Irwell Bank, Eccles New Road, Ladywell, Salford

A small estate to the south of Eccles New Road which appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1848. Although within the Pendleton boundary, the estate was much closer to Eccles, which was frequently given as the address. The estate was originally purchased by John Dugdale of Dovecote House, Knotty Ash., near Liverpool, who died in 1855. John Dugdale junior took up permanent residence at Irwell Bank following his marriage in 1851 and presumably inherited the estate on the death of his father in 1855. The house was apparently rebuilt about this time to the designs of Walter Scott of Liverpool.

The northern boundary, with two lodges, fronted Eccles New Road, - now the Ladywell station of Metrolink. Beyond, and north of the railway was the Higher Bentcliffe estate, occupied by his cousin James Dugdale, before his removal to Hart Hill (qv). The southern boundary of the pleasure grounds surrounding the house was set a field back from the River Irwell  but a narrow strip of land gave access to the original river bank. A small building, which may have been a boat-house, appears close to the river on subsequent maps. Until the 1890s the area was still essentially rural, with fields between the estate and Eccles. On the opposite bank of the Irwell was Trafford Hall and Trafford Park, the home of the De Trafford family. Following the death of John Dugdale junior in 1886, the Irwell Bank estate was sold to the widowed Lady Annette de Trafford who used it as a Dower house until her own death in 1922. However, in the 1890s this previously rural district was subject to radical transformation. Ladywell Hospital was built on the field immediately to the west, of Irwell Bank, the Manchester Ship Canal was built to the south, and the Trafford Park estate sold off for an industrial park. In the building of the Ship Canal, the bend of the river at this point was straightened, the course of the old river being in-filled and used as sidings for the Dock Railway.