ALTRINCHAM
Grid Ref: SK 769 879 (Railway Station)
Date: 1 June 2009 & 22 February 2010
Altrincham was once regarded as a very pleasant market town in a prosperous area SW of Manchester. It appears to have gone into decline in recent years with the loss of some interesting shops, probably as a result of the opening of the Trafford Centre in 1998. The area itself remains desirable for commuters and Salford's Media City has brought in new executive and professional home owners.
Pevsner, writing in 1971, noted that Altrincham, Sale, Timperley, Hale and Bowdon are one and all Outer Manchester. This was prior to the local government reorganisations of 1974. He questioned the origin of St. George's Church, which some sources said was by Paley and Austin between 1896 and 1897. A previous church on the site was from 1799 and extended both West and East in 1858-60 and 1869. The present top of the tower and spire are from 1874 and the chancel was rebuilt in 1886. Pevsner believed that the lower part of the tower could be 1799. The interior of the nave is consistent with the style of Paley and Austin, but the drab, red brick and terracotta exterior is not.
The Town Hall in Market Street is by C. H. Hindle with Elizabethan and Jacobean features. It dates from 1901, but one gable bears the inscription 'Extended 1930'. The Market Hall was built in 1849 with changes in 1879. Pevsner describes Lloyds Bank in Market Place as the most spectacular Victorian Building. It is by George Truefitt, built in about 1870 in black and white style. It was originally Brook's Bank, built for Sir William Cunliffe Brooks. It is Grade II listed.
The General Hospital, shown below but now demolished for a major redevelopment on Market Street, is believed to date from about 1871.
Stamford New Road dates from about 1880 and gave better access to the railway station. Its construction involved the destruction of several cottage in an area where there were formerly orchards.
 |
|
 |
| The former Hospital, Market Street |
|
Market House, Market Street |
 |
|
 |
| The Town Hall, Market Street, 2010 |
|
The Motto, "Pax et Abundantia" translates as "Peace and Plenty" |
 |
|
 |
| Corner of Dunham Road and Market Street. |
|
Brook's Bank, Old Market Place, 2010 |
 |
|
 |
| Part of the Old Bank above in 2009 |
|
The Orange Tree, 2009 |
 |
|
 |
| The Barrington's Hotel, 2010 |
|
Tavern on corner of Old Market Place, 2010 |
 |
|
 |
| St. George's, 2010 |
|
The Stocks in Old Market Place, 2010 |
 |
|
 |
| Station Hotel, Stamford New Road, 2009 |
|
Stamford New Road and Moss Lane, 2010 |
 |
|
 |
| Clock Tower, Stamford New Road. 2009 |
|
Stamford New Road, 2010 |
 |
|
 |
| Shopping area in the town centre, 2009 |
|
The Bricklayer's Arms, George Street, 2009 |
Sources
The Buildings of England, Cheshire, by Nikolaus Pevsner
and Edward Hubbard, Yale University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-300-09588-0
The King's England, Cheshire, by Arthur Mee, 1st edition 1938, fully revised and edited by E. T. Long, Hodder and Stoughton, 1968
Strict 