Building Name

Woodstock, Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury

Date
1877
Street
Barlow Moor Road, Mersey Road
District/Town
Didsbury, Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Partnership
Client
Edward Rogerson
Work
New build
Listed
Grade II

WOODSTOCK, Barlow Moor Road; now a pub. Built in 1877 for E. Rogerson by Asahel P. Bell and George Freeth Roper. An excellent house of Norman Shaw derivation with tall chimneys, cut brick decoration, inglenooks and floral stained glass. The front door, unobtrusive under a heavily bracketed balcony and large stair window, opens into a generous inner hall, now the bar, originally with its own fireplace. The interior has been opened up somewhat but the typical villa plan is clear. A panelled dining room of masculine character, a lighter, more feminine drawing room facing south, with a big bay and an inglenook, a smaller morning room facing East, and the service wing to the north. [Pevsner, Hartwell:  Lancashire, Manchester and the South-East page 449]

Edward Rogerson (1835-1910) was born in Liverpool but moved to Manchester. By 1876 he was the owner of a wholesale and retail ironmongers, living in Cheetham Hill Road but seemingly retired in the same year. In 1888 he is listed as a Director of Chester’s Brewery having married Martha Elizabeth younger daughter of Thomas Chesters, the founder of the brewery. Edward Rogerson eventually became Chairman of the company, remaining as such until his death in 1910.

In the rate books of the 1880s, he was listed as the owner of two large houses on adjacent sites in Fielden Park, namely Woodstock on Barlow Moor Road and Oakdene on Mersey Road. In 1878 he is listed as the occupier of Woodstock but from 1883 the house was rented to William Ford Smith, engineer and tool maker (Smith and Coventry), who remained there until his death in 1904.  Later occupants included James Edward Marsland, cotton merchant [1909-11 Directories]. The house was subsequently occupied by the British Council and used as offices before conversion into a public house. (Barleymow, Woodstock Arms)