Manchester Anglers’ Association was founded in 1878 as a fishing and literary society. For the first few years members sought fishing where they could and gathered together in Manchester monthly to recount their experiences.
An early decision was taken to try to find suitable trout fishing that the club could lease and a number of locations were assessed for their suitability including the Derbyshire Wye and the Dee in North Wales.
The overriding need was to find waters that could be readily accessed by rail and eventually attention was drawn to the headwaters of the Ribble that had recently come within easy reach of Manchester as a result of the activities of the Midland Railway who in 1875 had completed their new Scottish mainline extension via Ribblesdale.
The MAA arrived at Horton in Ribblesdale in 1882 and immediately began to establish a presence by securing a club room at the Golden Lion (the rod rests survive in the entrance hall to this day) and making plans for the preservation of brown trout. This collection of lavishly illustrated material includes the history of the Association, records of members’ fishing expeditions and other ephemera. Not all material is concerned with the upper Ribble, but it has been included because it presents a vivid picture of late Victorian and early 20th Century leisure for the professional class in the north of England.
No Comments
Add a comment about this page