In 2018 The Friends of Rose Hill received a grant of £27,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting new project ‘The amazing Watkins of Rose Hill House and their Woods’ in Northenden, South Manchester. This project is made possible by money raised by National Lottery players and focused on the forgotten story of Absalom and Edward Watkin, their house Rose Hill (a historic listed building) and their woods.
The Friends designed a Watkin Walk guide and worked with teachers and 120 local schoolchildren to establish the Watkin Story in their curriculum and through drama, art and history workshops. The children of the two schools jointly produced a ‘Watkin Times’ newspaper. An ecological census and training took place in the woods, where an 1862 memorial to Absalom was restored and paths re-established. The Friends worked with the parish church, where the Watkins are buried. A Celebration Day was then held in January 2019.
Absalom publicised the Peterloo Massacre, fought for voting reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws. His son, Edward, an MP and friend of Gladstone, campaigned for the first Manchester parks, dug two miles of a Channel Tunnel in 1880, tried to build an Eiffel Tower in London, advised the Government on the birth of Canada and built the Great Central Railway from Manchester to London. He bought a painting that was ‘lost’ in Rose Hill for a century then sold in New York for £4 million.
Geoff Scargill, the chairman of the Friends of Rose Hill and the Project Manager commented at the time: “We are thrilled to have received such terrific support from National Lottery players through this award. It is going to make sure that the names of two great Manchester people are finally remembered. Our joint work with the head and staff of the two local schools is particularly exciting and means that awareness of an important part of our local heritage will live on in future generations.”
Nathan Lee, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, North West also commenting at the time said “We are delighted to support this project, which, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, will mean that more people will be able to engage with the history of the Watkins’ and Rose Hill House and Woods, and learn about the exciting heritage right on their doorstep”
This project, ‘The amazing Watkins of Rose Hill House and their Woods’, was one the forebearers to The Watkin Society and helped cement the work of the Friends and subsequently the Watkin Society at the heart of the re-telling of the Watkin story.
The Friends designed a Watkin Walk guide and worked with teachers and 120 local schoolchildren to establish the Watkin Story in their curriculum and through drama, art and history workshops. The children of the two schools jointly produced a ‘Watkin Times’ newspaper. An ecological census and training took place in the woods, where an 1862 memorial to Absalom was restored and paths re-established. The Friends worked with the parish church, where the Watkins are buried. A Celebration Day was then held in January 2019.
Absalom publicised the Peterloo Massacre, fought for voting reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws. His son, Edward, an MP and friend of Gladstone, campaigned for the first Manchester parks, dug two miles of a Channel Tunnel in 1880, tried to build an Eiffel Tower in London, advised the Government on the birth of Canada and built the Great Central Railway from Manchester to London. He bought a painting that was ‘lost’ in Rose Hill for a century then sold in New York for £4 million.
Geoff Scargill, the chairman of the Friends of Rose Hill and the Project Manager commented at the time: “We are thrilled to have received such terrific support from National Lottery players through this award. It is going to make sure that the names of two great Manchester people are finally remembered. Our joint work with the head and staff of the two local schools is particularly exciting and means that awareness of an important part of our local heritage will live on in future generations.”
Nathan Lee, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, North West also commenting at the time said “We are delighted to support this project, which, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, will mean that more people will be able to engage with the history of the Watkins’ and Rose Hill House and Woods, and learn about the exciting heritage right on their doorstep”
This project, ‘The amazing Watkins of Rose Hill House and their Woods’, was one the forebearers to The Watkin Society and helped cement the work of the Friends and subsequently the Watkin Society at the heart of the re-telling of the Watkin story.
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