Place Name
Laid out in 1935 on the site of Atherton Grange (although in a map of 1874 the house is called Alberton Grange – most likely a misprint), an imposing 13 bedroom mansion which was built sometimes between 1850 and 1869. The property which commanded “extensive views” was set in three acres of gardens and a paddock. As well as the bedrooms, it had five reception rooms, a ballroom, billiard-room, a servants’ hall, housekeepers’ room and “most convenient minor offices” – but only one bathroom. As well as three acres of gardens it had “excellent stabling” for eight horses and “dwellings for coachman and gardener”. The property was most likely to have been named the manor in Wigan. For Alexander Kay, the very first owner of Atherton Grange, came from Greater Manchester. He served as a Lancashire justice of the peace and was one of the founding fathers of the Greater Manchester Corporation, the forerunner of the city council. He moved to Wimbledon in 1855 to take up a position as a director of the South Eastern Railway Company. He died in 1863.
