A bit of History
Commissioned by Hale Civic Society & written by David Miller
(Reprinted by kind permission of Hale Civic Society)
Hale Moss and Stamford Park
One of the most important features of rural Hale was Hale Moss, which originally extended from George Street, Altrincham, eastwards to Green Lane, Timperley. The moss is a flood plain of Timperley Brook, probably deepened by glacial melt waters from the Pennines flowing northwest across this part of Hale, on which deep pools have formed over the clay deposits which have been filled over the centuries by mosses which didn’t decompose due to the acid conditions. For centuries Hale Moss was a source of turf, firewood and kindling for ovens, and used as common grazing land by the Burgesses of the Court Leet. A small amount of coal may have been dug there.
In 1621 a channel was cut from Hale Moss down what is now Oakfield Road and Grosvenor Road to power mills in the Derby Street area. It was this channel which was extended another three miles to Dunham in 1622 by Sir George Booth to help fill the moat there and to power the seventeenth century mill, still standing near the hall. The channel goes under the railway near Derby Street, under the Bridgewater Canal at the Linotype and back under the canal at Dunham. All that remains visible in the Hale area is the flow out of Stamford Park duck pond but using dyes it was proved to be still flowing in the Broadheath area about 1930 and traced recently by Jim Howarth, a member of the South Trafford Archaeological Group. The watercourse was so important that the Duchess of Stamford negotiated the preservation of all water rights on behalf of all local landowners when the Duke of Bridgewater negotiated to build the Bridgewater Canal in the early 1760s.
In the first half of the nineteenth century two large clay pits were dug on Hale Moss for brick making. These became Gibbons’ Pond and ‘Nib’ (Abraham) Dean’s Pond. Dean’s Pond still exists as King George’s Pool but Gibbons’ Pond was filled in as a rubbish dump and is now a football field just off Delahays Road.
The Moss was owned by Lord Stamford who let certain residents of Altrincham use it until he decided to enclose it and later sell it off for building. However some claimed grazing and fuel-gathering rights and the moss was subject to a big dispute in the second half of the nineteenth century when the area was enclosed for health and safety reasons. The Earl of Stamford applied for the enclosure of Hale Moss under the ‘1845 Inclosure Act’ and in 1862 a public inquiry was held at the Unicorn Hotel in Altrincham conducted by J J Rawlinson. Afterwards Rawlinson went to the moss where he recorded about forty people who claimed commonable rights, probably many of them Gypsies. In the end only one person, a Mr Barratt, could substantiate his claim. The Earl then sold off building plots and no further claims were made. At a meeting of the Altrincham Local Board in 1866, Joseph Gaskarth proposed that a recreation ground was needed and that Hale Moss was suitable, but difficulties were raised. In 1869 the issue was revived but rejected at a stormy ratepayers’ meeting. In 1878 progress was made when the Earl of Stamford, through mayor John Siddeley the Peel Causeway brewer, offered about eight acres for a public park and recreation ground, which the Board accepted. The following year the offer was increased to twelve then to sixteen acres. The park was laid out by landscape gardener John Shaw Junior (who lived at 10 The Downs) and opened in 1880 by the same Joseph Gaskarth, chairman of the Local Board to the designs of John Shaw Senior who had designed several Manchester Parks. About 4,000 people attended and a banquet for 150 prominent citizens was held at the Old Town Hall. There is no doubt that the gift was generally received as a final settlement to any public claims to the Moss. A silver key engraved ‘At the opening of Stamford Park Oct 23 1880’ and on the reverse ‘Presented to G Smith Esq’ was given to George Smith, the mayor-elect for 1881, and probably to others. In March 2001 English Heritage included Stamford Park in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England and it now has Grade II listed status, and has been used as a model for at least one park in Germany.The Moss was often used to tip rubbish, including carcasses and fishmongers’ offal, causing problems. A Charity Commission inspector held an inquiry but ownership of rights and responsibilities could not be determined. The Gas Company had been set up in 1846 and moved to Hale Moss in 1847. In 1892 they promoted a Bill to increase their capital and to construct a proper road and erect a tramway from Altrincham goods yard to the gas works. In the same year the Rural Sanitary Authority resolved that steps be taken to acquire a lease on the Moss under the Allotments Act 1887 at the expense of Hale township but the idea was abandoned.
Following a recommendation in 1894, the Stamford Trustees fenced in their land to discourage tipping but this caused an outcry and a joint meeting was called between the newly elected Altrincham Urban District Council, the Bucklow Rural District Council and the Hale Parish Council. A Hale Moss Committee was appointed to consider the improvement of the Moss and to come up with a scheme for keeping it as an open space for the benefit of Hale and Altrincham. They agreed with the Stamford Trustees that they would help to put the Moss in a proper sanitary state in return for the provision of drains into the Altrincham sewers for the Hale portions of what is now Ashfield Road etc. The result was that extra land was to be provided for both Hale and Altrincham. This all fell through due to financial charge difficulties, but the Urban Road portion was finally resolved in 1899.
Hale Urban District Council was formed in 1900 under the chairmanship of Alfred Tarbolton and soon had to investigate alleged public rights on Hale Moss. In 1901, they agreed with the Stamford Trustees to buy three acres between Moss Lane and the Gas Works and to lease what is now Hale Bowling Green, all for public purposes. In 1902, in final settlement of claims to the Moss of commoners’ rights, the Stamford Trustees sold Pollitt’s Field (named after Henry Pollitt the slaughterhouse keeper here in the 1850s) lying between the Urban Road plot and the gas works to Altrincham Council, subsequently used by Altrincham Football Club. They also sold ten acres of the fourteen acres to the east of this on the north side of Moss Lane to Hale Urban District Council, becoming the Altrincham Football Club ground in 1910 with allotments laid out to the east in 1914. Agreement was also reached to take the Hale sewage from the north watershed below Hale Road into the Altrincham system.
Up to about 1900 Gypsies used to camp in the area and the nineteenth century census returns contain entries for a Gypsy caravan and a tent on the Moss. The Gypsies in Hale had well-known leaders Charles and Emperor Boss. In 1871 a Boss family on the Moss consisted of Uriah, his wife Sinai, and Uriah’s father Joseph. A second Boss family was Charles, his wife Lyari and children Eli, Walter and Emperor. In 1881 the Boss family on the Moss consisted of Charles, Emperor, Uriah, Eli, Lyari, Walter, Sinai, Agnes, and children Annie, Famie and Rhoda. By 1913 Emperor (his real name) had abandoned the open air life as a horse dealer and was living at 24 Queens Road, Hale, appropriately in business as a furniture remover and firewood dealer. His grave is just inside Hale Road Cemetery on the left.
From about 1900 the moss was drained and small industrial buildings were set up, alongside the 1847 gasworks and the slaughterhouse. Altrincham Football Club moved here from Pollitt’s Field where Urban Avenue is in 1910 and allotments were set up during the 1914-18 war and are still there, now with adjacent reed beds which were replanted in 2003. The reed beds were previously the Cresswell springs where watercress was grown. The Cresswell Springs and the Twiggery Springs below Hale Road are the source of water flowing into Stamford Park duck pond, keeping it topped up and previously supplying the moat at Dunham.
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If you are interested there are downloads regarding the development of public parks in England (PDF1) or of the particular historical significance of Stamford Park (PDF2).
