This crumbling
sign for the Sir Ralph Pendlebury Orphanage can be seen on the busy Lancashire Hill in Stockport. The deserted steps
and gothic gateway are easy to miss in the tumble of traffic on the way to the
town centre.
Sir Ralph
Pendlebury (1790–1861) was
mayor of Stockport, and he created a charity with an endowment of £100,000. The
orphanage named after him was opened in 1881. The charity gave relief, such as
clothing, education or finding employment, to orphans of parents who had lived
in the Stockport district for not less than two years. The building, on Dodge
Hill, was designed by Scottish architect J. W. Beaumont, and it had room for
about 250 boys and girls. It was later used by the Red Cross Society and became
a hospital for wounded soldiers from 1914-1919. It still exists today: it is
grade II listed and, fittingly, is now a care home.
This old entrance is no longer used, so it sits there doing duty
as a memorial to the past. Crumbling, covered in overgrowing greenery, dark and
dank, it’s pretty creepy. So it’s no surprise that rumours of ghosts abound: Pendlebury
Hall claims a one-armed soldier, a white lady and singing children among its
hauntings.
