The Styal Cottage Homes were opened in 1898 in a similar spirit to that of nearby Quarry Bank Mill - i.e. getting ordinary people out of the city into a better environment. The homes housed destitute children, and a school and church were built nearby to serve them.
This part of the web site contains a history of the homes on this page; plus a photo gallery and individual reminiscences.
A very interesting new book has been published (in 2004), entitled "Living in Styal and Beyond", describing the author's ten years as a child at the Homes.
Unfortunately the book, which is self-published, has no ISBN and indeed does not even name the author. The only certain way to see a copy at present is to borrow it from Wilmslow Library. If you are the author please get in touch.
Styal Cottage Homes were built by the Chorlton Board of Guardians, one of many charitable organisations that ran what were called workhouses. Initially there were 14 cottages and various other buildings, housing around 300 children. The cottages were actually quite large houses!
There was a continuing need to send more children to Styal and so a further three cottages were added in 1903, taking the population up to 450; and additional cottages were built over the next few years. I believe the final total was 22 cottages, a hospital, schools, stores, administrative building, laundry, swimming pool, chapel and a recreation hall. There was also a farm adjoining the Homes. In 1930 the population was 600 children when it was taken over by the Manchester Education Committee.
The Homes have no association with Quarry Bank Mill - in fact the Mill's owner, Samuel Gregg, appears to have objected to the Homes' presence and tried to block their building and continued existence whenever possible.
The regime at the homes was regarded by the children as very strict, with corporal punishment a regular feature.
Malcolm Head was a resident from 1938 to 1948 - living first in Myrtle Cottage and then in Eglantine Cottage. He recalls that the House Master was "a stern master and meted out severe punishment for any (even trivial) wrong-doing". But he also thought that "facilities at Styal Cottage Homes were just as good as any public school. The whole system was run on that basis. Swimming pool, orchestra/band, hospital with a matron, sports field, house mistresses and masters, etc. The only difference being that we were all from poor or neglected families".
Another ex-resident, Jimmy Brown, went on to write about his experiences - see the book list at the end of this article. He really did not like his time at the homes. There was a lack of privacy and he hid his most treasured possessions in a cavity in a wall.
He can't have been alone in this as during recent building work - the homes are now part of a prison - workers found a wooden train with the name "Derek Postles" pencilled on the base. Despite various enquiries it has not been possible to trace him. If any former resident of the Styal Cottage Homes is reading this and remembers Derek Postles could they please contact the prison (or this website) as they would like to reunite the train with its owner.
Fiona Hall's lived there & her mum & dad were houseparents at the homes and she's contributed several memories and pictures which you can read by clicking here. Michelle Luck's great aunt and great uncle and grandad were also at Styal Homes and has contributed memories and pictures which you can read by clicking here.
The community closed in July 1956, as a result of the more progressive policy of placing children in family homes - large council houses run by and as individual families. But within months the cottages were in use again to house 800 Hungarian refugees. The Hungarian phase lasted for (I think) around two years.
Having said the above, I have come across references to children living in the homes in the 1960s so further detail is needed.
The buildings now form a part of Styal Women's Prison, opened in 1963. The pictures on this website were taken in 2003 with the kind permission of the prison authorities. I have attempted to find old photographs of the Homes but without success so far. Click here to see the photo gallery.
It is likely that Bollin Cross School, situated adjacent to the prison, used some of the Homes' buildings including the school building. The school is now closed, since about 1995 I think.
You can find more about Styal Cottage Homes in the books:
These books appear sometimes on eBay or book websites. Click on each of these links to search the sites for books by Stanhope-Brown:
I get many enquiries from people who want to know if someone - usually a relative - was at the Cottage Homes. Any information on this will be held by some division of Manchester City Council. As many of the former residents are still alive I think it's unlikely that such information will be publicly available. You could try signing up with Friends Reunited or similar to get in touch with others who were at the Cottage Homes.
The Manchester Central Library Archives and Local Studies Deptartment's Archives section holds some log books for the Homes 1910-1956 (restricted access) but these rarely mention names of children.