Saturday 10 March 2018

The street to nowhere, a river and the once popular Vauxhall Gardens .... walking to Collyhurst

Now Andy’s picture of Vauxhall Street intrigued me.  

Vauxhall Street, 2018
It is off Collyhurst Road, hard by the river Irk and apparently leads nowhere.

That large block of timber straddling the road was there in 2011 and for all I know could have lain on that spot for decades.

And as you do I wanted to know more.

I suppose I should have taken up the clue of the name of the street which if I had thought hard enough and pulled down my knowledge of Manchester’s amusement parks would have taken me to Vauxhall Gardens which were highly popular in the first half of the 19th century.

Vauxhall Street and Gardens, 1849
Its story pops up regularly, and so rather than rehash that excellent article on the place I will just direct you to the site where I first read about the gardens.*

They were situated on the north side of Vauxhall Street, survived the death of the man who laid the gardens out and closed in 1852.

And for those interested in why such a popular place should be lost to the fun loving residents of Manchester, you have to look no further than the map dated 1849.

Vauxhall Street, 1894
Just to the south there was a Dye Works with three more to the east and north of the gardens.

These competed with a saw mill and textile factory, and the onward rush of residential streets.

So that by the 1890s much of the area around Vauxhall Street was built up with our street extending down from Collyhurst Road to Rochdale Road.

I have yet to discover when that corridor was cut and Vauxhall Street reverted to a road which went nowhere.

The River Irk, 2018
But I shall, and if I don’t someone will come up with an answer, leaving me only to include Andy’ pictures of the Irk at this point, complete with wier.

Location; Collyhurst

Pictures; Vauxhall Street and the River Irk, 2018 from the collection of Andy Robertson and the area in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, and in 1894 from the OS for South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Vauxhall Gardens, http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/vauxhall.html

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