Outwood Primary

By 1810, the fields of Bolshaw and Outwood had been enclosed, later than other parts of the county, and farms had sprung up including Outwood Road farm  . Some of these fields were called flatts. There was Higher Long Flatt, Bleak Flatt and Lower Long Flatt. The word flatt goes way back to medieval times. It referred to fertile soil that was cultivated when fields were open before the Inclosure Act, when old cottages were then demolished to make way for farmland  . However, adjacent to Bruckshaw’s land, along Long Lane itself, were two small plots that retained their original cottages. These small holdings created kinks in the road where waste land had been inhabited before the Inclosure Act and they were known as purprestures (the illegal encroachment of one party upon the land of another)  . Once the cottages were demolished they became part of Bruckshaw’s farmland. In plot 462 stood 2 cottages and gardens owned by the Bruckshaws but occupied by the Warringtons. Plot 460 was a house and garden owned and occupied by John Crank. Hannah Crank had married John Bruckshaw.

By 1851 the Bruckshaw family had increased considerably. Ralph was now 11 and John 10. They also had three daughters. Sarah aged 9, Mary aged 6 and Ann aged 5, along with another son, Henry aged 2. Also living with them was Hannah’s father, now a widower, John Crank.

The 1861 census showed that the family had continued to expand and there were now 10 living at the farmhouse. Another son and daughter, Hannah aged 9 and Colin aged 4, had arrived in those 10 years. John was obviously proud to state that he was a farmer of 62 acres and Hannah was a farmer’s wife along with his 2 eldest sons, Ralph and John now aged 21 and 20 stating their occupations as farmer’s sons. Sarah was a house maid, Mary a dairy maid and Ann a dressmaker. The youngest members of the family, Henry now 12 and Hannah were scholars with nothing stated for their youngest, Colin.

By 1871 Ralph, their eldest son, had moved out into Heald Green House, on Styal Road (now Irvin Drive) and was living with 2 sisters, Sarah Foster and Elizabeth Mottershead, who were taking in laundry to make ends meet. His occupation was stated as a farm servant. There must have been a reason why the eldest son of a notable farmer, with lots of land, would have moved away to attend someone else’s farm. John the father was now 65 and stating landowner as his occupation and Hannah his wife was now 57. Their second son John, an agricultural labourer, aged 30 still lived and worked there, along with their oldest daughter Sarah, now 29, a female servant. Her sisters Mary and Ann are no longer on this census. Now in their mid-20s they may well have been married off. That left Henry, an agricultural labourer, Hannah, a domestic servant and Colin, a scholar.

In 1876 John the father had died. Therefore, by the 1881 census his widow Hannah, now 67, was the head of the household. She held 40 acres of land and her eldest son Ralph had returned as the farm bailiff. Her second son John was not on this census. Sarah her eldest daughter, still single at 38 was at the farm, along with Henry, Hannah and Colin. They had taken in a boarder called Charles Barker, a single 38 year old, who had retired from the army on a pension.

Another 10 years passed and by 1891 Hannah, now 76 years of age, was still the head of the household. Having lived her whole life as a farmer, in an age of manual labour, she must have been one tough old lady. She classed her occupation as a farmer along with all the remaining male members of the family, Ralph, Henry and Colin. Sarah her eldest daughter, now 48 herself, was still there too. The family also had a domestic servant in 15 year old Hannah Wilkinson. After this census Colin married Annie Maddocks and they moved to Brookfield Farm further down Outwood Road (where Avon Road estate is now). They had 2 sons, John Edmund and James Moreton along with 4 daughters, Florence Ethel, Annie Evelyn, Violet Emily and Sarah Elizabeth. Sadly, Florence died.

By 1901 Hannah had passed away. Her eldest son Ralph, still at the house as a boarder, and now 61, had passed the reins over to Henry the third son, who at 50 years of age, became head of the household. Henry’s older sister Sarah was now the housekeeper. Annie Clark a 23 year old domestic servant lived there along with 2 cattle boys. They were 17 year old Samuel Beard and 14 year old Robert Daniel.

In 1911 Henry was still the farmer and head of the household along with his spinster sister Sarah. His older sister Ann returned to the farmhouse as a widow aged 65 named Ann Hankinson. The Hankinson family were farmers at Griffin Farm on Wilmslow Road (where the new Bloor estate is being built). A 12 year old niece, Ethel Bruckshaw and still at school was there too. (The photo below of Outwood Road Farmhouse, is one of hers and can be found in the museum library within the book, Long Lane Cheadle Remembered). 18 year old Joseph Beard, perhaps the younger brother of Samuel, was the milk driver on the farm. Here’s where it gets tricky though! A boy called George Grimshaw lived there as well. His occupation was a teamster on the farm. That meant that he would look after the horses on the farm attending to their feeding, watering and bedding. He would also harness and drive a team of horses on a plough. No mean feat at any age. However, the census states that he was 4 years old and born in 1907!!! I have looked at the original census and his age did have 2 numbers but only 4 is clearly visible. He may have been 24, much more likely, but that does not tie up with his birth date. A glitch in the system.