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Sharing our memories of Heald Green
Last Updated 20th July 2025
Lumb Head Farm
By Helen Morgan
First Published 15/06/2025
Last Updated 02/07/2025
Also known as Lumm, Lum, Lumb and even Lemon!!
Fig. 1 Tithe map
© Cheshire Tithe Maps
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The farm was made up of meadows, pasture and arable land with wonderful names like Cross Butts, Cote Field and Higher and Lower Aspen. The long thin section, plot 233 of 1 acre and 1 rood, was pastureland called Brookshutt. The word shutt is from an open field system of farming from medieval days. Indeed, the word “lum” is an old English word for a sacred grove on a hill and may have been the site of heathen rituals!
The landowner and occupier in 1839 was Joseph Taylor and he was on the 1841 census at Lumm, Stockport, Cheshire aged 35. Living there too was his mother, farmer Mary aged 55 and born 1786. It is therefore likely that Joseph inherited the farm from his father and had therefore been at the farm far longer that I can go back.
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Oddly, on the 1851 census there is no recorded entry for the farm. Waterfall farm is to the west and High Grove farm to the east of it. Joseph Taylor was living at High Grove Farm with farmer William Robinson and his daughter, 25 year old Mary. Joseph was recorded as a 50 year old (aged 15 years in 10!), unmarried occupier and landowner of 30 acres.
Note: the 1841 census is notoriously inaccurate for ages.
In 1853 Joseph married Mary Robinson. On the 1861 census for Lumm, High Grove, Stockport Etchells, Joseph was now 60 and his recorded birth year of 1801 tied up. He was a farmer of 30 acres and employed one man and had been born in Reddish. He was married to 39 year old farmer’s wife Mary (now 4 years older with her birth year as 1822 not 1826).
However, there was a 17 year old son, another Joseph, who would have been born in 1844. (Ten years later he is still 17, so I double checked the 1861 and it is a definite 17 but perhaps he was just 7. On later census his birth year is 1854).
There were then four more children, three daughters and a son. Mary Emma was 6, Eliza Ann was 4, John was 2 and newly born Sarah.
On the 1871 census for Lemon Farm!! 70 year old Joseph was now recorded as a landowner and farmer of 14 acres and employing one man. His birthplace had altered to Flixton. Mary his wife was 46, with her birth year altered to 1825. Joseph the son was still 17 and an agricultural labourer. The other children were still at the farm. Also living with them was Joseph’s 71 year old father-in-law, William Robinson and his 31 year old sister- in- law Elizabeth. William was a farm servant.
In 1878 husband Joseph died, leaving Mary recorded as a widowed farmer of acres, aged 55 in 1881 at High Grove, Stockport Etchells. Son Joseph now 27 was an indoor farmer servant along with his brother John now 22 who was also a farm servant. 25 year old Mary Emma and 20 year old Sarah were still at the farm.
On the 1891 census Lum farm (no longer Lumm), St Ann’s Road, Stockport Etchells still had the Taylor family there but not for much longer. Farmer Mary was assisted by three of her children, Joseph, John and Emma. There was a farm labourer there too. He was 40 year old Charles Rogerson from Ringway. In 1895 Mary died and the farm was put up for sale.
This now becomes the incredible story of the Barlow family. You will note that the farm is now Lumb.
Fig. 2 Lumb Farm sale 1895 details of land and buildings
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Fig. 3 Lumb Farm map from 1895
Showing where the railway line, extra land and golf course were to be
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Fig.4 1895 sale
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Lumb Farm was bought by Mr James Barlow for £1630. That is about £273,000 today. He was a farmer at Adswood Old Hall Farm, Cheadle.
James (see Fig. 5) was born in 1827 and married Ann, nee Gleave, in 1851. They had six children. Mary born 1852, Samuel 1859, Thomas 1861, James 1865, William 1967 and Fanny Emma born 1871.
Their eldest son Samuel, was the father of Fanny Elizabeth who married Matthew Royle in 1923. They farmed Outwood Farm, that they renamed Bolshaw Farm, from 1929.
Fig.5 James Barlow
© Royle family
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James and family remained living at Adswood and he had tenant farmers at Lumb Head Farm. They were the Brunts and the Kays. The address on the 1901 census is just St Anns Road, Stockport Etchells. Here lived farmer Reuben Brunt aged 40 with his wife 30 year old Margaret. They had two daughters and two sons. Elise was born in 1895, May 1898, Sydney 1899 and Arthur 1900. Also, there was Joseph Thomas Kay aged 55 and living on his own means with his 38 year old wife Kathleen.
In June 1902, James sold 8 acres and 19 and three quarter perches to the London North Western Railway, to enable them to run the soon to be built Styal railway line through his fields. They paid £1150. That is about £180,000 today.
Fig. 6 Original 1895 map showing which fields the railway line would cut through
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In April 1907, James died leaving the farm to three of his children, Thomas, William and Fanny Emma.
On the 1911 census the address was Lum Head Farm, St Ann Road, Stockport Etchells. The Brunts were still there. They had had another daughter in 1904 called Nellie. Elise was now 15 and was assisting on the farm, along with her mother Mary. Reuben aged 50 was still the farmer. The other children were at school. Now living in Lum Head Cottage, St Anns Road was Moses Jackson, a 28 year old grocer’s assistant with his wife Annie and their baby, 1 year old Ethel.
Gatley Golf Course was established as a 9 hole course in 1912 at Waterfall Farm, Gatley and was purchased by the club in 1950. This ran up to the boundary with Lum Head Farm. Later it would extend to the other side of the railway too.
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Gatley Golf Club marked in pencil to the west and then eventually south of the farm
Fig. 7 Lumb Farm to Golf course at Waterfall Farm and surrounding
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In February 1914, the family bought an extra 11 acres off the High Grove Estate, which made the farm 34 acres.
The land continued to be farmed by Reuben Brunt, who was paying an annual rent of £72 and 14 shillings for it.
Original 1895 map marked in pencil showing the extra acreage bought from the Bower Trustees
Fig. 8 Showing Feb 1914 extra land bought
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On the 1921 census the address is 48 St Ann’s Road, Cheadle, Stockport Etchells. Reuben now aged 60 is still the tenant farmer. Wife Margaret was doing home duties along with Elsie (no longer Elise) now 26 and youngest daughter Nellie now 18. Sidney (no longer Sydney) and Arthur were farmers employed by their father. May aged 24 was a commercial teacher employed by Bruckshaw’s school of commerce.
Reuben of Lumb Farm, St Annes Road, Cheadle, died on 4th October 1930 at 26 Poplar Grove, Stepping Hill, Stockport and probate was awarded to Margaret his widow and Arthur his son, who was a dairy farmer.
By the 1939 register, widow Margaret now 68, still lived at 48 St Annes Road, Heald Green, Cheadle and Gatley U.D., Cheshire. Her sons Sidney and Arthur ran the farm. Sidney was a farm hand cowman and Arthur a dairy farmer. They were still paying an annual rent of £72 and 14 shillings as their father had done.
“Sid and Arthur Brunt ran the farm. Sid was a tall chap. You could see him working away in the yard doing something. However, as you approached the farm he would disappear, never to come out to see you! Arthur took their milk to milk can corner.”
- Walter Slack, memories from High Grove Farm, in conversation 2023
James Barlow’s three heirs all had no children and within their wills passed the farm down to James’ grandchildren. Some wanted to keep the farm and some wanted to sell it, causing a rift within the family. It was eventually agreed that the sale of 34 acres of grass land would go to auction, along with the house, cottage and outbuildings.
Fig. 9 Lumb Head Farm sale 13.11.1953
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Through solicitors, unbeknown to the others, two grandchildren bought the farm back in 1954 for £1500. That is about £52,000 in today’s money.
They were the Royle sisters, Fanny Elizabeth (of Bolshaw Farm) and Sarah Ellen (of Moss Side Farm, Heyhead, Northen Etchells).
Fig. 10 Lumb Head Farm map 1953
The land they bought back.
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Then between January 1959 and April 1962, Fanny and Sarah engaged solicitors again to help them sell the farm. Tenants were given notice to vacate the premises. Discussions began with the adjoining landowner, the Fell Construction Company. The northerly part of the farm was scheduled for residential purposes but there were questions over drainage. An outlining planning application was submitted but refused by Cheadle and Gatley District Council. An appeal was put into the Ministry of Housing and Local Government against the decision of the planning authority. The appeal was heard at the council offices of Cheadle and Gatley Council on 25.5.1960. Subject to planning consent, Mr Fell put in an offer of £45,000. That is £1.2 million today and the offer was accepted. The Lakes estate would be built with some houses on stilt like footings, so perhaps drainage was never really solved?
The Ratepayer’s Association had done a survey in the early 1960s, asking for children’s ages as they moved into the area. There were an awful lot and to begin with they all went to Cheadle Etchells, that was bursting at the seams with over 600 attending. Outwood Primary and Prospect Vale Primary were opening to hopefully reduce the class sizes but the numbers were still very high. After all, our village was experiencing a population explosion.
Attention turned to the new Wimpey houses being built on St Anns Road North and what was now the Lawfield Building Estate (Lakes Estate). The next school to be built would be Lumhead Farm Primary. By June 1963 it was reported that building work was underway.
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By December 1963, it came to light that the Ratepayers had been reporting about building work progressing, when in fact it was only the building plans!! However, it was scheduled to be completed by September 1964. If not then Prospect Vale would have “hopeless conditions” as all the children would have to go there. The access road to the site had to be built first and this was expected to be ready by December 31st 1963.
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Oh no! By June 1964, building work had not even begun. “This shilly-shallying of the County Authorities is to be deplored.” Prospect Vale was now bursting at the seams.
The official reason given was the time it took the negotiations on the price of the land needed for the access road. The school was now under construction with an opening date scheduled for Easter 1965.
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St Ann’s Road North was an unfinished road. Councillors were urging for the road and its pavements to be made up ready for children to use them to get to the new school, whose name was now just Lum Head.
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On September 1st 1965, Lum Head Primary opened but many issues surrounded it. The roads around had not been developed in time. After complaints from residents of the Wimpey estate on St Anns North, parents of children at Prospect Vale were given the option to stay where they were and walk within 5 minutes, or transfer to the new school and walk on unmade pavements up to 45 minutes away! Children coming from the other side of the railway on Styal Road, were only given 24 hours to make up their minds. Many chose for their children to stay in overcrowded classrooms, rather than walk through Gatley Golf Club and a building site for the Lakes Estate. Prospect Vale had never been built large enough and was poorly planned according to the Ratepayers Association.
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Fig. 11 Manchester Evening News 5.10.1965
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Fig. 12 Manchester Evening News 6.10.1965
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Fig. 13 The red dot shows where the school was built, in the six acre field called Wood Head.
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“I also remember playing on the ruins of Lumb Head Farm. Probably in what had been a part of a cellar or still a low wall.
And as it was raining covered it with wood to keep dry.
The area then became second half of the Lakes estates and we all played there at the weekend. No Health and Safety fences to keep us out.”
- Bob Breckwoldt, Facebook 2025
“I remember teachers at Lum Head called: Mrs Brown - she had a guitar and we used to sing Puff the Magic Dragon. Mrs Peacock - she had glasses that went up at the sides. Mr Lee and of course Mr Trump. I can remember being allowed to use the paper guillotine in the staff room!”
- Pam Knowles, Facebook 2025
Fig. 14 Lum Head School November 2022
© Google maps
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Fig. 15 School Golden Rules
© Lum Head School
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Fig. 16 School Ethos
© Lum Head School
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With many thanks to the Royle family for their documents, photos and memories.
Bibliography
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Williams, K & Williams, J.T (1998). Long Lane Cheadle Remembered. pp.31
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Manchester Evening News article 30.9.1965
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Gatley Golf Club
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The Editor, October 1962, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 1 (1), pp. 6
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The Editor, June 1963, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 1 (3),pp.4
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The Editor, December 1963, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 1 (5), pp.5
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The Editor, June 1964, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 2 (2), pp.8
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The Editor, September 1964, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 2 (3), pp.3
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The Editor, December 1964, Your Child’s Education, Contact Magazine, 2(4), pp.4
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The Editor, September 1965, Lum Head School, Contact Magazine, 3 (3), pp.4
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