Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Just 6.4km outside the centre of Manchester is Chorlton-cum-Hardy. It has a population of 14,138, with the nearby Chorlton Park having 15,000. They are often lumped into the same group.
Back in the 7th Century, the United Kingdom was way less united than it is right now (yep, that is possible!), and it was instead split into small kingdoms. Chorlton-cum-Hardy was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. It is believed that a settlement was started in this area in 610AD, although some people believe it happened a century or two later. The original settlement was likely located when the library stands today.
Chorlton-cum-Hardy was one of the slowest expanding suburbs of Manchester. In the 19th Century, the area still had a couple of hundred people living there at the most. This is, mostly, down to the fact that large parts of the area were flood prone. Those that did move in built larger villas close to where Edge Lane and High Lane are located today.
The real expansion happened when Irish immigrants stated to come to Manchester seeking work. A lot of them found places to live in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, mostly due to the lack of development. They took on odd jobs. They did bring Roman Catholicism to the area, which resulted in the building of a church and the founding of a Catholic school. We haven’t (yet) worked on the roof of the church, but we sure would like to have a crack at the job. Large roof renewals are lovely work, but we apply just the same level of professional care when we work on your own roof too. Small roof repairs are very common in this area.
Shortly before the First World War broke out, a tramway was built from Manchester into the area. This increased the growth of the area even further, with larger houses being built. It also resulted in the creation of the first airfield in the area (Alexandra Park Aerodrome). The area grew quickly after World War One too. This is a lot down to the increase of immigration from India. By the early 50s, Chorlton-cum-Hardy had also established a huge Polish community which still exists to this day.
As there is still a lot undeveloped land around Chorlton-cum-Hardy, it is likely that the population will rise drastically over the coming years. This is because a lot of areas in Manchester have already been developed, and yet the status of the whole city is only continuing to rise. Transport connections are improving, and access to the city centre is better than it ever has been. It is likely that Chorlton-cum-Hardy is always going to retain that ‘smaller village’ feel too, with very few huge buildings being built here.