Landcross Road In Retrospect

This project, situated in my former neighbourhood of Fallowfield in Manchester has been such a rewarding one! Steeped in history and made possible by the hard work, endless research and knowledge of Nick Roberts, long time local resident of the street, who wrote this superb piece about the mural and its origins. Huge thanks to Manchester City Council's Miriam Amies for the opportunity, Nick of course and Rob Fenton for the expert assistance with the mural installation.

The mural is inspired by actual images from the early 1900s. Central to the Mural is a black and white image looking down “Lancaster Road”, as Landcross Road was originally named, taken directly from an old Postcard find, with a date stamp of 1905. Both are shown here.

At the Entrance to the top of the Lancaster Road the postcard depicts two shops (also depicted on the mural). They are called “Mabfield Model Bakery” and “Beever Confectioners”. The original cornice that held those shop names is still in situ today [2026] and sits above the “Papa Johns” pizza house name which occupies the footprint of the original shops.

No 1 Lancaster/Landcross Road gable end wall on which this mural is painted has some importance. It is the first house on the Brow to be completed. The developers were Charles Herbert Longworth and Thomas Turnbull. They worked in partnership on this Brow development (completing the majority of the 320 houses) up until 1896. There are 13 sandstone plaques with their initials on C.H.L and T.T. There are four on Landcross Road - Beatrice Terrace, Mabfield Terrace, Albert Terrace and Salisbury Terrace > Can you spot them? 1897>1899 - 4 have just T.T. on (completed by Thomas only) by 1896, Charles had gone bankrupt and was found drowned in a remote lake in North Wales.

No 1 Lancaster/Landcross Road was in occupation by 1891. The 1901 census tells us that the house was occupied by William Honeybill and his family. He was a domestic coachman. William’s daughter and sons were all working and that gave them enough income to employ two live in servants.

Snapshot Of Landcross Road in 1901: People

370 people lived on Landcross (then called Lancaster) Road on census night 1901 and nearly all living in family units. Today > 467* but mainly students (402*) *2021 census.

Occupations. For males > mainly clerk or salesman. There were also skilled tradesmen > plumber, butcher, bootmaker, joiner, tool fitter, tailor and electrician. Females > servant, dressmaker, nurse or governess and some had new roles > in offices, shops and schools.

Arts (surprising) At: > No14, a dealer in art and pictures. No21, a portrait painter. No24, a woman artist and her sister. No3 & 19, 3 lithographic artists. No11, a female music teacher. No13, a male piano tuner. Living at No20 and most exotic of all, was 18-year-old Winifred Galwey, who was an actress, dancer and mandolinist

-Nick Roberts of Landcross Road.

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