Didsbury building's reputation, became known locally as "the gates to Hell". The parsonage became a museum, now closed, but the gardens are still open to the public. The area around St James' Church has the highest concentration of listed buildings in Manchester, outside the city centre. Didsbury was one of the few places between Stretford and Stockport where the River Mersey could be forded, which made it significant for troop movements during the English Civil War, in which Manchester was on the Parliamentarian side. The Royalist commander, Prince Rupert, stationed himself at Didsbury Ees, to the south of Barlow Moor. It
Moston, Cheshire West and Chester Moston, Cheshire West and Chester Moston is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated in the north east of Chester, close to the Shropshire Union Canal and the A41 trunk road between Chester and Birkenhead. At the 2001 Census, Moston had a population of 680, falling to 642 at the 2011 Census. Including the hamlet of The Dale, Moston was a township in St. Mary on the Hill Parish of the Broxton Hundred. The population was 14 in 1801, 14 in 1851,