streetsofbowdon.co.uk
You're definitely not welcome up...
Chesham Place
There's not much to see here. At least, that's what some of the residents would have you believe. A private road with 24/7 security, so photography has not been easy. Clearly someone has an over-inflated sense of their own importance or something to hide.
It's a shortish cul de sac on the south side of Stamford Road.
A few images of Chesham Place
Church Brow
At the heart of old Bowdon
Linking the top end of Stamford Road to Park Road, Church Brow is one of the original streets of Bowdon. It was probably formed, like Richmond Road (see below), as a meltwater gully in immediate post-glacial times, and is thought to have marked the eastern/western boundaries respectively of two oval enclosures created by forest clearing after the Romans left 9. Most of the housing on Church Brow dates back to the C18.
During the afternoons in term time, Church Brow is clogged by queues of polluting SUVs belonging to the parents of pupils at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, who wait here - with their engines running - to get onto Park Road and the Eyebrook estate (and presumably further afield). It's a shame more of the girls don't walk; at least it's downhill on the way home :-)
Tell me more
Someone out there knows a lot more about the history of Church Brow than I do, so if you'd like to add something, please feel free to get in touch using this button. Your contribution will be acknowledged!
Views of Church Brow
The old school house. Situated close to the junction with Green Walk/Stamford Road.
Church Brow from close to the junction with Stamford Road (see below). The first dwelling on the right is "Pepper Cottage" (1720).
St Mary's vicarage, still occupied by the vicar, although apparently not for much longer (see https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/61475530/).
There's an article about the history of the vicarage by the late Maurice Ridgeway, one of its former occupants, in the Bowdon Sheaf no. 24.
You'll find a reference to the former vicarage on Heald Road here (see the image of "The Beeches").
Looking back up Church Brow to the church of St Mary's. The road is a one-way street, running downhill.
A view of the eastern side of the road showing a characterful residence with roses around the door (in a manner of speaking).
A pair of small cottages on the west side of the road.
At the junction with Park Road, this is a C19 dwelling. Note the abundance of windows on this side.
Welcome to...
East Downs Road
Such things are of course very subjective, but these must surely be among the most elegant homes in all Bowdon. Though not generally as large as some of the bombastic properties on Eyebrook Road or Theobald Road, they ooze character, elegance and charm instead.
OS grid ref.: SJ 7611 8666
Date of photography: March 2021
Views of East Downs Road
The four properties at the junction with Richmond Road are known as Laurel Mount. Adolph Brodsky (1859-1929), the eminent Russian violinist, lived here at no. 3 for the last 25 years of his life.
Unsurprisingly, Adolph Brodsky features in several articles in the Bowdon Sheaf series, notably a 2-part article by the late Michael Kennedy, the music critic, in Sheaf no. 1 (pp. 5-7) and no. 2 (p. 8). Further articles were published in Sheaf no. 12 (p. 8, by the playwright Ronald Gow) and in no. 52 (pp. 2, 8-9).
The blue plaque commemorating Adolph Brodsky at no. 3 Laurel Mount.
This small, tasteful property at no. 5, known as Rose Hill Cottage, lies a few metres east of Laurel Mount on the north side of the road.
It was one of the earlier houses on the road, so it's a shame - but perhaps not surprising - that it's so different to the adjoining property, which was added later when the cottage's land was sold off (thanks again to Ian Bryce for correcting my original assumption about it being the other way round).
This is two properties, "Alma Cottage" on the left and a house that appears to have had a variety of names, most recently "Doenberg", on the right. The rear entrances to both are on Southfields.
Don't be misled by the street sign! This shot was taken at the junction of South Road, and the row of properties is numbers 11-17 East Downs Road.
This is no. 29 (Vine House), the last property on the left (north) side of the road.
Ian Bryce has written an article about the origins and evolution of East Downs Road (see Bowdon Sheaf no. 58, pp. 3-8).
A row of four houses, numbers 10-16, on the south side of the road close to the junction with Southfields.
Looking down towards the eastern end of the road with prominent south-facing espalier.
No. 23, another of the substantial family homes on the north side of the road. This was lived in by Joseph William Sidebotham, who inherited a colliery in Hyde and was its Conservative MP.
The entrance to a pair of properties known as "Summerfield" and "Cransley". Originally one house (Summerfield), it was once the home of Abel Heywood, a well-known publisher, radical and Mayor of Manchester in the 1800s. In the early 1900s it was home to the Boddington family of brewers. One of their sons was killed in WW1 and there is a memorial to him inside Bowdon Church. Latterly it became Cransley School, founded by a Mrs Lunt, who in 1968-69 built a modern-looking house for her family in the grounds called Paddock House. She and the school moved to Great Budworth about 40 years ago.
It has now been sub-divided to create two houses; a few years ago Paddock House was demolished and replaced with an ultra-modern development (North House) that is totally out of keeping with the road. (Many thanks to Ian Bryce for the above.)
This is "High Lawn", probably one of the grandest and most famous houses in Bowdon (redeveloped into a block of 8 apartments by P J Livesey). It was built in 1843 for William Neild, a calico printer from Ardwick and the second Lord Mayor of Manchester.
The house commanded superb views across the Cheshire Plain. It is a Grade II listed building 15.
To view a pdf file containing a detailed account of its history, click this link: High Lawn by Ian Bryce.
Southfields
Southfields is an odd, secluded stub of a road that falls away off the ridge on the south side of East Downs Road. Apart from the modern apartment block (see photo below), most properties also have entrances on East Downs Road itself.
OS grid ref.: SJ 7609 8662
what3words ref.: ///gaps.alien.crunch
Date of photography: March 2021
A view of the rear of one of the properties backing onto Southfields. These properties form nos. 1-4 West Bank, a development whose communal entrance is at the junction of Richmond Road and East Downs Road.
This is the modern apartment block mentioned above (it's called Langley Mount). It's the only property on the east stub of the road.
The view from the bottom of the western stub looking back towards the junction with East Downs Road.
Richmond Road
Where is it?
Where is it?
Where is it?
Richmond Road runs uphill from Langham Road to Stamford Road. It's one-way (northbound) from the junction with East Downs Road.
OS grid ref.: SJ 760 868 what3words ref.: ///reap.giving.crisp
Where is it?
Where is it?
The road contains a mixture of residential properties, which tend to be either apartment blocks or large and imposing detached homes, and commercial establishments, like this Indian restaurant.
Where is it?
A more traditional dwelling. A semi-detached stone home opposite Richmond Court.
Did anyone famous ever live here?
An autumnal scene looking up the road.
"Scriven House" office block on the east side of the road. Taken from Richmond Court car park.
Apartment block at the foot of Richmond Road. There's an interesting tale about the original property known as "Church Bank" at this location here.
Richmond Court
Richmond Court is a modern and undistinguished development of two apartment blocks on the western side at the top of Richmond Road.
Richmond Court, Apartments 1-6. A recent development at the top of the road.
Another view of Richmond Court, this time showing the block containing apartments 7-15.
Stamford Road
Where is it?
Stamford Road runs east-west uphill from the junction with Ashley Road, Langham Road and Marlborough Road and once past St Mary's church merges into Green Walk. It's one of the oldest streets in Bowdon.
OS grid ref.: SJ762868 what3words ref.: ///nation.tend.form
Date of photography: October 2020
This is taken at the junction with Richmond Road, looking towards Green Walk with St Mary's church (l.) and The Griffin pub (r.)
1860s housing on the north side of Stamford Road.
An attractive pair of cottage orné style houses at the top of the road, characterised by Pevsner as "prettily Gothick"5.
The Polygon, at the junction with Richmond Road. Built to provide shopping facilities for the expanding township of Bowdon. Between 1883 and 1921 the top floor was occupied by at least five photographers 8, who relied exclusively on natural light to produce their images. The ground floor has been occupied by a number of different shops and businesses over the years, but at the time of writing is sadly almost empty.
More views of Stamford Road
The junction of The Firs and Stamford Road with The Stamford pub/restaurant on the right and the Francis Marriott memorial fountain - a Grade II listed monument - just visible in front of the tree.
An article about the pub and its neighbour, The Griffin (see next photo), can be found in the Bowdon Sheaf no. 13 (pp. 7-8).
A photo from January 2021 of The Griffin, one of Bowdon's oldest pubs. There's a brief article about John Hunt, its landlord c. 1860, on p.3 of the Bowdon Sheaf no. 11.
The Bowdon parish centre. This is situated at the top end of Stamford Road, just before the church.
Numbers 12 & 14, also mentioned in Pevsner (5), who describes them as Tudor and as "early villas in the style of Richard Lane". Neighbours of the cottage orné properties shown in the preceding section.
The entrance to Narrow Walk, basically a ginnel leading down to South Road.
On the north side. One could be forgiven for thinking that this was originally a single property, but all the maps going back to 1874 clearly show it as two dwellings. Notice the change brought about by our dependence on the motor car!
A somewhat ramshackle building on the south side, converted rather unsympathetically into 5 flats some time ago.
Looking east down the road towards Ashley Road and Hale.
A pair of attractive cottages with climbing plants. They'll look very pretty in the spring and summer.
This pathway joins Stamford Road at the SW corner of Spring Bank and leads to Cavendish Road.
Close to the Ashley Road, Marlborough Road and Langham Road junction.
Garner Close
Garner Close is one of the three short cul de sacs towards the bottom of Stamford Road. Formerly the site of Garner's Nurseries, it was probably developed in the 60s.
Looking into the close from near the entrance off Stamford Road. These unrendered properties are probably originals, whereas...
...this property is either new, or a rebuild, or has simply been rendered.
Another rendered(?) property at the end of the cul de sac.
Hollywood
Probably a later development than Garner Close (see above), as the properties are of a completely different style and look more modern.
An apartment block. Hollywood is a development from the early 1980s.
I didn't look closely, but I think these are detached family homes.
Just so you know where you are...
West Road
West Road is a cul de sac on the south side of Stamford Road. It comprises a mixture of properties of different styles and ages.
OS ref.: SJ 7622 8676
what3words ref: ///haven.item.march
Date of photography: March 2021
This is the view up West Road from the junction with Stamford Road. The properties nearest the camera are newer than those further along; all of them were built piecemeal between the 1950s and 1980s as the owners of properties on Heald Road sold off parts of their back gardens for development.
The entrance to the MHA Handsworth Residential Care Home on the east-west section of the road. It was built on the site of a former mansion during the late 60s/early 70s.
"Belfield House", a functional block of flats built around 1962 on the site of a house of the same name. It is a neighbour of the care home (see preceding photo) and backs onto the ginnel leading to East Downs Road.
This is another slightly austere family home towards the western end of the road. At least it still has its front garden!
A detached home on the south-facing side of the road.
November 2021 (as are all the following photos). This is the view looking north along the N-S section of the road. See the first image above for a view from the far end of the road.
The autumnal colours caught my eye.
A closer view of the house shown above right, highlighting the difference between March and November.
An end terrace at the western end of the road. The properties at this end of the road are not shown on the 1874 maps, but are marked on the 1908 editions.
Entry intercom/keypad at the far western end of the road.
On the western side of the N-S section. What is that shrub/bush behind the wall?
One of the detached properties along the E-W section of the road. This one is on the southern side.
Late 2024 Update
Unsurprisingly perhaps, there's been a flurry of new visitors to the site since my presentation to the Hale U3A History Group on October 21st. If you're one of them - welcome! I hope you found the site and the talk interesting.
Instead of scrolling through all that boasting on social media, why not spend some time scrolling around your local area?
Click on the button below to start your exploration!