CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF ECCLES
By
T. SWINDELLS

GLIMPSES OF ECCLES A CENTURY AGO AND IN MORE RECENT DAYS

Mr. Moss in his very interesting little book on” Eccles and its Wesleyan Methodist Schools” describes the village as it appeared about a century ago. He says, “A line of old cottages skirted the Eccles Old Road from Gilda Brook to the White Horse Inn, and another line extended from the Market Place to Monton Lane, each with a garden in front. Two only of these remain—one is the well-known little shop in the Market Place, and the other, a rather notable example, with its thatched roof long since replaced by slate or flag, is to be found behind the chemist’s shop of Mr. Scholes. The present line of shops and inns has been built in the front gardens of these old cottages. On the south-eastern side of the Market Place was an open green, known as Lane End, of larger area than is now visible. This was irregularly fringed with ancient cottages and gardens. A number of smaller houses, very old in appearance, stood in Half Edge Lane, in a curved line extending from where the lodge now stands at the entrance of Victoria Road to a point a little west of Albert Road. Many such cottages remained in existence, and retained their rustic beauties until the middle of the 19th century, at which time some half-score of them could still be seen in close proximity to the Market Place and the Lower Cross.

“One group of newer oottages was built on the south side of the Churchyard, forming Shelmerdine Square, College Croft, and Fox Entry (now Fox Street); another on the south side of Church Street, forming Challenor’s Square, Queen Street, and King Street; two rows making a little cul de sac with the suggestive name of Shuttle Street; and a fourth colony covered an area west of the Lower Cross, including the notorious Timothy Street, and a ramification of passages, courts, and little squares lying between Church Street and the modern Barton Lane. The houses in these four areas were for the most part crowded too closely together, with little regard to, and probably with absolute ignorance of, the laws of sanitation, and certainly with no eye to the beutiful. In this regard these were, in common with hundreds of others in the Northern Counties the precursors of the monotonous rows and tedious miles of streets, which form so depressing and unlovely a feature of all our manufac­turing towns and districts.

“Many of the loom shops were floored with brick, but probably more were left with the bare soil to be trodden hard for a floor. Many of the streets were unpaved, while others were paved with the hard round cobbles or pebbles (“ petrefied kidneys “) which are still to be found in many parts of the Borough—notably in front of the Public Library—and little or no drainage was attempted.”

The following extracts are taken from the report of an interview with an old resident, published in “The Eccles Advertiser” on November 6th, 1875. They give some additional glimpses of life in Eccles a century ago:— “There were about eight of the ‘Watch and Ward.’ They had a room at the ‘Grapes,’ and two watchboxes, one opposite the ‘Cross Daggers,’ now the ‘ Oddfellows’ Arms,’ and one at the entrance to Barton Lane, which stood not far from the Irwell Street end. I remember seeing a rough lot of fellows carry this away once shoulder high. Two of the ‘Watch and Ward’ went out at a time to guard the village. The men were allowed eighteenpence a night for preserving the village as police, but it was not a very popular office, as an old rhyme which was made at the time shows:

‘Watch and Ward ‘they han no sense,
They stand a’ neet for eighteenpence.’

“Those who cared for it were thirsty souls. I remember a lot of young people once getting old Charlton on, he was one of the first of the W. and W., and not the most nimble. They schemed to run towards Shelmerdine Square from the Churchyard, and when the portly official was in full chase they tripped over a foul open place, but the old man dropped up to the waist in the sludge.” “On the triangular plot at the Bottom Cross there was a cooper’s shop, kept by Sammy ‘Tubber.’ Tubber was a by-name. This was in 1812. We used to play a game called ‘drill-hill’ against the ‘ Lower Cross.’ I have driven a plough over where Vicar Street now stands, and the land on that side right down to Gilda Brook. The White Horse was then called the ‘Volun­teer’ inn. Just past it, on the left, near to Mr. Preston’s house, was a malt kiln, kept by James and Thomas Jones, and nearer Eccles was Yew Tree Cottage, with a lot of yew trees about it. I can remember the road being straightened from where the railway bridge now is down into Eccles. At that time coaches went by the ‘Cross Keys,’ up what is now called Church Road. At that time three cottages stood about opposite the church gates; these, and the ‘Crossed Daggers’ stood out so far into the road that two carts could hardly pass. There was a well and pump behind the ‘ Crossed Daggers,’ and when the house was put back the pump was nearly in front of the house. I remember the stocks very well, and old Jacko Done was in once for being drunk one Sunday and cock-fighting. I have seen three public whippings in the Market Place, opposite to where Dr. Roe now lives, the back of that house was a big orchard, where cottages now stand. William Girdle, John Booth, and Richard Andrew, were whipped for stealing iron; they were brought from the prison in a cart and whipped in it, because it was in their own parish. Alexander Derby­shire was whipped at another time.”

Passing on to the days when the making of the railway provided ample material for discussion amongst the villagers, a writer in the “Pendleton Reporter” for November 22nd, 1890, gave some account of the village of those days; from which the following quotations are taken —“ When the cutting of the Liverpool and Man­chester line was commenced there were few residents in Eccles, the houses being principally situate in what is known as the older portion of the village, comprising the entrance to Silk Street, Chantler’s Square and buildings, Lane End, College Croft, King Street, Irwell Place, Timothy Street (the older portion), and other streets. Only a few of the families are alive who came along with Stephenson from Yarm and Newcastle to Eccles to assist in the cutting of the railway. The working class inhabitants of Eccles at the period of which we write are described as being of ‘rude and vulgar habits,’ and they looked upon Stephenson and his army of railwaymen with anything but a friendly eye. So great was the antipathy of the villagers to the strangers, who found great diffi­culty in obtaining houses or even lodgings, that they threw stones at their doors, and it was no uncommon thing to find on opening the door in a morning heaps of stones rolled against it. The handloom weavers of that period made a practice of assembling every morning, porridge pot in hand, at the corners of the streets, and if any person decently dressed, accompanied by a lady, passed by they were insulted. A stump parliament met periodically at the bottom of Higher College Croft, where three stumps crossed the street. The platform for the speakers, which was formed of beer barrels surmounted with planks and decorated with oak boughs, reached from Eccles New Road to the Parish Church Gates. The members of this parliament at their anniversary used to engage in feats of running, singing, and jumping, interspersed with stump orations.”

Eccles Railway Station originally consisted of a wooden cabin, three yards by two. No signals were at first used on the line, and if a passenger train was required to stop a red flag was hoisted on a pole. Railway tickets were then unknown, and the first stationmaster, old George Hampson, had to book the number of passengers arriving at the station on a card, which he slipped into a box with an aperture at the top. When the railway was made Gilda Brook Road was formed, and also the portion of Church Street from the Station to the Church. Previous to that the highroad turned to the left near the White Horse, and came out in front of the old Cross Keys Inn. The Eccles New Road and Regent Street were made a century ago, and Regent Bridge, Salford, was so called after the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

When the railway was formed, the complete length of line from Patricroft to the terminus at Liverpool Road was bounded on both sides by fields, and for many years afterwards except in the immediate vicinity of the stations little change was seen in this respect.

For proof of this let us take an imaginary ramble round Eccles in the year 1848. We leave the small railway station, and walking down the village pass the Vicarage and its grounds and a few old-fashioned houses, until we reach Monton Lane, which we enter. Immediately on the left-hand side is Monton Lane Mill, and a few houses on both sides of the lane are passed; but when we are a hundred yards from the corner of Church Street we are in open country. Open fields stretch on both sides of the lane, and a little way over the railway a narrow private road leads to Monks Hall, standing alone with an orchard in front. A few yards further on and the lane divides—the one part to our right (afterwards to be called if Half Edge Lane) will lead us through fields, passing on our way Monton Hall and several isolated cottages to Gilda Brook Road. Instead of taking this direction we turn to our left along Slack Lane (Monton Road) to Monton Green. It is a farmers’ road used little by traffic and not kept in the best state of repair. Monton is a quiet hamlet standing remote almost from the larger village of Eccles. On our way thither we note that in parts the lane is well wooded, the shade of the trees offering welcome relief from the summer’s sun. The number of houses is very small, Monton House on the right and two or three detached residences close by are passed just before we pass under a railway bridge in course of construction. Nearly opposite to Monton House is a farmhouse which is the only house we pass on our left on our walk from Eccles to Monton Green. Just past the railway bridge we see a long row of cottages in front of which are gardens gay with Old English flowers, and a few other cottages, together with a house of more pretentious dimensions. Arrived at Monton Green, we note the wide sweep of the Green soon to be broken up by the construction of still another railway line. Overlooking the Green we note the quaint Dissenters’ Chapel and School, the whitewashed hostelry, the Blue Bell, a few cottages, and a detached residence on the right-hand side, and on the left-hand side is a plain three-storied house, together with a farmhouse. Cow Lane, as the name denotes, is a farmers’ lane leading into the fields. At the corner of the lane are a few more cottages, after which we have open fields until the cottages of Chorlton’s Fold are passed away on our right. Returning to the Green we continue our ramble alongside the canal to Patricroft. If we cross the canal bridge before doing so, we should see another group of cottages known as Old Fold, and beyond them is a quiet thorough­fare, Parrin Lane, leading to Winton, which consists of a few cottages, several farmhouses, and a licensed house bearing the curious designation of the Batt Inn.

After leaving Monton, walking alongside the canal we pass the Patricroft Colliery, but no houses are seen until we pass the cottages connected with the foundry. Equally rural is the scene past the railway station, for we pass from there to Catch Inn Lane, the old Work­house on our right, and a few cottages on the left-hand side, each with its garden in front. But behind are fields devoted to agriculture. The name of Catch Inn Lane will puzzle some of my readers. In later years it was rechristened Liverpool Road. At the time of our supposed ramble Catch Inn Lane was as rural as it could well be. From Patricroft to Monton Lane on the left-hand side the land was entirely unbuilt upon as far as the’ railway line, but here and there on the right-hand side a few cottages would be passed. The land on the two sides of the road was of very different appearance. On the left-hand side few trees were to be seen, but the land between the road and Back Lane (Trafford Road) and Barton Lane was fairly well wooded, especially near the end of Back Lane. Back Lane and Barton Lane were as open as Catch Inn Lane, except at the village end of the latter, where a colony of small houses are passed. On the other side of the village we walk along Regent Street, after noting the picturesque appearance of Irwell Grove, at the end of which is Gipsy Lane. Salter’s Lane leads us to the Bentcliffe Silk Mill and the Dyeworks, and away in the fields we see the fine residence known as Bentcliffe House.

In Regent Street there are about fifty small houses, a few more standing between them and the Churchyard. At Ladywell we take the lane to our left, passing the two wells on either side of the roadway, and crossing the railway by Cock Robin Bridge. Close by we see the Corn Mill, worked by a water wheel, and beyond there on our right, standing quite alone is Higher Bentcliffe House. The White Horse Inn stands at the Eccles end of Broom House Lane (Eccles Old Road), on which a few detached mansions have been erected. Farmsteads dot the landscape here and there, and there are no signs showing the existence a few miles away of a large prosperous town.

Returning to the village by the comparatively new road, known as Gilda Brook Road, Yew Tree Cottage and about three other houses are passed, until we arrive near the railway station, where several streets of houses have been erected.

Such was the Eccles of a little over half a century ago. Neither Ellesmere Park nor Broad Oak Park had been laid out, and the whole of the land between the railway station and Monton Lane was quite open. So free from buildings was Monton that in front of the long row of cottages quite open fields stretched away to Catch Inn Lane, and beyond that as far as the river.

But changes were not far distant, and in the course of a quarter of a century many roads had been made, Ellesmere Park had been planned out, and house building had become general.