A "GOLDEN CLUSTER" OF HERITAGE
Golden Cluster Post
Middleton Garden of Remembrance is highlighted by English Heritage in its annual review of listings across the country. The garden and loggia are one of only a handful of Arts and Crafts inspired war memorials. The whole report can be viewed here… Designation_Yearbook_2013-14_final…
It is believed that Ye Olde Boar’s Head P.H. began life in the 1600s as a pair of clothiers houses on the road between Manchester and Rochdale. At that time, the textile industry was based in houses, where the upper rooms had long rows of windows illuminating the weaving loomshops. The houses were later combined…
Middleton in the Industrial Revolution and Georgian England – how science and reason took hold – and how individualism and reform came about in South Lancashire through the extraordinary lives of Ashton Lever, George Cayley and Sam Bamford…
Check out Andy Marshall’s photos of Hopwood Hall Hopwood Hall is one of the truly great buildings of Middleton and Manchester but one which has sadly been abandoned and left to decline for many years. In recent years, the Council has tried to make amends by providing security and undertaking urgent repairs. There is always…
Long Street Methodist Church & School are a striking complex of connected buildings arranged around an ‘outside room’ garden. Across this space, Edgar Wood integrates a series of opposites – sacred and secular, expression and restraint, axial and informal, and, rational and romantic. The plain and simple mass of the church contrasts with the complexity…
Tonge Hall is generally regarded as one of the finest examples of Tudor architecture in the country and despite a devastating fire in 2007, still retains many of its original features, including carved oak beams, inglenook fireplaces timber panelling and a wonderful spiral staircase. The building was heroically saved by Heritage Trust for the North…
When Redcroft (left) and Fencegate (right) were built in 1891, they were the most modern pair of ‘semis’ in the country. They began a new phase of Arts & Crafts design which reworked the humble features of farmhouses and cottages into new sophisticated architecture. Edgar Wood’s buildings had been hinting at this vernacular inspired style…
51 & 53 Rochdale Road are well preserved example of Arts and Crafts domestic architecture. A picturesque quality is obtained through sensitive use of materials rather than irregular form. The form is blocky and efficient, with a grid-like arrangement of elements on the main facade. Asymmetry is created simply by raising the bay window on…
Middleton in the Renaissance – the great Reformation featuring The Battle of Flodden, the English Civil Wars and the Assheton family, lords of the manor of Middleton…
Long Street Methodist Church & Schools are a striking complex of connected buildings arranged around a courtyard garden – the finest Arts and Crafts Methodist Church anywhere. The church is open for worship on Sundays and other days CLICK HERE for details. Guided tours for groups are also available, CLICK HERE for details. Tours also…
Visit the Old Grammar School web site to arrange a party, reception or other function Queen Elizabeth Grammar School was built in 1586 to replace the chantry school at St. Leonard’s Church which was abolished in the Reformation. When it was built, there was no town of Middleton but a rural township with scattered buildings…
The original Long Street Methodist Sunday School was a unique place of learning for those without a weekday education. Edgar Wood used the forms and materials of rural buildings to create a school which looked forward to a civilised future where natural beauty and education went together. The school was published across Britain, Europe and…
In the early days of Arts & Crafts architecture, pioneers like Edgar Wood experimented with a variety of materials and forms, trying to find a new way in design. The semi-detached pair of houses on Rochdale Road, Middleton, Briarhill & Hillcrest (1892), is one of these and represents an art nouveau ‘town’ approach to design in contrast…
