The Downs (15)
Hugh Wallis and his son Brian, metalworkers from 1911 to 1964, had a house, workshop and studio where the 1960s houses numbered 80, 80a, 80b The Downs on the left are situated. Hugh was a leading figure in the Northern Art Workers Guild, was a founder member of the Red Rose Guild and his work is highly prized. His display cabinet always contained examples of his work and they were never stolen. The remains of the wrought iron brackets which supported the cabinet are still in the cottage wall on the left of the 1960s houses.
Many of the houses on the west side of The Downs Conservation Area are listed and were built before 1850 using hand-made bricks. Many have semi-circular fanlights and columns to the porch in the Regency style. Alcock’s Farm was near the top of New Street. Its land was the site of enclosed strips from an open town field which extended from The Downs to New Street and down to Regent Road. It was developed for housing from the 1820s. Wellington Place on the left was named after the Duke of Wellington after Waterloo or more probably after he was Prime Minister in 1828 and some of the houses date from then. Note the curved ends to New Street and Wellington Place representing, possibly, the ends of medieval strip fields where the plough turned. The houses down Osbourne Place use Large White Bowdon Brick on edge for the façade.
Number 39 on the right before the shops was built in the 1840s in Italianate style. The Congregational Church
first met in Altrincham in 1839 in the 1830 Aitkenite Chapel at the bottom left, numbers 12/14. The Presbyterians
and the Baptists also used it. The building still shows the original construction and inside has been found evidence
of its use as a church.