Alderlea & Glen May Villa, Raikes Parade, Blackpool

Two buildings with a link to cricket history. 
Both built by the Victorian cricketer, Richard Gorton Barlow.

Barlow is immortalised in one of the best-known pieces of cricket poetry, a poem called "At Lord's" by Francis Thompson which is attached to The Ashes urn: 

It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,
Though my own red roses there may blow;
It is little I repair to the matches of the Southron folk,
Though the red roses crest the caps, I know.
For the field is full of shades as I near a shadowy coast,
And a ghostly batsman plays to the bowling of a ghost,
And I look through my tears on a soundless-clapping host
As the run stealers flicker to and fro,
To and fro:
O my Hornby and my Barlow long ago !

LINKS - these open in a new window

Richard Gorton Barlow on Wikipedia

An article about Richard Gorton Barlow

Barlow, Richard Gorton by Don Ambrose

 
Alderlea (Gorton Villa) 1891-1895

In 1891, R.G.Barlow was living at Gorton House, Stretford Road, Manchester, with his wife, Harriet, and daughter, Alice. His father, Richard Barlow (1826-1903), was living at 30, Buchanan Street, Blackpool (1891 Census).

The Blackpool Herald, 26 June 1891. The "Spy" last week states, in an article on Mr. R. G. Barlow, the veteran Lancashire cricket professional, that gentleman's house near Raikes Hall, when completed, will probably be exceedingly unique, and will be known far and near for its artistic cricket design.

R.G. BARLOW'S HOME

My journalistic curiosity was this week whetted by a paragraph appearing in one of Mr. Newnes' popular periodicals anent Mr. R. G Barlow's new residence at Blackpool, and I accordingly resolved to pay the famous cricketer a visit. I called upon him one morning, and was most courteously received. He has styled his house "Gorton villa,'' after his own name.

It stands at the corner of Raikes-parade, to the right of Raikes Hall Gardens, and he says it is quite good enough for a professional cricketer. Go in whatever part of the house you will, there is something to remind you of the great summer game. All around there is nothing but cricket curiosities. With pardonable pride and evident affection, Mr. Barlow showed many of them to me, and told me a little of their history.

Mementoes in one shape or another of his innumerable achievements may everywhere be seen. Here is the ball with which he wrought destruction amongst his opponents, when a youth playing with the Staveley Club. Beside it is a similar reminiscence of an equally brilliant performance when playing with his county in recent years. And near to them are a couple of bats bearing inscriptions, the records of great deeds done with the willow.

Cups and other interesting mementoes presented to him by admirers in the Antipodes occupy positions of honour upon the sideboard, &c. From the bottom of the house to the top there is nothing but cricket in some form or other. The very entrance gates have bats and wickets. Over the door the same characteristic appears.

The vestibule door has stained-glass portraits of Mr. Hornby and Barlow, bats in hand, and Pilling in a watchful attitude behind the wicket, whilst on either side of the door are the names of well-known county players, including that of Mr. Rowley, the captain of the county team when Barlow first joined it more than twenty-one ago.

Photographs of all the principal teams which have played in this country during to past twenty years are given prominent positions in the hall and on the walls of the dining room, and needless to say, Barlow's likeness is in the teams representative of England, because without him they would have been incomplete. The tiled hearth of the dining-room forms a picture of a cricket match at Lord Sheffield's beautiful ground near Brighton, and on each side of the fire-place are tiled portraits of Mr. Hornby, Barlow and Pilling.

Bats and stumps appear in the oak frame of the mirror, and the window opening on to the landing of the stairs, contains the names of the principal Lancashire cricketers since Barlow began playing with the county, over 21 years ago. The walls of a room upstairs are covered with photographs of cricket celebrities, including many old veterans. Clearly, Barlow's love of the game has been more than ordinary, else he would never have been so enthusiastic in the collection and preservation of so many curiosities. Blackpool Herald, December 2nd, 1892.

Alderlea, about to be redeveloped, March, 2010. From 1896, it was the home and surgery of Dr Robert H W Dunderdale (1868-1940). Alexander Orr Bruce (1898-1966) joined the practice as an assistant in the 1920s, eventually succeeding to it. He retired in 1963 and gave up his practice in 1965. About 2001, the house was partially converted into flats, a garage inserted and a side extension added 2004; the building then fell into disrepair.

These colour photos were taken in 2010, when Alderlea had just been purchased by a builder. He went to great lengths to sympathetically renovate and restore the building. The exterior in 2009 & 2018 can be viewed and compared on Google Maps:

Alderlea on Google Maps in 2009.

Alderlea on Google Maps in 2018.

 Barlow's Second House in Blackpool.

 Glen May Villa 1895-1913

Raikes Parade in 2010. Alderlea, 8-10, Raikes Parade (right) with Glen May Villa (no.12) and Eaglehurst (no.14) to the left. Probably on account of his reduced income, Barlow had Glen May Villa built in the grounds of Alderlea in 1895. He moved into this much smaller house and sold Alderlea to a local doctor, Robert H W Dunderdale.

An advert for Richard Gorton Barlow as a 'Football Outfitter', Manchester and Blackpool, October, 1896. Since 1880 he had been in business as a sports outfitter with a shop at Victoria Station Approach, Manchester.

 Glen May Villa

Blackpool Gazette & Herald, April 29th, 1898. 

Quiet and unassuming, Mr. Barlow is a most interesting companion, and whenever conversation drifts to his favourite subject he loves to dwell with pardonable pride upon the many important matches in which he took part during the many years he was prominently before the public. The other day I spent a very pleasant hour in his company talking of cricket and cricketers, and I eventually managed, though not without some difficulty, to elicit from him particulars of some of his best performances.

His house, Glen May, in Raikes Parade, where I had the pleasure of a chat with him, is full of interesting mementoes of the cricket field. As an ardent sportsman loves to be surrounded by trophies of the chase, so Mr. Barlow's cosy rooms abound with portraits of old comrades and friendly rivals for whom he entertains the highest regard, of pictures of cricket grounds whereon some of his chief triumphs were won, of treasured gifts from admirers in England and the Colonies, and of the bats and balls with which he achieved his greatest successes.

Blackpool Gazette & Herald, April 29th, 1898... continued.... Here, for instance, is a bat bearing distinct traces of much hard usage. It is one with which he played In England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, which he regularly used during one of his tours round the world, and with which he scored more than 4,000 runs! Truly, a record bat, and one which neither love nor money would ever induce him to part with. There is another tried and trusty friend with which he once compiled a record score of 101 upon a sticky and treacherous wicket at Nottingham.

Adjoining it is the one presented to him on the occasion of his making 113 in an important match against the Australians. Here, too, are a couple of bats presented to him in commemoration of early triumphs won while still a youth when he played for Stavely, in Derbyshire, where his cricketing talents first brought him into prominence. In another part of the house we see a neat cricketing design, formed of bats and balls presented to the veteran stonewaller for some exceptionally clever performances.

Wherever we turn, we find something to awaken fresh interest in the game. The fire-place in the front room is unique. "Cricket on the Hearth" is represented by a view of Lord Sheffield's pretty ground near Brighton, artistically painted on the tiles; while portraits of Hornby and Barlow, and of Pilling, the famous wicket-keeper, may be seen on tiles on either side of the grate.

Excellent pictures of the same trio are likewise reproduced in colours in the stained glass panel of the vestibule door, and portraits of other well-known county cricketers of the past also appear on the panels of the octagon-shaped lamp suspended from the ceiling in the hall. Blackpool Gazette & Herald, April 29th, 1898. 

 
R.G.Barlow had published a book 'Batting and Bowling, with hints on Fielding and Wicket-Keeping' in 1882. Whilst at Glen May he wrote his autobiography:  'Forty Seasons of First-Class Cricket. Being the autobiography and reminiscences of Richard Gorton Barlow.', published in 1908.

England team with Dick Barlow as umpire, Trent Bridge 1899. Back row L-R: Dick Barlow (umpire), Tom Hayward, George Hirst, Billy Gunn, J T Hearne (12th man), Bill Storer (wkt kpr), Bill Brockwell, V A Titchmarsh (umpire). Middle row: C B Fry, K S Ranjitsinhji, W G Grace (captain), Stanley Jackson. Front row: Wilfred Rhodes, Johnny Tyldesley.

 Blackpool Secondary School in the early 1900s. Later renamed Blackpool Grammar, it was erected on the site of the old Raikes Hall Gardens entrance gates c1905. This building is now the Salvation Army Citadel. See below.

 Some views from Glen May Villa, Raikes Parade, Blackpool, 2010. When Glen May was erected it overlooked Raikes Hall Park. Barlow would have witnessed the construction of these streets and buildings as it became a residential area.

Rose Lea 1913-1919

 R.G.Barlow lived with his wife until her death in 1918, but he also had a relationship with an accountant at the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool and they had a son, Reginald Gorton Barlow Thompson (1911-1982).

Rose Lea, Woodland Grove, Blackpool, March, 2010. Barlow had another house erected in Woodland Grove, near the Stanley Park cricket ground; he lived there from  about 1913, until his death in 1919.