AMATEUR historian Kevin Dranfield talks tripe. Luckily when he does he’s alluding to the lining of a cow’s stomach that was once a staple of the British diet.
And Kevin, born and bred in Stockport and now living in Marple, is spreading his expertise on the offal ‘delicacy’ during the National Heritage Open Days Weekend, taking place across the country, between September 9-12.
He will be leading a food and drink walk on the Friday as part of Stockport council’s contribution, and tripe – especially tripe dressing — will be one of the most appetising features of his commentary.
While to most people today – certainly anyone under the age of 40 — the thought of eating tripe would seem as strange as eating cat litter, at one time it was the pizza of its day. And the favourite topping? Lots of onions.
“In the Victorian age, when many people were close to starving a lot of the time, tripe was a cheap and available food, and it was very popular,” says Kevin, 65, a former civil engineer on the railways.
“And it made sense, because it was a useful by-product of the beef industry in Stockport, which once boasted 45 butchers in the town centre alone.
Sometimes they would be just in a yard, where the stomachs would be cleaned, boiled and bleached. There’d be huge vats of boiling tripe all over the town at between 10 and 15 premises
“The cows would be sold at the marketplace in the town and when they had been slaughtered and the butchers had taken the cuts of meat the stomachs would go to the tripe dressers.
“Sometimes they would be just in a yard, where the stomachs would be cleaned, boiled and bleached. There’d be huge vats of boiling tripe all over the town at between 10 and 15 premises,” says Kevin.
Kevin Dranfield: Crazy about our rich heritage
“But there wasn’t just one kind of tripe – there were honeycomb or plain varieties, and it depended whether it came from the first or second stomach of the cow. The honeycomb, which had a more satisfying texture, was regarded as the best.”
As well as talking tripe and pointing out the premises where it came from, Kevin will be imparting his knowledge about lots of other lost trades and businesses connected to the food and drink industry that were once an integral part of the town.
“There were so many specialist outlets in Stockport – such as ones just dealing in hops and hops alone, and there would be yeast dealers too. Sounds bizarre, but there were 250 places brewing beer. Now there’s just one – Robinson’s – while some microbreweries come and go.”
Kevin’s tour will point out where a product not normally associated with the area was sold.
“At number 12 Marketplace, in 1834, a Mr John Smith ran a mustard manufacturing business. It wasn’t because people were particularly fond of the taste of mustard – it was just that it masked the taste of meat that was slightly going off,” explains Kevin, whose father and grandfather were both train drivers based at Heaton Mersey and Edgeley.
“Stockport is a fascinating place that’s always changing and is full of heritage,” adds Kevin, who has published a book on Stockport’s greatest landmark – the viaduct that straddles the Mersey valley. “Stockport was once the centre of the Cheshire cheese industry – the oldest named cheese in England – and the market would have attracted traders from all over the region.
“And perhaps they would have bought a muffin too, from a shop selling just muffins, on Park Street. Can you imagine that now?
“Did you know that Wellington Road, which goes through the centre of the town, was the world’s first ever by-pass, replacing the narrow medieval Underbank and Hillgate roads on the route between Manchester and London.”
As well as Kevin’s tour, lots of Stockport’s historic sites will open their doors for free on the Heritage Open Days.
There are 45 events this year co-ordinated by Stockport council. Visitors can grab the chance to explore somewhere that is normally closed or usually charges an entrance fee.
So why not take part in the pie-tasting event at Stockport Tourist Information Centre on Saturday, September 11? John Titterton and his father Tom are part of a distinguished family of master butchers dating back to 1875, when John’s great-great grandfather founded the business. The current shop was opened in the 1920s and Tittertons has been a feature of Stockport town centre ever since.
Stockport Town Hall will also be offering tours throughout the weekend with the Mayor of Stockport, including the recent discovery of an intriguing County Borough Of Stockport committee wage book, which dates back to 1942. The large metal-bound and leather covered book details the names, weekly wages, sickness records and overtime details of staff employed at the town hall.
Other highlights of this year’s festival include Remembering Rationing at Stockport Air Raid Shelters and Dig Again for Victory at Woodbank Park Nursery, both on Saturday, September 11. Meanwhile you can enjoy magnificent Gothic revival interiors, organ concerts, a historic armoured hat, a hi-tech treasure hunt at Reddish Vale, a crematorium tour, backstage theatre tours, traditional bar games and cask ale tasting, a medieval dungeon, a Jacobean staircase, watercolour workshops, gravestones of the famous, Pre-Raphaelite stained glass, Victorian schoolrooms and more.
In Manchester the main activity is at the town hall with tours on Sunday, September 12, at 10am, 11am, 1pm and 2pm, and tours of the clock tower at 12pm and 3pm.
Although tours of the building take place at other times of the year, the clock tower is only open to the public on this day each year.
Tours of the building will include the state rooms, Ford Maddox Brown Murals, civic silver displays and a look at the gothic architecture.
Didsbury Library is also open on Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12 and will be hosting balcony tours, where a photographic exhibition of the area before and after the library’s construction will be on display. It will be open 10am-5pm on Saturday and 2pm- 4pm on Sunday.
Organised by volunteers — usually property owners or managers — for local people, Heritage Open Days is England’s biggest and most popular voluntary cultural event. Last year it attracted around a million visitors.
For the Food and Drink Walk, meet at Stockport Tourist Information Centre, 30 Market Place, Staircase House, on Friday, September 10 at 1pm. Booking essential.
For more information about this year’s Stockport Heritage Open Days, please visit www.visit-stockport.com or contact Stockport Tourist Information Centre on 0161 474 4444.
For the Manchester Town Hall tours pre-booking is required on 0161 234 4466.
To discover what is happening at other towns and sites around the region, visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk
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