[1] From Chorlton metrolink station, walk to Wilbraham Road and cross over to the other side using the Zebra Crossing which is on your right just over the bridge, then turn left.
On the South side of Wilbraham Road look east (your left as you cross over) and you will see a nice example of a terrace of shops with verandas, the type which always sprang up when a station opened, and if you look hard down Wilbraham Road you can see St Ninians Church (yellow brick 1950’s building, replacing an older church) and in the far distance St Werburghs C of E church. These churches and shops were built to serve the new Victorian Chorlton. If you go over the bridge.
(A)You will see the entrance to the newly built Chorlton Station, which opened on 7th July 2011, on the Metro line, and also Morrison’s Superstore, built on the site of the old Chorlton Station and goods yard. The goods yard was where coal merchants got their coal from to serve the large Victorian houses.
[2] Continue walking and immediately after the bridge turn right into a passage way which runs by the railway.
Before you do so look along Wilbraham Road, and notice more shops which grew up close to the station. These shops also benefited from the tram lines which ran along the road from 1904 until the1950s. As you go down the passageway, note more Victorian houses built to be near the station. This passageway must have been a hive of activity as people came for the morning trains.
[3] Where the passageway passes the third (Clifton Road) or fourth road (Devonshire Road), turn right and walk the short distance along either of these roads to Corkland Road. Turn left and walk down Corkland Road until you see a dead end sign, and on the other side Dawlish Road.
The new houses at the end of Corkland Road were built on the site of the old Nell Lane Farm. This farm provided milk to the surrounding streets up until 1939.
[4] Walk down Dawlish Road until it reaches Sandy Lane. Here we turn left. We go on until we reach the Pentecostal Church, and signs for the Transpennine Way.
If you want to shorten the walk you can go right on to Sandy Lane, back to Barlow Moor Road and then right into Wilbraham Road.
[5] The sign points to Beechwood Avenue, go down this to reach Chorlton Park. As you enter the park you cross Chorlton Brook. The park was laid out in the 1920s to provide work for the unemployed. In the park look out for wood carving on old tree stumps.
[6] Turn right and follow the tarmac path, which goes close to Chorlton Brook. Follow this path until it comes out on Barlow Moor Road. Turn right and a bridge takes the road over Chorlton Brook. The bridge was rebuilt in 1902, when the road was widened to take two tram tracks.
[7] It is now a straight walk back along Barlow Moor Road . The pavement is quite wide, but often busy.
Originally the road was a mixture of shops and houses, but in the 1950s and 1960s many of the houses were converted into shops. A lot of the shops have now turned into cafes. However, we start with a Tesco Express, until recently a pub, then passed a MacDonald's. This site used to be Chorlton Palais de Danse and was once very popular, and then became a nightclub. However, the site was redeveloped as a McDonald's fast food outlet.
A little further on, on the other side of the Road is Chorlton Office. It was originally built as a turn round point for the trams and is now used for buses to turn round. There are toilets in the Office. Opposite this we have a fine arcade of shops, and then we reach the traffic lights at Sandy lane, and a church, built 1910. It is worth noticing the many different colours of brick used in the buildings along either side of the road, and at least one “frying pan”.
Many of the Victorian houses were three stories, with a maid living in the attic. Getting out of the attic in case of fire wasn’t easy, so metal fire escape structures were built outside third floor windows. They were perfectly OK if the Fire Brigade got there quickly, but much more dangerous than staying in the house if flames started billowing up from below.
[8] Cross over Wilbraham Road at The Banks corner and continue along Barlow Moor Road. Just over Wilbraham Road we pass the Royal Oak, and on the left hand side, we see the back of Chorlton Shopping Precinct built in the 1960s.
[9] Just after passing Selborne Road on your right, immediately opposite you will see the Co-op Funeral parlour.
This was built as a cinema, and up to the 1958 was a popular venue for Saturday morning children’s cinema, when special programmes were put on.
Next to it is now a Wetherspoon pub. Built, in c1907, on a field sandwiched between a house called Sedge Lynn (demolished to make way for the cinema) and Red Gate Farm. Now a Grade II listed building, it was originally a Billiards Hall built by the Temperance Hall Billiard Company. Several such halls were built in and around Manchester and South London, to remove billiards from its normal setting of the public house and to further the aims of the Temperance Movement.
Then you will see Chorlton Public Library. Built in 1930s.
[10] Continue along Barlow Moor Road until you come to Brantingham Road. Turn right into Brantingham Road and go over the railway bridge.
If you had continued along Brantingham Road in the 1920s you would have come to Manchester’s Airport. It soon proved too small and was replaced by one at Barton, which in turn gave way to Ringway.
[11] Immediately over the bridge turn right down some broad steps and walk parallel to the railway along Buckingham Road.
The newer houses on your right were built on land originally intended to make the railway line four-track. Notice the houses in the streets on your left (Westfield, Salisbury and Silverdale) are large Victorian houses, many now turned into bed-sits. However when Chorlton Station was opened in 1880, it caused a building boom. Trains took you to the centre of Manchester, Central Station (now GMEX) in 9 minutes. It was also the main Midland line to London St Pancras. However it took almost 6 hours to get there. Many of Victorian houses we will see on this walk were built as a result of the station opening.
When you reach Wibraham Road, turn left to return to our starting point, having had a tour of Chorlton, as it grew up spurred on by the building of the railway in 1880, and the two major tram lines soon after 1900.