Timperley - Stonemason's Arms

The Stonemason’s Arms, which stands today in a dominant position at the cross roads in the centre of Timperley, is not the first building of that name to be constructed on the site. The original building was demolished and rebuilt in 1926. However, a number of similarities in style and design can be seen between the image of the inn as it was before, and the inn as it stands in 2025. (below) The obvious similarity is that both buildings have a parapet at roof level which is used to display the name of the brewery that supplied the inn .

The building was named after the trade of the workers at the sandstone quarries that existed in Timperley village at the time of its original construction. The Quarry Bank Inn in the village also took its name from the same source. The major difference is that a shop, which was situated on the corner of Wash Lane (now renamed Park Road) and Stockport Road, was attached to the earlier Stonemason’s Arms.  Above the main entrance of the earlier building, and to the left of the window above the door, is a carved relief of the Naked Child, the significance of which is explained later in this article.

The Plans for Rebuilding the Stonemason’s Arms, 1926

The first drawings of the proposed elevations were submitted to the Bucklow Rural District Council by the architects dated 19^th December 1925, though correspondence indicates that some preliminary work was underway by that date. These plans were approved four days later, subject to conditions concerning drainage and rearrangement of conveniences.[i]

In 1926 Hardy’s Crown Brewery applied to rebuild the public house completely. When the plans were submitted to the licensing magistrates on 11 January 1926, objections were raised on the grounds that '...the new elevations are too elaborate and would have to be more in keeping with the old building'.[ii] The plans were subsequently altered to make the frontage of the new building look more like the former building.[iii] 

George Henry Pye P.A.S.I. (1867 – 1954) and Thomas Percy Bennett F.M.S.A (1872 – 1950)[iv] of 2 Booth Street, Manchester were the architects who drew up the plans. Newspaper advertisements indicate that they operated a letting agency at 22 Booth Street from 1905 and moved to number 2 in 1906. Their portfolio included work on several public houses, including the extension to the Victoria Hotel, Urmston in 1931. The construction engineers on the Timperley project were C.L. Dale Ltd. of Hulme, Manchester. Work started in February 1926.[v]

At the time of rebuilding the Manchester Guardian published a photograph of the Stonemason’s Arms under the title, ‘An Old Inn in Cheshire’, indicating that the building was threatened with demolition to build a new licensed house on the site.[vi] The article indicated that the recently founded Ancient Monuments Society[vii] had been asked to intervene on the grounds that it was regarded as an excellent example of Georgian brickwork, a somewhat exaggerated claim as it was built around 1840, some three years into Victoria’s reign.

The proposal to which the council objected was for a symmetrical, two-storey building with an ornate entrance in the classical style, with a tiled finish to the external walls on the ground floor. The shop next to the inn, situated to the right of this elevation, was designed to replace the shop that was attached to the original building on the left-hand side. This change was probably to allow for the widening of Park Road.

These drawings were approved in March 1926 and work was still underway in May 1927. The new submission creates the familiar view of the inn that exists today.

The History of the Stonemason’s Arms

At the time the Tithe Map of Timperley was drawn up in 1838 the site of the Stonemason’s Arms was the corner of a field owned by William Stelfox and occupied by Mary Gilbert at Four Lane Ends in Timperley.[viii] The map shows no evidence of building on the site of the Stonemason’s Arms.  Construction must have started in or around 1840 because, when the 1841 census was compiled, the building was presumably completed as John Arnold and his family were named as living at that address.

The Stonemason’s Arms was the first purpose-built public house in the village and, unlike other public houses in the area, it has had relatively few publicans over the course of its lengthy history. Some were there for many years.

John Arnold was the first of these and probably owned the building. He was formerly the publican at the Church Inn and was listed as a retailer of beer there in Pigot’s Directory 1834. The Church Inn was a cottage converted into an ale house situated across the road from the Stonemason’s Arms, on the corner of Stockport Road (marked as ‘Turnpike Road’ on the Tithe Map) and Thorley Lane.

As well as being a publican, John Arnold was also a stonemason, perhaps with links to the quarry marked on the Tithe Map in the bottom left-hand corner. He was recorded as a mason in Didsbury in 1813 when his son, John, was baptised and his occupation was given as mason on the 1841 census for Timperley (as were his sons), and in the Pigot’s Directory mentioned above.

A carved relief of naked child and the tools of the stonemason’s trade was affixed to the front of the Stonemason’s Arms, the local name for which was the ‘Naked Child’. The pub was referred to by this name in a newspaper report in 1875[ix] and the name was still being used in reports in 1904.[x]

This was located above to door of the original Stonemasons Arms, perhaps to illustrate the skill of the mason in representing the human figure wrapped in strategically placed drapery, with an urn above the head of the figure. The boy is surrounded by the mason’s tools. (From ‘Looking Back at Timperley’, courtesy of the author, Hazel Pryor and publisher, Keith Warrender of Willow Publishing)

The earliest mention of the Inn located to date in newspapers was in October 1842 when the ‘Mason’s Arms’ at Four Lane Ends, Timperley was advertised as the venue for an auction of some cottages in Bagueley (sic).[xi] In December of the same year, it was used as the base for an inquest into the death of Noel Massey, a workman employed by John Arnold at the quarry in the village, who was killed in a fall whilst in the course of removing some rock. The verdict was death by misadventure.[xii]

John Arnold was amongst a group of publicans in the Altrincham area who were reprimanded for keeping a disorderly house in September 1845. These were warned that their licences would not be renewed next licensing day if the houses were not better conducted.[xiii]

In December that year he was convicted and fined £5 and costs following a complaint from the constable that he was ‘allowing James Smith, a master bricklayer, to remain in his house for near a fortnight drinking’. The Petty Sessions court was reminded that John had been convicted in 1844 for keeping a disorderly house and had been reprimanded at its last meeting.[xiv]

John’s son, Willam, took over the inn on his father’s death in the 1840s.[xv]  William Arnold, aged 34, was present as publican when the 1851 census was held and recorded as publican, Stone Mason’s Arms, Stockport Road in 1859 in Charles Balshaw, Stranger’s Guide to Altrincham. [xvi]

William died at Timperley on 5 Apr 1863. An administration of his estate was proved at Chester in the same year. William was described as a publican, coal dealer and farmer in a codicil to his will which was drawn up on 2 April 1863.[xvii] 

It seems to have taken a little while to sort out William’s affairs and it was not until March 1864 that an auction was carried out to sell the freehold Inn ‘known by the sign of the Stonemason’s Arms’, and all its outbuildings and land.

This was followed in May 1864 by a sale of all the furniture and effects of William Arnold at the Stonemason’s Arms. It appears from the horses and carriages that he was quite a wealthy man, but his estate when his will was proved was under £600.

The Stonemason’s Arms was regularly used as a venue to hold inquests into local deaths when required. Mrs Arnold was in charge of the inn at the time of an inquest held there in April 1864 into the death of nine-year-old John Malier who was one of a number of boys playing with a wagon used for construction work on the railway line that ran from Timperley to Stockport. [xviii]

This was by no means the only railway accident for which an inquest was held at the inn. In 1879, 15-month-old Edward Kelsall was thought to have strayed onto the line through an open gate at Timperley and was struck by a passing train.[xix] In 1885 Mrs Mary Renshaw, wife of farm labourer William Renshaw, of Northenden Road, Baguley, was killed by a goods train whilst crossing the line.[xx]

James Platt took over as licensee later in 1864[xxi]  He made a few appearances in court during his period as landlord. He was mentioned as landlord at the Police Court held in Lymm in February 1868 in the case of two men accused of stealing some sacks who were drinking at the Stonemason’s Arms on 27 December 1867.[xxii] 

In the same year James Platt was summoned for attacking Mr Richard Garner, Butcher. Garner’s son owed his father £10 lent to him for a shop that belonged to James Platt who was partnering him in his business. Richard Garner had come to the shop to ask his son to pay back the money. Platt ordered him out of the shop, but he refused to leave. Platt attacked him and locked him in the shop. Platt was fined ten shillings and costs for use of unnecessary force.[xxiii]

In May 1875 Platt was charged with unlawfully selling drink to a drunken man, but there was insufficient evidence to prove that Platt had sold the man the drink and the case was dismissed.[xxiv]  The following year he was ordered to pay costs of 4s 6d for obstructing a police officer in the course of dealing with a drunk at the Inn.[xxv]

It was probably during James Platt’s ownership of the Stonemason’s that a bowling green was constructed at the rear of the inn and a bowling team established. There is no mention of any green or items associated with bowling in the inventory of items for sale when the previous licensee William Arnold died.[xxvi] 

The earliest report located was a return match in 1877 between the Stonemason’s and the Legh Arms of Knutsford at the Timperley venue. The Timperley team prevailed and, ‘After the game all the contending parties sat down to a splendid knife and fork tea, supplied in Mr Platt’s usual excellent style, after which a very pleasant evening was spent.’ One of the two leading scorers for the Stonemason’s was a certain J. Platt who scored 18 runs. [xxvii]

In addition to bowling, during Platt’s tenure, the stables at the rear of the inn were being used by Charles Fletcher as a base for hiring out horses and carriages.[xxviii]

James Platt died on 5 May 1882 at the Stonemason’s Arms, aged 55.[xxix] His will was proved at Chester, leaving effects of £369 16s 6d. Margaret (Maggie) Platt, James’s daughter, took over the running of the inn,[xxx] and was still there in that capacity in 1886.[xxxi]  

The report of the end of season bowling handicap held at the Stonemason’s Arms in October 1882 indicates that standards were being kept up by Miss Platt, stating that, ‘This well-known green being in the best possible condition, the day exceedingly fine, the members of the club from Manchester, Stockport and Altrincham, mustering in full force in high spirits and of course the best of form, spent a most enjoyable day.’ At the end of the day the players came in ‘to find the reputation of the good old hostelry so well maintained by the repast which was placed upon the table by the manageress, Miss Platt.’ [xxxii]

Following the death of Mr Platt, the Stonemason’s Arms was again up for sale in October 1886. This included the inn itself, the bowling green, the greenhouse, stabling and outbuildings and the house and shop adjoining the inn. A second lot consisted of a house and two cottages on the East side of the inn. The sale also included the goodwill of the first-rate and well-established business. The outcome of the sale was considered good with some spirited bidding resulting in what was regarded as an enormous sum of £390. [xxxiii]

A further sale by Platt’s executors of his household goods followed in November. These included his furniture, a cottage pianoforte, a semi -billiard table, bowling green equipment and other effects listed in the advertisement below.

It is likely that Edwin Hudson became licensee of the inn following this sale as he was named as temporary licensee at Sale Petty Sessions in 1887.[xxxiv] A notice of sale in 1888 by Crown Brewery of Renshaw Street, Hulme of its brewing premises and thirty-five public houses that it owned included the Stonemason’s Arms, Timperley, with Conservative Club, one house and two shops.[xxxv]

Edwin Hudson was named as publican on the 1891 Census. He died at the Stonemason’s Arms on 20 April 1893, aged 37.[xxxvi]  Jane Hudson, his wife, was granted permission to sell under her husband’s licence at Altrincham Petty Sessions in May [xxxvii] until November 1894.[xxxviii]

Jane was succeeded by William Holmes who was granted an extension to celebrate the birthday of Burns in Jan 1895.[xxxix] He was still registered to vote there in 1901, but Robert Rogers was living at the inn as publican at the time of the 1901 census. He was registered as a voter there in 1904 but, by August 1905, when his wife died, he was recorded in the death notification as, ‘late of the Stonemason’s Arms’.[xl]

As well as being a venue for the holding of inquests, the Inn was regularly used for community events over its history. Sometimes it was used for election hustings in general elections. In March 1886 both the Conservative candidate, Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, and the Liberal, Mr I.S. Leadam, held election meetings there.[xli] The Stonemason’s Arms was the venue for a meeting of the Tariff Reform League on 8 May 1913.[xlii] Auctions were held there. In 1890 a dwelling house and butcher’s shop in the village were put up for sale in the inn.[xliii]

Around the turn of the nineteenth century local running clubs staged trail runs from the Stonemason’s. In December 1893 Altrincham and Bowdon Harriers staged a trail run that took the runners via Bloomsbury Lane, Deansgate lane, into the fields by the tannery, working round into Barrington Road, past Altrincham Station, on to Hale Moss and around by Timperley Church home, a distance of eight miles.

The race was won by A. Cooper of Sale Harriers, ‘who seems to be running strongly across the clods’. [xliv] These races were hare and hound trails, whereby a couple of runners ran out ahead to lay a trail for the pack of runners to try to follow.[xlv] Salford Harriers used the venue for similar runs in the early nineteen hundreds.[xlvi]

The popularity of bowls at the pub has been noted above and the Stonemason’s Arms competed regularly in local leagues with a good degree of success.

John James Atherton, who had previously kept a public house in Old Trafford, was granted temporary authority to sell alcohol at the Stonemason’s Arms in March 1905.[xlvii] He remained there until he died in July 1920.[xlviii] He was a freemason[xlix] and founded the Timperley Lodge of Freemasons in 1911.[l] 

Atherton was succeeded by Arthur Edward Peacock and his wife Doris who were resident there by the time of the 1921 census and were still running the inn in 1960.[li]

Being a publican was never an easy life. In 1938 Arthur Edward Peacock was awoken in the night by his dog barking and woke next morning to find there had been a break-in at the Stonemason’s Arms. The man who broke in was convicted on the evidence of fingerprinting.

William James Travers, a labourer from Liverpool, left a thumbprint on the sill of the sash window by which he effected entry to the inn. This was an identical match to prints taken whilst Travers was in prison. Travers denied ever having been in Timperley and claimed he had been at a variety show in Dewsbury on the night in question. It emerged that he had been almost continually jn prison since leaving the army in 1936. The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to three years of penal servitude.[lii]

One of the claims to fame of the Stonemason’s Arms in more recent years is that it was the first meeting place of Eddie Large (Eddie Hugh McGinnis) and Syd Little (singer and guitarist Cyril Mead) They formed a double act, Little and Large, in 1962.[liii]  This act had a long career in popular entertainment in pantomime at theatres and on television, with their own show running from 1978 to 1991.[liv]

There are hundreds of mentions of the Stonemason’s Inn in the newspapers after the First World War, almost all of which are references to the phenomenal success of Bowling teams. The famed bowling green came under threat of becoming a car park in 1992.

More than a thousand people signed a petition to retain the one hundred-and ten-year-old green which the brewery, Tetley Walker proposed turning into a car par and beer garden. The planning committee opposed the plans on traffic grounds – not because of the potential loss of the green.[lv] In 2025 it is a beer garden which is very popular with local drinkers in the summer months.

In recent years the pub has undergone a few changes. It reopened on 2 Dec 2017 following the completion of a £270,000 refurbishment by Greene King after sales of beer fell by a third in one year. It was run by Steve Pilling and Angus Cameron Pride and offered an upmarket food offer provided by an executive chef. Locals felt it had become too much like a restaurant, and it soon closed again. [lvi]

It was relaunched again in October 2018 when it was reopened by Simon Delaney and wife Rachael. People commented on Facebook that it looked like a pub again![lvii] Business was affected by the COVID 19 pandemic, and this venture did not go as well as intended. The inn faced a further relaunch in 2020, to be run directly by Greene King of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk who are still owners in 2025.[lviii] The building will be 100 years old in 2026.

Author: Richard Nelson, Volunteer, Trafford Local Studies

Further research

You can find more building plans and archival records using the Trafford Local Studies catalogue

Sources

[i] Trafford Local Studies, PLA/2/Buc/1925/2/369.

[ii] Trafford Local Studies, PLA/2/Buc/1925/2/369.

[iii] Hazel Pryor, Looking Back at Timperley, Timperley, Willow Publishing, 1982.

[iv] Buried in Brooklands Cemetery. Manchester Guardian, 14 Dec 1950, p.8.

[v] (https://www.manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/index.php/buildings/stonemasons-arms-stockport-road-timperley [Accessed 24 Feb 2025]; Local Studies Archive Catalogue for photograph TL/0046.

[vi] Manchester Guardian, 26 Jan 1926, p.10.

[vii] The Ancient Monuments Society was founded in 1924 in Manchester.

[viii] Tithe Award Map, drawn up 1838, Cheshire Archives, Tithe Maps on-line, https://maps.cheshireeast.gov.uk/tithemaps/ [Accessed 3 Mar 2025].

[ix] Runcorn Examiner, 17 Jul 1875, p.3.

[x] Manchester Courier, 08 Jul 1905, p.9.

[xi] Stockport Advertiser, 7 Oct 1842, p.2.

[xii] Manchester Courier, 31 Dec 1842, p.3.

[xiii] Manchester Times 13 Sep 1845, p.3.

[xiv] Manchester Courier, 13 Dec 1845, p.6.

[xv] Ronald Broadhurst, A History of the Township of Timperley, Cheshire, 1070 – 1988, Timperley, Self-published, 1996.

[xvi] Charles Balshaw, Stranger’s Guide to Altrincham [1859], Didsbury, E.J. Morten republished 1973.

[xvii] Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, Cheshire Wills and Probates, Find My Past.

[xviii] Northwich Guardian, 30 Apr 1864, p.5.

[xix] Warrington Examiner, 14 Jun 1879, p.5.

[xx] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 25 Sep 1885, p.7.

[xxi] Morris & Co, Directory of Cheshire, 1864. http://cheshiredirectories.manuscripteye.com/pdf/1864/03b/index.htm [Accessed 27 Feb 2025].

[xxii] Northwich Guardian, 22 Feb 1868, p.4.

[xxiii] Northwich Guardian, 27 Jun 1868, p.4.

[xxiv] Runcorn Guardian, 15 May 1875, p.3.

[xxv] Widnes Examiner, 2 Dec 1876, p.3.

[xxvi] Northwich Guardian, 7 May 1864, p.8.

[xxvii] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 28 Jul 1877, p.3.

[xxviii] Hazel Pryor, Looking Back at Timperley, Timperley, Willow Publishing, 1982

[xxix] Runcorn Guardian, 10 May 1882, p.8.

[xxx] Slater’s Directory of Cheshire 1882, https://www.altrinchamheritage.com/?page_id=8877 [Accessed 27 Feb 2025].

[xxxi] Hadfield’s Directory of Altrincham, Bowdon and Sale, 1886, https://www.altrinchamheritage.com/?page_id=8877 [Accessed 27 Feb 2025].

[xxxii] Stockport Adv, 20 Oct 1882, p.5.

[xxxiii] Stockport Advertiser, 22 Oct 1886, p.5.

[xxxiv] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 15 Jul 1887, p.4.

[xxxv] Manchester Courier, 20 Oct 1888, p.2.

[xxxvi] In Memoriam, Manchester Courier, 20 Apr 1894, p.8.

[xxxvii] Northwich Guardian, 17 May 1893, p.6.

[xxxviii] Altrincham, Bowdon & Hale Guardian, 28 Nov 1894, p.4

[xxxix] Northwich Guardian, 23 Jan 1895, p.4.

[xl] Manchester Evening News, 23 Aug 1905, p.4.

[xli] Northwich Guardian, 24 Mar 1886, p.1.

[xlii] Manchester Courier, 8 May 1913, p.8.

[xliii] Manchester Courier, 15 Apr 1890, p.1.

[xliv] Northwich Guardian, 20 Dec 1893, p.5.

[xlv] Manchester Courier, 29 Jan 1894, p.2.

[xlvi] Athletic News, 6 Jan 1902, p.7; Manchester Courier, 26 Jan 1903, p.2.

[xlvii] Manchester Evening News, 27 Mar 1905, p.3.

[xlviii] Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser, 23 Jul 1920, p.4.

[xlix] Alderley & Wilmslow Adv, 23 Jul 1920, p.4.

[l] Hazel Pryor, Looking Back at Timperley, Timperley, Willow Publishing, 1982.

[li] Altrincham Express, 4 Feb 1960.

[lii] Crewe Chronicle 8 Oct 1938, p.10.

[liii] Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Large [Accessed 24 Feb 2025].

[liv] Interview with Syd Little, The Stage, 18 Jan 2007, p.7.

[lv] Manchester Evening News, 6 Nov 1992, p.8.

[lvi] https://altrincham.todaynews.co.uk/news/2017/11/30/first-look-stonemasons-arms-stockport-road-timperley/ [Accessed 24 Feb 2025].

[lvii] https://altrincham.todaynews.co.uk/news/2018/10/16/stonemasons-arms-timperley-reopens-thursday-heres-changed/ [Accessed 24 Feb 2025].

[lviii] https://altrincham.todaynews.co.uk/news/2020/07/03/stonemasons-arms-timperley-set-reopen-later-summer/ [Accessed 24 Feb 2025].