This Museum in the Street information board is located on Canute Place in Knutsford town centre.
Knutsford is a town in Cheshire located 14 miles (23 km) south-west of Manchester and 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Macclesfield.
"The town of Knutsford is renowned for its restaurants, bars and shops.
It was also the inspiration and setting for Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford. Elizabeth Gaskell lived in Knutsford for many years and is buried in the churchyard of Brook Street Unitarian Chapel.
Knutsford Heritage Centre is housed in a reconstructed 17th century timber framed building on King’s Street, which is often referred to as The Old Smithy. Housed in the upper part of The Old Smithy, with timber beams and quaint leaded windows, the local history display is the best place to start your visit. A perfect introduction to the town, here you can discover the story of Knutsford and view artefacts from the past. The best way to discover the Real Cranford is through one of the Heritage Centre’s guided walks, throughout the summer season.
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The Museum in the street information boards were a Millennium Project that was developed by the Knutsford & District Lions Club with the aid of local historian Joan Leach and Knutsford Photographic Society member Peter Spooner, and form a town trail.
There are eight panels with images and text that are located at key points around the town centre.
The first panel is situated in Canute Square and contains information about the immediate location on one side and all the images and details of the project the other side.
The other seven panels contain historical information and photographs about the area that is visible from their location. A ninth board was developed in 2010 and is located in the Moor Park.
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The board gives the following historic information along with photographs from the past of the places described.
MUSEUM IN THE STREET 1"Canute Place was used as a cattle market in the 19C.
Due to complaints about the mess, the market was moved to a site behind the Royal George and later to Chelford. Market days were authorised in Knutsford's Town Charters in 1292 and 1294.
Built in 1758, the Red Cow was first called the Post Chaise. The pub served early morning breakfast to the farm workers so the name Red Cow seems appropriate, but it had earlier been called The Brown Cow when Robert Pigg was the landlord! The tobacconist and newsagent's shop gave the name 'Mary Moston's corner' to the site now occupied by the bank. The handsome lamp standard was one of five bought for the town by the Freeholders in 1844 but it took 40 years to decide who was to pay for the gas! One of the lamp-posts can still be seen near the entrance to Tatton Park.
The stone setts seem to make a neater surface than today's tarmac! The stone base of the lamp-post provided a convenient spot from which to watch the world go by in the early 1900s. The three-storey building with a hoist on the roof, was used commercially. Later Y.M.C.A. meetings and dances were held there.
Canute Place, known as Heathside until about 1900, was surrounded by thatched cottages until a fire in 1916. The Lord Eldon, on the left, was called The Pack Horse in the 17C.It was renamed The Duke of Wellington, until he lost popularity over the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act, which Lord Eldon opposed. Two doors away was an alehouse called The Feathers, which closed in 1907. The dark square in the road was a weighing platform.
New development took place when properties were sold after the death of
Lord Egerton in 1957
Probably in 17C, The White Bear is seen in this picture under a single thatched roof, without gables and not showing any timbers. Coaches called here for Birmingham, London and Liverpool. Later a horse-drawn omnibus service ran to Northwich and Altrincham.
This picture was taken before King Edward Road and the roundabout were built in 1936. Previously all traffic passed through Canute Place and Princess Street. Could the man with the small cart outside the White Bear have been a postman, knife grinder, seller of ice-cream or....?
There was horse-racing on The Heath for two hundred years or more. Knutsford Grand Stand Company built this stand, with refreshment rooms, in 1864 to replace an earlier one. it was hoped that the railway station, opened in 1862, would encourage racegoers. After the last races in 1873, the stand was used on May Day and for other events for a few years before being dismantled.
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Please reverse panel for more information)
Reverse sideA 'You are Here' map is situated at the centre of the board. It shows the streets and location of all eight Museum in the Street information boards marked with a white number in a read circle.
There are 26 photographs surrounding the map with the numbers that correspond to the appropriate information board.
Knutsford & District Lions Club undertook this project in collaboration with local historian, Mrs Joan Leach and the Knutsford Photographic Society, for the benefit of the local community and visitors to the town. Funds have been provided by Awards for All, Knutsford Town Council, Macclesfield Borough Council and Knutsford Lions Club."
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