MOSS SIDE
The principal part of this township (fn. 1) lies to the
north of Withington; there are two small detached
portions to the east, viz. on the north-west and northeast corners of Rusholme. (fn. 2) The total area is 421
acres. The whole is now urban, and forms an indistinguishable part of Manchester. Whalley Range
lies on the south-west border. (fn. 3) The population in
1901 was 26,677.
A local board was formed in 1856, (fn. 4) and became an
urban district council in 1894, but the district was
taken into the city of Manchester in 1904. The
township contains a free library. (fn. 5)
Pepper Hill Farm, the scene of the opening chapters of Mrs. Gaskell's Mary Barton, stood in the main
portion of the township until 1900, when it was
taken down. The site forms part of the Westwood
Street Recreation Ground.
Several relics of the Stone Age have been found in
and near Moss Side.
MANOR
There was no manor of MOSS SIDE,
and the development of the township is
obscure. Judging from the later ownership the main portion and the nearest of the detached
parts were once included in the estates of the Prestwiches of Hulme, for they were, in the latter part of
the 18th century, held by the Lloyds. The eastern
detached portion, lying near the Stockport Road, may
have been the estate formerly known as Holt in Rusholme. (fn. 6) Edmund Prestwich, who died in 1577, held
messuages and lands in 'Withenshaw' of Nicholas
Longford in socage, by a rent of 3s. 4d.; this is probably the Moss Side estate of the family. (fn. 7)
The Traffords and others also held lands in Moss
Side, (fn. 8) but there seems no way of distinguishing their
estate here from other lands held by them of the lords
of Withington; some, or all, of their land in the
Yeeldhouses was no doubt in Moss Side, as traces of
the name remained till recently. (fn. 9)
George Lloyd, representing in his estate the Prestwiches, paid over half the land tax in 1797; the
other estates in the township were but small. (fn. 10)
A large number of places of worship have been
built in the township during the last half-century. In
connexion with the Established Church are Christ
Church, 1850, (fn. 11) rebuilt 1899–1904, with a mission
room; St. James's, 1888; also, at Whalley Range,
St. Margaret's, 1849, (fn. 12) and St. Edmund's, 1882. (fn. 13)
The Bishop of Manchester collates the rector of
St. James's; the other benefices are in the hands of
the Simeon and other trustees.
The following also have churches: The Primitive
Methodists, Wesleyans (at Whalley Range), Congregationalists, Baptists, (fn. 14) Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, (fn. 15)
Church of United Friends, Salvation Army, and
Swedenborgians (New Jerusalem).
The Presbyterian Church of England at Whalley
Range dates from 1849; the present church was
built in 1886.
There is no Roman Catholic church, but the
nursing sisters of St. Joseph have a house at Whalley
Range.