A CHESHIRE MARKET TOWN IN VICTORIAN TIMES ALTRINCHAM IN 1841 Don Bayliss (editor), Hilda Bayliss, Chris Hill, Judith Lipman, Hazel Pry or Altrincham History Society Occasional Paper No.5 i A CHESHIRE MARKET TOWN IN VICTORIAN TIMES ALTRINCHAM IN 1841 Don Bayliss (editor), Hilda Bayliss, Chris Hilly Judith Lipman, Hazel Pry or Altrincham History Society Occasional Paper No.5 First published in 1994 by Altrincham History Society, 51 Chiltern Drive, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire © Don Bayliss, Hilda Bayliss, Chris Hill, Judith Lipman, Hazel Pryor and Altrincham History Society ISBN 09522681 08 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A cataloguing record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset by Northern Writers Advisory Services, 77 Marford Crescent, Sale, Cheshire M334DN. Printed by Intype Input Typesetting Ltd, Woodman Works, Durnsford Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 8DR This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form or binding other than that in which it is published. Contents List of Illustrations iv Introduction 1 Part I 4 Situation and site 4 Geology and soils 5 The national setting in the decade leading up to 1841 7 Brief history of Altrincham to 1841 7 Land use 1835-38 9 Fieldnames 11 Landowners and tenants 13 Part II 18 Description of six sub-divisions of Altrincham in 1841 18 Area 1: North Altrincham 20 Area 2: Higher Town and North-west Altrincham 22 Area 3: Lower Town 26 Area 4: South-west Altrincham 31 Area 5: South Altrincham 36 Area 6: East Altrincham 40 Overview - The Town in 1841 44 Appendices 49 Appendix 1: Summary Tables 49 Appendix 2: Problems of Health in 1841 50 Appendix 3: Gardens and Crofts 51 Appendix 4: Charities 52 References 52 Acknowledgements Inside back cover List of Illustrations Front cover: Rear of shop in Church Street 1. Examples of the chief documentary sources 2 2. Street map of modern Altrincham 3 3. Map of the Altrincham area in the late 1840s 4 4. The type of sub-soil in the area 6 5. Extract from Pigot and Slater's Directory, 1841, and Local turnpike house 8 6. Land use in Altrincham, 1835-38 10 7. Some distinctive field names 12 8. Important landowners 14 9. Important occupiers of land 16 10. The six areas of Altrincham 18 11. Area 1: North Altrincham 19 12. The workhouse 20 13. Broadheath Bridge 20 14. Oldfield Hall 21 15. The canal warehouse of 1833 21 16. Population pyramid for North Altrincham 22 17. Area 2: Higher Town and North-west Altrincham 23 18. St. George's Vicarage built in 1799 24 19. Well Lane (Victoria Street) 24 20. King Street (part of Market Street) 24 21. Population pyramid for Higher Town and North-west Altrincham 25 22. John Mort, draper and hatter 26 23. Area 3: Lower Town, Altrincham 27 24. Police lock-up, Police Street 28 25. Cottages, George Street. Site of the former Public Library, Altrincham 29 26. Bricklayers Arms and Beggar's Square 29 27. Population pyramid for Lower Town 30 28. Area 4: South-west Altrincham 32 29. Wesleyan Chapel, formerly in Chapel Lane. The Grapes beyond 33 30. Chapel Street 33 31. Lyme Grove 34 32. Population pyramid for South-west Altrincham 35 33. Spring Bank House 36 34. Area 5: South Altrincham 37 35. Money Ash Farm 38 36. Population pyramid for South Altrincham 49 37. Area 6: East Altrincham 41 38. The Xong Building' 42 39. Population pyramid for East Altrincham 42 40. Dean's Cottages 43 Maps and drawings by Don Bayliss unless otherwise indicated. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study is to give a view of Altrin- Manchester the regional metropolis. The reason is cham township and town in 1841 when the popula- not a major local event in 1841, but the availability of tion numbered nearly 4,000, only one tenth of what it information. 1841 is a date of convenience. Whereas is today. Altrincham at this point in time was coming the census had been taken each decade from 1801, the to the end of a long period in which it had not been actual enumerators' census sheet, recording details disturbed in a major way by industrialisation. There house by house, are only available starting with the were some cottage-weaving industries and two or 1841 census. Hence much more detail can be given three mills on what is now Grosvenor Road, but the about the town and township in 1841 than from pre- major activities were farming, market-gardening, vious census reports, which only print a few figures and provision of shops and services. It was a period for population and other topics for the place as a before the railway, which arrived eight years later. whole. The records for 3372 individuals have been The wonder-transport was the canal and Broadheath studied in Enumeration Districts 18-22 inclusive. was a rural, canalside hamlet busy with trade. Local This information will show some details about the transport was based on the horse, of which there people at the beginning of the decade 1841-51 which must have been hundreds. It is a picture of a somnol- ended with the coming of the railway. The census, ent small market town, which stretched only from St. taken on 8 June, shows the number of houses, the George's to the Downs. There were two main patches householder, members of the family and other resi- of housing, one around the Market Place (Higher dents, their sex, age and occupations and place of Town), one around Chapel Street and the Downs, origin. linked by a thread of housing along George Street One other main source of information used is the (Lower Town). All around were fields. There was a tithe map and schedule, which were published be- great social contrast between the people who lived in tween 1835-8 when the old system of collecting tithes Higher Town and on the Downs in fashionable for the upkeep of the church was commuted into houses and the artisans and poor people who lived in money dues. Nearly 500 properties were mapped the cottages of Lower Town (George Street) and the and listed. Chapel Street area. The tithe schedule and map give the name of the The town was basically unhealthy. Water came landowner, tenant, and property, and for the from public wells, private wells and pumps. There property its land use, size and titheable values (the was no sewage system as we know it. Waste accumu- last omitted from this study). Both types of docu- lated in cesspits and middens, polluted the wells and ments give considerable amounts of information. was disposed of on the market gardens; the town (See Figure 1 for examples of both.) Where possible must have stunk. There was much disease, no hospi- the information from the two sources has been corre- tal, welfare or health system for the sick, and a high lated. Other information has been taken from general mortality rate, particularly among children. sources, especially contemporary directories. In the past many books have given a rosy port- There are difficulties with the sources. Many en- rayal of die stage-coach period in this area. In this tries in the census are difficult to read and there can book the attempt has been made to restrict informa- be mistakes of interpretation. There are omissions tion to the facts available from official sources. This due to people being away from home. The enumera- does not necessarily present the whole picture be- tors in 1841 were sometimes at fault when going cause, of course, this depends on the type of material round the houses with their forms. They failed to ex- which had been officially collected, for what pur- tract some information and made wrong entries, oc- poses, and how we have interpreted it, The details casionally, for example, regarding sex (see Figure 1), here may appear rather dry, but, nevertheless, give, or spelling of names. Some people are likely to have as far as possible, the first factual picture of Altrin- deliberately given wrong information with regard to cham in one year in the nineteenth century. their ages (as they do today). Though year ages were The story is presented in two parts. In Part I, a given up to the age of fifteen, after that they were put number of general features of the township are de- in quinquennial (five-year) age-bands. People also scribed. In Part II, the township has been divided into gave wrong or misleading statements about occupa- six areas which show interesting contrasts. tions (for example, there are no disreputable jobs Why the year 1841? Why not 1837 when Victoria mentioned though they must have existed, such as came to the throne, or 1848 when a government night-soil shifters). There are gaps in the record in re- health enquiry was to paint Altrincham in not very spect of occupations and no information on topics pleasant colours, or 1849 when the Manchester South covered in later censuses such as familial relation- Junction and Altrincham Railway was built, which ships. Even a basic thing, the street number of a was to turn Altrincham into a commuter suburb of house was not recorded, making it difficult to locate 1 Census enumerator's record extract for a household in Norman's Place. William Davenport was a shoemaker. Note the enumerator's error - William junior was entered as a female. Extract from the Tithe map of 1835.