The "Memorial" (Petition) of 1889: Difference between revisions

== The 'Memorial' (Petition) of 1889, submitted by 197 Signatories from Hoole, Flookersbrook, Trafford, Newton and Upton to ‘The Joint Railway Companies’<ref>''<small>Original article researched and written by Monty Mercer, April 2019, Hoole History and Heritage Society, based on his presentation to the Society in January 2018</small>''</ref> ==

In late 2014, two members of The Hoole History & Heritage Society, whilst researching, at the National Archives in Kew, the origins of the Chester Union Workhouse in Hoole, stumbled upon an unrelated, but unique and fascinating document that had led to a major development in Hoole in the late nineteenth century.

The document is a '''Memorial''' (petition), urgently requesting that the Joint Railway Companies construct a pedestrian entrance to the General Railway Station from the Hoole side of the main railway bridge (now known as the Hoole Bridge). The main reason for this was to allow Hoole residents, many of them commuters, to have access to the station without the danger and inconvenience of having to cross the main road bridge. Of the 74 householders in Hoole Road at the time, only 4 of them made their living in Chester.

 

 

From 1840 onwards, the provision and use of railways, and the population of Hoole and surrounding districts had both increased. The Chester / Crewe line opened in 1840, the General Station in 1848, and the Hoole Bridge in 1849. The population of the Civil Parish of Hoole had grown from 294 in 1840 to 3062 in 1881, just a few years before the Memorial’s composition in 1889. The population figures for 1891 are illusive, but the census figures for the population within the Hoole Urban District Council’s boundaries (the same as the former Civil Parish’s) of 1901 are given as 5341. An approximation of the growth of population from 1881 to 1901, at a steady rate, gives a population of close to 3900 in 1889.

The document was submitted to the Joint Railway Companies in 1889, with the support of the Hoole Local Board; a sub-committee of the Board was set up to work with the Joint Railway Companies. Not much happened for a while, as the Companies were insistent that the Local Board and the residents of the area take on the maintenance of the lighting on the main bridge, and that Lightfoot Street should be paved, as a condition of having a special station entrance built.

 

 

The Show was the biggest event ever to have been held in Hoole, and possibly gave impetus to a decision to construct a footbridge from the Hoole side of the Hoole Bridge to the platforms of the station. An article in the Cheshire Observer of May 1893, a month before the Show was due to open, says:

During the week of the Show (17-23 June 1893), a total of 115,000 visitors came to Hoole, many of them by train, and they would have undoubtedly chosen to use the new footbridge.

 

 

The footbridge, with its own ticket office at the Hoole Road entrance, is remembered by many Hoole residents, as it was closed only in the late 1960s after falling into disrepair. Its bricked-up entrance and iron gateway arch can still be seen today, acting as a support for Hoole Bridge Building Supplies’ advertisement boards.

 

=== Subsequent research ===

 

 

 

 

These presentations are personal opinions and whilst believed to be correct are not necessarily the views of the Society. Any comments or feedback can be directed via the [[Special:Contact|Contact Us]] page of this website.

 

 

== References ==