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Sharston | |
---|---|
Location within Greater Manchester | |
Population | 16,754 (2011) |
OS grid reference | SJ835885 |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | MANCHESTER |
Postcode district | M22 |
Dialling code | 0161 |
Police | Greater Manchester |
Fire | Greater Manchester |
Ambulance | North West |
UK Parliament | |
Sharston is an area of Wythenshawe, south Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 16,754. [1]
Built on former farming land (as was most of Wythenshawe when the estate was first being built in the 1920s), the area was initially mostly industrial, with Sharston Industrial Estate containing a post office (with an area sorting office), a dairy, a Bisto factory, and various other businesses.
Wythenshawe Bus Garage was built in Harling Road off Sharston Road in 1942 by Manchester Corporation Transport Department to house and service 100 double deck buses used on routes to and from the expanding housing estates. It still exists in other use and is a listed building. Northenden railway station was just off Sharston Road, but closed in late 1964. [2]
However, more recent boundary changes in the Wythenshawe district now consider Sharston to cover a considerable portion of residential housing along Wythenshawe's east side. The industrial estate consists of sectors named after letters of the Greek alphabet. The Beta sector was once the home of the Ramsees Piso Bush jam factory. This building later became the headquarters of Jam Factory Records who kept most of the original plant machinery to make speciality jams to promote album releases.
A large public swimming baths was opened in the area in March 1961 that was, at the time, Manchester's largest pool (32 metres) and also had multi-level diving facilities. The pool was often used for spectator events with seating for over 800 people. Sharston once had its own shopping parade, built in the 1930s on Altrincham Road (next to the junction of Mullacre Road), but this was demolished in early 1973 when the M56 motorway Sharston bypass was built through the area (where the M56 connects to the nearby southern section of the M60 motorway). A new shopping precinct was built directly behind the swimming baths on Sharston Green to replace the soon-to-be demolished shops on Altrincham Road. The new precinct, which opened in early 1973 just before the demolition of the old shops, contained over twenty shops and a bank, as well as new premises for the Wythenshawe Labour Club public house (relocated from Greenwood Road) which was opened by former Prime Minister Harold Wilson in February 1973. However, the new Sharston Green shopping precinct suffered from poor trading from the outset and was often referred to in the local press as a "white elephant" which had been badly planned in all respects. By the 1980s, most of the premises were being used for small businesses rather than shops and many premises were empty altogether. In November 1990, Manchester City Council closed the swimming baths as part of a series of cost-cutting measures. In May 1991, the vacant and now heavily vandalised building was targeted by arsonists. Businesses continued to leave the Sharston Green precinct, and in April 1994 the once-popular Wythenshawe Labour Club closed with debts totaling £100,000. Less than two weeks later, arsonists set fire to the abandoned building. The entire precinct, including the baths, was eventually demolished and the land has since been used for new housing developments. Several pedestrian subway tunnels that linked the area under the busy main roads have now been closed off and replaced with various pelican crossings.
Two high schools were also situated in the area. Sharston High School (which later became South Manchester High School - upper) was situated between Brownley Road and Altrincham Road. Among its former pupils was actor Harry H Corbett. St. Augustine's Grammar School (which became St. John Plessington RC High School in 1977 and then St. Paul's RC High School in the 1980s) was situated at the far end of Stancliffe Road. Of the latter school's more notable alumni are Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke of the band The Smiths, who were pupils there from 1975 to 1980. Both schools closed in the 1980s and were demolished. The ground where they stood was used for new housing developments, though part of the ground where St. Augustine's stood has also been used to extend Hollyhedge Park, which now stretches for almost half a mile from Hollyhedge Road to Altrincham Road.
Sharston Hall (from which the area gained its name, which in turn got its name from the Shar Stone, which is located at Rose Hill, in nearby Northenden) was a large house on Altrincham Road. Built in 1701, it was the home of the Worthington and Egerton families for generations before being sold to Manchester Local Authority in 1926, as was the smaller adjoining Victorian property, Sharston Manor. The hall was no longer tenanted after 1970 and quickly fell into disrepair. By 1972, it had endured a fire and considerable vandalism after plans to put a youth club in the building proved unsuccessful. Over the course of the next decade, various plans to turn the building into residential flats, offices, a restaurant or even a hotel all failed. By 1983 the building had partially collapsed with some masonry from the roof falling onto Altrincham Road. It was eventually demolished a couple of years later (the equally vandalised Sharston Manor had also been demolished) and a new commercial office building, built in a Georgian style, was completed on the site in 1986 along with a new housing development (Grosvenor Gardens). The office building currently houses a private medical clinic. The grounds behind the hall included a small woodland area which led onto Shenton Fields (informally known as "Shent's Fields"), a large recreational field that ran up to the border of neighbouring Gatley in Stockport. Although some of the woodland area still stands, the playing fields were turned into an industrial area (Sharston Green Business Park) which was completed in 2001 and contains several large warehouses and business premises.
Sharston is part of the Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency, represented by the Labour Party MP Mike Kane. [3]
Sharston is a ward within the local authority of Manchester City Council. The ward is represented by three Councillors:
Sharston is policed by the Wythenshawe Neighbourhood Policing Team, part of the South Manchester Division of Greater Manchester Police.
The M56 motorway serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately four miles north of Chester. With a length of 33.3 miles (53.6 km), it connects North Wales and the Wirral peninsula with much of the rest of North West England, serves business and commuter traffic heading towards Manchester, particularly that from the wider Cheshire area, and provides the main road access to Manchester Airport from the national motorway network.
Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Cheshire on the south bank of the River Mersey, two miles south of Stretford, three miles northeast of Altrincham, and five miles southwest of Manchester. In 2021, it had a population of 54,515.
Wythenshawe is an area of Manchester, England. Historically part of Cheshire, in 1931 Wythenshawe was transferred to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a large housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approximately 11 square miles (28 km2), Wythenshawe became the largest council estate in Europe.
Northenden is a suburb of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 15,064 at the 2021 census. It lies on the south side of the River Mersey, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Stockport and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Manchester city centre, bounded by Didsbury to the north, Gatley to the east, Sale to the west and Wythenshawe to the south.
Wythenshawe and Sale East is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester and the borough of Trafford. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.
Bucklow Rural District was, from 1894 to 1974, a local government district in the north of the administrative county of Cheshire, England. Following the Local Government Act 1972, this rural district was split between the new Greater Manchester boroughs of Trafford and Manchester, and Macclesfield, which was retained in Cheshire.
Baguley is an electoral ward of the city of Manchester, in the county of Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,794.
The Priory Estate is a housing estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England, which has largely been developed since 1929.
Woodhouse Park is an area of Wythenshawe in south Manchester, England. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,519.
Brighton Hill is a district of Basingstoke, England, that was formed around 1970 as part of the Town Centre Development Plan. The area is bounded to the west by the newer housing estate of Hatch Warren and by the A30. To the east of Brighton Hill, the Viables Industrial Estate and Cranbourne area. The area to the east is a lot older than Brighton Hill itself. The M3 motorway runs in a straight line to the south of the area, directly next to the southern ebb of Brighton Hill, which sometimes is referred to as Old Hatchwarren.
The A5103 is a major road in England. It runs from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre to junction 3 of the M56 motorway and is one of Manchester's principal radial routes.
Gatley is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, 3 miles north-east of Manchester Airport.
Tipton Green is the central area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It was heavily developed for heavy industry and housing during the 19th century, as Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution. Tipton Green is one of three electoral wards covering Tipton for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. The population of this Sandwell ward taken at the 2011 census was 12,834. It is represented by three Labour councillors.
Northenden railway station in Sharston, Manchester, England, was built by the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway (ST&AJ) and opened for passenger and goods traffic on 1 February 1866.
Northen Etchells was a civil parish in Cheshire, England.
Wythenshawe Bus Garage is a Grade II* listed building in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, England.
Northern Moor is an area of Manchester, England, north of Baguley, west of Northenden and east of Sale, 5 miles south of Manchester city centre. The Tatton family lived from 1540 to 1926 at Wythenshawe Hall in Northern Moor; land around it is now Wythenshawe Park, which was a deer park from 1200 to 1540. In former centuries it was spelt "Northen Moor" and meant "the moor area belonging to Northenden". Until 1931, Northern Moor was part of Cheshire, before Manchester expanded south of the River Mersey and its borders were changed to include Northern Moor and Northenden. The area includes Lawton Moor, and the northern border is now with Sale Moor.
Poundswick Grammar School or PGS was a mainstream secondary school in the Poundswick Corridor of "Wythenshawe" and at its peak had over 500 pupils.
St Paul's Catholic High School, also known as St Paul's RC High School, is a mixed Roman Catholic secondary school located in the Newall Green area of Manchester, England.
Sharston Hall was a manor house built in Sharston, an area of Wythenshawe, Manchester, England, in 1701. A three-storey building with Victorian additions, it was purchased by Thomas Worthington, an early umbrella tycoon, and occupied by the Worthington family until 1856, when the last male heir died. The hall was occupied by the Henriques family in the 1920s, but following their death in a motor accident in 1932 the house was converted into flats. Manchester Corporation purchased the hall in 1926. During the Second World War it was leased by the local watch committee for use by the police, civil defence and fire services.