Thank you, Mike. This is terrific information as it would seem these streets don't exist anymore. My cousin tells me that large sections of the city were razed and whole new areas of multi-storey housing commission flats built. This was in the 70's or 80's. Do you have a program with the map of Manchester? I put that into google but didn't really get anything comprehensive. What I would like is a hard copy of the map to get the overall perspective. I did Google 'Tootal Silk Ties' and found this (below) which explains the T.B.L. shares left to my grandfather by his mother which did cause a bit of a ruckus! If there was any wealth associated with these shares we don't know what happened to it! Again, thanks for your help. Kathryn. The Tootal Building Joseph Gibbons Sankey designed this building for Tootal, Broadhurst, Lee & Company in 1898. It stands four storeys high, dominating the west side of Oxford Street with its red brick and banded fawn-coloured terra cotta. The ground floor and basement are rusticated. At either end of the frontage are lantern topped gable turrets. This was the home of Tootal Ties for many years. It has seven central bays separated by Corinthian columns. On its southern side it backs onto the Rochdale Canal flight of locks, hidden from the throng of passers-by above by a high parapetted bridge.

Hi Kathryn, I remembered that bridge on the opposite side from the Palace theatre. Around the corner on Gloucester street was a hospital, I think it was for expectant mothers and a few doors from the hospital was the famous Ritz ballroom. In the 1950's coffee houses were becoming very popular with the young crowd along with their juke boxes. There was such a coffee house to the south of the bridge,. I had many a coffee with my friends in that place. Another memory of that bridge was walking from Hulme after a night out, I had met my friends straight from work in Ancoats. I had changed into clean clothes. Two plain clothed detectives, hustled me from the bus stop on the bridge and asked me to show them what I had in my bag. Well I mean............ the indignity of it all, me showing them my dirty coveralls in front of a packed bus queue. In several of my past letters I have mentioned names of places. I do this to show how common it was for people to walk on a regular occasion what might appear to be a great distance. I had walked many times from Hulme into Piccadilly and beyond to Victoria railway station as a young kid. Also walked home a number of times from Piccadilly to Middleton when I was in the forces and the all night bus had just left Piccadilly Gardens. The next one was an hour later and I knew I would be in Middleton in just over an hour thus saving the price of a double bus fare. Of course I have also walked this route dragging my foot along the curb for guidance in the pea soup fogs we use to experience. The buses could not run in this type weather. Yes I did get many a bruise from an unexpected lamp post. The maps I have were donated to me by many kind list members so I could help people locate an address. I have chewed (well worn) paper maps and maps on disks. I don't have one map that covers all of Manchester or Salford, I have many maps to peruse. My maps don't have street directories, I use a magnifying glass and my memory. In some cases such as your Lothair street I had to check the location first through a search of the 1881 census in Manchester. I found it did not come under the Manchester census, it came under Chorlton on Medlock census. All my best Mike Mike Morris Toronto Canada ex Manchester ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathryn Nauta" <nautakat@iprimus.com.au> To: <eng-manchester@rootsweb.com>; "Mike Morris" <morrisind@rogers.com> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 11:46 PM > > Do you have a program with the map of Manchester? > I put that into google but didn't really get anything comprehensive. What > I would like is a hard copy of the map to get the overall perspective. > > The Tootal Building > Joseph Gibbons Sankey designed this building for Tootal, Broadhurst, Lee & > Company in 1898. It stands four storeys high, dominating the west side of > Oxford Street with its red brick and banded fawn-coloured terra cotta. The > ground floor and basement are rusticated. At either end of the frontage > are lantern topped gable turrets. This was the home of Tootal Ties for > many years. It has seven central bays separated by Corinthian columns. On > its southern side it backs onto the Rochdale Canal flight of locks, hidden > from the throng of passers-by above by a high parapetted bridge. <snipped> >