was dominated by the green and Chorlton Row which was renamed Beech Road.

New Chorlton was the area which was developed at the end of the 19th century around the Four Banks and the station. Here were the people who by and large did not make a living from the land. They were clerk’s warehouseman and various types of professional and some commuted into the city by train. They may have been attracted by the open fields to the south and east but saw the advantages of what was already fast becoming a suburb of Manchester.
It is perhaps no accident that new Chorlton had the banks while old Chorlton had only a post office and the weekly Penny Savings Bank which met every Saturday between 6 and 7 in the old school on the green. According to the Bank “any sum may be deposited between One Penny and £50. When the account reached £1 it is transferred to the Manchester and Salford Savings Bank “

A lot of research now needs to be done using the census returns to build a profile of the occupations of the residents of the two halves of Chorlton, but in placing the Penny Savings Bank on the green “the Trustees and managers” were clear in their own minds that perhaps this area was more likely “to see a large increase in the number of depositors, and cottager’s domestic servants, and parents on behalf of their children.” After all here were built “the six shilling a week houses” consisting of four rooms with perhaps a small kitchen extension, yard and tiny front garden.
Today that distinction between old and new has faded but ironically with the rise of Beech Road and the green as a place for quirky shops, bars and restaurants and the revamped Horse & Jockey, perhaps there is still something different about one part of Chorlton.

The picture of Chorlton Row circa 1880 showing the smithy about the time Chorlton Station was built, from the collection of Tony Walker

Walking New Islington ……. and thinking about the Northern Quarter and other places

 New Islington is that area bordered by Great Ancoats Street and sandwiched between the Rochdale and Ashton Canals, and it is a place I keep going back to.

New Islington, 2023

To the casual visitor it looks an impressive place dominated by the marina and a mix of residential properties which are constantly being added to.

So much so that there seems to be a permanent workforce in their hard hats and high vis jackets busying themselves, while the locals walk their dogs, take coffee in the bars and watch the regular tour parties soaking up the history of the area.

It drew me in and I have been writing about it ever since, walking the streets of the area back in the mid-19th century and crawling over the lives of those that worked and lived there.*

Before my first trip I did get sniffy about the name, thinking it was one of those made up developers names for an area which for centuries had an older name.

Relic of a warehouse window, 2023

But not so because the name New Islington appears on Johnson’s map of Manchester for 1819 and was later signed off by being given the name of a street which was cut before 1844 and ran from Union Street to Woodward Street.** 

All life flocks to New Islington, 2023

And I did go back and check because of an on going discussion on the Northern Quarter, which is I accept a made up name, coined in the 1990s during the regeneration of the area bounded by Victoria and Piccadilly Railways Stations,  and the streets around Oldham Street.

The discussion if that was what it was began with an anonymous comment that the Northern Quarter didn’t exist, didn’t appear on  maps and furthermore the landlady of the Millstone pub on Thomas Street had never heard of the name.

And despite gentle reference to when the name was adopted, and the fact that it is there on finger posts and literature, my anonymous commentator would have nothing of it and repeated and repeated his denial of the existence of the Northern Quarter.

Looking out from New Islington metro stop, 2023

At which point I heeded the advice of the 18th century radical Tom Paine and judged that further discussion would be like giving medicine to a dead man or continuing to rebut the idea that Elvis is not dead and the World is flat. 

Place names change or evolve.  Some last the course and others disappear like snow in the winter sun.  

Old and new, 2023

Those that survive are often not the product of the City Planner or an enterprising developer but arising out of popular usage.  

So in Chorlton for 30 or so years the junction of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road has been known as “The Four Banks” as there was indeed a bank on each corner.  While the official name Chorlton Cross never caught on.

It will be interesting to see with the disappearance of three of the 4 banks how long the name will linger on.

And in the same way one corner of “The “Four Banks” had been known as "Kemp’s Corner" because of the presence of Harry Kemp's’ chemist shop with its giant clock, which was the preferred meeting place in a pre-mobile age.

So I await for my anonymous commentator to return with more tales of the Northern Quarter.

And I was not disappointed because anonymous bounded in with a comment on the absence of any reference in the maps to New Islington.

Clearly anonymous didn't read the reference to the name appearing on Johnson's map dated 1819.

So rather than let anonymous claim it is all just fake names, and fake locations  I have now  included a detail showing New Islington.  

Johnson recognises New Islington, 1819

His comments are displayed below and it is worth saying that his assertion that the name is made up by the Town Hall can be checked out from what I said in an earlier story and other articles on the net.  

Leaving me to reflect that I have attempted to give medicine when I said that was daft and challenged Flat Earthers … so to quote the Roman poet Catullus "no more, hard against the wall".

Pictures; walking the Northern Quarter on a March day, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and detail from Johnson's map of Manchester, 1819, by kind permission of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*New Islington, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20Islington

**Never let prejudice get in the way of history ….. walking New Islington, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2022/07/never-let-prejudice-get-in-way-of.html

On Wilbraham Road ....... looking for the Four Banks

Now I am perfectly aware that this picture predates the Four Banks, or as we now know, them, the  Three Banks and maybe a Bar.

In fact it predates the moment when Mr Harry Kemp opened his chemist shop on the corner of Barlow Moor Road and Wilbraham Road and ushered in that earlier name for the spot.

This was Kemp’s Corner and as such, from the early 20th century through to the 1960s, the present site of the HSBC was a popular meeting place which became known as Kemp’s Corner.

A meeting place made all the more convenient, by the big clock above the shop door allowing people to check how late their friends were.

And I suppose remembering it was Kemp’s Corner marks you out as an old resident of Chorlton in much the same way that people of Beech Road refer to the “Rec” not the Park.

I don’t have an exact date for the photograph, but the detail yields some fascinating things, starting with the former RBS building which was called Sunwick and was a private residence, along with the observation that in front of the shops on Wilbraham Road there were gardens.

These and many more interesting snippets of our past will be part of the history walk, this Sunday, when we will stroll trough  Chorlton’s past and discover dark deeds, silly stories and just what this area was alike when the newcomers called it New Chorlton and everyone else remembered it had once been called Martledge.

The walk which is part of Chorlton Book Festival, will recreate that lost place, and along the way we will encounter some Chorlton individuals from the past, uncover an awful murder and learn about the first Sedge Lynn, the place called the Isles, and our own Ice Rink.*

The walk will start from the Library on Sunday November 18 at 2 pm and take about an hour, after which we will relax in The Edge Theatre, Manchester Road

Beverley at the library informs me that “tickets are £7.50 including soup and a roll at the Dressing Room café, The Edge Theatre, Manchester Road, M21 9JG after the walk. Booking is essential for this popular event. 

Please visit Chorlton Library or call 0161227 3700.

Sunday 18 November 2 - 4pm “

Location; Chorlton

Picture, Wilbraham Road, date unknown, from the Lloyd Collection

*Chorlton Book Festival, November 16-24, https://www.chorltonbookfestival.co.uk/

Remembering the lost names of Chorlton-cum-Hardy................... CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY: NOW, THEN .......... three exhibitions to see during Chorlton Arts Festival

I have never lost my fascination at the way place names so familiar for centuries can fall out of use and within a generation become so completely lost that it is as if they had never existed.

Pretty much everyone will know that once we were Chorlton-cum-Hardy and appeared so on all official documents.

When we lost the Hardy is still up for debate but I suspect the fact that there was a third bit of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is now not so well known.

This was Martledge and it vanished within two decades at the end of the 19th century, replaced by the title New Chorlton or the New Village.

These names have now also gone as has Kemp’s Corner, Lane End and Brundretts’s Corner.

Of course the places are still there it is just that the names are not.

That said some like Kemp’s Corner where the HSBC stands retained its name long after Harry Kemp’s chemist shop had closed which had much to do with it being a popular place to meet with the added advantage of having a large clock above the door.

Many of these names owe nothing to planners or the wealthy owners of the land but arise from common usage.

So what was Kemps’s Corner has become the Four Banks where the banks are clustered and Lane End made perfect sense given this was where Barlow Moor Lane, High Lane and Moss Lane all met.

And often these popular names push out the official ones, so while somewhere in the Planning Department there will be a map which refers to Chorlton Cross most people will tell their friend that the bus has just passed the “Four Banks.”

Now regular readers of the blog and my book will be familiar with Martledge, Kemps’s Corner and the tiny lost hamlet of Hardy.*

Many will also have seen the exhibitions ranging from the 80 meter History Wall to the smaller ones which are located in shops bars and restaurants across Chorlton.

They are a mix of paintings by local artist Peter Topping, many iconic old photographs and some stories by me which together celebrate the history of the township.

And now we have decided to mount three brand new exhibitions called CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY: NOW, THEN.

The exhibitions will run during Chorlton Arts Festival at three venues each of which has been chosen because of its own unique connection to our collective past.

They are the Lloyds Hotel, Ken Fosters Cycles on Barlow Moor Road and Morrisons Supermarket.

The Lloyds which was opened in 1870 was itself the venue for some important events in the story of Chorlton.  Ken Fosters Cycles can track its history back well into the last century and Morrisons which began as a small business in Bradford is on the site of the old railway yard which was established when the railway came to Chorlton in 1880.

CHORLTON-CUM-HARDY: NOW, THEN**

Location: Lloyds Hotel, Ken Fosters Cycles on Barlow Moor Road and Morrisons Supermarket

From: Friday May 20, 2016 to: Sunday May 29, 2016

*The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/the-story-of-chorlton-cum-hardy.html

**Chorlton Arts Festival, http://www.chorltonartsfestival.com/event-type/art/page/2/