Tucked in between the River Mersey and the A560 were some 200 homes.
Inter-war social housing comprising Gorsey Bank Road, Seacombe Grove, Egremont Grove, and Wirral Crescent, names evoking some not too distant shore, or leafy idyll.
During a night raid, October 1940, they fell victim to a line of bomb damage from Portwood, Cheadle Heath and Cheadle as a bomber tracked a train on the railway line.
The photographs were taken by an Air Raid Warden the morning after the bombing.
The house on the left is No 12, the home of Tom and Louisa Nyland and their children Tom aged 4 and Maureen aged 2. Mrs Nyland received a head wound but no one was killed. The house was rebuilt and the family moved back into the house after the war.
Patrick Nyland Date : 03/05/2014
Here is Jack Oldham’s fascinating account of his wartime experience on the estate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/41/a2280241.shtml
Post war the estate prevails, there are no available accounts of events there, one assumes that little of moment occurred, save people going about the business of living their lives.
Refurbishment was undertaken during the 1970’s
There then follows a tale of decline, crime and associated social problems, which concludes with the estate’s demolition in the late 1990’s.
Sheila Bailey, who became a local councillor for the area in 1990, said:
“There were many law-abiding citizens living on the Gorsey Bank estate but, as usual, it was a minority ruining it for the rest.
“A lot of money was spent on the estate in the 1970’s in an attempt to change the culture but the area just deteriorated.”
“Clearing the estate was a long process and a difficult period, but it did reduce anti-social behaviour in the area.”
She added: “No one is particularly sorry to see the back of the Gorsey Bank estate.”
My thanks to the Stockport Image Archive
I lived in forest bank ghetto they called it but apart from rats fleas no heating it was home seacombe grove I remember me dad having a photo taken of his garden his pride and joy
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This is a long shot I worked on gorsy Bank Estate in 1975 does anybody remember me
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News report from nearly 73 years ago. Saturday, February 26th, 1949.
BOYS MISSING FOR 20 DAYS. SEARCH TO GO ON.
For 20 days the Cheshire Police have been searching for two Stockport boys, FRANK HIBBERT, aged 9, of Gorsey Bank, Cheadle Heath, and his friend 10 – year – old GERALD HUMPHRIES, of Wirral Crescent, Cheadle Heath, who disappeared from their homes on February 6th. Search parties have spent hours on the moors, combed railway sidings, dragged the River Mersey and searched air raid shelters, warehouses and disused buildings, in vain. Potholers, familiar with the miles of caves and tunnels which honeycomb the surrounding county have also helped. ”We refuse to give up the search” a police officer said. ”We will not relax until they are found.”
It seems both boys lived on the Gorsey Bank estate. I did a search on Genes Reunited. Both boy’s deaths were recorded in the first quarter of 1949. So they must have been found dead. How absolutely terrible. I wonder what happened. Does anyone know?
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