Architectural style in Stockport

The Three Shires on Great Underbank was built around 1580 as a half-timbered town house for the Leghs of Adlington Hall. A shopfront was inserted in 1824.

At various times it has housed a confectioners, bakehouse, surgery, solicitors, restaurant and wine bar. Since 2011 it has been Huffy's Cafe Bar & Restaurant.

The modern building on the left houses Prickett's solicitors.

Visit other contributions to the Style theme at City Daily Photo.

Post Boxes on Exchange Street

Exchange Street leads from Wellington Road South into the Bus Station past the sorting office. Across the road by the side of a disabled parking bay is a pair of postboxes (SK1 999) one for stamped mail and one for franked mail only. In the background is the Hat Museum, its chimney flanked by adverts for office space.

A contribution to
Ruby Tuesday;
Our World Tuesday;
signs, signs.

N is for NatWest Bank and National Cycle Network

This is Great Underbank. In the background is Underbank Hall, now the NatWest bank. In the foreground are two benches either side of a lamppost and a litter bin. Behind them in front of a wall and next to two Sheffield stands is a National Cycle Network Milepost.

Underbank Hall was the Elizabethan town house of the Arderne family of Bredbury. The original house must have been larger as an inventory of 1619 lists more rooms than survive today. The hall was sold for 3,000 guineas in September 1823 to the banking firm of Christy Lloyd & Co which became the Stockport and East Cheshire Bank in the following year. In 1829, the Stockport and Cheshire Bank became part of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company. By 1880 this bank had 54 branches, in Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. The bank changed its name to the District Bank in 1924 and in 1962 was acquired by the National Provincial Bank. Then in 1970 this bank merged with the Westminster Bank to form the National Westminster Bank, which is now known simply as NatWest.

1000 Millennium cast iron mileposts were funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycle Network, and are found along the cycles routes through the UK.

This recently erected milepost is on the National Cycleway Network Route #62 and Trans Pennine Trail, 20 miles from Lymm and 10 from Broadbottom. This one is of the Cockerel design and apart from having a red top is so far unpainted.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Yorkshire Building Society

The earliest fore-runner of the Yorkshire Building Society started life in 1864 as the Huddersfield Equitable Permanent Benefit Building Society.

The West Yorkshire Building Society was established in 1866 at the Royal Hotel, Dewsbury and in 1885 the Bradford Self Help Permanent Building Society was established in St. George's Hall Coffee Tavern.

The Huddersfield and Bradford Building Societies merged in 1975 and then in 1982 merged with the West Yorkshire Building Society to form the Yorkshire Building Society.

It has subsequently merged with the Haywards Heath Building Society (1992), Barnsley Building Society (2008), the Chelsea Building Society (2010) and the Norwich & Peterborough Building Society (2011).

More detailed information can be found on the YBS website.

The Stockport branch occupies the corner of Great Underbank and Deanery Way and the gable end carries a ghost sign that is now difficult to decipher - see the post from 26th December 2013.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

39 Great Underbank

This redbrick building on Great Underbank used to be a branch of the Britannia Building Society.

The Britannia was taken over by the Co-op Bank last year - a move that some blame in part as the main reason for the bank's current lack of fortune.

Consequently this building is now for sale.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Peering down Piccadilly

The view is down Piccadilly to the roundabout on Wellington Street.

If it weren't for the two big office blocks there'd be a fine view over the top of Stockport towards Heaton Norris.

If you look closely you can just see the tower of St Peter's Church peeping out to the right of the one on the left.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

N is for Norbury Street

Viewed from one of the carparks overlooking Piccadilly towards Wellington Street South.

On the left is Stopford House which contains various departments belonging to Stockport MBC.

The 24 hour car park on the right is operated by SIP (Simple Intelligent Parking) who also operate a car park in Hyde - see their Contractual Notice.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday and signs, signs.

The Old Bank at 35 Shaw Heath

The half-timbered building next to the Armoury public house in our post last Wednesday was built in 1912 as the premises of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Co. Ltd. to designs by Manchester architects Barker Ellis and Jones. It became known as The District Bank from 1924 when the company became District Bank Ltd, before becoming the Edgeley branch of the National Westminster Bank in 1970, after a merger. The building's banking role ceased in 1996 and it was subsequently in office use. Currently it is occupied by a firm that makes wedding videos.

It was designated as Grade II listed for the following principal reasons:

1. As a good representative example of a small, early C2O bank designed in a neo-Tudor, half timbered style giving a reassuring appearance of longevity and respectability;
2. The eye-catching exterior design differentiates the bank from the neighbouring properties whilst enlivening the streetscape;
3. The unassuming yet careful attention to detail and design which unifies the building's external appearance with the internal use of timber panelling and Tudor-arched stone fireplace in the banking Hall;
4. The building retains its design integrity as a bank despite a number of alterations.

For a slightly wider and more colourful view see Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

Sign of the Golden Lion

The former Golden Lion public house on the corner of Middle Hillgate and Higher Barlow Row has been converted by architects Cartwright and Gross into their own offices.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Doorway Details: St Peter's Chambers

In July I posted about St Peter's Chambers.

Today I'm showing the round-headed doorway to #39, the first-floor chambers. It has an elaborate carved stone surround of curved inner arch encased in cable-moulding, with segmental indents to the arch voussiors and console keystone surmounted by a bust of St Peter in an outer arch. Crossed keys below bust and incised gothic lettering to each side stating St Peter's Chambers.

A contribution to the City Daily Photo Blogs October 1st theme - details and also to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors!.

Stockport Police Blue Lamp

A blue lamp hangs outside Stockport Police HQ on Edward Street. Such lamps have been hung outside police stations since 1861.

A contribution to Blue Monday.

St Peter's Chambers

Occupying 35-45 St Petersgate, St Peter's Chambers are grade II listed.

The architect Thomas Allen had offices here in the 1880s and may have been responsible for the design. The plan is rectangular with five shop units on the ground floor, divided into groups of two and a single unit at the south-west end by two doorways with entrance lobbies and staircases to upper-floor chambers. Two chambers with suites of rooms on the first floor.

The south-west end shown here is a slightly projecting range with three first-floor bays and a central gablet in the form of a broken triangular pediment. To the left of the ground floor is a round arched doorway to the first-floor chambers with moulded stone imposts and head with giant keystone rising to a first-floor stone band. Above is a large, central oriel window with a gadrooned stone pedestal base, a semi-circular window with five curved two-pane sash windows separated by slender iron colonettes, surmounted by a decorative ironwork balustrade with sunflower motifs. Above the balustrade, within the gablet, is a round-headed two-pane sash window with moulded stone head and keystone.

A contribution to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.

Coopers Brow

Looking over Coopers Brow from High Street into Lower Hillgate to which it is connected via Coopers Brow which takes a zig-zag dogleg route around the fenced walls.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday and Friday Fences.

Joseph Mott House

Joseph Mott House at 53 Buxton Road, Heaviley is a listed building.

The late 16th century former house, altered in the 19th and 20th centuries is a remnant of the former Lockwood Fold, a semi-rural hamlet. The 2-storey building is constructed at right-angles to the road, clad in 19th century applied false timber-framing and render, which is said to conceal remnants of a timber-framed structure. The roof is concrete-tiled. The 20th century doorway is on the gable-end, the windows are all late 20th century, and there is a roughly moulded rendered band at first floor level, perhaps suggesting a jetty. Number 53 is the lower addition attached to the south-west corner, similarly clad and with two small late 19th century timber shop fronts and a Welsh slate roof. To the rear is a similar range attached at right angles.

Lockwood Fold was one of a group of folds in north Cheshire and east Lancashire, a locally distinctive group of buildings where farm buildings combined with small workshops for domestic-scale manufacturing, in this case, of hats. Buildings formerly to the north and part of the group have been lost.

At present it is the offices of the firm Computer England.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Abbey House

Sandwiched between the Prudential Assurance Building (1922) and The Imperial on St Petersgate is Abbey House. It was built on the site of the Theatre Royal which closed in the late 1950s and was demolished in 1962. Originally the Stockport branch of the Abbey National Building Society (before it became a bank), in the noughties it was a nightclub called "sk One" which closed around 2008/9. Some of the upper storeys have been/are being used as offices.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

The Bambooza

Next to the Bulls Head on Market Place is the nightclub, Bambooza. The grade II listed building was erected for the Bank of Stockport to designs of T. A. Allen in 1868. It was taken over by the Manchester County Bank in 1871, which was itself subsequently taken over by the National Westminster Bank.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Royal Oak Yard

Named after a pub here called the Royal Oak in 1680. Caves cut into the red sandstone cliffs on the right were once used by tinsmiths. Access to High Street via steps has now been closed.

Today the yard is home to offices and some housing. The Tin Brook flows underneath.

Access is via a cobbled lane under St Petersgate Bridge from Little Underbank.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

The Buck & Dog

This is the top of the doorway to the Buck & Dog.

The Buck and Dog was an old coaching inn next to Lancashire Bridge over the River Mersey. In 1770 it was the house of call for the press gangs. In the mid 1980s it was demolished along with the bridge when the river Mersey was culverted under the Merseyway Shopping Centre. The ornamental doorway was incorporated into Barclay's Bank on Percy Street.

For a wider view of the doorway see Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

Borough Chambers

Borough Chambers, at the corner of St Petersgate and High Street, was formerly the Stockport Advertiser offices. Next to the ornate doorway and red door is the sandwich bar, "Wonderland Cakes".

For Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

P is for Pyramid

The "Stockport Pyramid" was designed in 1987 by Manchester architects: Michael Hyde and Associates. The building is steel framed with mostly blue glass paneling and some clear glass paneling at the apex. It was intended to be the signature building for a much bigger commercial development to be called "The Valley of the Kings". Construction began in the early 1990s with completion in 1992. However, the developers went into administration and the building lay empty for several years. In 1995 the Co-operative Bank (who funded the developers) repossessed it and opened it as a call centre for the bank. The building has since given its name to the nearby junction of the M60 motorway and the area is now commonly known as Kings Reach.

This view, taken Wednesday, 6 April, 2011 is from the old bridge crossing the river Mersey from Brinksway.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.