Edgar Wood in Middleton

A Middleton heritage trail leaflet suggests that St Leonards Church is the oldest building in the Manchester diocese, and that this is one of only three churches in the country with a wooden steeple.

This impressive structure is Middleton-born architect Edgar Wood's Exedra, built in 1906 and a link between the parish church and Jubilee Park. Alderman Thomas Broadbent Wood, the architect's father, commissioned his son to build it.

'WHO WORKS NOT FOR HIS FELLOWS STARVES HIS SOUL;

HIS THOUGHTS GROW POOR AND DWINDLE AND HIS HEART

GRUDGES EACH BEAT, AS MISERS DO A DOLE.'

I've retained the original three-line structure. These words are from Rose's Diary (1850) by Nottingham-born poet Henry Septimus Sutton (1825–1901), who moved to Manchester in 1850.

On the corner of Cleworth Road and Rochdale Road:

'EDGAR

WOOD

ARCHITECT

(1860–1935)

FENCEGATE AND REDCROFT

WOOD'S HOME

FROM 1895 TO 1916

GRADE II

LISTED BUILDING'

Closer to the centre of Middleton is the Manchester and Salford Bank, built in 1892 and also a Grade II building. There are several other of Wood's works in the town, including the fine but modest gravestone of his friend the artist Frederick William Jackson (1859–1918), who was buried in Middleton New Cemetery. As I wasn't aware of this at the time though, I shall have to seek it out on my next visit to Middleton.

My other post related to Edgar Wood:
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Edgar Wood in Victoria Park

Jim Allen in Middleton

Middleton Library in Long Street, largely obscured by spring blossom.

On the wall by the entrance to the library:

'JIM ALLEN

1926–1999

 

MIDDLETON WRITER AND PLAYWRIGHT

WAS SELF-TAUGHT IN THIS AND

OTHER LIBRARIES

 

"MY ONLY REGRET WHEN I DIE

WILL BE THE BOOKS

I HAVE NOT READ"'

 

Jim Allen once worked in Bradford colliery, Manchester, before turning to writing as a career. He is most noted for his collaboration with Ken Loach, and his later work included writing the scripts for Loach's Hidden Agenda (1990), Raining Stones (1993),^* and Land and Freedom (1995).
 

^*Although unnamed in the movie, Raining Stones was filmed in Middleton, mainly on the Langley Estate.

Samuel Bamford in Middleton

Samuel Bamford's memorial stone in the memorial gardens near the corner of Spring Gardens and Cheapside, Middleton.

 

'Tablet

removed

from

No. 61 Union St.

which stood

on this site

until 1963'

 

'SAMUEL BAMFORD

REFORMER RESIDED

& WAS ARRESTED IN

THIS HOUSE AVG 26 1819'

 

This plaque is a short distance away at the east end of New Lane:

 

'PETERLOO DEMONSTRATION

16 AUGUST 1819

THE MIDDLETON CONTINGENT CONGREGATED HERE

ON BARROWFIELDS AND MARCHED TO ST. PETER'S

FIELD IN MANCHESTER LED BY SAM BAMFORD.

THE MEETING, POPULARLY KNOWN AS THE

"PETERLOO MASSACRE", WAS IN SUPPORT

OF THE VOTE FOR THE WORKING

CLASSES. 16 MIDDLETON PEOPLE

WERE INJURED.'

 

A red plaque on the wall of the Radisson Hotel (formerly the Free Trade Hall) in Peter Street, Manchester, records the broader picture:

 

'ST. PETER'S FIELDS

THE PETERLOO MASSACRE

 

On 16th August 1819 a peaceful rally

of 60,000 pro-democracy reformers,

men, women, and children,

were attacked by armed cavalry

resulting in 15 deaths and

over 600 injuries.'

 

Bamford is said to have used this pub for drinking and reciting poetry.

 

That sign really is as crooked as it looks: the Olde Boar's Head is reputed to date from 1587. Bamford mentions in his autobiography that the pub used to have a room called the 'thrashing-bay', where fights took place.

 

Bamford's obelisk is highly conspicuous in the nearby cemetery.

 

 

'SAMUEL BAMFORD

BORN 28TH FEBRUARY 1788

DIED 13TH APRIL 1872'

 

'AN EARLY ADVOCATE

OF

CIVIL & RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,

FREE TRADE

AND

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

––––––––––––

AUTHOR

OF

"PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A RADICAL"

AND

OTHER WORKS

IN

PROSE AND VERSE.'

 

'ERECTED

BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION

IN THIS

HIS NATIVE TOWN,

1877.

––––––

"Bamford was a Reformer

when to be so was unsafe, and

he suffered for his faith."

                                                                                              JOHN BRIGHT

 

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Samuel Bamford in Stockport