The Grange Manor

[jenhs]

I'm throwing a Halloween Party for Gateacre Comp sixth form students in The Grange Manor at the end of next month. I've been trying to find out the history of this building and havin no luck. All i've found out is that it used to be called 'Gorsey Cop'. Anyone any ideas of what it used to be or who lived there?

[ken]

Hi jenhs,
I can tell you a bit about Gorsey Cop, although I'm not the best qualified as I left Liverpool in 1970.
I remember Gateacre Comp being built in 1960, and I was in the first intake - the first First Years! Gorsey Cop was a big old house at the top of Grange Lane, with Gorsey Cop Farm behind it.

The house itself first appears in the 1881 Census, and was apparently built between 1871 and 1881, as one of the Victorian mansions built in Grange Lane by wealthy merchants looking for a country retreat, and the first owner appears in the 1881 Census as Harold Cunningham, a Manchester Cotton Broker, with his family and 7 servants.

Before that, Gorsey Cop was a farm of about 160 acres, and was much older, appearing on a map of 1768. The name Gorsey Cop comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning head or top, of a hill or rise that must have been covered in gorse!

Hope this helps, good luck with the party,

Cheers,
Ken

[jenhs]

Thanks very much for that. Really helped.
Where can i get hold of that 1881 census? I was hoping to find out if there were any deaths around that time. Sounds a bit morbid but there are stories floating round about the Grange being haunted, and if i can put some facts to it it would be good for halloween.
Thanks again.

[ken]

Hi Jenhs,
You can find a transcription of the 1881 Census on www.familysearch.org, or if you join someone like Ancestry.co.uk you can have access to images of all the original census returns up to 1901, as well as all the Birth, Marriage, & Death indexes back to 1837.
But it would be a long job checking all the names at Gorsey Cop on each census return to see if anyone had died between one census and the next.

If it's any help, I already have images of all the Gorsey Cop census returns 1881-1901. I could try e-mailing them to you as .jpg images; let me know,

Cheers,
Ken

[jayjayandpeter]

The Gorsey Cop at one time use to be a casino downstairs and a nightclub upstairs. Back in the 70's when I was younger then me and my mates went there on a sunday night after 10.30pm for a late night drink, you could still get a drink up till 1am. they use to have acts on mostly someone with a guitar singing something rubbish. But it did'nt matter all we went there for was a late nigh drink. It use to be another name before the Grange Manor but I can't remember at the moment.