Manchester City Council

Please note that the closure of Manchester Archives and Local Studies will start to happen from 25 February as a result of Central Library's temporary closure for renovation and refurbishment in Spring 2010.

Information about Archives and Local Studies services while Central Library is closed.

More information about Central Library's temporary closure.

The first Chorlton Union workhouse was located on Stretford New Road, near Leaf Street, and accommodated 300 inmates. However, this became inadequate to cope with the demands of the rapidly increasing population of the area and the Guardians decided that a completely new workhouse was needed.

The Chorlton Union Workhouse, Nell Lane, Withington was opened in 1855. The workhouse site also included the Chorlton Union Cemetery which served the Chorlton Union area as well the workhouse and hospital until it reached its capacity in 1920. The cemetery was formally closed in 1970 and the remains were re-interred at Southern Cemetery where some remains had already been re-interred in order to accommodate the building of Princess Road over the old cemetery site. During the First World War the hospital became a military hospital and it is sometimes known as Nell Lane Military Hospital.

We hold a good set of records of Withington Hospital and Workhouse (ref: M327). The following are particularly useful for family historians:

• Birth registers 1857-1920 (on microfilm, MF 3000, 3002)
• Death registers (includes place of burial) 1857-1949 (on microfilm, MF 3000-3002)
• Creed registers (give admission and discharge details), 1869-1898 (MF 3003-08); 1898-1914 (ref: Archives M327/2/2/21-36)
• Admission and discharge registers 1870-1884 (ref: Archives M327/2/1/1-7)
• Interment registers 1898-1951 (ref: Archives M327/2/5/1-20)
• Cemetery reference book 1857-1891 (ref: Archives M327/2/6/1)
• Chaplaincy registers, of baptism 1849-1924 (ref: Archives M327/2/7/1-2)

Lancashire Record Office holds Roman Catholic baptism and confirmation registers, 1857-1973, and chaplains' report books, 1921-1955, for Withington Workhouse and Hospital (ref: RCWI acc 9126).

For a history of the hospital see Gerard Edwards, The Road to Barlow Moor. The Story of Withington Hospital, Manchester (Gerard Edwards, 1975) which is held in the Local Studies Library (q 362.11 EDI).