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The Manse

The Manse, a listed building at 27 Wellington Road, is a stone Victorian Methodist Minister’s house. It was built alongside the second Methodist Church in the area that was once known as Knowles Green.

The first church built in 1808, was replaced by the second church in 1837. Additional land was provided by the then owner, Thomas Oliver. The Manse was built by the time the second church was demolished in 1884 to make way for the third (current) church.

The photo top left was taken in 1880 and shows the fairly new built Manse alongside the second church four years before it was demolished. The photo below left shows The Manse in 2017.

The relevant census entries indicate the following:

1871: The Minister Benjamin Smith aged forty six years and from Whitby lived at The Manse with his forty year old wife Mary who was originally from Hillam in Yorkshire. They had one eleven year old daughter Mary Emeley, she was born in Bridlington Quay, Yorkshire. There was another daughter aged sixteen years in this census year, she was named Ann C. and appears on the census a decade later when the family were living in Stretford, but she is not on this census. The family had a twenty seven year old servant living with them named Elizabeth Layner from Hambleton in Yorkshire.

1881: The Minister at this time was William Unsworth aged fifty two years and from Leigh Parish in Lancashire. He lived with his wife Mary Ann aged fifty one years who was from Derbyshire. There was also one servant living with them named Sarah Elizabeth Gregory aged twenty nine years and from Cromford Parish in Derbyshire.

1895: William Percy Hutton was the Minister, living at The Manse with his wife Annie Anderson Rowson, both were from Macclesfield.

1901: Minister John Wilkinson aged thirty eight years was resident at The Manse with his wife Rhoda Wilkinson aged forty one years, both were born in Battley Carr in Yorkshire. Their servant Edith Prince was twenty four years old and from Siddington in Cheshire.

1906: The Manse was occupied by Reverend William Oliver Lake.

1911: The reverend John Webster from Mansfield aged thirty four years was living at The Manse with his family during this year. His wife Florence Caroline from Plymouth was twenty four years old. They had three children, Stoke born Florence May aged four years and twin sons Donald and Stanley who were born in Bollington. Their servant Eliza Mill was twenty two years old and was from Wolstanton in Staffordshire.

1915: The occupier was the Reverend Frank Noble.

1926: Reverend John Pickles occupied The Manse at this time.

1939: Reverend Alexander C. Blain aged forty four years and his wife Lena Alice aged forty years resided at The Manse in this year.

The Manse is a private residence as of 2019.


Acknowledgements

The historical information on this page about the construction of the house is taken from the Images of England website. Our thanks go to  Linda Stewart who has researched census information to present an interesting history of the house’s residents.