Aimee organised some ‘induction days’ designed for all the HLF trainees in Stockport Council to be able to meet each other & spend some time together. We have met Lauren, Katie and Stephen more than once on various tours and days out, but we hadn’t met the countryside trainees Matt & Lindsay. Unfortunately Lindsay has broken her leg so was unable to join us.
The induction was spread across two days; the first day was Bramall Hall. Katie and Lauren had been asked to help out on the Heritage Open Days weekend to provide extra tours for people, so they tested out their tour on Matt, Lauren & I. I hadn’t visited Bramall Hall before so I learnt lots, and they gave a very good tour.
Bramall Hall is a beautiful black and white building set in 70 acres of beautiful parkland. It’s origins date back to the medieval times, with later additions in the 16th & 19th century, and restoration work in the building has revealed early examples of wall paintings. The manor of Bramall was first described in the Domesday Book in 1086, when it was held by the Masseys (of Dunham Massey in Trafford). From the 14th century it was held by the Davenport family, whose portraits hang in the hall today. When they sold the estate in 1877 there were over 200 acres of land, which was sold for building development, and the remaining land and the hall were sold to the Nevill family. Charles Nevill carried out extensive remodelling to the interior of the house, restoring it to how it is today. The hall is definitely worth visiting, and I will be returning to explore the extensive grounds.
A week later we all reassembled for a day of guided tours of Stockport’s heritage sites. We went for a tour of the Plaza Cinema in the centre of Stockport which was fantastically informative and great fun. The cinema opened it’s doors in 1932, it was in use as a super cinema for 44 years before being bought by the Mecca Bingo group and converted into a bingo hall. The ornate walls and ceilings were covered with plasterboard and false ceilings, and alterations made to the building. In the 1970’s there was even a nightclub in the cafe lounge. In 2000 the Plaza was purchased by the Stockport Plaza Trust, and following a National Heritage Lottery grant and extensive restoration it was reopened in 2009. Now it is a beautiful example of a 1930’s cinema, which has been lovingly restored with original and replica pieces to restore it to it’s glory as it was in it’s heyday. The style is art-deco, with shimmering walls (achieved using lead based paint) patterned carpet, vintage telephones visible around the building, and a beautiful appliqued stage curtain. Wonderfully, the organ is the original, and one of only a few left from the era. Our guide told us how the films would have run throughout the day up until 11pm, and how the smoke would have been so thick it would have been difficult to see the films!
Excitingly we were also shown behind the stage into the dressing rooms – these were very stark, but you can imagine them being a flurry of action before a show. It was very strange to stand on the stage and see the theatre from an actor’s perspective! The stage was also equipped with ropes to stop people from falling off when they hold weddings – what a lovely grand place to have an art-deco themed ceremony. We were also shown into the projector room, which was through a tiny door, and was great to see!
After the tour, we all had lunch together in the Plaza cafe, before moving on to Staircase House.
I have been to Staircase once before for the Forum meeting, but I didn’t quite realise what was hidden away in this building. It is Stockport’s oldest town house, a cruck timber building which dates from the medieval period and has Grade II* listed status. Not much is known about who lived in the house in before 1605, when it was owned by the Shallcross family. They installed a beautiful Jacobean staircase, which the house takes it name from. Today it has been made into a museum which shows shows how people lived in Stockport from the 15th Century right through to the 20th Century. Lauren and Katie are both involved with Staircase house, with their displays and various projects, so they could give us interesting snippets of information about their favourite artefacts.
Our final stop of the day was the Hat Works, which gives an insight into what it would have been like working in the Hatting Industry. I recently found out that one of my fiance’s ancestors worked in hatting, making it especially interesting for me. The machinery they have is in working order, and when they ran the machines they were so loud that we could only imagine what it would have been like working in the factories with 15 or more of the machines running at once. Hatting must have also been quite a perilous trade between the mercury used in the felt making and hydrogen chloride used in the later stages, in addition to the machines! Our tour guide told us that they knew about the mercury poisoning as early as 1829 but it took until 1898 for measures to be taken to protect hat workers from it’s effects! That is, of course, where the term ‘as mad as a hatter’ comes from, and there were many in Stockport who committed suicide as a result of the madness.
The back-to-back house was also interesting, as it was tiny! The room was much smaller than our living room, and they would have had two of these tiny rooms with up to 12 people crammed in. I just can’t imagine what it would have been like to live like that!
After such a busy day Lauren & I were exhausted by the time we got back to work, but it was a great day and great to find out some more about the heritage sites in Stockport.
Natasha's Heritage 