Running Man Mural: Panels 5-8

A follow-up to my post from 29th June 2015 featuring Panals 1 -4 of the Running Man Mural. The 16 panel mural was the work of the group Friends of Heaton Chapel Station and produced with support from the local community. The artwork was designed by local artist Karen Allerton with photographs and historic information supplied by Phil Rowbotham ©.

Panel 5 was sponsored by Stella Maris School and informs us:

Heaton Mersey
The word Heaton is made up of two words of Anglo Saxon origin. "Hea" means high ground, which in this case is a shoulder of the Mersey Valley above the flood plain. The suffix "ton" means a defended settlement or farm.

The name Mersey originates from an Old English word Maere which means boundary. The river was the boundary of the ancient Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria.

Hence the name Heaton Mersey can be literally translated as the high farmstead beside the River Mersey.

Panel 6 was designed with pupils at Norris Bank Primary School.

Panel 7 was sponsored by Town Cafe Bar and informs us:

Heaton Moor is predominantly flat with no rivers or streams. The soil is black and fertile as expected from land that was previously peat moor. Before the opening of the railway, Heaton Moor was the main agricultural land in Heaton Norris, supporting pigs, cattle and cereal.

The opening of Heaton Chapel station in 1851 marked a turning point in the development of the area as people wanted to live close to the railway line between Stockport and Manchester.

Heaton Moor is characterised by the Victorian housing most of which was built between 1852 and 1892 and features tree lined roads which follow the former field patterns when the area was used for agriculture.

Heaton Moor is a thriving residential and commercial suburb of Stockport and contains its own busy and vibrant district centre which focuses on Heaton Moor Road.

Panel 8 was sponsored by Agito Transport Planning Consultancy and designed with pupils at Broadstone Hall Primary School - Heaton Chapel. It features Cecil Kimber.

Former resident of Shaw Road, Cecil Kimber was the man behind the iconic MG Sports Car. He was born in 1888 in south London during a time when the world had just discovered the combustion engine and people were realising its possibilities. His main interest was motor bicycles and he bought his first in 1906 aged 18 but he switched to cars and four wheels after a bad accident.

In 1914 following a family dispute, Cecil left the family printing business in Manchester and pursued a career in motor engineering.

In 1919 he met Frank Woollard who later helped Cecil establish the MG car. Two years after joining Morris Garages as sales manager in 1922, he launched the first four-door saloon, built on the chassis of the Morris Oxford.

Tragically Cecil died in a train crash in 1945, but the MG sports car flourished with a number of pure racing models winning countless successes on race circuits.

A contribution to Monday Murals.