CaminoS, It did cross my mind that you were having us all on but to say Davyhulme has nothing other than the park surprises me. Go through the Gallery and count the number of photo's regarding Davyhulme and you will see many places of interest.

The Curzon is in Flixton and not Davyhulme as stated. Only Princess Road keeps it from being in  Urmston.

Withyboys you will find a better response by asking these questions in the "Times gone by" section of the site. To learn more about Urmston in general go to the A-Z it is full of fascinating things.

Hello to everyone,

This is my first post on this forum. I found the website whilst looking for photographs of Urmston centre past & present. The gallery on this site is excellent. I grew up in Withington and as a child in the late 70's and early 80's my parents used to visit Urmston on Sundays to spend the afternoon in the park. I'd not returned there since that time and on a recent visit into Manchester I went on a search for the Urmston precinct I remembered as a child. Well, there's not much left is there? Where are the seals that my Dad used to sit me upon? Where's the map with the buttons and the lights? It took time to adjust my memories with the new look Urmston.

One of my best memories from visiting Urmston as a child was when my Dad took me to see the Battlestar Gallactica movie and then spending the remainder of the afternoon in the park. I seem to remember the cinema being much smaller than the one featured in the gallery on this site. Did Urmston have two cinemas?

There are some great photographs on this site which have been really nostalgic. I'd love to see more of the precinct, especially from the 70s/80s period. Has anyone got a photograph of that old street map with the buttons and lights? I remeber that being the first thing my brother and I used to run to when we got off the bus, so we knew we were in Urmston and we were going to have a lovely afternoon. Great days.

Well, thanks for a great site and I look forward to hearing your comments and sharing some more memories.

Mah,

 

I imagine you, like me, can be bothered to check the spelling of what you have just typed. This isn't about an ability to spell correctly, or lack thereof, but about caring enough to check that what you've just written is up to the standard you would expect of yourself.

 

The trouble is laziness and sadly I think some people would be too lazy to even bother using a spellchecker anyway.

The new photo inserted today shows only a date would the owner advise the school please?

Dave, is there any way to add a spell checker to the captioning section of the gallery when a new image is uploaded?

 

Some of the spelling mistakes are unbelievable!

Great information, David U.  Having been familiar with the fountains before they were coated in SO much paint/plaster, I recall they also depicted arum lilies - the trumpet-shaped ones.

I can't express my shock and horror on recently seeing Flixton Station, denuded of all buildings.  I remember hanging around the station when I was a kid, just so long as the station master didn't catch us.  On BOTH platforms there were large waiting rooms with a coal fire blazing in the winter, and leather-covered bench seating around the wall.  There were also on both platforms, ladies waiting rooms with private toilets and wash facilities.  The siding for the coal yard at Flixton would often be occupied with a wagon or two and perhaps one of the old wooden guards vans, which we would also play in.  I came really close to one of those guards vans last week at Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.  How it took me back.

Surprisingly, of the newer stations, just one - Birchwood - has all the express trains stop there.  From there you can catch a train direct to Scarborough and the North East.  I lived at Birchwood for 20 years after leaving Flixton.

The Cheshire Lines Committee's Manchester to Liverpool route ran from Manchester Central (now GMEX, or whatever it is called these days) to Liverpool Central. When Liverpool Central surface station was closed back in the 1970s  the long distance trains were diverted into Lime Street and the local services out to Garston and later Hunt's Cross, along with several intermediate stations, were incorporated into the Merseyrail underground network via the Liverpool Central low-level station.

 

The remaining original stations are Urmston, Flixton, Irlam, Glazebrook, Padgate, Warrington Central, Farnworth, Sankey and Hough Green. I am not sure about Halewood. At Hunt's Cross one either changes to a Merseyrail underground train to follow the original route through Garston or remains with the currrent service to Lime Street. Trafford Park, Humphrey Park, Chassen Road and Birchwood are all later additions.

 

Farnworth became Widnes North and later just plain Widnes when the station in the centre of Widnes, on another route to Liverpool running from Manchester Oxford Road via Stretford, Sale, Lymm, Warrington Bank Quay Low Level, Widnes, Ditton Junction and thence to Liverpool, closed in 1962.

 

Irlam station has an interesting history. The passenger platforms wers originally on the other side of the station building but when the Manchester Ship Canal was built the necessity for a high level crossing meant that a new embankment and bridge had to be built alongside the original railway between Irlam and Flixton. At the Flixton side a distinct kink can be seen in the track to this day, looking from the Parsonage Road footbridge, where the old and new alignments joined. At Irlam it was not practical to rejoin the original line prior to the station so new platforms were  built on the opposite side of the station building, along with a pedestrian subway to provide access from the original approach. The original line was retained for many years to provide rail access to the various Co-op factories alongside the line. Another line and bridge across Liverpool Road were built on the opposite (west) side of the new main line to provide rail access to the Irlam Steelworks. The remains of the earlier bridges can still be seen at Irlam where Liverpool Road dips down to pass beneath the railway.

 

Many of the smaller Cheshire Lines stations were all built in an identical style. As well as the examples mentioned on the Liverpool route there are many more examples of Cheshire Lines station architecture on the line to Chester via Northwich beyond Altrincham.

Plus Warrington and Widness...

I'm not too familiar with how many stations there were but to get the ball rolling my guess would be six stations. Liverpool, Irlam, Flixton, Urmston, Trafford, and Central at Manchester. Chassen and Humphrey only came later.

According to this website the shell (escallop) could be   representing safe travel and the 6 lesser flowers plus the "white rose" could mean hope and joy?

 

I wonder, though, was there 7 stations on the new line?

Ha Ha, I see lobsters, shell fish, and sea weed.

Thanks for the compliments - photograph taken on a mobile phone hence the dodgy framing.

I'm wondering if the fountains were simply a standard design feature of CLC station buildings. Do any botanists want to provide an explanation of what exactly the carving is?

Great picture Graz, the date shown of 1872 is interesting. The station was officially opened in 1873 so this must have been installed during the initial building year.       

Brilliant design on your close-up of the Urmston stone/fountain, Graz.

Both Urmston and Glazebrook appear to be celebrating the forming of the then new Cheshire Lines Committee in 1862.

Similar fountain at Glazebrook Station - Link

 

The Urmston one doesn't have the bowl - Link 

I tend to agree that it was a drinking fountain.  There was an identical one on Flixton Station too.  After all, what would be the point of a purely ornamental fountain set into the wall at that height?

I think it was a water fountain. I think the stone commemorates the Cheshire Lines Committee.

JohnH, I think you are referring to what was a drinking fountain originally.

I believe you could be right Kay, it would be about where Whittaker's chippy is today if my memory is correct.

Divad,

From the elevation, a third storey room, almost opposite the junction, probably an attic? There used to be a chip shop almost opposite( probably 3 storeys high), can't remember the name, with a dining room on the second floor where you could look out the window and see the doctor's surgery just before the start of the turn into Gloucester road.

On Gloucester road I remember on the left ,as the view in the the photo,a second hand shop then the launderette with Fyldes the butcher further along on the same side.

As you say, great memories.