Edgeley Community Church

A joint Methodist and United Reformed Church on Edgeley Road.

For information visit the Church website.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday and Inspired Sundays.

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.

Bredbury Park Household Recycling Centre

Fencing alongside the Bredbury Park Household Recycling Centre which opened in 2011.

A contribution to Friday Fences.

St Peter's Church

St Peter's Church was built as a chapel at ease, at the behest of William Wright, in red brick with slate roof and round-headed windows to the nave. The west tower rises to an octagonal belfry with clock face. The chancel was added in 1888.

William Wright was Lord of the Manor of Offerton and Mottram St Andrew. His town house in Stockport was the Mansion House on High Street and St Petersgate was constructed by him as a convenient route between his house and his church.

It was consecrated on 31st May 1768 by Bishop Edmund Keene. In 1861 St Peter's became an "Ecclesiastical District", only becoming a fully fledged Parish in 1968. In 1985 the Parish became a United Benefice with St Thomas.

The church clock, built in 1769 by John Whitehurst, is the oldest public clock in Greater Manchester. The mechanism is on view in the church having been restored to working order in 1985.

A contribution to Inspired Sundays.

Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe

The shop on the corner of Bridge Street and Great Underbank was Boots the Chemists until 1970. Now it is Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe.

It is a listed building described as "House of three storeys which is canted to the corner of Great Underbank and Bridge Street Brow. Three storeys, of painted brick with a three-window range to Great Underbank, one-window range to the street corner. The windows have very slightly cambered heads with keystones and stone sills, all painted. Timber modillion eaves cornice. There are tie plates in the upper part of the Great Underbank elevation. At the ground floor an altered timber shop front is probably of late 19th or early 20th century date. Attached two-storey two-bay range in similar style with similar shop front."

A coloured view can be seen on Geograph.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

St George's Cock

The busy A6 into Stockport from Hazel Grove.

Behind the building having its roof repaired is St George's Church.

St George's Church on Buxton Road at Heaviley was constructed between 1892 and 1897, to designs by Austin and Paley, led by Hubert Austin. The building was endowed by George Fearn, a local brewer. It is built of Runcorn sandstone with lead roofs, designed in a free perpendicular gothic style. The octagonal spire is 230 foot high and a landmark in the area.

On top of the steeple is a white cock.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Roadworks on Wellington Road South

A contribution to signs, signs.

The Virgin and the Viaduct

Virgin Express have the franchise for the East Coast Main Line and the train on the left has just crossed the viaduct having left Manchester Piccadilly seven minutes earlier.

The viaduct was built in 1839/40 by the engineer George Watson Buck under the architect John Lowe. In 1887-89 it was widened to four tracks, 27 arches, 111 feet high and 1786 feet long, comprising 11 million bricks. A condition of travel dictates that all passenger trains using the viaduct must stop at Stockport thus ensuring good railway connections for the town.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Sale on at Debenhams

The Debenhams store at the end of Princes Street was built on the site of the Touchstone public house which closed in 1974.

Debenhams was founded in London in 1778 by Flint and Clark under the name 'Flint and Clark' and there were a number of partner and name changes before the store became 'Debenhams Limited' in 1905.

As of January 2013, the company owns and operates 154 stores in the United Kingdom and 11 in Ireland. A further 6 stores trade under the Magasin name in Denmark.

It is best known for its clothing, cosmetics and home ware.

A contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Monday Murals: Cleaner Greener

Artwork on abandoned shops on Wellington Road South next to the former Unity Inn.

An attached notice informs "This artwork has been commissioned by Stockport Council to enhance the shop fronts that were covered in fly posters and graffiti. The concepts and ideas have been generated by artists working with the children from St Joseph's Catholic Primary School and young people from the Avondale School group based at Adswood Youth Centre. Artists Jo Foley and Fiona Smith have used these concepts to create the final art pieces on display."

I contacted Jo Foley to find out a bit more and she replied

"I'm afraid they are looking a little worse for wear aren't they? They were done around 2005/2006 that's as far as I can remember!".

On Fiona Smith's website I read

"Fi Smith and Jo Foley were commissioned to create the A6 Corridor Artwork and devise an environmental education programme for Stockport environmental services in 2004. We produced 24 beautiful, bold, painted boards from children's designs to be installed on derelict shop fronts along Wellington Road and in Stockport centre."

I shall have to see if any more of their creations have survived.

A contribution to Monday Murals.

The climb from Chestergate to St Peter's Square

I recently posted Fences above Chestergate showing the steep path up High Bank.

This view from 2009 was taken halfway along. Note how the older-style cobbles at the sides have been replaced in the middle by flat stones. This makes it a much more comfortable journey for anyone in a wheelchair.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday.

Weekend reflections in the infant river Mersey

Shortly after its birth from the conjunction of the rivers Goyt and Tame, the river Mersey passes under Knightsbridge (from which this photograph was taken).

Below the weir it used to pass under Lancashire Bridge but in the 1960s the Merseyway Shopping Centre was built over the river. It emerges from the culvert at the Bear Pit.

A contribution to Weekend Reflections and Scenic Weekends.

St Martin's, Norris Bank

St Martin's, Norris Bank was founded in 1901 and is now under the care of the Heaton Team Ministry which serves five churches in the area.

Inset is a close-up of the top of the spire.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Bramhall 3

Half a mile up the road from the signpost by the Town Hall is another one by Daisy Bank where the A5102 leads off to Bramhall.

A #384 bus to Grove Lane is waiting to turn right at the traffic lights.

A contribution to signs, signs.

U is for Underpass

A look through one of the underpasses at Portwood roundabout. Several footpath and cycleways cross under the roads. Between two of them is a "Help point". I'm not sure whether its presence is re-assuring or actually alarming. I certainly wouldn't venture there after dark.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Stockport Central Library

The library on the corner of Wellington Road South and St Petersgate was founded in 1913 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie and designed by Bradshaw Gass & Hope of Bolton. A listed building, it is considered a good example of a Carnegie Library with many features typical of the building type.

The library is built of red brick and Portland stone in a Baroque/Renaissance style with a corner dome and a tall finial to the corner of St Petersgate. There is a five-window range flanked by a bay to the south which is framed by banded pilasters and has a tall arched window, cornice and cartouche in the frieze. At the other end a similar bay contains the main entrance. It has an attic storey with small windows and a rusticated basement taking the fall of the land. The corner domed bay has banded pilasters, and the elevation to St Petersgate is broadly similar to the Wellington Street South elevation.

A contribution to Ruby Tuesday and Our World Tuesday.

Reddish South Station Mural Panels

Last week I showed you a general view of the Reddish South Station Mural.

The mural consists of five seperate panels and was unveiled on October 8th 2011 by the Friends of Reddish South Station who have been running a campaign to bring more passenger trains onto this line since 2008. The object of the campaign is to secure a frequent service running between Stockport and Manchester Victoria.

Reddish South together with Denton railway station on the Stockport to Stalybridge line are famous for having one train a week in one direction only. The "Denton flyer" is what is known as a "Parliamentary ghost", a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station, thus maintaining a legal fiction that either the station in question is in fact open, whereas in reality the train operating company in question has almost completely abandoned the station. These services run at all only because rail transport is heavily regulated in the United Kingdom and it is therefore considerably cheaper for a train operating company to run a parliamentary service than it is to go through the full legal process of applying for a station or line to be permanently closed.

According to the 2007/8 National rail figures, Reddish South had only 47 entries and exits in a 12 month period, making it the UK's least used railway station. Network Rail, in their Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, were proposing closure of Reddish South and Denton stations and withdrawal of the remaining passenger service. The line itself would remain open for freight and diverted passenger workings.

A contribution to Monday Murals.

Shadows at the 192 bus stop

The bus shelter at Wellington Road North is the main stopping point in Stockport for the 192 bus service from Hazel Grove and Stepping Hill to Manchester.

Greater Manchester bus route 192 is a frequent and popular bus route running between Manchester city centre and Stockport. It carries over nine million passengers each year, and is often considered to be the busiest bus route in the country. More information on Wikipedia.

A contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday.

The Beauty of Decay

Christ Church. Heaton Norris, was built by Manchester architect William Hayley in 1846 and consisted of a nave, aisles, transepts, chancel and west tower and spire, constructed in coursed sandstone in a developed Early English style.

By the early 1970s the church was in a very poor condition with rampant dry rot and a decaying roof. Efforts to convert all or part of the church for community and cultural use were unsuccessful and, following its gutting by fire in 1977, it was demolished except for the tower and spire – notable as a local landmark – and a short length of the north and south nave walls. The plan of the rest of the church has been preserved by the retention of the lowest courses of masonry.

All the fittings, glass, furnishings etc appear to have been stolen or perished in the fire. The five clock bells by Warner (1896) were stolen in 1977. The tower itself is of four stages and is surmounted by a tall, slender spire. The best views of it are probably to be had from Stockport Station.

It was vested in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust in May 1979.

A contribution to the CDPB theme day The beauty of decay.