Tuesday 23 July 2024

Brunswick Mill and the Midland Railway

 It took until 1902 for the Midland Railway to complete their line through New Mills and open a direct route into Manchester Central. 

They built the great thirteen arched viaduct across the River Goyt and the Disley Tunnel 3.5km long at great expense.  Traversing New Mills provided another challenge as mills and other buildings stood in the way. The old Beehive Inn was demolished and a replacement built further down Albion Road. John Harrop's rope walk was demolished as was a small part of Brunswick Mill (now Swizzels).

This photograph shows the Albion Road Toll Bar and on the right, the Beehive Inn. In the background is the low roof of Harrop's rope walk and beyond is Brunswick Mill. 

A bridge was built to carry Albion Road over the new railway and a high retaining wall supported Brunswick Mill above the adjacent tracks.  The ground however was unstable and the works resulted in subsidence causing damage to Brunswick Mill The drawing below, dated 1900, reproduced courtesy of the Midland Railway Study Centre shows the new retaining wall and the damage to the mill building.


New Mills now boasted a third railway line, all of which remain in use today. Express trains from Central to Derby, Nottingham and London raced through the town without stopping. There was a proposal to build a station on the Midland Line and this would have been on the site of Brunswick Mill.  The undated newspaper cutting outlines the proposals.


This aerial photograph from Historic England shows much of New Mills  including Newtown. Zooming in gives a detailed view of Brunswick Mill and the passing railway.

This extract is from the 1:2500 scale map published shortly before construction of the line. The route of the railway is marked showing where buildings had to make way for the new line.


We appreciate contributions from Tony Whittaker and Tony Bartley in preparing this article.




Friday 14 June 2024

Under Construction

 The Chapel-en-le-Frith and Whaley Bridge ByPass opened in 1987.  Construction had been scheduled to start in May 1984 and the budget was £17 million. 
 
 
The road was to be 7.3 km long, 6 km being dual carriageway.  In addition. 2.9 km of side and slip roads were to be built.  Construction was planned to take 2.5 years.
 
7 major road bridges, a railway bridge, a road viaduct and 3 footbridges were to be built. 



Keith Holford's Buxworth archive features a number of photographs showing construction of the road.
 
 



Stuart Peel of Furness Vale workedon the construction project and has sent us some of his personal photos.


It was intended that the road be continued to by-pass Furness Vale, Newtown and Disley. The proposal for a route across Broadhey Hill would have been steeply graded and potentially affected b snow and ice during winter months. It was therefore rejected on safety grounds and because of its environmental impact.  The preferred route, after amendments would have followed the railway through the Goyt Valley and would have passed beneath Albion Road alongside Newtown Station. Building this road would have been destructive. 16 houses and 6 businesses would be lost as well as the historic Goytside Farm. 
 

 


 


Wednesday 17 April 2024

Celebrating the Coronation


 A watercolour painting of Buxton Road in 1953.  The village was bedecked with flags and bunting to mark the Coronation of queen Elizabeth II in June.

Sunday 24 March 2024

A Tour of Whaley Bridge

 A Tour of Whaley Bridge by the late David Frith from the archive of Whaley Bridge Amenity Society





Thursday 18 January 2024

The Fascinating Webb Family Story

 


THE FASCINATING WEBB FAMILY STORY

Gill Baxter

 

In March this year I received an email from Joseph Rosolino in New York. He and his partner Gina had visited Lumber and Salt, an antique salvage shop on the North Fork of Long Island and bought a mathematics exercise book titled Mr Church’s Academy Crosbie House (Frodsham), dated 1852, belonging to Philip Webb. Joseph contacted our Archive email address to find out more about Philip and his family.

This is what I discovered…

Philip Webb senior, a widower, married Martha Prout on 8th February 1810 in Marloes, Chepstow, Monmouth, and their son Henry Philip Webb was born 29th September 1811. Philip Webb senior must have died, as on 21st April 1827, at St Laurence Church, his widow Martha Webb married John Williams, an Exciseman based at The King’s Head (now the Queen’s Head). This brought the Webb family to Frodsham. See the Webb family tree at the end of this article.

Their son, Henry Philip Webb, a mariner, married Eliza Grice, daughter of William Grice, a corn dealer and tanner of Frodsham, on 5th April 1836, at St Laurence Church. Philip Henry Webb, the owner of the exercise book, was born 15th February 1839.

In 1841 the Census was taken on the night of 6th June. Henry and Eliza were said to be living with her widowed mother, Mary Grice, next to the tannery at Brook House in Main Street. Mary was the owner of the Tannery which was run by her son John. Philip is not on this Census entry but unusually there is a second, duplicate entry for them on the 1841 Census, at a lodging house and shop in Dalrymple Street, Liverpool, near to the docks, where Eliza’s sister, Betty and her husband John Thompson lived. The Webb family, including Philip Henry, is recorded there.

Henry Philip Webb had previously been the captain of The Mary Ridgway and on 6th November 1841 he set out as captain of her sister ship, The Martha Ridgway, on a 5-month journey to New Zealand.

The Martha Ridgway, owned by John Ridgway, was constructed expressly for the passenger trade. It was launched in Liverpool in 1840.


The Martha Ridgway, a 3-masted schooner, just left of the flagpole in Wellington, New Zealand

© National Library of New Zealand

The Martha Ridgeway had had a checkered career. In 1840, under Captain Forbes, there was an outbreak of smallpox and it was the Martha Ridgway that brought the news that the settlement of Britannia, was to change its name to Wellington, after the Duke of Wellington

 

While Henry was away Eliza had another son, John William Webb, baptised 27th February 1842.

On the return voyage, the Martha Ridgway was wrecked on 27th August 1842 at Sir Charles Hardy Island, Torres Straits between Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. Captain Henry and six men were reported lost.


 

In 1844, some of the ship’s wreckage was used by convicts to build the Raines Islet Beacon, to the east of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. The historic Beacon was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992.

 

 

 


 

Captain Webb is remembered on gravestone OGB/01/11 at St Laurence Church and there is a further memorial in Chapel en le Frith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 31st January 1850 Eliza Webb married James Shirt at St Laurence Church, Frodsham. James was a journeyman stonemason from Chapel-en-le-Frith. This was a second marriage for both of them and they were living in Church Street Frodsham in 1851. I was curious as to why James Shirt was in Frodsham. A newspaper cutting from the Derbyshire Courier dated 3rd January 1846 mentions the death of James Shirt’s first wife, when she was visiting him whilst he was working as a Tunnel Inspector at Woodhead on the Sheffield and Manchester Railway. So, perhaps James had moved to Frodsham when the railway was under construction in 1849-50.

Philip Henry Webb stayed in Frodsham with his grandmother, Martha Williams, in High Street near Chapel Lane (Fluin Lane) whilst he was attending Mr. Church’s Academy. Sometime between 1851 and 1857 the Shirt family moved to Chapel-en-le-Frith with Philip, and William Grice, Eliza’s nephew, who was an apprentice stonemason. Philip is described as a warehouseman. Sadly, his brother, John William Webb, died in June 1857 aged 15.


 

 

Portrait of Frances Webb (nee Richards)



In 1851, Frances Richards was working for John Guest Williams of Main Street Frodsham as a Draper’s Assistant. Perhaps this was where Frances and Philip Henry met. On 10th January 1863 they were married in Nannerch, Flintshire, Wales. Interestingly her father Watkin Richards was a Revenue Officer.

Frances and Philip had two children, Martha Beatrice, and James Henry Philip.

 

 


 

Left: Martha Beatrice Webb born 1863

Below: James Henry Philip Webb born 1865

 

 



In 1871, the Shirt and Webb families lived in Furness Vale, in the Parish of Disley. Their home was an end-of-terrace house in Bank End known as Shirt’s Row. Nearby was Bank End Quarry where James Shirt worked as a Master Mason employing 25 hands. In 1871, Philip Henry Webb is a Manufacturer of Cotton Yarns.

 

 

 

The 1881 census shows Philip Henry as Proprietor of a Stone Quarry employing 16 men and 2 boys, and in 1891 he is described as a Stone Merchant living in Bank End. Kelly's Directories of 1892 and 1896 list Philip Henry Webb as stone quarry proprietor. The directories of 1901 and 1906 list his son, James Henry Philip Webb as proprietor. 

Philip Henry died on 17th April 1899 at his home at 38 Duchess Road Edgbaston and was buried on 19th April at St Laurence Church, Frodsham. Probate was granted on 5th June to Frances Webb widow, Martha Beatrice Webb spinster, James Henry Philip Webb stone-merchant and the Reverend Frederick Haines, Wesleyan minister. Effects: £14,033 (£2,223,712 today*)

By 1901 Frances Webb is still living at the same address in Edgbaston and Martha is working as a Natural Science Mistress at Edgbaston High School for Girls, having studied natural sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Martha Beatrice Webb is mentioned in the Edinburgh Post in 1908, as having qualified as the only female Doctor of Medicine from Edinburgh University. Martha spent her career as a G P in Edgbaston, researching into matters of women's health.

Martha’s mother, Frances Webb of Islington Row, Edgbaston, widow of Philip Henry, died 23 February 1917 and is buried in the family plot at St Laurence graveyard. Probate was granted on 3rd April to Martha Beatrice Webb. Effects: £250 (£37,893 today*).

In 1921 Martha is living at 6 Islington Row, Edgbaston with her two adopted nieces, Dorothy Morris Japp, a Medical Student at Birmingham University and Loën Isabel Mary Aldous, a Student at King Edward’s School Birmingham.

On the 1939 Register, Martha Beatrice Webb is retired and living at 36 High Brow, Birmingham. She died there on 14th February 1951. Probate was granted on 18th May to Mabel France and Eleanor Gladys Wright. Effects: £3,711 (about £143,747 today*)

 


L och Long, built 1876 by James & George Thomson Scottish Built Ships, Wikipedia

James Henry Philip Webb followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, sailing on the Orient Liner R.M.S. Austral from Tilbury to Sydney via Gibraltar at the end of August 1888, and to Australia again in January 1890 on the ship Loch Long as a Captain Rear Admiral.

 

 

James HP Webb married Ellen Pickford in January 1899 and in 1901 the family, now with six month old Philip Henry, is living at Buxton Road, New Mills. James HP is a Stone Merchant. A second child, Sidney Watkin Webb was born in 1908. In 1911 James HP and his family are living at Hockerley Lane, Whaley Bridge. They are still at Briar Cottage, Hockerley Lane, in 1921. Philip Henry junior joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1918 and was sent to Bristol.

The 1939 Register has James HP Webb and his family still living in Briar Cottage, Whaley Bridge. He had retired as a Stone Merchant due to ill health. Ellen, his wife, is a housewife; Sydney is a Rubber Research Chemist; Philip Henry junior is living in Manchester as a Textile Research Chemist and is single.

James HP Webb of Briar Cottage, Hockerley Lane, Derbyshire died on the 24th December 1952. He was buried at Fernilee Cemetery, High Peak. Derbyshire. Probate was granted on 12th February to his widow, Ellen Webb, and Philip Henry Webb textile chemist. Effects: £8,938. (about £317,145 today*).

Ellen Webb died on 9th July 1960, aged 85, and was buried with James at Fernilee Cemetery, High Peak, Derbyshire. Probate was granted on 4th October 1960 to Philip Henry Webb, Works Chemist, and Sidney Watkin Webb, also a Works Chemist. Effects: £6,529 (about £185,428 today*).

Philip Henry Webb, 42 Bradford Street, Bolton, died 19th December 1969. Probate was granted on 11th March 1970. Effects: £18,570 (about £376,934 today*).

Sidney Watkin Webb of Briar Cottage, 36 Hockerley Lane, Whaley Bridge, Stockport, Cheshire died 24th March 1989. Administration Manchester 20th December 1989. Effects: £138,823 (£425,930 today*).

Both Philip Henry and Sidney were buried in the family grave at Fernilee Cemetery.

And finally…

I forwarded my research to Joseph and Gina, who were delighted with the story that had enfolded. They generously donated several documents to F&DHS Archives including a handwritten copy of Philip Henry’s will, family photographs and original marriage certificates for James & Ellen Webb. The will showed that Philip Henry had invested in railways including The Great Central Railway, and the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Joseph and Gina also gave the Society the mathematical exercise book that had sparked the original enquiry. Philip Henry Webb obviously became an astute businessman, perhaps due to the tuition at Mr Church’s Academy, Crosbie House, Frodsham.

* www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation

The family of Philip Henry Webb


Martha Webb married John Williams in 1827

First wife of Philip

Ι

Henry Philip Webb married Eliza Grice in 1836 Eliza married James Shirt in 1850

1811-1842


Philip Henry Webb married Frances Richards John William Webb

1839-1899 Died 1917 1842-1857


Martha Beatrice James Henry Philip married Ellen Pickford

1863-1951 1865-1952


Philip Henry Sydney Watkin

1901-1969 1908-1989

Acknowledgements Thanks to Gina Vigliarolo and Joseph Rosolino for their thoughtful and generous donation. Thanks to Fiona Barry, Kath Gee and Sue Lorimer for assistance with this article. David Easton, Secretary and Archivist, Furness Vale History Society. Sue McGuire. Membership Secretary, Liverpool History Society. Lyn Helps, Chapel en le Frith History Society.

Further reading on Martha Beatrice Webb: https://furnesshistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/martha-beatrice-webb.html https://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=1516&PageIndex=45&SearchType=3 https://aim25.com/cats/8/7137.htm



 

Tuesday 16 January 2024

Bank End and Shirt's Row

 

The 1871 census lists Bank End Cottages as "Shirt's Row". This appears to be named after James Shirt one of the residents who is listed as "Stone Dealer and Master Mason employing 25 hands" . He was the owner of Bank End Quarry and his was perhaps the largest house at the far end of the row..
Also living at Shirts Row were 4 labourers at the stone quarry and also Alfred Taylor, a Master Wheelwright employing 2 men.  Alfred Bennett was an apprentice Joiner and Wheelwright at the same address.
Philip Henry Webb was a Manufacturer of Cotton Yarns.

On 21st January 1871, the Glossopdale Chronicle told how James Shirt had entertained his employees at theri annual dinner.


Bank End Farm is first recorded in 1611. 

In the 1871 Census it was occupied by Thomas Ollerenshaw aged 32, and his family, and by Edward Ollerenshaw, aged 29, and his family. They were perhaps brothers or cousins. Morris's Trade Directory of 1874 lists them as also being grocers and provision dealers.
William Ollerenshaw, was also living at Bank End Farm,he was retired, aged 58.


Also giving their address as Bank End was Edward Ollerenshaw a retired farmer aged 74, his wife, and son, aged 46
Joseph Longden whose grocery business was at 55 Buxton Road lived at Bank End with his wife as did Samuel Cooper, a Bricklayer

 From the 1871 Census 

 

59

8

33

Bank End

LONGDEN

Joseph

Head

Mar

55

-

Grocer

DBY

Peak Forest

59

8

33

-

LONGDEN

Sarah Ann

Wife

Mar

-

37

-

DBY

New Mills

59

8

33

-

PIMLETT

Elizabeth

-

Unm

-

30

School Teacher

LAN

Manchester

59

8

34

Bank End

COOPER

Samuel

Head

Mar

48

-

Lab. Bricklayer

LAN

Manchester

59

8

34

-

COOPER

Mary

Wife

Mar

-

46

-

CHS

Stockport

59

8

34

-

COOPER

Jane

Dau

Unm

-

18

Cotton Weaver

CHS

Duckenfield

59

8

34

-

COOPER

Mary Ellen

Dau

-

-

14

Cotton Weaver

CHS

Duckenfield

59

8

35

Bank End

OLLERENSHAW

Edward

Head

Mar

74

-

Retired Farmer

DBY

Whaley Bridge

59

8

35

-

OLLERENSHAW

Elizabeth

Wife

Mar

-

75

-

DBY

Hayfield

59

8

35

-

OLLERENSHAW

Edward

Son

-

46

-

Farm lab.

CHS

Disley

















































































Folio

Page

Schedule

Address

Surname

Forenames

Rel to Head

Mar Cond

Age Male

Age Female

Occupation

Born County

Place

64

17

70

Bank End Farm

OLLERENSHAW

Thomas    

Head

Mar

32

-

Farmer of 50 acres

CHS

Lyme Handley

64

17

70

-

OLLERENSHAW

Prudence

Wife

Mar

-

30

-

CHS

Adlington

64

17

70

-

OLLERENSHAW

William

Son

-

9

-

Scholar

DBY

Mellor

64

17

70

-

OLLERENSHAW

John

Son

-

6

-

Scholar

DBY

Mellor

64

17

70

-

OLLERENSHAW

Thomas

Son

-

4

-

-

DBY

Mellor

64

17

70

-

OLLERENSHAW

William

Boarder

Unm

58

-

Retired Farmer

CHS

Whaley

64

17

71

Bank End Farm

OLLERENSHAW

Edward

Head

Mar

29

-

Farmer of 35 acres

CHS

Lyme Handley

64

17

71

-

OLLERENSHAW

Betty

Wife

Mar

-

29

-

DBY

Hayfield

64

17

71

-

OLLERENSHAW

George

Son

-

5

-

-

DBY

Hayfield

64

17

71

-

OLLERENSHAW

John

Son

-

2

-

-

CHS

Disley

64

17

71

-

OLLERENSHAW

Edward

Son

-

3months

-

-

CHS

Disley

64

17

72

Shirts Row

SHIRT

James

Head

Mar

68

-

Stone Dealer & Master Mason Emp 25 Hands

DBY

Chapel en le Frith

64

17

72

-

SHIRT

Eliza

Wife

Mar

-

62

-

CHS

Frodsham

64

17

72

-

FURNIVAL

Mary Grice

Visitor

Unm

-

43

Seamstress

LAN

Warrington

64

17

73

Shirts Row

BRIDGE

Solomon

Head

Mar

26

-

Labourer (Stone Quarry)

DBY

Thornsett

64

17

73

-

BRIDGE

Sarah

Wife

Mar

-

29

-

CHS

High lane

64

18

74

Shirts Row

BENNETT

James                 

Head

Mar

56

-

Labourer Stone Quarry

DBY

Sparrow pit

64

18

74

-                        

BENNETT            

 Ann     

Dau

Unm

-             

29

Cotton spinner

CHS

Disley

64

18

74

-

BENNETT

Elizabeth

Dau

Unm

-

27

Housemaid

DBY

Whittle

64

18

74

-

BENNETT

James

Son

Unm

23

-

Lab. Stone quarry

DBY

Whittle

64

18

74

-

BENNETT

John

Son

Unm

17

-

Lab. Stone quarry

DBY

Whittle

64

18

74

-

BENNETT

Harriett

Dau

-

-

15

Cotton Weaver

CHS

Whaley

64

18

74

-

BENNETT

Martha

Dau

-

-

13

Scholar

CHS

Disley

64

18

75

Shirts  Row

TAYLOR

Alfred

Head

Mar

34

-

Master Wheelwright Emp. 2 men

LAN

Manchester

64

18

75

-

TAYLOR

Mary

Wife

Mar

-

38

-

LAN

Lancaster

64

18

75

-

TAYLOR

Lucy

Dau

-

-

9

Scholar

DBY

Chapel en le Frith

64

18

75

-

TAYLOR

Maria

Dau

-

-

8

Scholar

DBY

Chapel en le Frith

64

18

75

-

TAYLOR

Samuel

Son

-

6

-

Scholar

DBY

Chapel en le Frith

64

18

75

-

TAYLOR

George

Son

-

4

-

-

CHS

-

64

18

75

-

BENNETT

Alfred

Apprent

Unm

20

-

Joiner & Wheelwright

DBY

Hope

64

18

-

Shirts Row

2 Uninhabited

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

64

18

76

Shirts Row

WEBB

Philip Henry

Head

Mar

32

-

Manufacturer of Cotton Yarns

CHS

Frodsham

64

18

76

-

WEBB

Frances

Wife

Mar

-

39

-

DEN

Wrexham

64

18

76

-

WEBB

Martha Beatrice

Dau

-

-

7

-

CHS

Disley

64

18

76

-

WEBB

Jas. Henry P.

Son

-

5

-

-

CHS

Disley

64

18

76

-

WRIGHT

Annie

Servant

Unm

-

21

Domestic Servant

CHS

Tarporley