Burnage
| Burnage | |
|---|---|
 A view over Burnage, towards Manchester city centre from Mauldeth Road railway station. | |
| Population | 15,227 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | SJ865925 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M19 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
Burnage is a suburb of the city of Manchester in North West England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Manchester city centre and bisected by the dual carriageway of Kingsway. The population of the Burnage Ward taken at the 2011 census was 15,227.[1]It lies between Withington to the west, Levenshulme to the north, Heaton Chapel to the east and Didsbury and Heaton Mersey to the south.
History
Toponymy
The name Burnage is thought to have stemmed from "Brown Hedge", from the old brown stone walls or "hedges" which were common there in medieval times. In a survey of 1320, the district is referred to as "Bronadge".[2]
Middle Ages
The crest of the Mosley family, former Lords of the Manor of Withington, was adopted in the 20th century as the badge of Burnage High School. The old Withington Town Hall (1881) on Lapwing Lane, West Didsbury, bears a carved Mosley crest above its door.[2]
During the Middle Ages, Burnage was common pasture and marsh land, shared between the farmers from the manors of Withington and Heaton Norris. As the population began to expand, the land was reclaimed for arable land. In a survey of 1322, the Lord of Manchester was permitted to appropriate more land for arable use, provided he left enough common pasture land for the "commoners" to graze their animals.[2]
19th century
In 1894 George Bernard Shaw described Burnage as the prettiest village in Manchester.[3] Burnage had an established cottage industry in hand weaving. Many of the original weavers' cottages survive today.
20th century
1906 saw plans to build a "garden suburb" in the district. Burnage Garden Village was created by building many new semi-detached houses as well as open recreational spaces, including lawns, gardens, a bowling green, tennis courts, allotments and a children's playground.
Hans Renold established an engineering works at Burnage from 1906 to manufacture roller chain. The factory closed during the late 1980s. The site lay abandoned for several years, but now has been developed and a Tesco supermarket and a development of flats and retail units sit on the site.
The 1920s saw the construction of Kingsway (the A34) and the building of the Kingsway housing estate and building has continued apace since then - only parts of Burnage Lane still survive as original weavers' cottages.
A cinema, the Lido, was built in the 1920s on Kingsway. This was renamed the Odeon in the 1940s and then became the Classic in the 1960s, before finally becoming the Concorde cinema in the 1970s which then also included a bingo hall in the premises. The cinema closed in the early 1990s, and has since been demolished and a supermarket built on the site.[4]
Mauldeth Hall in Green End was the dwelling of the Bishop of Manchester for more than 20 years, before his move to Higher Broughton.
- Aviation
On 28 April 1910, French pilot Louis Paulhan landed his Farman biplane 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, with a short overnight stop at Lichfield, (195 miles/298 km), and he won a £10,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail, beating the British contender, Claude Grahame-White.[5] Two special trains were chartered to Burnage railway station to take spectators to the landing, with other spectators waiting through the previous night. Paulhan was followed throughout by a train carrying his wife, Henri Farman and his supporting mechanics. Today, a blue plaque recording Paulhan's achievement is displayed on a house in Paulhan Road, which forms part of the site where he landed.
- Babies' Hospital
In 1919 the Manchester Babies' Hospital (founded 1914) moved to Cringle Hall in Burnage having previously been in Levenshulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock. It then had 50 beds; the number of patients increased from 82 in the first year to 430 in 1929. After the building of a new pavilion on the open-air principle with glass wards specially designed for the treatment of rickets in 1925 the number of cots rose to 80. In 1935 a new hospital wing with much improved surgical facilities was opened by the Duchess of York in June 1935. The name of the hospital was changed to the Duchess of York Hospital for Babies. Until the creation of the National health Service in 1948 the hospital was supported by the Corporation of Manchester and by voluntary contributions. It closed in 1986 and a new Duchess of York ward was then opened in Withington Hospital.[6][7]
Present day
Burnage is a mainly residential area, mostly semi-detached houses built in the 1930s and 1940s.
The area is served by two railway stations, Burnage and Mauldeth Road on the Styal Line.
Governance
Civic history
Burnage was a township in the ancient parish of Manchester in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire (historic boundaries). In the early 13th century it lay within the Manor of Withington, a feudal estate which also encompassed the townships of Withington, Didsbury, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Moss Side, Rusholme, Denton and Haughton, ruled by the Hathersage, Longford, Mosley and Tatton families. Burnage remained under the manor of Withington for several centuries.[8]
Burnage was in Chorlton Poor Law Union (together with most of south Manchester but named after Chorlton-on-Medlock) from 1837 to 1915, and in Manchester Poor Law Union from 1915 to 1930. In 1876 it was included in the area of Withington Local Board of Health. Under the Divided Parishes Act 1882 there was an exchange of areas with Withington township and part of Didsbury township was added to Burnage township. In 1894 it became part of Withington Urban District in the administrative county of Lancashire.[9]
In 1904 it became part of the City of Manchester, which later in 1974 became a metropolitan borough within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester.
Political representation
The current city councillors for the ward are Bev Craig (Labour), Carl Austin (Labour) and Azra Ali (Labour).[10]
Burnage is one of seven Manchester City Council wards in the parliamentary constituency of Manchester Withington, currently represented by Jeff Smith MP (Labour).
Public services
Police
Burnage is covered by the South Manchester division of Greater Manchester Police.
Notable people
The writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy, spent most of her early childhood in Burnage. Actors David Threlfall and Max Beesley are from Burnage, and actor John Thaw also lived in the area. Islamic scholar Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj al-Din) was also from Burnage.
The district is notable for being the childhood home of Liam and Noel Gallagher, of the British rock band Oasis, who attended St. Bernard's RC Primary School on Burnage Lane. Lead singer and bassist of 60s and 70s pop band the Fortunes, Eddie Mooney has lived in Burnage for many years.
Alumni of Burnage High School (including the old Burnage Grammar School) include Roger Byrne, captain of the Manchester United "Busby Babes" and England international who was one of the victims of the 1958 Munich air disaster; Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, noted international architect; Wes Brown, current Sunderland and England player; Ian Wilson, guitarist and member of 70s rock band Sad Cafe. Dave Rowbotham, former guitarist of local post-punk groups Durutti Column, The Invisible Girls and The Mothmen, lived there in a flat, where, in November 1991, his dead body was found, after being killed by an axe murderer.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "City of Manchester ward population 2011". Retrieved 4 January 2016.
- ^ a b c Sussex & Helm (1988). Looking Back at Withington and Didsbury. Willow. p. 45. ISBN 0-946361-25-8.
- ^ "Looking back at Levenshulme and Burnage" Willow Publishing 1987 ISBN 0-946361-22-3, page 8.
- ^ Cinema Treasures (Burnage Concorde)
- ^ "London to Manchester". www.thosemagnificentmen.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 September 2006. Retrieved 26 December 2006.
- ^ Mohr, Peter D. "Dr Catherine Chisholm (1879–1952)", in: Manchester Memoirs; vol. 140 (2001–02), pp. 21–30
- ^ The Book of Manchester and Salford. Manchester: George Falkner & Sons, 1929; pp. 135–36
- ^ Sussex & Helm (1988). Looking Back at Withington and Didsbury. Altrincham: Willow. p. 45. ISBN 0-946361-25-8.
- ^ "Greater Manchester Gazetteer". Greater Manchester County Record Office. Places names - B. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
- ^ "Councillors by ward (Burnage)". manchester.gov.uk. Manchester City Council.
- ^ Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. pg. 1274. Guinness Pub., 1995. ISBN 1-56159-176-9, ISBN 978-1-56159-176-3. On 8 November 1991, former Durutti guitarist Dave Rowbotham was discovered dead at his Manchester home killed by a lathe hammer. A murder hunt followed.