Postcards
In the summer of 2019 the late Ann Hearle generously donated her collection of local postcards to the Society.
Collected over 40 years, there are more than 1,000 cards, most of which date from the early 1900s. Some are postmarked but many are not and, similarly, some have messages but others don’t. Postcards were very popular in the early 1900s and Ann’s collection includes examples from more than 13 publishers including Kennerley Photographer from Marple Bridge and Raphael Tuck & Sons, Art Publishers to their majesties The King and Queen (Edward & Alexandra) who were based in the City of London. Postcards were sold through local shops and often included the shop name e.g. T W Waterhouse of the Post Office, Rowarth and M H Moore Stationers, Marple.
Many images are already shared on the Virtual Tour of Marple which Mark Whittaker runs via the Marple Website, but many are new to us. The Virtual Tour can also be accessed from the MLHS website.
Here are some postcards that I hope you find interesting, with thanks to our late President Ann Hearle.
Hilary Atkinson, August 2019
This card is addressed to Mme V Liefmann, who lived in Molenbeek a small town in Belgium. Postmarked Bruxelles, 9th January 1919 there is no message. Molenbeek became a centre of industrial activity in the 19th century, and was known as Little Manchester or Belgium Manchester, due to the cramped living conditions.
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Postmarked 1910, Marple Station Ambulance Class. We do not know their names or what work they did. 4 years later, some of these men would enlist to fight for ‘king and country’. At the height of Marple Station’s operation, the Station Master was in charge of a staff of 40, with 15 men on duty at any one time. Each day up to 250 trains were using the line. About half stopped at the station and it was possible to catch direct trains from Marple to London Marylebone or St Pancras.
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This part of Hibbert Lane may have been classed as Hawk Green when the postcard was published but it is now definitely in Marple. The wall and gateposts in the foreground belong to Cotefield and Yately.
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The turnpike road from Marple to New Mills (Strines Road) opened in 1801. In 1805, seeing a business opportunity, John Braddock bought a plot of land built the Sportman’s Arms and was granted his first alehouse licence.
It was ideally situated for workers from Strines Print Works, boatmen travelling along the Peak Forest Canal and passing road traffic; no wonder it had its own brew house and stables.
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Licensed as a beer house around 1832, Ralph Smith was landlord in 1891. Ten years later, his wife Phoebe was the licensee and the pub was popular with ramblers and country walkers. It closed its doors to the public in the 1920s and became a private home. It stands back from the highway, between Vale Road and Otterspool Bridge.
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The entrance to Marple
Although officially in Offerton, many people consider this house to be the gateway to Marple. Cottage industries in the area were widespread and in the 19th century hand-loom silk weavers worked in the attic. Working there was made more practical by the light from the seventeen tiny windows. A fire in 1944 gutted most of the building, leaving it as you see it today.
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Norbury Smithy
The area between the Jolly Sailor and the Bowling Green pubs was known as Norbury Smithy for centuries. It was the biggest hamlet in the area before the present town centre developed when Hollins Mill was built. This image, dating from the 1920s, shows the Bowling Green pub in the distance, just beyond the smithy. Both buildings have been replaced - the smithy by apartments and the pub by houses including a terrace of three which front onto Stockport Road.
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