IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Grange Park Road, MANCHESTER, M9 7AF

The path from Bailey's Wood as it nears Grange Park Road has some old cast iron fencing from the Booth Hall estate that became a children's hospital site and is now a housing estate.

Looking north from Charlestown Road.

Perhaps it looks more appealing when it is open!

On Charlestown Road.

St John Bosco Church on Charlestown Road, Blackley.

A useful facility which is open for ordinary people to run on.

Boggart Hole Clough occupies 190 acres. The word "clough" is a northern expression for a steep sided valley and the site has many by ravines and gullies within this remnant of ancient forest. In 2007 it was designated as a Local Nature Reserve. A Boggart is a mythological creature sometimes described as a "household fairy". Generally mischievous they are blamed for curdling the milk and playing tricks on people. They are thought to live under bridges, like trolls, on sharp bends in roads and, in this case, in woodland.

This has closed following mergers, and is replaced by a site near the University which is infinitely harder to get to and to park at. I don't know what the current plans are for this site. Off the record, both of my children have received treatment here.

On 28th October 1908 the opening ceremony of the Prestwich Union Workhouse Infirmary was held. During the First World War it helped to care for wounded soldiers. When this was no longer required, the new Manchester Union Guardians decided to create an infirmary specifically for children. By 1924 it was a recognised training school for children’s nurses. By 1929 it was the third largest children’s hospital in the UK. It was the home of many innovations: the first infant diet kitchen, a burns and plastic surgery unit, a children’s dialysis unit; provision of overnight accommodation for the parents of seriously ill children. In 1990 it was proposed to close it but massive protests ensued and it remained open. However, closure did finally come a few years later, and it was sold for re-development. Buildings were demolished, except for the administration block, which everyone was told would be turned into flats. But somewhere along the way that idea was dropped and it was demolished earlier this year. Now only the gatehouse remains.