IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Formby Avenue, MANCHESTER, M21 7SY

Seen here from the Metrolink tram, just as the tram line merges with the road.

Preparatory work had started on the extension of the Manchester Metrolink tram network to Manchester Airport. The Airport Line will leave the existing South Manchester line just after the St Werburgh's Road stop, cutting across land next to Chorlton High School to join Mauldeth Road West, where it will run along the wide central reservation towards Barlow Moor Road.

Looking through the perimeter fencing from Mauldeth Road West. The banners proclaim the academic achievements of the school, with a quote from an Ofsted inspection report.

The extension of the Manchester Metrolink network to the airport is planned to open in 2016. The line will leave the South Manchester Line just after the St Werburgh's Road stop and cross land between the buildings of Chorlton High School and Mauldeth Road West, then running along the dual carriageway and Hardy Lane to a river crossing near Jackson's Boat. Preliminary work was underway in this area, mainly moving services and sorting out drainage.

Mauldeth Road West was constructed in the late 1920s, along with garden village style housing estates both here at Hough End and to the south side of Barlow Moor Road.

A view through the security fencing.

The Southern and the dual carriageway it stands alongside were built in the late 1920s. The traffic cones are a sign of preliminary works to move services to allow for the Manchester Metrolink extension towards the airport. The tram lines will run along the centre of the road. The Southern Hotel had closed a year or so earlier and was boarded up.

A large green area alongside Mauldeth Road West. During the late 1920s the Council constructed garden village style housing estates along the south side of Barlow Moor Road, and at Hough End, as seen here.

Hough End Hall was built in the 1590s for Sir Nicholas Mosley when he was Lord of the Manor of Manchester. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hough_End_Hall Time and the hand of the town planners has not been kind to the hall, as it sits in a sea of car parks, hemmed in by two hideous sixties office blocks to the front and side, with the buildings of Chorlton High School and associated security fences crowding in from the rear. Later in its history Hough End was sold to the Egertons of Tatton. By the 20th century much of the interior had been lost; the fine staircase had been removed to Tatton Hall in Cheshire, and the hall was a farmhouse. Photos from the 1920s show various farm buildings in the area of the car park seen in this view. In 1969 Pevsner note that the porch had collapsed and the roof was open to the skies, describing the condition of the building as 'an unpardonable act of cruelty'. Manchester Corporation, who owned the building later carried out some renovation works, after which Hough end was used as a pub / carvery type restaurant / nightclub, closing some time in the late 1990s. In 2010 further restoration work was carried out and the hall reopened briefly as a restaurant. This closed later that year, and by December 2011 the building was to let. http://www.manchesterconfidential.co.uk/Culture/Architecture/The-Good-the-Standard-and-the-Ugly-Hough-End-Hall