Skelton Junction Timperley

[Broseley man]

Please can anyone tell me why Skelton Junction in Timperley, near Altrincham, is called Skelton Junction? I think the Skelton Junction near York is near a place called Skelton but, coming from Timperley, I can't think why 'our' junction has this name.

Thanks for any ideas.

PS When we were little we thought it was Skeleton, or Skellington, Junction. I thought I'd get in first!

 

[jfollows]

History

The land and farmhouse passed down through the Peers family. In September 1848 Thomas Peers of Liverpool sold the property to John Skelton of Pickering Lodge, a large house on Moss Lane, Timperley, now the site of Pickering Park. John Skelton sold some of his other land to the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Railway Company in the 1860s to build a link line between Stockport and Warrington, and his name is preserved in Skelton Junction. John Skelton owned the site of Moss Park Gardens until his death in 1886, and he continued to rent out the farmhouse during this time.

Google led me to this in about 1 minute by the way!

[There's a Wikipedia entry for Skelton Junction at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skelton_Junction but this didn't help.]

 

[pdeaves]

There's a Skelton Road almost next to it. Maybe that has some bearing?

Edit: or what jfollows said!

 

[Broseley man]

There's a Skelton Road almost next to it. Maybe that has some bearing?

Edit: or what jfollows said!

Thanks for your prompt replies. I lived in Timperley for the first 18 years of my life and I don't think I knew there is a Skelton Road, still less a Skelton Garage on the corner. I think I used to know the story about John Skeleton at Pickering Lodge but I have forgotten far more things than I remember!

Thanks for your prompt replies. I lived in Timperley for the first 18 years of my life and I don't think I knew there is a Skelton Road, still less a Skelton Garage on the corner. I think I used to know the story about John Skeleton at Pickering Lodge but I have forgotten far more things than I remember!

Skelton not Skeleton. Ooops. NOT deliberate.

 

[geoffk]

Nearby Deansgate Junction is even more confusing. Yes I know there's a Deansgate Lane nearby (and Skelton Road comes off it!)

 

[Watershed]

Nearby Deansgate Junction is even more confusing. Yes I know there's a Deansgate Lane nearby (and Skelton Road comes off it!)

I've always thought that just got its name from the station where trains continuing straight ahead would end up (i.e. Deansgate)?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I've always thought that just got its name from the station where trains continuing straight ahead would end up (i.e. Deansgate)?

Was not that station originally called Knott Mill?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Was not that station originally called Knott Mill?

Opened in 1849 as "Knot Mill and Deansgate".

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Opened in 1849 as "Knot Mill and Deansgate".

If you look at the carved wording in the stonework plaque on the first floor elevation over the entrance, it does state "Knott Mill Station".

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If you look at the carved wording in the stonework plaque on the first floor elevation over the entrance, it does state "Knott Mill Station".

It does indeed, but, with respect, you asked what the station was originally called.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It does indeed, but, with respect, you asked what the station was originally called.

I agree, but from the time of opening, it was referred to in the Manchester newspapers as Knott Mill and the railway itself soon followed suit. I wonder when the carved name in the stonework was installed over the entrance to the station.

The original use of the word "Knot" rather than "Knott" was also a feature in the name of a Lancashire coast railway, which originally was titled the "Knot-end and Garstang Railway", even though one of its stations served the settlement of Knott End on Sea.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

As regards Deansgate Junction in the Timperley area, believe it was actually named after the nearby Deansgate Lane, the course of which was first bisected by the Bridgewater Canal in the 1760s, and then by the various local railway lines in subsequent years.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

As regards Deansgate Junction in the Timperley area, believe it was actually named after the nearby Deansgate Lane, the course of which was first bisected by the Bridgewater Canal in the 1760s, and then by the various local railway lines in subsequent years.

Indeed, a number of lines made connectional movements at Skelton Junction. I think one of these was on the MSJ&A line after Timperley station on a curve to that junction area.

 

[S&CLER]

There is a good map of the Skelton Jn area in Bob Pixton's book The Cheshire Lines Railway between Glazebrook and Godley, page 37, and a track plan on p.33. My late friend Peter Cope was the son of the last stationmaster at West Timperley and Baguley (closed 1964) and grew up in the station master's house at West Timperley. He told me he recalled the Broadheath accident of 18 January 1964, and was also often admitted to Skelton Jn box asa boy, a point no doubt being stretched for the gaffer's lad.

Indeed, a number of lines made connectional movements at Skelton Junction. I think one of these was on the MSJ&A line after Timperley station on a curve to that junction area.

According to Pixton that curve was disconnected in 1903 at Timperley station and remained as a siding from Skelton for a while. He says that it was used for a year in 1879 for a service from London Road to Central via Woodley, Tiviot Dale and Timperley which not surprisingly did not attract custom.

 

[ian1944]

I was born in Timperley Lodge in Claremont Avenue, just north of the West Timperley branch. On trips on the MSJ & A electrics in my early years, I remember being frightened by the noise when passing over the points and under the bridges at Skelton. There's an RCH map entitled Altrincham, Broadheath and Timperley which shows the layout and the different companies in 1914.

 

[high camera]

There is a brilliant thread about this area on this railway modellers forum, many of the photos have been removed but its still a good read.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56808-the-clc-through-stockport/

 

[Broseley man]

I was born in Timperley Lodge in Claremont Avenue, just north of the West Timperley branch. On trips on the MSJ & A electrics in my early years, I remember being frightened by the noise when passing over the points and under the bridges at Skelton. There's an RCH map entitled Altrincham, Broadheath and Timperley which shows the layout and the different companies in 1914.

Hi Ian1944

I'm the person who started this thread and my parents in law lived in the second house on the left up Claremont Avenue from the gates of Timperley Lodge. They rented some land by the railway from the then owners of Timperley Lodge to grow vegetables. It's a small world after all. I can remember engines slipping on the haul up the bank from Skelton Junction towards Glazebrook just behind your house, particularly when they started from stationary in the loop at Moss Lane bridge. This would have been terrifying in the middle of the night for a small child. I could hear it in Timperley Village!

 

[Nottingham59]

It's a small world after all.

It is indeed. From 1984-94, I lived in Arley Close, which is the small 70's development between Claremont Avenue and the railway.

EDIT: Coming to think about it, probably built on the land that @Broseley man 's parents in law grew their vegetables.

 

[Oxfordblues]

I was a TOPS clerk at Warrington Arpley in the 1970s. We had a twice-daily trip 9T75 from Walton Old Junction Yard to Warrington Central. The distance was a little over a mile direct but it took well over an hour and needed a brakevan at both ends because of the need to reverse at Skelton Junction, thanks to the LNWR and CLC not linking-up in Warrington.