The Terraces of Ardwick

[LizzieW]

Paul - I've just modified my post.  The school is the same, just info slightly different.

I was born in Manchester but was taken back to my parents home in Cheshire, so although I used to go into Manchester frequently, going up on the electric train from Altrincham (1940s/50s) I never ventured into Ancoats and Beswick so don't know the area at all.  My dad's relatives lived in North Manchester, Harpurhey/Blackley area so I knew that part of Manchester a bit.

[MJH001]

Hi Martin,

I am not sure about the address on Devon Street but I have a feeling it was 114 or 117 perhaps. It was close to a coal yard and the entry that led to Viaduct St and the footbridge over the railway and then to the park. Surname is Carter.

Paul

I think my grandparents moved from Viaduct Street to Devon Street.  This old map shows the location of both streets well, and Birley Street School. 

[PaulJC]

Hi

Do you have the date of this map as it doesnt show Rowen St (or a few others) where I grew up? You can find Coalbrook St and then there is a gap where there were 3 or 4 more streets. I had thought they were all built more or less at the same time but perhaps not......

Paul

[MJH001]

Hi

Do you have the date of this map as it doesnt show Rowen St (or a few others) where I grew up? You can find Coalbrook St and then there is a gap where there were 3 or 4 more streets. I had thought they were all built more or less at the same time but perhaps not......

Paul

Hi Paul,

I think the pink map is from 1857.

This is an even earlier one of the same area from around 1813.

Cheers

Martin

[MJH001]

Hi

Do you have the date of this map as it doesnt show Rowen St (or a few others) where I grew up? You can find Coalbrook St and then there is a gap where there were 3 or 4 more streets. I had thought they were all built more or less at the same time but perhaps not......

Paul

Hi Paul,

I think the pink map is from 1857.

This is an even earlier one of the same area from around 1813.

Cheers

Martin

[PaulJC]

Thanks Martin,

The 1857 map shows Coalbrook Street which was the next one along to ours (Rowen St). My maternal grandparents lived there and I would never have though it was that old. I had been told that Rowen St was built in the 1890's so the dates work.

There was a difference in the design of our house and that of my grandparents. We had three rooms downstairs with a single storey kitchen extension and they were two up and two down. The staircase in our house split the house in the middle into the front and back rooms whereas in my grandparents it was against the side wall in the back room.

Paul

[Netherworld]

Hi, Ian.  I lived just down the road from Aden Street, in Helsby St. This was just before the war. I went to Bank Meadow infants school. Do you remember Dolly Reid's shop on Ashton Old Road? She sold all sorts of fascinating toys, water pistols, etc. Also, we had Hampson's  beer house on the corner of Helsby Street. Today, it would be called an off-licence.
We lived at No. 38 Helsby Street, and my grandparents lived at no. 57. The rest of the family lived in Beswick and Bradford. People didn't move very far in those days.
Sadly, all gone.
Eric.

Hello Eric,
I've just started searching for maps of Manchester from the 1960s and found this old thread about Ardwick terraces. Interesting to see your grandparents lived at no. 57 Helsby Street as that is the house I was born in! What years were your grandparents living there?
Nicola.