Housing with a back-story

I had to go Culcheth post office late morning to collect a package which J had ordered and which had failed to be delivered. Shoes - and fortunately they fit.

Whilst there I had a look at a housing development which has now been established for well over 20 years. We looked at it when we were thinking of moving home. Outside our price range, it looked good then and looks even better now.

The site was originally developed at the turn of the 20th century for the Salford Union as an orphanage for destitute children, Culcheth Cottage Homes. There were 13 houses each occupied by by 12-14 children with a house mother or father, workshops, a school, an infirmary, a swimming pool and - as can be seen here - a water tower. After the Second World War it became Newchurch Hospital, for the mentally and physically disabled, and that closed in the 1970’s after which it lay vacant. In the 1990’s the whole site was acquired by house builder Redrow, who converted the existing buildings to family homes and apartments, and on open land adjoining built new homes. The values that created subsidised the conversion of the existing buildings. An outstanding development.