www.Poundswick .org.uk

Poundswick - maps
I include below four maps of 1910, 1936, 1954 and 1960 which show the progressive southwards spread of Wythenshawe and the gradual obliteration of the Poundswick hamlet that resulted.
 

Map 1 - 1910
In 1910 there was no sign of Wythenshawe at all! Poundswick Lane ran west from Brownley Green to serve the North and South farms and then turned south. It forked to Bailey Lane and Dark Lane by Crabtree Cottages. Dark Lane joined Woodhouse Lane.

Brownley Green was the largest local settlement. The Cedars, a prominent building in the village, was owned by Mr. Peers Grove of Groves and Whitnall.
 
Map 2 - 1936
My mum came across this map recently while she was going through some of my dad's old books. It covers a larger area than the other three and is in many ways the most interesting. It shows Benchill estate under construction, otherwise things are much the same as in 1910, and there are just a few landmarks - Oldwood Spinney, for example - that still exist today.

Note that Haveley Hey was a farm and there really was a Park called Wood House!
Since posting this map onto the site, Alan Coates (1960-67) has e-mailed to tell us that he used to live on Hilary Road close to its junction with Bailey Lane and that in the 1960s the original stone gateposts of Wood House Park still existed at the end of a piece of waste ground just off Bailey Lane. The gateposts had pyramid-shaped capping stones engraved "Wood House Park" but these disappeared mysteriously in the 1960s!
 

Map 3 - 1954
This map shows Poundswick on the verge of extinction but with its two farms still (just) intact.

Benchill estate was complete (although the market garden worked by old Danny Wright north of the "kink" in Poundswick Lane had not yet been gobbled up).

Brownley Green now had its secondary school and the new roads of Woodhouse Park were being laid out.

Parts of Dark Lane still existed but Crabtree Cottages had gone for ever.
 

Map 4 - 1960
This map is to a larger scale than the others and it shows only the immediate environs of the school.

The three lines at approximately 120 degrees marked drain to the east of the school are also shown on the 1910 and 1954 maps, which helps to relate the maps to each other.
The detached block to the east of the school is, of course, the old bike sheds and the building to the north of these, set at an angle, is the most northerly of the North Poundswick Farm cottages; the one which found itself within the school boundary. Note that South Poundswick Farm is called Poundswick Hall Farm on this map. The old route of Poundswick Lane is shown as a path; the new (current) road running a dozen yards to the north. The full version of this map carries the date 1967 but it was obviously drawn many years before this. On the map, Wythenshawe Town Centre is totally devoid of buildings other than the clinic (shown in the bottom right-hand corner). However, by 1967 much of the current Town Centre had been built, hence my estimate of about 1960.

Click Here to see a recent map.
 

"A secluded Cheshire Hamlet"

The following text is an abbreviated version of an article which was printed in the Manchester City News (forerunner of the Manchester Evening News) of 18th January 1908. It gives an interesting flavour of the very rural nature of the Poundswick countryside at the turn of the nineteenth century.

"The average town dweller knows little or no originality in the search for country scenery or country air. How many people, for instance, have penetrated into that square of beautiful pastoral country that lies between Baguley, Cheadle, Handforth and Hale? It is an intricate region, intersected by numerous footpaths and tracks and encloses several old-world hamlets. Poundswick, one of such hamlets, is simply a cluster of cottages picturesquely situated at the bottom of a wooded hollow, with one or two outlying farms. The tiny stream that runs through it eventually finds its way into the Mersey just above Warburton, for it afterwards becomes Sinderland Brook. The place is so secluded that it is difficult to imagine its nearness to a big town.

The local industries are farming and market gardening and all about are orchards and old-fashioned gardens, ablaze in the summertime with the rich colouring of flowers, bounded by hedgerows of wild blackberry and hazel. One is indeed far from the "madding crowd" and in an atmosphere at once clean and invigorating. The inhabitants for the most part are in keeping with their surroundings and there is one old lady who can say that she has not yet been on a railway train.

The black-and-white house which is the centre of Poundswick, apart from its charming surroundings, is well worthy of notice on more grounds than one. Firstly, it is the only place in the neighbourhood where tea can be obtained and, moreover, the teas are excellent in quality and moderate in price. He who would "clean himself" must, however, pay extra for the privilege. Secondly, it was built so far back as 1686 and is a genuine though not elaborate specimen of the Cheshire style of which Bramhall Hall is so fine an example. The woodwork is, for the most part, innocent of nails, large wooden pegs having been inserted. Inside, the ceilings are low and the floors flagged whilst the picture is completed by the blue china and patriotic prints and religious mottoes which seem inseperable from an English farmhouse. The orchard lies well back and is stocked with fine fruit trees and the usual life of the farm yard is both varied and abundant.

For the cyclist, most of the lanes of the district are paved with awkward cobbles but they can generally be avoided by using the strip of macadam which will be found at the side of most of them. The cyclist can take in Brownlow Green and Sharston on his way home."

G.T.N. 18th January, 1908