Let us know Your story
Affairs of the day
Old news stories, paper clippings, hidden gems... they all help to build a picture of yesteryear.
Stories
We know many people have lived here for some time now and we would love to hear their tales of what it was like and how it has changed over the years.
Plans & Deeds
Piecing together the formation of the Park as we all see it today.
Photos
The number of photos in the gallery is estimated to only be a snippet of the number in existence. If you have any or know of anyone who may have some please do get in touch, we would love to make a copy for the archives.
History
Davenport Park is built on land originally owned by the Davenports of Bramall Hall. The Davenports sold most of their estates to the Freeholders Company, a speculative building company in Manchester, but the area that we now know as Davenport Park was sold by John Davenport to John Simpson of Stockport for £5,500 in 1877. A copy of the plan that accompanied the conveyance can be seen here. John Davenport had shrewdly arranged for the L&NW Railway Company to build Davenport Station as a quid pro quo for the railway crossing his land and this probably helped him to get a good price for the Park.
The park was developed over forty years from the 1890s to the second world war with houses reflecting the styles of the Victorian, Edwardian and inter-war periods. The original homes included some substantial villas with extensive grounds and three of these sites were redeveloped in the 1960s, 70s and 80s into flats and town houses.
It was a condition of the sale in 1877 that the residents would pave the three roads in the Park and maintain them in good condition. However, by 1906 the roads had still not been surfaced and the builders’ cart traffic had reduced them to a sea of mud. The situation became so intolerable that the Stockport Corporation threatened to adopt the roads, make them up and apportion the cost. The owners, not wanting the roads to become public, held a meeting and the Davenport Park Roads Committee was formed in August 1906. Each householder undertook to pay his share of the cost of the roads, together with an annual levy for upkeep, and by 1907 the roads had been surfaced.
The Committee, now renamed the Davenport Park Committee, has continued to collect the levy and maintain the roads to the present day.
Further information on the history and architecture of the Park can be found in the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) leaflet on the Davenport Park Conservation Area published in 2008. There is also a more comprehensive Character Appraisal of Davenport Park, published in 2006. A report on the first ten years of the Davenport Park Roads Committee can be downloaded here.
