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'Withington' is a district of the City of Manchester, in North West, England. It lies about four miles south of Manchester city centre, intersected by the busy thoroughfare of Wilmslow Road. It lies between Fallowfield and Didsbury, to the north and south respectively.
Withington was largely rural until the mid-19th century, after which it gradually became urbanised due to Manchester's growing level of industrialisation.
Geography and administration
Withington is also the name of a local government ward within the City of Manchester
Manchester Withington is a Parliamentary Constituency which encompasses Withington Village. John Leech is the Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester Withington.
History
Medieval period
The first recorded description of Withington dates from 1186, calling the area a willow-copse farmstead, and giving rise to the Anglo-Saxon name ''Wīðign-tūn'', with withy meaning "willow branch used for bundling".[1] In the early 13th century, the Manor of Withington covered a wide area including Withington, Didsbury, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Moss Side, Rusholme, Burnage, Denton and Haughton. The first Lord of the Manor of Withington is thought to have been William, son of Wulfrith de Withington.[2]
Withington was one of the townships of the ancient parish of Manchester in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire, and a sub-manor of the Manor of Manchester. In the 13th century, Robert Grelle (or Grelley), Lord of the Manchester Manor, granted free warren in Withington to Matthew de Hathersage (or Haversage), son of William, in exchange for one knight's fee. Little is known of the Hathersage family, except that they descended to the Longford family, and are connected with the manors of Hathersage and Longford, both in Derbyshire. The lordship of Withington remained in the Hathersage/Longford family for over 300 years.
The Tudor Period
At the end of the 16th century, Nicholas Longford sold Withington to the Mosley (originally Moseley) family, an influential family of wool merchants. Nicholas Mosley became Lord of the Manor of Manchester and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.
Hough End Hall was built by Sir Nicholas Mosley in 1596 as a new Withington Manor. The original medieval manor was situated south-east of the modern junction of Mauldeth Road and Princess Road, and was surrounded by a moat. In 1750 it was demolished to make way for a farm building, but some of the moat was left. An 1845 Ordnance Survey map shows it as "Withington Old Hall", and it later came to be known as "Chorlton's Farm" or "Old Hall Farm". Today, the site is occupied by Eddisbury Avenue and no trace remains of the old manor.[3]
In the early 18th century, the Withington Manor was once again sold, this time to the Egertons of Tatton.
The Industrial Revolution
The 17th Century Red Lion pub, meeting place of the Court Leet
Local Government changes
Under the feudal system, Withington had been governed by its own court leet, and this tradition continued well into the 19th century. The court used to meet at the Red Lion public house on Wilmslow Road until 1841. Following the Public Health Act 1875, Withington Town Hall was built in 1881 on Lapwing Lane, first to house Withington Local Board of Health, and then the Withington Urban District Council, under the Local Government Act 1894. In 1904, Withington formally became part of the City of Manchester.
Religion
Withington Parish Church was opened in 1841, and many other chapels and churches proliferated, including Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. Withington has also been home to Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Jews, with synagogues opening in the late 19th century.
Transport growth and decline
From 1862 to 1881 the Turnpike Trust administered major roads such as Palatine Road as toll roads. Electric trams connected Withington with Manchester city centre from 1902 until 1939. The Withington and West Didsbury Midland Railway station opened in 1880, and ran a service to Manchester Central Station until its closure in 1967.
The 20th century
On 28th April 1910, French pilot Louis Paulhan landed his aeroplane in Barcicroft Fields, Pytha Fold Farm, on the borders of Withington, Burnage and Didsbury. This completed the first ever powered flight from London to Manchester (195 miles/298km), and by doing so, Paulhan won a £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, beating the British contender, Claude Grahame-White.[4] Two special trains were chartered to Burnage Station to take spectators and mechanics to the landing.
Actor Robert Donat was born in Withington in 1905. He lived in Everett Road and attended St Paul's Primary School. His name will long be remembered for his 1939 screen portrayal of schoolmaster Mr Chipping in the original version of "Goodbye, Mr Chips".
Present day
Withington village centre during a Bank Holiday
Historically, Withington was a much larger area than today. Since the district was absorbed into the City of Manchester in 1904, the three city wards of Didsbury, Fallowfield, and Withington took on their own identities and are now seen as distinct areas.
Today, the name Withington tends to refer to the areas roughly defined by the modern council wards of Withington and Old Moat, although fluctuating local government boundaries sometimes make these distinctions unclear.
The so-called "Withington Strip" the collective term for Withington's many bars, cafes and small nightclubs, is popular with the area's large student population.
Withington Milestone
Places of Interest
Withington today retains some grade II listed buildings, including
★ Hough End Hall (1596), Nell Lane, Chorlton-cum-Hardy - Withington Manor
★ the Red Lion Inn (17th century)
★ Manchester and County Bank (1890), Wilmslow Road - now a National Westminster Bank
★ St Paul's Parish Church, Wilmslow Road (1841)
★ the White Lion Public House, Wilmslow Road (1841)
★ The Victoria public house.
Other places of historical interest in Withington include:
★ Christie Hospital - founded in 1892, the hospital moved to Withington in 1932. It is one of the largest cancer research and treatment centres in Europe. Christie's pioneered the therapeutic use of X-Rays in 1901, and in 1944 the world's first clinical drug trial was carried out here.
★ The Scala Cinema (1912), Wilmslow Road - this is the oldest cinema in Manchester. Later renamed Cine City, it is now closed and awaiting redevelopment.
★ The Water Trough (1876), now on Copson Street - a stone drinking trough for horses, inscribed with an Old Testament passage: ''"that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts."'' (II Kings III:17).
★ The Old Forge, Wilmslow Road (1881) - now private flats
★ Milestone, Wilmslow Road - outside the fire station, inscribed ''"8¼ miles to Wilmslow / 4 miles to Manchester to centre of St. Anns"''
★ Withington Library (1927), Wilmslow Road
★ Withington Methodist Church, Wilmslow Road (1865)
★ St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic Church, Wilmslow Road (1881)
Education
Withington Girls' School was established in 1890 and provides private education for girls aged 7 to 18. Notable alumni include Judith Chalmers and Amrita Mishra. In the 1930s, the Manchester Grammar School moved to new premises in Fallowfield, attended by actors Sir Ben Kingsley and Robert Powell, cricketer Michael Atherton, and writer and broadcaster Martin Sixsmith.
Withington is served by the following local primary schools:
★ Ladybarn Primary School
★ St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic Primary School
★ St Paul's Church Of England Primary School
★ Mauldeth Road Primary School
★ St Kentigern's Roman Catholic Primary School, Fallowfield
★ Old Moat School Withington
Transport
★ 'Bus services:' Withington is served by several bus routes into Manchester city centre - see GMPTE.
★ 'Nearest railway station:' Mauldeth Road
★ 'Metrolink:' none at present; a plan to re-open the Withington and West Didsbury railway station as part of the extended Metrolink tram system is yet to be realised.
References
1. The Wharncliffe Companion to Manchester, , Glynis, Cooper, Wharncliffe books, , ISBN 1-903425-74-3
2. Looking Back at Withington and Didsbury, , , Sussex & Helm, Willow, , ISBN 0-946361-25-8
3. A New History of Didsbury, , , France & Woodall, E.J. Morten, , ISBN 0-85972-035-7
4. London to Manchester
See also
★ Manchester
★ History of Manchester
★ Cottonopolis
★ North West England
★ United Kingdom
External links
★ withington.net
★ British History Online: Withington
★ Withington Ward Councillors
★ Christie Hospital NHS Trust
★ St Paul's Primary School
★ Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester: Withington
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