How The Heatons grew around the train station – and has increased in popularity ever since the 1860s!

23/05/17

Being within walking distance to transport links always adds value to a property – and The Heatons is no exception. For a leafy, village-like suburb, only being two train stops and an eight minute train ride to Piccadilly, or a four minute journey to Stockport, is a huge bonus when choosing a family home.

 

Long-due renovations to the listed station building at Heaton Chapel have finally finished, after a roof collapsed last year. As part of the building work, Northern and Network Rail have also improved the station buildings with new lighting, re-painting safety lines, repair to the timber windows and flooring and re-painting the ticket office and stairwells.

In addition to this, they have deep cleaned the waiting shelters and are installing art work in various locations.

 

A group called Friends of Heaton Chapel Station was set up in 2011 and campaigns for better disabled access, as well as planting flowers and bulbs alongside the platforms and the ramps. They undoubtedly make the station a more pleasant environment to pass through.

 

Without the development of the Manchester to Crewe railway line, it’s unlikely The Heatons would have developed into the stunning area it is now, lined with beautiful Victorian properties. Previous to the railway being built, the area that we know as Heaton Moor was agricultural farm land owned by the Egerton family of Tatton Hall.

 

Parliamentary approval was given for the railway line to be built from Heaton Norris to Manchester in 1837. It is said that a station wasn’t originally planned at Heaton Chapel but due to the clergyman at St Thomas’s Rectory appealing to a former pupil who worked at the railway company, he managed to sway some important decisions in our favour.

 

Apparently he was determined to put Heaton Chapel on the railway map, despite the fact that it required deep cutting work. The new station was opened in 1851 and this helped The Heatons become the fashionable suburb we know and love today.

 

Overall, the train line was such a success that it was quadrupled in the 1880s, and the waiting rooms were re-built to offer three different rooms to different classes of passenger. The station would be unrecognisable today, with a roaring fire in the first class waiting room, plenty of porters to help carry luggage and a branch of WH Smith.

 

The name of the train station was changed from Heaton Chapel and Heaton Moor to just Heaton Chapel following a modernisation of the line in 1955. It was during this electrification of the lines that the original waiting rooms were demolished, leaving just a small shelter on each side of the line.

 

As the premier estate agent in the SK4 suburb, we have marketed and sold many of the Victorian villas that were built around the station and all the way down Heaton Moor Road, which continue to be just as desirable today.

 

In fact, we have for rent a stunning five double bedroom property on Tatton Road North. Built in 1867, it was believed to have been the original stationmasters’ house, and the architecture matches that of the station ticket office.

 

It is easy to see a correlation in price increases the closer a house is to Heaton Chapel train station as it provides the easiest and quickest way to commute into the city centre or further afield.  

 

A new section of railway track to link Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria train stations, known as the Ordsall Chord, will have a huge impact on rail travel across the whole of Greater Manchester when it opens around Christmas 2017. The new connection will enable many more trains from the north to run through Victoria instead of through Piccadilly, lowering the congestion that commuters endure at Piccadilly every day.

 

The Heatons have been a popular residential location for buyers and renters for more than 150 years now – and its desirability only increases every year! Last year, we sold more than £60m worth of properties and that figure is likely to increase for 2017.
According to Property Industry Eye, properties in SK4 sell quicker than any other postcode in the North West – and this is not slowing down! So if you are thinking of buying, selling, renting of investing please give us a call for some expert advice on 0161 431 5556.

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