Sunday, May 27, 2012

Back to the Railway Arch

Underneath this arch there was a conference to form the CWS that met on a snowy Christmas Day in 1860. The story is in a previous post. The arches are there, the temperance hall in one of them has been replaced by a motor repair business. There is no blue plaque that highlights the event. The other places where other conferences were held to form a wholesale society have been demolished. The public hall in Ancoats, and the Jumbo Farm in Middleton.
What you are looking at is Hewitt Street, Manchester with a railway viaduct between Oxford Road Station and Deansgate Station. Should you ever be meandering up there the arch is just before Rowendale Street (used to be called Rowe Street) as you walk eastwards towards City Road. Top photograph is from "The story of the C.W.S.; the jubilee history of the Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited, 1863-1913" by Percy Redfern and dates from around 1912. It is available at the Archives.Org

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You can email : coop AT biffadigital.org with any information that will help in the making of this history.