Area of the Estate in the 18th Century
Area of the Estate in the 18th Century
The area of the Ford Bank Estate at the end of the 18th century
(From Ivor Million: A History of Didsbury, published in 1969)
The early history of the Ford Bank estate, which included all the land now bounded by Ford Lane, Lancaster Road and Spath Road, is obscure, but it seems to have included fields called Sand Lands, Finney Townfield, Stock and Style Butts, Gaskill’s Moorfield and Spaith Field, some, at least, of which were owned by the minister, Robert Twyford. There was also a small farm belonging to Robert Feilden, which lay in the vicinity of the junction of Lancaster Road and Dene Road. This was made up of Yannis Field or Fat End, Walker’s or Wood’s New Field, Wood’s Great New Field and Walker’s Newfield.
Holt House and Highfield, with premises at the rear, currently stand on land that was known as Lady Bank Field, Orchard or Goose Croft, Nearer Turnip Field, Further Turnip Field and Shawcross Field or Croft.
Carr Brow Lane ran into Stenner Lane, as Ford Lane does now, where the allotments lie. The allotments lie on land called Bradley or Braddiley. It belonged to Robert Bamford Hesketh.
To the north of Stenner Lane was a field known as Withy Ley, on the site of Simon Playing Fields, where, for many years, the Didsbury and South Manchester Agricultural Society held its annual show.