Hi Vernon That is very interesting, because I have been and looked again at the buildings at the begining of Townley Street and the shops you mention are still there No's 1,3,5,7. Brookside Mill which was ours comes next, but after looking again I remembered that the door that is now numbered 9, was not there at the turn of the century it was at the side of the building and was probably not considered at the time to be on Townley Street. I know on the deeds to the building it was just called Brookside Mill Middleton. So I had another look at the next mill and that is the same, whilst there are one or two busineses in that building now they would not have been doors to the premises when they were built. The fact that there used to be some cottages on either side of Spring Vale would explain everything, if you take out the two mills Number 9 would probably have been along side the River Irk and across the road from what is now The Full Monty as you suggest. I have been waiting for a reply from a friend of mine that is a local historian but of course there has been Christmas and as he is also an undertaker he is extremely busy at this time of year, but I do know he has some very old photographs of Townley Street. Thank you for you input, I do find it very interesting trying to unravel these types of mystery and at the moment your offering is looking the most likely, because somewhere in the back of my mind I have a feeling that the rule of thumb is wherever the front door of a building is that is considered to be the street address and if that is the case in 1891 Number 9 could well have been considered to be the next front door on the street, and if as you say there were some cottages knocked down further up, from my second look further up on that side of Townley Street there is no property apart from St Michaels Church on the other side of Oldham Road that would have been built before 1900. Thank you for your reply I will post any answers that I get that prove it one way or the other, I may even find something in the library, I didn't have much time before Christmas to go and search. Ivy Middleton Manchester

Ivy, If you do manage to get to the library - take a look at the 1889 maps (the one for Townley Street is in 2 parts). This clearly shows the buildings marked out - although no numbers are shown. There could possibly have been five original buildings at the beginning of the street, though the second of these is very tiny and could be misleading. Doreen. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.556 / Virus Database: 348 - Release Date: 26/12/2003