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This photo was taken from a bungalow at Mount Road and shows Roundthorn Road under construction. The large chimney behind the houses was at the Times Mill, Grimshaw Lane.
View gallery (total of 7 images)
Single biggest site of its day
Harold Cunliffe29/ 5/2008
THIS week we feature a selection of previously unseen photographs that were taken during the construction of Mount Road, Roundthorn Road and Boardman Fold Road in Alkrington.
All of the collection of 19 photographs have been donated to the town by David Searle from Cheshire.
He recently sent the photographs to Middleton Library and was delighted when they gave Bygone Days permission to publish a selection of them. The full set can be viewed at the Local Studies Library.
Mr Searle said, "This is exactly what I was hoping would happen when I donated the photos, that people would find them interesting."
In 1969 David Searle was living at Mossley, his very first job was at Alkrington Estate employed by Dunlop Heywood & Co of Manchester. They were the managing agents for Whelmar Homes.
David was based in a large wooden hut at the top of Mainway, now the site of the shopping complex. He said that he had to catch three buses to Alkrington each day which meant getting out of bed at an unearthly hour.
In summer he would 'bike it' and as he says: "That's some peddle power."
His job was as a junior surveyor and was involved in all aspects of the development of the estate from road and sewer construction, house building and selling. He was part of a staff totalling only four.
Working in Middleton he got to know the place well: "It was a great experience for me starting out in the building industry and I went on to become Technical Director of Whelmar. They were happy days at Alkrington," he told Bygone Days.
David also sent the following information relating to the history of the development of Alkrington Estate.
It was the Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited that purchased the land at Alkrington from the Alkrington Estate Company Ltd in 1956 to develope as a housing estate. The aquisition at the time was the largest single housing development site ever aquired, being 250 acres.
Metroplitan Railway Country Estates Ltd in the late 1800s developed their railway network around London and had the foresight to acquire large tracts of land ajacent to their railways on which to build "garden villages," thus establishing a ready market of commuters in and out of the capital.
Having proved themselves successful in the property development market, they began in later years to look further afield for other development opportunities and acquired two sites in the North West, one at Heath Road, Runcorn and a much larger one at Alkrington.
In 1957 The Whelmar Property Company Ltd was formed to build and sell the properties constructed on this and the Runcorn site.
The company became a household name. The very first house was finished in April 1958 at the Alkrington Estate and sold for the princely sum of £1,625. It was in fact a two bedroom bungalow on Mount Road.
In a four-year period the whole 100 acres of the old Alkrington Estate was developed with 1,064 properties being built and sold with a peak production in 1961 of 400 units.
We would like to thank Middleton Local Studies Library and David Searle for their help with this feature.
Click on ‘View gallery’ for more …
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11/06/2008 at 03:53