Samuel Brooks
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Samuel Brooks (1792–1864) was born at Great Harwood, near Whalley in Lancashire, England, the second son of William Brooks. In 1815 he became a partner in his father’s Blackburn-based business, Cunliffe Brooks & Co. This business supplied cotton [1] and/or textile equipment [2] and also ran a bank as a sideline. Around 1819 his father set up Samuel and his two brothers as junior partners in three separate firms of calico printers in Manchester. Samuel opened a small branch of his father’s bank in a corner of his warehouse. Gradually, banking became his principal activity, and in 1826 the bank moved to its own premises. It soon became established as one of Manchester’s leading banks. In 1830, Brooks chaired the first meeting of the promoters of the Manchester and Leeds Railway Railway, and became its first deputy chairman.
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[edit] Whalley Range
In 1836 he bought Jackson’s Moss, a swampy area south-east of the city centre. He drained it and built villas for wealthy businessmen such as himself. The area was named Whalley Range after his boyhood home. A tollbar guarded this exclusive area and this place is still called “Brooks’s Bar”.
[edit] Brooklands
In 1856 Samuel bought a vast area of land in North Cheshire (within Trafford since 1974) from the Earl of Stamford and made further purchases later. He enhanced its value by draining, scrub clearance and tree planting. The area was crossed by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway, opened in 1849.
[edit] Railway station
A road crossed this railway between Sale and Timperley stations, and in 1855, 45 residents petitioned for a station there. The company took no action but in 1859, Brooks negotiated terms for a station. He offered an acre of land for £200, and guaranteed to pay the company £300 if annual receipts had not reached £100 after five years. The unofficial name "Brooks’s land" soon became Brooklands, and the station so named opened there on 1 December 1859. Annual receipts reached £100 after two years.
[edit] Private road
As at Whalley Range, so at Brooklands he built a private road in 1862 with land available for superior residences. This road was four miles long and led to the station. It was wide and tree lined, with a sound stone foundation. From Brooklands Station it led straight in a south-easterly direction for 2 ½ miles. It crossed the Stockport-Altrincham turnpike (now the A560) and two minor roads: Dobbinetts Lane and Whitecarr lane. It then used Roaring Gate Lane to Davenport Green before providing a further new road to the Altrincham-Wilmslow road (now the A538) in the village of Hale. Brooks’s road can easily be followed today (2007).
Beyond the immediate vicinity of Brooklands, most of this road was not used for development. It may have been made for Samuel’s own convenience in travelling around his estate. Since World War II, development has been restricted by planning laws and some of the road still passes through greenbelt agricultural land. Other parts are likely to be developed in the near future.
[edit] Sources
- Brackenbury, Allan: The Road from Brooklands Station, Journal of the Railway and Canal History Society, Vol 31, Pt 4, No. 156, pp 170-174 (Nov 1993)
- Sayers, R S: Lloyds Bank in the History of English Banking, OUP 1957, page 331.
