I C ART Irlam & Cadishead urban art programme Celebrity Express– Irlam Celebrity Express – Irlam The ‘Celebrity Express – Irlam’ Midland Carriages illustrates and celebrates some of the The CLC Railway diverse talented people who have come did own some from Irlam and Cadishead or influenced carriages, how the area has been shaped over the but often the past four centuries. committee partners would Passengers include people, from the provide them, past and present, who are famous for with the a variety of talents including acting, Midland Railway singing, composing music, film-making, providing most. playing football, boxing, weightlifting, in 1894. Both were equally important Our celebrity painting and speedway racing, as well as in transforming the district from two carriages those early pioneers and industrialists small villages into what it is today. Irlam are typical Midland who were instrumental in putting the Station House tells the story of this great Railway rolling stock of that era. area on the map with the construction of This artwork is featured on the Liverpool undertaking in more detail - why not pop the railways and Manchester Ship Canal. platform at Irlam Station, with a replica in and take a look? on the steel bridge spanning Liverpool Road - alongside the lovely brick arch The locomotive bridge carrying the Cheshire Lines The train and carriages of ‘Celebrity Committee (CLC) Express – Irlam’ are typical of the railway line. passenger trains that serviced the Manchester to Liverpool line through The CLC Railway Irlam. opened in 1873 and was a The locomotive is a Great Central catalyst for the No.881 - a Pollitt class 11A 4-4-0 and industrialisation was built in 1899 at Gorton Works, of Irlam and Manchester. It was traditional in the Cadishead. era to name the loco type after the This was company’s chief engineer, in this followed by the case Harry Pollitt (1864-1945). Many construction of thousands of passenger and freight the Manchester trains passed through Irlam pulled by Ship Canal Pollitt locomotives. SIR EDWARD LEADER WILLIAMS ROBERT 1 4 STANNARD SENIOR 1828 – 1910 1780 – 1863 As the chief designer of the Manchester Ship Canal (MSC), civil engineer Sir Edward Leader Williams had a particularly pivotal role in shaping the development of Irlam and Cadishead. Engineer Robert Stannard Senior pioneered the construction of narrow gauge The canal opened in 1894 and had a significant impact on the area with the rivers railways which would prove to be essential to the reclamation of Chat Moss. Irwell and Mersey flowing into it, forming part of the navigation. Robert laid an 18-inch gauge moveable railway across the moss after being brought The building of Irlam Locks necessitated major earth works and two of the canal’s five to the area by William Roscoe in 1805. Reclamation required clay marl to be mixed rail crossings are located in the district. The introduction of the canal, alongside rail links into the bog, and this was transported by the railway. Suitably impressed by Robert’s was the catalyst for substantial industrial growth in the area with large organisations experience, George Stephenson employed him in 1826 to lay the contractor’s rail such as Co-operative Wholesale Society Soap Works and Irlam Steelworks taking tracks around the moss when Stephenson built his own railway. Robert is said to advantage of the large space available and the extensive connectivity. have persuaded George to float his railway on a raft system across the 4.75 mile bog Following the official opening of the canal, Sir Edward was knighted by Queen using brush wood from Botany Bay Wood. Victoria on 2nd July 1894. WILLIAM ROSCOE 5 1753 – 1831 2 SIR EDWARD BAINES JUNIOR Liverpool-born William Roscoe trained as 1800 - 1890 a solicitor, but his love of botany is what made him a key figure in the development of Irlam and Cadishead. William leased Sir Edward Baines Junior was a 3,000 acres of Chat Moss from the de 1 2 3 4 5 Leeds newspaper editor and Liberal Trafford family and reclamation work MP for the city from 1859 to 1874. started in 1805. This was a massive Knighted in 1880, he had a major undertaking as it covered 30 per cent impact on Irlam and Cadishead of Salford. William constructed drains through his work on Chat Moss. running from the centre of the moss He took over the lease on the eastern down to the River Irwell and in 1816 end of the moss to reclaim 1,200 employed Robert Stannard Senior to build acres for agricultural use, after a moveable light railway that enabled William Roscoe, who started the wagons to cross an area of the bog. work, was declared bankrupt. 3 GEORGE THOMAS William’s business later collapsed and he Sir Edward went on to set up a 1848 – 1927 was declared bankrupt in 1821. However, farming company with Edward Evans, the reclamation work continued under the who funded much of the reclamation George Thomas was a local businessman mark the visit to Irlam of Edward VII in 1909. direction of others, including Sir Edward work. In 1830 the pair financed the with international connections. His ability to In 1921, George turned several acres of his Baines Junior. construction of a tramway between speak a number of languages enabled him estate into Prince’s Park and opened it for Roscoe Road in Irlam, an access route to Lambs Cottage Halt on the Liverpool to hold an important position dealing with public use to celebrate another royal visit, the Moss, was named after William and to Manchester railway and the River the Turkish Chamber of Commerce and he this time by the Prince of Wales. there is a statue of him in St Georges Hall, Irwell at Boysnope. The tramway was also a representative in Russia of a large When he died in 1927, George left his entire Liverpool, where he was the driving force carried nightsoil from Manchester, firm of textile machinery makers. estate to Irlam District Council, including behind Liverpool’s Botanic Gardens. The fertilising the moss and resulted in In addition he was a philanthropist who Irlam Hall. Sadly the hall, which represented same plan was used for Philadelphia’s its eventual ownership by Manchester donated the George Thomas Playground in 700 years of Irlam’s history, was neglected Botanic Gardens and William was a friend Corporation in 1876. Irlam, a recreational area for children, to and had to be demolished in 1948. of US President Thomas Jefferson. In 1831 Roscoe in Ohio was named after him. MICHELLE KEEGAN 1987 - PRESENT GEORGE 6 9 STEPHENSON Michelle Keegan, who played Tina McIntyre in ITV’s Coronation Street, was born in Stockport and 1781 – 1848 Hailed as ‘the Father of Railways’, George Stephenson built the Liverpool to Manchester Railway which had a transformative effect grew up in Irlam. She attended St Teresa’s Primary School and St Patricks High School, before on the growth of Irlam and Cadishead. This expedited the reclamation of moving onto doing drama at Pendleton College and then the Manchester School of Acting. Chat Moss, allowing the district access to some of the first railway stations in the country. Her working life began at Selfridges in the Trafford Centre and was later a check-in agent at George worked with Robert Stannard Senior to cross Chat Moss by making floats out of Manchester Airport. She hit the nation’s TV screens when she appeared in Coronation Street in brush wood. This enabled him to spread the loads over a broader area, creating a raft 2008. Michelle landed the role as Tina McIntyre in just her second acting audition and stayed with that sat above the peat on which the railway track bed was laid. Timber for the work the soap until 2014. She then moved onto other major roles including: the BBC drama series was sourced from Botany Bay Wood. Ballast, sleepers and rails were positioned over Ordinary Lies and Our Girl. the timber foundation and old tar barrels were fixed together to form wooden culverts Michelle won the best newcomer award at the British Soap Awards as well as the TV Choice Awards that drained two side ditches. The economies of Liverpool, Manchester and all towns in in 2008. Then went on to win the ‘Sexiest Female’ award at both the British Soap Awards and Inside between were massively boosted as a result of the railway, which opened in 1830. Soap Awards for the next six years. She was awarded FHM ‘Sexiest Woman in The World’ in 2015. 7 10 EMMA LOWNDES LESLEY NICOL 1975 - PRESENT 1953 – PRESENT TV and stage actress Emma Lowndes Born in Irlam, Lesley Nicol was the was brought up in Irlam. She attended daughter of a well known local doctor Irlam Primary School and Urmston and her mother worked in TV. She Grammar School before studying graduated in the early 1970s from English at York University. Emma 6 7 8 9 10 London’s Guildhall School of Music won a place at the Royal Academy and Drama. of Dramatic Arts (RADA) where she Best known for her role as cook trained to be an actress. Beryl Patmore in ITV’s hit drama Her TV appearances have included series Downton Abbey, Lesley also Cranford, Downton Abbey, Jayne played Mrs Beaver in the 1988 BBC Eyre, Burn It, Silent Witness, The Trial adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and and Afterlife. In addition Emma has PETER WHITFIELD the Wardrobe and as the Queen Giant had many leading roles in theatres 8 1964 - 2013 in the Silver Chair. including the West End, the Royal She is also a distinguished stage Shakespeare Company, The National Born and bred in Irlam, Peter Whitfield overcame Life in 1995 and Mr Toad’s Wild Ride in 1996.