Trafford's Places

Carrington and Partington

Carrington and Partington occupy an area to the west of the Borough, separated from the primary conurbation by the Mersey Valley, Manchester Ship Canal and Carrington Moss.

 

Historically, the area remained largely undeveloped until the early 20th century. Prior to that the reclamation of Carrington Moss began in 1886, when Manchester Corporation bought the moss in an attempt to improve sanitation within the city. Drainage was installed and fields were laid out in rectangular plots. Nightsoil brought out of the city was then added to render the peat fertile and cultivable, helping to solve Manchester’s increased issue with refuse disposal and stimulate Carrington’s agricultural economy. The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 transformed Partington into a coal-exporting port for the Lancashire Coalfields.

 

In the twentieth century industry in the area grew, including petrochemical manufacture and distribution, power generation, and gas works.

 

The area is still essentially rural in character, with a small concentrated settlement and centre at Partington, with the urban form focussed around a retail centre in the village. Carrington, although once heavily developed by industry, is of a more open and dispersed character, where the historic village centre has all but been lost. The area is also home to a number of nature reserves, equestrian centres and is also the location for training grounds for a number of nearby sports teams, most notably Manchester United.

 

Carrington Moss, a large area of peat bog, makes up the remainder of the area and provides significant open space. The landscape pattern across the Moss is predominantly the product of reclamation from the mid-19th century onwards. This grid-like pattern is a significant historic landscape feature.

 

The area is undergoing significant change as land formerly used by industry is developed into new homes and places of business. There is a significant opportunity to introduce more innovative models for living and working as well as exemplar placemaking and regeneration initiatives. The Carrington Rides, together with other important landscape features such as hedgerows and tree belts, should be retained as the area is developed.

Evolution

Local Character Areas

  • Partington is an historic village, which has been largely lost through the development of mass built 20th century housing estates.
  • Carrington also has a historic village centre, which is still evident but poorly preserved. It is dominated by the industrial landscape of the chemical works. Plans are under way to redevelop the area into an extensive residential neighbourhood and new business park through Places for Everyone.
  • Carrington Moss represents the surviving green space in the area. It was historically cultivated to grow various crops for the markets of nearby Manchester.  The area was also used to dispose of the city’s sewage.
  • Carrington Power Station occupies the area north of Manchester Road and between the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal. A new gas powered power station has been built, with greener forms of energy storage and generation planned .
  • Redundant railway corridors are evident in the landscape.  These provide an opportunity for active travel or public transport connections between Carrington, Partington and the rest of the Trafford conurbation.  The Carrington ‘Rides’ are an important local leisure resource and are remnants of the tram system that was used during the late 19th and early 20th century for large scale waste disposal, as part of large scale reclamation of the mossland.
  • The Manchester Ship Canal is a significant heritage asset that now provides a leisure and nature corridor along the western edge of the area.
  • The River Mersey merges with the Manchester Ship Canal to the northern edge of the area and provides an additional recreation and natural corridor through its floodplains and river banks.

Place Specific Design Cues

Context dependent design cues should be taken from the best examples of properties that were built at the time these localities began to develop, albeit there are very few traditional buildings remaining in either Carrington or Partington, with most of the rural buildings having been lost as the area was developed for industrial purposes, and in the case of Partington, major estate housing in the mid-twentieth century.

 

In Carrington, a few cottages can be found around School Lane, most notably 1 and 3 School Lane, close to the site of the former Carrington Hall. The Grade II listed Westwood Lodge and the Windmill Inn sit just across the road. Further west, the Church of St George, Grade II* listed, and the Old School House St George’s sit close to Manchester Road. These properties show traditional red brick construction with overhanging slate roofs and brick detailing to string courses and window and door surrounds.

 

Other clusters of residential development, largely social housing dating from the mid twentieth century can be found around Addison Road and Ackers Lane, with more limited recent estate housing close to Westwood Lodge. These later developments offer little in terms of architectural quality from which to take design cues.

 

Partington is now dominated by estate housing built from the mid-twentieth century onwards which again offers very little in terms of appropriate design cues. A number of isolated farmhouses and other buildings remain such as those at Elm House, Broad Oak Farm and Birch Farm, and a scattering of Victorian properties including a number of terraces along Warburton Lane and Manchester Road. Many of these properties display typical local characteristics, such as brick detailing around windows, doors and eaves, together with string courses.

 

Given the scale and spread of new development planned for the New Carrington PfE allocation, and the area’s proximity to Warburton and Dunham, it is also considered appropriate to refer to the best building typologies and architectural styles found in these areas when building in Carrington and Partington.

Please refer to the above common house types and the context section of this Code for guidance on how to understand context. This includes a number of the design cues set out below:

 

Notable buildings and landmarks – consider how these might inform new design.

Built Form, Height, Roofscape – generally two storey with dual pitched roofs.

Local building materials – almost exclusively red brick in stretcher, English Garden Wall or Flemish bond with sandstone detailing, and blue slate or red clay tiled roofs.

Façade composition –generally flat fronted terraces and larger semi-detached properties with bay windows at ground and first floor, with vertically proportioned sash windows.

Architectural detailing – particularly prevalent around doorways, windows, bays and eaves.

Boundary treatment – generally low brick walls to road frontages with hedge planting behind.

Streetscape patterns and street structure – consider the urban grain – generally small-medium sized houses in small gardens.

Common Housing Types in Trafford

Whilst their is a predominant red brick Victorian residential vernacular in Trafford, it is clear that their is great variation in the vernacular of the borough.. The forms described in the following pages should be fully considered by designers when addressing their own site.

Victorian Terraces

Victorian terraces are the predominant typology throughout the borough, particularly within Stretford and Old Trafford. They are largely formed in a linear block, creating rigid back-to-back rows of housing.

• Generally Accrington or Cheshire red brick in stretcher or Flemish bond
• Slate roofs
• Sandstone sills
• Sandstone or brick arched lintels
• Vertically proportioned sash windows
• Panelled doors
• Clipped roof details
• Dentil detailing
• Brick chimneys
• Narrow or no front curtilage
• Buildings set in grid iron streets
• Brick boundaries

Edwardian Terraces

The Edwardian terrace provides a variation on the Victorian form, adding a more ornate form and distinct repetition of bay windows and coupling of entrance thresholds. They are particularly prevalent in Sale, Stretford, parts of Old Trafford and Altrincham.

• Generally Accrington red brick in stretcher or Flemish bond.
• Often contrasting brick panelling and banding (buff,  cream and blue commonly)
• Slate roofs
• Sandstone sills
• Sandstone or brick arched lintels
• Sandstone detailing
• Vertically proportioned sash windows
• Bay windows
• Panelled and part glazed doors
• Clipped or simple roof details
• Dentil details
• Buildings set in straight rows
• Elevated ground floor levels above a cellar
• Medium sized front gardens
• Brick boundaries with stone gateposts

Edwardian Semi-Detached

Similarly to the terraced variation, the Edwardian semi-detached provides a more ornate form to the traditional semi-detached property. A coupled bay frontage with tudor detailing is predominant, with well defined entrances.

• Generally Accrington red brick in stretcher or Flemish bond.
• Carved brick details
• Rendered panels at upper levels
• Slate or terracotta roofs
• Gabled fronts with mock-tudor details
• Sandstone sills
• Sandstone or brick arched lintels
• Vertically proportioned windows with decorative fenestration
• Bay windows
• Arched doorways
• Panelled and part glazed doors
• Clipped or simple roof details
• Buildings set in straight rows
• Large sized front gardens
• Brick or stone boundaries with stone gateposts

1930’/40’s Semi-Detached

Trafford’s growth can be largely attributed to the suburban growth of Manchester. The vast growth of Sale, Old Trafford, Urmston and the surrounding areas of Altrincham were driven by the development of 1930’s semi-detached properties. This creates a consistent and recognisable form for Trafford.

• Generally Accrington red brick in stretcher bond.
• Terracotta tile or rendered panel details
• Slate or terracotta roofs
• Gabled fronts with mock-tudor details
• Timber sills
• Soldier course brick lintels
• Horizontally proportioned windows with decorative fenestration
• Arched doorways
• Panelled and part glazed doors
• Clipped or simple roof details
• Buildings set along variety of street patterns
• Large sized front gardens with driveways to the side
• Brick or stone boundaries with brick gateposts

Rural Domestic Style

Trafford’s rural edge marks a clear transition from the suburban edge of Trafford into the Cheshire’s rich agricultural areas.Small clusters of residential properties, generally clustered around village greens or road junctions, form hamlets and villages. Their form is intimate and unassuming, creating welcoming and familiar forms within the open countryside.

• Generally Cheshire red brick in Flemish bond
• Slate or terracotta roofs
• Sandstone or brick sills
• Horizontal eyebrow windows often in informal arrangements
• Cottage style doors
• Clipped roof details
• Brick chimneys
• Small or no front curtilage
• Buildings set in clusters and informal groupings.
• Generally set tight against the highway
• Brick, hedge or timber picket boundaries

Villa Houses

As wealth grew in Trafford and the surrounding Cheshire countryside, villas were developed to provide large spaces set within a larger plot. These properties, largely located around Sale and Altrincham, offered larger gardens and a clear boundary (i.e. hedge) form set off the street.

• Generally Accrington red brick stretcher or Flemish bond
• Carved brick and sandstone details (banding, keystones etc)
• Slate or terracotta roofs
• Complex roof forms often with gabled fronts
• Sandstone sills
• Sandstone or brick arched lintels
• Vertically proportioned sash windows
• Bay windows and porch structures
• Panelled and part glazed doors
• Decorative and ornate roof details
• Detached or semi-detached
• Buildings set in short rows or gently meandering streets
• Elevated ground floors above cellars
• Large sized front gardens
• Stone boundaries with hedges

Permeable paving options