George Cottam (1837) married Sarah Jane Moss (born in Bristol in 1843) in Manchester Cathedral on June 30^th 1861.  Both the bride and groom are shown as living in Lower Crumpsall at the time.  We have no idea where or for how long they lived in Lower Crumpsall but it could not have been for long because by 1869 the Manchester Directory shows George living in Oldham Road, Failsworth.

Crumpsall three miles to the north of  Manchester city centre is at the head of the Irk Valley and was known as Curmisole in 13^th Century and later Cromshall before enjoying its current name.  The village lay in an oxbow bend in the River Irk in what was a part of Blackley Forest and the name means ‘a crooked piece of land’. In the mid 19^th Century it was still a pleasant rural village but by the end of that century the population had more than doubled as a result of an influx of mill workers from Manchester.  Houses, schools and churches had to be built to cope with the new population.  In the early 20^th Century a large number of Jewish immigrants fleeing from persecution in a variety of European countries settled in the area and many Jewish families still live in the vicinity today.

Sir Humphrey Chetham whose legacy to Manchester was Chethams Library and Music School was born in Crumpsall Hall in 1580.