Samuel Brooks

He drained it and built villas for wealthy businessmen such as himself. The house he built for himself was named Whalley House and the area acquired the name Whalley Range probably after his boyhood home. Tollbars guarded this exclusive area and the site of one of them is still called “Brooks’s Bar” though simplified in local pronunciation to Brooks' Bar (with long "oo"). Here is the Whalley Hotel on the corner of Withington Road and Upper Chorlton Road.

In 1856 Samuel bought a vast area of land in North Cheshire (within Trafford since 1974) from the Earl of Stamford and made further purchases later. He enhanced its value by draining, scrub clearance and tree planting. The area was crossed by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway, opened in 1849.

A road crossed this railway between Sale and Timperley stations, and in 1855, 45 residents petitioned for a station there. The company took no action but in 1859, Brooks negotiated terms for a station. He offered an acre of land for £200, and guaranteed to pay the company £300 if annual receipts had not reached £100 after five years. The unofficial name "Brooks’s land" soon became Brooklands, and the station so named opened there on 1 December 1859. Annual receipts reached £100 after two years. Read Less