Furniture Store-Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester

[Barbara.H]

Well done Anna! The Longsight Furniture Store is definitely on the corner of Attwood St and Stockport Rd, so as you say this pic was taken from uunder the railway bridge. If you go to the Manchester photo archive suggested by Milly on your other Slad eLane posting & by Stovepipe here,  there is a photo by T Brooks showing the shop as 'Froggatts'Carpet Superstore'  - I had forgotten this name (but on the other side of Attwood St was a nice bakery shop that did excellent iced fingers... I guess kids remember food better than they do furniture!)  Reference for the pic is  "Longsight, Attwood Street from Stockport Road" [m28867], //1965, Brooks, T   . Don't know if rootschat copyright rules allow it to be copied here.  As you can see from the photo, Frogatts was about to close down in 1965. I've an idea that the building stayed shut for quite a while, I'm now racking my brain to try & remember what the Indian resturant was called.   
Also have a look at
http://manchesterhistory.net/LONGSIGHT/MEMORIES/memories.html 
for other people's memories of Longsight shops & features. One of them mentions a snooker hall on Slade Lane, I think that might have been based in the other shop you're looking for.
   Barbara

[Barbara.H]

Hello again, quick message  as I'm supposed to be decorating. My Godfrey maps arrived today but scanner not talking to computer so I have to wait for technical support to come home from school before I can put a picture up...   
The directory extracts on the back don't mention your family's company, but they are only extracts (map is 1905).  However it does say that no 19 Stockport Rd Levenshulme was occupied by "Henry Barr, draper" So your family had either moved on by then or were at a different 19 Stockport Rd.

The Godfrey map for Gorton and Belle Vue 1905, has "Nathaniel Gould and Co, Grocers", at 43 Hyde Rd, near Church Lane.  Would he be one of yours?
Barbara

[shoppingqueen]

Hi Barbara
By 1905 G Gould owned 755-757 Stockport Road so they had moved from 19 Stockport Road. No Natanial is no relation. Thanks for all your help.
Anna

[manmack]

I am trying to do some research into a couple of business which my grandfather, Godfrey Gould ran between 1895-1919. We think his first big shop was at 755-757 Stockport Road, Longsight around 1901, although I have a picture of his shop which says Longsight Furniture Store and today we have tried to locate the actual shop and have discovered its is actually at 645-647 Stockport Road which is located in Levenshulme.

Can anyone tell me if Stockport Road numbers have been changed since then and can you tell me if 755-757 is now 645-647

Also can anyone tell me how to locate any memorabilia, photgraphs or records dating back from my Grandfathers shop on Stockport Road?

I have also found him in the business directory for 1895 as Millinery at 19 Stockport Road and I wonder if anyone can clarify this.

Finally I am also trying to research an early business he had on Slade Lane. Please see second posting entitled Furniture Store-Slade Lane, Longsight

Many thanks

that shop is still standing,its just after the railway bridge looking towards stockport,near the junction of slade lane+stockport rd,a bit further along from that block of shops,is crowcroft park.
mack
ps,ive lived in levenshulme all my life,its great to see old pictures of leve and longsight

[manmack]

Me again, sorry I went the wrong way wih my numbers there; been away too long!  689 Stockport Rd (in 1970) was by Slade Lane as I said, then the map shows 952 opposite Matthews Lane, so 755-757 would be somewhere near East Rd. And as I used to live on East Rd, I'm now very curious indeed! There was a big building just between Attwood St and East Rd which when I left Manchester 12 years ago was an Indian restaurant. It would have made a good furniture store, wonder if that was it?
Christopher is right, there are lots of people interested in this area, this post could run and run! See the Hyde Road one, I was enjoying that...
Barbara

barbara,you are right about the location,pat o,shea had a shop on the corner at the other end of that block,the indian restaurant was just past the shop with the blind down,cant recall its name,we used to call it,"THE CURRY ME CAT".the two women in the picture are stood where the bus stop is,just before the bridge at longsight, looking towards manchester.
mack

[Barbara.H]

Thanks Mack, glad to know my long-term memory isn't completely shot; I believe it gets better as youget older??  I couldn't remember Pat O'Shea's name, but I can see him sitting outside his shop in the sunshine. My house looks a bit like his place at the moment, good stuff but all over the place.... 
Still can't get the scanner to work, but here is a photo of the 1905 map (from Godfrey no 104.16, Gorton and Belle Vue), hope this works OK. The row of shops is there next to East Rd, but Attwood St hasn't been nuilt yet.
The second image is from a map of 1895, from the Gay Sussex 'Longsight Past and Present' book. The row of shops hasn't been built yet. Haven't found out who the occupants of Barnfield Cottage were yet.
Anna, I see your Goulds are of Irish extraction? Have you tried contacting the Irish Heritage centre in Manchester for your family business history?
And Mack, do you remember Wojtas' antique shop on that row? Late 1960s I think?  He was a woodcarver and had a wooden panel by the door telling his life story. It was a beautiful thing, wonder what happened to it?

[shoppingqueen]

Barbara, Thanks for the maps they are great.

Sorry this is a long reply- The Irish link is most intriguing. The Gould’s were originally from Devon and then Tenby and Bristol- following the ship yards for work- family migration is fascinating. My Gt Grandfather went over to Cork we think around 1865 and ‘the story goes’ he fell in love with the heiress from the Baldwin family who were Irish Gentry and ran off with her and got married in Bristol. They had a short spell back in Cork but then ended up in Manchester around 1876. I have sort of tracked the Irish side but as you know the records are very incomplete- well worse than that- none existent. But I have a hunch as to which family she may have been from, but have no written proof.

Two years ago I uncovered her two sisters Catherine and Mary Baldwin living in Chorlton in Medlock in 8 Molyneux St in 1881 and 82 Hyde Road, Ardwick in 1891 and interestingly living off annuity.  I know these are her sisters as we have in family our archives the burial card for Mary who died in 1897 and is buried in Southern Cemetery. I believe that these sisters hold the key to proof as to which Baldwin family my Gt Grandmother, Dora Baldwin was from. 

Tracking my grandfather (Godfrey, son of Dora Baldwin) business has always been an great interest to me and part of my family history but when I discovered an entry in the Manchester Business Directory for 1895 under the name Baldwin and Gould – Milliners, I felt sure that this business was run by Catherine Baldwin and Godfrey Gould- Godfrey in later life had a great interest in Millinery.

As a mater of interest in the business directory it shows  G Gould running Longsight Furniture, Stockport Road Shop from 1903 – 1915 and then slade Lane shop from 1912-1919. The date in stone in the first block of houses in Stockport Road which match the picture I have, is 1900 which fits in with your maps. Can we presume that 555-557 Stockport Road is this block of houses which are now number 645-647? Just to put a spanner in the works we have in our records that Godfrey Gould’s daughter Olive was born at 553 Stockport Road, Newton Detached- in 1903 which by my reckoning is around Barnfield Cottage. 

By the way where is Irish Heritage centre?

Many thanks Barbara and to everyone who has shown interest.

[Barbara.H]

http://www.iwhc.com/  is the Irish World Heritage Centre website with 2 addresses for Manchester contacts:

Irish Community Care
Head Office
289 Cheetham Hill Road
Cheetham Hill
Manchester
M8 0SN

Email - mcr.irish@zetnet.co.uk
Tel: 0161 205 9105 / Fax: 0161 203 4627

Levenshulme Office
893 Stockport Road
Manchester
M19 3PG

Tel: 0161 256 2717

I don't know anything about them, but with such a strong Irish community in Levenshulme, if there is a Manchester/Irish discussion forum in there, I'm sure you would soon find womething out. Might be worth updating your post on the Manchester Forum site to see what you get.
The Baldwins sound fascinating, I bet you're right about Barnfield Cottage being at 553 Stockport Rd. I wonder how people managed as more houses got built in such a short time - did the poor postmen have to run up and down changing everyones house numbers all the time? I suppose that why names rather than numbers were a good idea
Keep us posted,
Barbara

[tony h]

Hi Barbara,
From my work on Hyde Rd topic, its clear to me that 'place' was important. The road remains the same throughout its length i.e. the road to Stockport, but it passes through distinct towns/villages, each with their own identity, and possibly, at first, with a faint green belt between them. In this case Ardwick, Longsight, Levenshulme and i think one of the Heaton's next or Reddish. The local posties would know of this distinction. The re-numbering appears to be 1960's but don't quote me on that.

Best wishes
Tony