Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Lancashire
Chorlton Green
Location
Grid reference:	SJ815935
Location:	53°26’31"N, 2°16’37"W
Data
Population:	14,138  (2011)
Post town:	Manchester
Postcode:	M21
Dialling code:	0161
Local Government
Council:	Manchester
Parliamentary constituency:	Manchester Withington

Chorlton-cum-Hardy, known locally simply as Chorlton, is a town absorbed into the south Lancashire conurbations such as to become essentially a Manchester suburb. It is about four miles southwest of Manchester and stands on Lancashire's southern border with Cheshire, across which sits Sale.

By the 9th century, there was an Anglo-Saxon settlement here. Later in the Middle Ages, improved drainage methods led to population growth. In the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, its perceived rural character made it popular among the middle class. The loss of its railway station, the conversion of larger houses into flats or bedsitters, and significant social housing development to the south of the area changed its character again in the 1970s.

Historically, Chorlton was a township within the ancient parish of Manchester. The River Mersey runs past Chorlton along its southern boundary.

Name

The name 'Chorlton' probably means 'Ceolfrith's farm' or settlement from the Old English Ceolfriþes tun. Hardy is derived from a personal name, Hearda, and eg, meaning "island" or "dry ground in a well-watered land". It has alternatively been suggested that Hardy may mean "by the woods", in reference to the ancient forest of Arden Wood that grew on both sides of the River Mersey in the area. Chorlton was recorded as Chollirton in 1250, Chollerton from 1292 and as Chourton in 1572.

History

The ancient hamlets of Chorlton and Hardy, separated by the Chorlton Brook, together with Martledge and Barlow Moor, did not come under the combined name of Chorlton-cum-Hardy (cum is Latin for "with") until the 18th century; local historian Cliff Hayes reports that he can find no mention of Chorlton-cum-Hardy before 1700. The name was adopted by Victorian property developers who arrived in the wake of the coming of the railway in 1880, to distinguish this Chorlton from Chorlton-upon-Medlock. The form 'Chorlton with Hardy' was used to some extent from the early 19th century onwards and in the early years of the 20th.

Early history

Chorlton was part of the Withington manor. Hardy was little more than a farm and a few houses, but Barlow was home to the family of that name, who occupied the manor house of Barlow Hall for several hundred years. Barlow Hall was built on a defensive site on rising ground on the north bank of the Mersey. (Barlow Hall is now the club house for Chorlton-cum-Hardy Golf Club.)

In 1567 the lord of the manor was Alexander Barlow, a recusant who was imprisoned for his beliefs and died in 1584 leaving a son who held similar beliefs. Two of his sons entered the Order of Saint Benedict, one of them, Ambrose Barlow a missionary priest in the Leigh parish, was imprisoned several times and executed for his priesthood in 1641 at Lancaster. Two sons of the papist, Anthony Barlow were charged with treason in the Jacobite rising of 1715. The estate remained with the family until the death of Thomas Barlow in 1773, when it was sold to the Egertons of Tatton Hall. In 1666 Barlow Hall was one of the largest houses paying hearth tax in the Withington manor.

The estimated population in 1640 was 85; in 1714 it was 325. The 1801 census recorded 513 inhabitants, and the 1811 census 619: by 1851 it had increased to 761. The Tithe Commissioners' survey carried out in 1841 provides details of the size and tenure of every piece of land. The tithe map reveals the township had two major landowners: Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton owned 888 acres and George Lloyd 231, the rest was shared between 21 others. Most land was meadow and pasture while 490 acres was arable. Many small landowners owned orchards or market gardens. At this time the village consisted of its ancient halls and scattered farms centred on Chorlton Green and Beech Road and a few buildings on Barlow Moor Road. Its public houses were the Bowling Green, built in 1693, and the Horse and Jockey, which was licensed in the early 19th century.

Marl had been dug in Martledge since at least 1598; the disused pits filled with water gave the area its common name of the Isles. The Chorlton Brick Company was established there in the early part of the 20th century, and continued producing bricks for about forty years. Turf-cutting was a significant industry in Martledge, as well as in the White Moss and Jackson's Moss areas.

Suburban growth

The Meade in [Chorltonville

Until the last quarter of the 19th century Chorlton's population had increased slowly. When the railway reached neighbouring Stretford in 1849, upmarket villas were built on a flood-free area in Edge Lane and High Lane. Wilbraham Road was built in 1869 to connect the Egerton holdings across Withington from Edge Lane to Fallowfield. The Midland Railway built a line from Manchester Central through Chorlton station which opened on 1 January 1880. Over the following decade land close to the station was developed for residential and commercial purposes centred on the Barlow Moor Road/Wilbraham Road crossroads, northeast of the old village centre. Houses built in the 1880s attracted more affluent residents who worked in Manchester city centre to high quality homes in a more rural area.

Irish immigrants came to work in the expanding industries of Manchester, in small-scale horticulture and farming and domestic service. They brought Roman Catholicism, and by the first decade of the 20th century a church and convent school had been established on High Lane.

Further growth was aided by the arrival of Manchester Corporation's tramway before the First World War: a terminus was built on Barlow Moor Road a short distance south of the junction with High Lane. Chorltonville was developed as a garden suburb south of Chorlton Brook: the houses are mostly large and semi-detached and individual in design, standing on tree-lined roads. Alexandra Park Aerodrome (1917–24), was Manchester's first major airfield located east of the Midland railway overbridge on Mauldeth Road West.

After the First World War came a period of residential development to the east of the new village either side of Wilbraham Road and a council housing estate at Merseybank. The Ashby, a two-seater light car, was produced in Chorlton-cum-Hardy by Victor Ashby and Son from 1922 to 1924.

From the 1960s onwards a council estate at Nell Lane near Southern Cemetery and patchy redevelopment in other areas were completed. There has been immigration particularly from the Indian subcontinent and from Poland; the Polish community arrived in the 1950s and 1960s.

About the town

Manchester City Council designated Chorlton Green a conservation area in 1970 and Chorltonville in 1991.

Chorlton Library

Chorlton Library

Chorlton Library was built in 1914 to a design by Henry Price. It was funded by a £5000 donation from steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, one of about 3,000 Carnegie libraries around the world.

The single-story flat-roofed building is constructed of red brick dressed with Portland stone, and is designed in the Edwardian Baroque style. Today it is designated a Grade II listed building.

Southern Cemetery

Southern Cemetery originally occupied 40 acres of land that cost Manchester Corporation £38,340 in 1872. Its cemetery buildings were designed by architect H J Paull and its layout attributed to the city surveyor, James Gascoigne Lynde. The cemetery opened on 9 October 1879 and had mortuary chapels for Anglicans, Nonconformists, and Roman Catholics linked by an elliptical drive and a Jewish chapel at the west corner of the site. The original cemetery is registered by English Heritage in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens for its historic interest and the mortuary chapels and other structures are listed buildings. It is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom.

Churches

Since 1847 Chorlton has been in the Diocese of Manchester. In the Middle Ages the parish church was the Collegiate Church in Manchester, dependent on which was the chapel of ease at Didsbury.

A timber-framed chapel dedicated to St Clement provided by the Barlow family in1512 was used until 1779 when it was replaced by a brick chapel, probably on the same site. (Its Grade II listed gatehouse and bell turret remain at Chorlton Green.) Chorlton was designated a parish in 1839 and by 1860 the chapel was deemed inadequate for the expanding population. Lord Egerton provided land for a replacement but not all parishioners supported the proposal and the old chapel remained after the new church was completed in 1866. After the old chapel was demolished in 1949, St Clement's Church became the parish church.

In 1898 a new parish was established consisting of part of St Clement's parish and some others. The foundation stone of St Werburgh's Church was laid on 5 November 1899, its chancel and transepts dedicated in 1900, it was completed and opened on 1 June 1902 and consecrated 15 July 1902.

St Werburgh's Church, Wilbraham Road

A Methodist chapel was built in about 1805 and replaced by a larger building in 1827. It moved to Manchester Road in 1873 when the neo-Gothic chapel was built. It has a memorial to those who lost their lives in the First World War in the grounds. Manley Park Methodist Church was established in a 'tin tabernacle' in 1905. The present building opened in 1910. A smaller chapel was used by Welsh Methodists. A Congregational Chapel opened in 1883 was replaced in 1894 and became the United Reformed Church, the MacFadyen Memorial Church, but was demolished and its congregation meets in the church hall. Other denominations established churches: the Unitarians in Wilbraham Road in 1901; the Macpherson Memorial Primitive Methodist Church was built in 1896 and enlarged in 1908; the Baptist Maclaren Memorial Church in 1907; the Presbyterians in 1908; and the Emmanuel Free Church in 1909. The Unitarian and Baptist Chapels have been demolished, although their congregations are still in existence. The Congregationalists and Baptists have joined the United Reformed Church in the former Congregational church hall. The Evangelical Church meets at Ivygreen Road.

A Roman Catholic mission began in 1892 at St Peter's Chapel in Barlow Moor Road and another was established at St. Augustine's in High Lane. A new church was built in 1927. A second, St Ambrose of Milan, was founded in 1932 at Barlow Moor and new church opened in 1958.

Sport and recreation

The Sedge Lynn pub

In the early 19th century bull-baiting, badger-baiting and cockfighting were popular but were outlawed by an Act of Parliament of 1835 and the last bull-baiting in Chorlton is recorded the same year. Prize-fighting, horse and foot-racing, and wrestling took place on the meadows and led to disorder. If the forces of law and order appeared participants and spectators could escape across the Mersey into Cheshire and continue their sport. Horse races are said to have been held on land now part of Chorlton Park in the 16th century.

• Cricket: South West Manchester Cricket Club
• Football: West Didsbury & Chorlton A.F.C.
• Rugby: Broughton Park RUFC, established in 1882 in Salford, moved to Hough End in 2004.

An area of what is now Chorlton Park was used many centuries ago for horse racing. As a public park it dates from 1928: there are gardens, many trees, and recreational facilities. The Recreation Ground, Beech Park, was opened in 1896, donated to the community by Lord Egerton.

Longford Park also is the home of Trafford Athletics Club. There is a synthetic 6 lane track that is used heavily in the summer for regional competitions and British Milers' Club meets. Below the main stand is Longfords Gym, run in association with the Athletics Club. There is a disused pitch and putt golf course located in the Park also, along with community football pitches and all-weather tennis courts.

Culture

A number of poets and minor publishers of poetry were active in the late 20th century and a poetry group meets at Chorlton Library. There are three amateur dramatic societies that rehearse and perform in Chorlton.

The Beech Road Festival took place on Beech Road, Beech Road Park and Chorlton Green in June or July, with commercial and educational stalls, entertainments and live music and a tug-of-war competition. The festival first began in 1991, when two regulars from the Bowling Green Hotel came up with idea of hiring an articulated truck, a sound system and some generators for local acts Rattle 'n' Reel, Hectors House and Toss The Feathers to play on the August bank holiday Sunday on the rec (Beech Road Park), there was a good crowd and the first tug-of-war competition. Unfortunately it has not taken place since 2011, when a combination of sunny weather and good social media marketing meant the event was attended by an unexpectedly large crowd estimated at 20,000 people, leading to a number of incidents which threatened to overstretch the modest Police presence of 8 officers at the event. As a result, The Association of Beech Road Traders – the organisation which ran the festival in order to raise money for nearby Beech Road Park - made the unanimous decision to cancel the festival indefinitely.

The Unity Festival takes place in Chorlton Park, encouraging racial and cultural unity and provides a platform for performances by dancers, musicians and singers. Chorlton Big Green Festival takes place in late March/April combining live music, dancing, food, real ale, cider, arts and crafts, workshops, cycling and films. It has a different theme each year.

The Chorlton Arts Festival in May features a programme of events over nine days. The Chorlton Book Festival takes place over two weeks in the autumn. Chorlton takes part in the Manchester Food & Drink Festival in early October, and in 2013 the inaugural Chorlton Coffee Festival was held in June.

Cinemas and dance halls

Several cinemas opened in the first half of the 20th century. The first was the Chorlton Pavilion bought by H. D. Moorhouse in 1909 followed by the Palais de Luxe in 1915. It closed in 1958. The Rivoli opened on Barlow Moor Road in 1936 and changed its name several times to the Essoldo, the Classic and the Shalimar before closing in the 1980s. Likewise, the Majestic on Manchester Road had several names, the Savoy, the ABC and the Gaumont. There are no remaining cinemas in Chorlton, with the nearest being situated in Manchester city centre, East Didsbury or at the nearby Trafford Centre.

The Chorlton Palais de Danse in Barlow Moor Road became a nightclub before the site was redeveloped.

Producing television and appearing on television

Cosgrove Hall in Chorton became famous for children's animated television series. The studios closed in January 2009. Such series included series Chorlton and the Wheelies, Danger Mouse and Count Duckula.

The area is used by film crews for TV locations, as it retains much of its original Victorian architecture. The series White Van Man (BBC3, 2010) used several Chorlton locations.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Chorlton-cum-Hardy)

• Chorlton Civic Society
• Original Chorltonville Brochure
• Old photographs of Chorlton
• Chorlton cum Hardy local history
• Ward maps

References

• Burton, Nick (ed.) Chorlton cum Hardy and Stretford, 1905. (Old Ordnance Survey maps. Lancashire sheet 111.10.) Gateshead: Alan Godfrey (includes historical survey and extracts from Slater's directory, 1910)
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995), The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 
• Cooper, Glynis (2007), The Illustrated History of Manchester's Suburbs, Breedon Books Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85983-592-0 
• Nikolaus Pevsner: Pevsner Architectural Guides
• Hayes, Cliff (1999), Chorlton-cum-Hardy: Britain in Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-2065-3 
• Lloyd, John M. (1972), The Township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester: E. J. Morten, ISBN 0-901598-26-7 
• Lloyd, John M. (1985), Looking Back at Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Martledge, Barlow Moor and Hough End, Willow, ISBN 0-946361-14-2 
• Schofield, R. A . (2004), "Manchester's Early Airfields", in Brumhead, Derek; Wyke, Terry, Moving Manchester: Aspects of the history of transport in the city and region since 1700, Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, OCLC 61759252 
• Simpson, Andrew (2012), The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, The History Press, ISBN 978-0-7524-8966-7 

Further reading

• Booker, John (1857). A History of the Ancient Chapels of Didsbury and Chorlton. Manchester: Chetham Society. 
• Ellwood, Thomas L. (1885–86). "History of Chorlton-cum-Hardy". South Manchester Gazette.