Industry,Education & Religion
This page is dedicated to the many local companies that operated in the 1940's 50's & 60'. I have also included Education as a sub- section on this page. Levenshulme was primarily a working class suburb of Manchester during this period, and most large Industrial & Manufacturing premises were located elsewhere. However, Levenshulme did have a number of factories & light industry,as well as locally based bakeries, dairies, coach operators, removal companies, coal merchants, municipal yards and small holdings & farms. Barbers Removals. 2 Broom Lane Many older residents will be familiar with the name of Barbers Removals situated at the Stockport Road end of Broom Lane. Number 2 Broom Lane was the location of the office & yard. Jack Barber & his family also lived there until the mid-1960's. Barbers were also a local Coal Merchants. The business was started by Jacks father. Prior to Broom Lane, the business address was 4 Alma Road.
The above two photos show Barbers vans in the 1940s. The first could be at the rear of the Grand Cinema. Did Barbers have a yard there prior to the Broom Lane address? I remember playing there as a child, and it looks familiar. It was a kind of stable block. I remember putting stones through a number of those windows!! Second photo shows the Barbers fleet at the Broom Lane yard. Note the varied vehicles & different styles of company titles!
This Photograph shows a Barbers Guy Vixen van 1940's or 50's. Yet another style of signage & a Heaton Moor phone number. Were all phones in South Levenshulme connected to the Heaton Moor exchange?
Barbers moving a piano in Gorton, possibly Mount Road, in the early 1960s. Andrew Barber sitting on the tailgate.All photos via Andrew Barber.
Barbers No 2 Broom Lane. Photo, taken 1940s, shows a flat bed lorry with a crated load destined for Dublin. The second photo shows No2 Broom Lane in the 1930's. The house next door was called Ivy Mount. It was demolished at a later date.
This photo could belong to the same period as above. It shows Barbers van at the corner of Broom Lane & Stockport Road. Note cobbled roads and the large houses on Broom Lane where Grasmere Old Peoples Home now stands. This may be a pre-war scene. The Jackson Brick Company & "The Brickie"
The above section of the 1956 Ordnance Survey Map shows the vast area known by generations of Levenshulme kids as "The Brickie". The land was used to extract clay for the manufacture of bricks for the building industry. The clay pit and brick works existed at the turn of the 20th Century, and by the 1950s was being operated by the Jackson Brick Company. Jacksons also had a similar clay pit & brick works in Longsight, just over the Levenshulme boundary, off Matthews Lane. The " Brickie" was an exciting adventure playground for the local children, but it could also be an extremely dangerous place! The excavations were dotted with numerous ponds & small lakes, and it is likely that some children were drowned or badly injured while playing there. The large pond close to the brick works & the railway was known as the "The Brickie Pond", and contained fish! In many ways " The Brickie" resembled a miniature Grand Canyon, and I spent many happy hours with my friends playing " cowboys & indians" and " British & Germans", among the hills and valleys of the clay pits. In the 1970s "The Brickie" was used as a landfill, and is today a kind of unkempt Country Park. Does anyone have any photos of "The Brickie" or the Jacksons brick works?
Two views of Jacksons Brick Works on Broom Avenue. The small building was the site office, and the large building with chimney was the main brick ovens. There were no fences or walls around any part of the works, which was surprising considering the dangers associated with brick making. The local clay was very good for brick making and did not lay very far below the surface, as local garderners will attest!! Once the clay was exhausted the clay pits were used as a landfill site.( Manchester Libraries)
Jacksons Clay Pits. I am not sure whether this is the Broom Lane " Brickie" or the Matthews Lane site. The view does not look quite right! The Chimney could be the UCP, though it looks too tall!! Any ideas? ( Manchester Libraries) |
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Most local children received their primary education in the local schools, namely Alma Park, Chapel Street, St Peters, St Marks, St Andrews, St Marys & Levenshulme Girls High School. Did I miss any? Some of these schools offered secondary education after age 11. When the 11 plus exams were introduced, most pupils moved on to either Secondary Modern, High School or Grammar School depending on their pass marks in the exams. Alma Park Primary School Located on Errwood Road/Alma Road. This was the local school for children living on the West side of Stockport Road. Chapel Street County Primary School Chapel Street County Primary School is located on Chapel Street, and celebrated its 100th Birthday in June 2003. This school catered to children living on the East side of Stockport Road. This was my primary school (See Reunion Page)
The school sign in December 2007.
These views of Chapel Street School was taken in 2002. Did somebody say Colditz Castle?? Just joking, but it does look like they are trying to keep the kids in, in a "serious" way! (Photos. Laurence Halstead )
Two photos taken in June 2003, during the 100th Birthday celebrations. Some futuristic additions to the "big school"! The second photo shows my old classroom, 4A 1961< as it looked in 2003. Are those the same radiators? Remember milk warmed on the radiators?
Chapel Street School, March 2004. From this angle it looks much like the school that I remember. The last class that I was in 4A, was situated in the nearest classroom to the camera on the second floor. Question? Did the building have cellars? If it did, what were/are they used for? ( Photo. Carole Daniels )
The Foundation stones at the front of Chapel Street School. The lower one is hard to decipher, but the upper one reads:-" Memorial Stone. The .... School Erected by the Levenshulme School Board Was Laid By The Revd. George Bradley Jones. Chairman of the Board. March 21 1903". Photo taken December 2007. Chapel Street 100th Anniversary 2003
St. Peters Church School Located behind St Peters Church on Barlow Road. This was a Church of England School. St. Marks Church School Located on Barlow Road, opposite St Marks Church, the school was built in a similar style of attractive red & white brick. The school was recently demolished. I went to Sunday School there until 1960, when we got our first TV!
St Marks School building, now sadly no more. Note cobbles on Barlow Road. ( photo via Ken Musgrave)
This is the site of St. Marks School in December 2007. New housing being constructed. The site looks much smaller than when the school was located there! .
This large house on Mount Road was used as the St. Marks Church Vicarage. Does it still serve that purpose? The Vicars that I remember were Rev. Simmons and Rev. Guiniver. ( Photo via Sherri Harrison) St. Andrews Church School St Andrews was the only Levenshulme school actually on Stockport Road. Situated next to St Andrews Church, it was also demolished in recent times.
This is the new property built on the site of St.Andrews School. The Church has also been converted into apartments. December 2007. St. Marys Catholic Primary School Located on Claire Road. This was the only Catholic school in Levenshulme. Levenshulme Girls High School Situated on the Levenshulme/Burnage boundary at Errwood Road. This school was the only dedicated secondary school in Levenshulme.
This photograph of Levenshulme High School dates from the early 1950s, before the canteen block was added. Are there other schools of this design in Manchester, or was it a one off? In recent years the school buildings have featured in several episodes of "Coronation Street", as Weatherfield Comprehensive!!( Photo via Julia Wallace) Levenshulme Churches and Places of Worship Levenshulme had, and has, many churches and places of religious worship. The oldest place was probably the Weslyan Chapel on Chapel Street. As the community grew and prospered many new churches were built. Today,2007, the ethnicity of Levenshulme is changing and to reflect this a new Sikh temple is currently being built on the land where Wesley Street Church Hall used to stand. I will try and add to this section all the Levenshulme churches still in use in the 1950s and 60s. Those still remaining in 2007. And any new churches and places built since those early days. Cromwell Hall Christian Centre, Marshall Road
The Cromwell Hall Christian Centre has stood on this site since 1959. Previously the church had premises over Estelle Modes dress shop, on the corner of Cromwell Grove. It took its name from Cromwell Grove.
The building where Cromwell Hall had its initial premises still stands today. Looking in great shape. Estelle Modes famous dress shop used to occupy the ground floor. |
This
is the house, No 2 Broom Lane, which was used as the Barbers Removals
headquarters until the firm was sold in the 1980s. Do you remember the
lighted sign with the moving removal vans?
Photo from the
MEN June 2003. Recognize anyone? ( Photo via Cliff Garratt)
Front page of the 100th Anniversary Programme.
Admission Pass for the 1940 -1954 Social Evening April 25th 2003. ( Above
items via Cliff Garratt, who attended the reunion.)
St Marks Church, Barlow Road (Photo. Aidan O'Rourke)
