129-476: British North West Africa Company was an international trading company, founded by Donald MacKenzie in 1874 after securing bank financing with the guarantee of businessmen from Manchester . Since 1882 It was taken from Port Victoria in Tarfaya as its headquarters for the purpose of dealing with commercial caravans linking Noun River and Timbuktu . In 1879, the company occupied and took over Tarfaya as part of
258-427: A laundry , three swimming pools and a Victorian-style Turkish bath . In the 1930s Vincent Harris won competitions to design two of the city's civic buildings. Manchester Town Hall Extension between St Peter's Square and Lloyd Street was built between 1934 and 1938 to provide accommodation for local government services. Its eclectic style was designed to be a link between the ornate Gothic Revival Town Hall and
387-584: A learned society was founded in 1823. Its home in Mosley Street was designed by Charles Barry , his only public building in the Greek neo-classical style . The building and its collections became Manchester Art Gallery which also incorporates the Manchester Athenaeum , designed in the palazzo style by Barry in 1836. As Manchester emerged as the world's first industrial city, a Mechanics' Institute ,
516-510: A market in 1282. Around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the region's textile industry. Manchester became an important centre for the manufacture and trade of woollens and linen , and by about 1540, had expanded to become, in John Leland 's words, "The fairest, best builded, quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire". The cathedral and Chetham's buildings are
645-460: A seaport at Liverpool , the availability of waterpower from its rivers, and its nearby coal reserves. The name Manchester, though officially applied only to the metropolitan district within Greater Manchester, has been applied to other, wider divisions of land, particularly across much of the Greater Manchester county and urban area. The "Manchester City Zone", " Manchester post town " and
774-470: A Manor House was built. By 1421 Thomas de la Warre founded and constructed a collegiate church for the parish , now Manchester Cathedral ; the domestic premises of the college house Chetham's School of Music and Chetham's Library . The library, which opened in 1653 and is still open to the public, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Manchester is mentioned as having
903-582: A bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in the Manchester Arena ; the bomb killed 23, including the attacker, and injured over 800. It was the deadliest terrorist attack and first suicide bombing in Britain since the 7 July 2005 London bombings . It caused worldwide condemnation and changed the UK's threat level to "critical" for the first time since 2007. Birmingham has historically been considered to be England or
1032-579: A church in the Decorated Gothic style with Arts and Crafts details, opened in 1900. The commercial hub of Manchester or Cottonopolis was the Exchange, of which there were four, the first was in the market place in 1727 and it was re-built three times. Thomas Harrison built the second in the Greek Revival style between 1806 and 1809 and it was enlarged between 1847 and 1849. Queen Victoria granted it
1161-559: A large transport and distribution infrastructure: the canal system was extended, and Manchester became one end of the world's first intercity passenger railway—the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . Competition between the various forms of transport kept costs down. In 1878 the GPO (the forerunner of British Telecom ) provided its first telephones to a firm in Manchester. The Manchester Ship Canal
1290-526: A loanword from Latin castra , "fort; fortified town"). The city is widely known as "the capital of the North". The Brigantes were the major Celtic tribe in what is now known as Northern England ; they had a stronghold in the locality at a sandstone outcrop on which Manchester Cathedral now stands, opposite the bank of the River Irwell . Their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what
1419-639: A member of the English Core Cities Group since its inception in 1995. The town of Manchester was granted a charter by Thomas Grelley in 1301 but lost its borough status in a court case of 1359. Until the 19th century local government was largely in the hands of manorial courts , the last of which was dissolved in 1846. From a very early time , the township of Manchester lay within the historic or ceremonial county boundaries of Lancashire . Pevsner wrote "That [neighbouring] Stretford and Salford are not administratively one with Manchester
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#17328593653601548-592: A monument to the Peterloo Massacre and Manchester's pivotal role in the Anti-Corn Law League . Built as a public hall only the facade remains. The old town hall was replaced by the present Manchester Town Hall , designed by Alfred Waterhouse . Completed in 1877, its Great Hall contains the Manchester Murals by Ford Madox Brown . Waterhouse was influenced by Pugin and most of his designs were in
1677-575: A notable place in the history of Marxism and left-wing politics; being the subject of Friedrich Engels ' work The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 ; Engels spent much of his life in and around Manchester, and when Karl Marx visited Manchester, they met at Chetham's Library. The economics books Marx was reading at the time can be seen in the library, as can the window seat where Marx and Engels would meet. The first Trades Union Congress
1806-539: A part of Greater Manchester, which has a population of approximately 2.92 million. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The city borders the boroughs of Trafford , Stockport , Tameside , Oldham , Rochdale , Bury and Salford . The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with
1935-442: A peak of 108 in 1853. Thereafter the number began to decline and Manchester was surpassed as the largest centre of cotton spinning by Bolton in the 1850s and Oldham in the 1860s. However, this period of decline coincided with the rise of the city as the financial centre of the region. Manchester continued to process cotton, and in 1913, 65% of the world's cotton was processed in the area. The First World War interrupted access to
2064-585: A population of 2,539,100 in 2004. In addition to Manchester itself, the LUZ includes the remainder of the county of Greater Manchester . The Manchester LUZ is the second largest within the United Kingdom, behind that of London. Religious beliefs, according to the 2021 census Since the 2001 census, the proportion of Christians in Manchester has fallen by 22 per cent from 62.4 per cent to 48.7 per cent in 2011. The proportion of those with no religious affiliation rose by 58.1 per cent from 16 per cent to 25.3 per cent, whilst
2193-704: A post-modernist style incorporating glass façades were constructed, the most prominent is a skyscraper built in 2006 – the 168-metre tall Beetham Tower by architecture firm, SimpsonHaugh and Partners . Other buildings with glass incorporated into their design include Urbis , No. 1 Deansgate , the Manchester Civil Justice Centre and the Great Northern Tower , by Assael Architecture . Manchester City Council has been more sympathetic to tall buildings since 1990 and its Manchester Core Strategy 2012–2027 considered 'iconic' developments which reflect
2322-492: A rotund pylon which rises to 41 metres from which tension cables hang down to suspend the footbridge deck. Merchants Bridge at Castlefield Basin, built in 1996 by Whitby Bird, is a dramatic curving footbridge contrasting with seven older bridges. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway , the world's first passenger railway was built in 1830 and Manchester Liverpool Road railway station opened. The classically designed station and adjoining Georgian station master's house are part of
2451-563: A three-bay pedimented Ionic portico with a frieze . Victorian churches, particularly those of the Roman Catholics, espoused the Gothic principles of A. W. N. Pugin who designed the red brick St Wilfrid's Roman Catholic Church in the early English style in Hulme of 1842. St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, The Hidden Gem , on Mulberry Street, the first Roman Catholic church in the city centre,
2580-468: Is 35.0 miles (56.3 km) north-east of Liverpool and 35.0 miles (56.3 km) north-west of Sheffield , making the city the halfway point between the two. The city centre is on the east bank of the River Irwell , near its confluences with the Rivers Medlock and Irk , and is relatively low-lying, being between 35 and 42 metres (115 and 138 feet) above sea level. The River Mersey flows through
2709-447: Is 806.6 millimetres (31.76 in) compared to a UK average of 1,125.0 millimetres (44.29 in), and its mean rain days are 140.4 per annum, compared to the UK average of 154.4. Manchester has a relatively high humidity level, and this, along with abundant soft water, was one factor that led to advancement of the textile industry in the area. Snowfalls are not common in the city because of
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#17328593653602838-542: Is a timber-framed hall from the 14th century. Shambles Square , created after the 1996 bombing with the timber-framed Old Wellington Inn , Sinclair's Oyster Bar and the Mitre Hotel preserves some of the city's oldest buildings of their type. The original site of the Shambles was the location of butchers' shops and abattoirs. In the 16th century domestic cloth weaving became important, and an Act of Parliament regulated
2967-522: Is a broad 19th-century road from London Road to Deansgate , running parallel to the Rochdale Canal for much of its length, intersecting Princess Street, Chepstow Street and Albion Street (the western section is called Whitworth Street West). It is lined with impressive former warehouses now converted to residential use. Mosley Street runs roughly parallel to Portland Street, Whitworth Street and Deansgate, from Piccadilly Gardens to St Peter's Square . It
3096-730: Is a bronze statue, "The Sentry", by Charles Sargeant Jagger , a memorial to the staff of S & J Watts & Co who died in World War I . The city's principal war memorial is the Cenotaph in St Peter's Square, designed by Edwin Lutyens after his original in London. Thomas Heatherwick 's B of the Bang was a 56 metres (184 ft)-high metal sculpture commissioned for the 2002 Commonwealth Games . Erected near
3225-496: Is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building. Due to being already highly urban, the city contains limited portions of protected green-belt area within greenfield throughout the borough, with minimal development opportunities, at Clayton Vale , Heaton Park , Chorlton Water Park along with the Chorlton Ees & Ivy Green nature reserve and
3354-661: Is closed to traffic as Metrolink trams run along its length. Another Victorian addition to the city's street pattern was Corporation Street, which cut through slums to the north of Market Street providing a direct route from Cross Street and Albert Square to the routes north of the city. South-east of the city centre Wilmslow Road runs from Oxford Road , the hub of student life and home to Manchester's curry mile in Rusholme. Other notable places in Manchester include: Great Northern Square , Lincoln Square , Spring Gardens , Cathedral Gardens , Whitworth Gardens , New Cathedral Street ,
3483-452: Is contiguous on all sides with several large settlements, except for a small section along its southern boundary with Cheshire . The M60 and M56 motorways pass through Northenden and Wythenshawe respectively in the south of Manchester. Heavy rail lines enter the city from all directions, the principal destination being Manchester Piccadilly station . Manchester experiences a temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ), like much of
3612-413: Is noted for its warehouses , railway viaducts , cotton mills and canals – remnants of its past when the city produced and traded goods. Manchester has minimal Georgian or medieval architecture to speak of and consequently has a vast array of 19th and early 20th-century architecture styles; examples include Palazzo , Neo-Gothic , Venetian Gothic , Edwardian baroque , Art Nouveau , Art Deco and
3741-563: Is now Salford and Stretford . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, General Agricola ordered the construction of a fort named Mamucium in the year 79 to ensure that Roman interests in Deva Victrix ( Chester ) and Eboracum ( York ) were protected from the Brigantes. Central Manchester has been permanently settled since this time. A stabilised fragment of foundations of
3870-737: Is now the Air and Space Gallery of the Museum of Science and Industry. London Road Fire Station of 1906 was designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by Woodhouse, Willoughby and Langham in red brick and terracotta . The building, on the Buildings at Risk Register, is currently unoccupied. The eclectic Jacobean and Baroque styled Victoria Baths in Chorlton on Medlock opened in September 1906 providing private baths,
3999-525: Is one of the most curious anomalies of England". A stroke of a baron's pen is said to have divorced Manchester and Salford, though it was not Salford that became separated from Manchester, it was Manchester, with its humbler line of lords, that was separated from Salford. It was this separation that resulted in Salford becoming the judicial seat of Salfordshire , which included the ancient parish of Manchester . Manchester later formed its own Poor Law Union using
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4128-708: Is row of three-storey town houses built in red brick with sandstone dressings, now used as shops and offices in Princess Street. Terraced houses were built on Byrom Street and Quay Street for the middle classes at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries but few dwellings for the working classes survive except for a few north of Piccadilly Gardens and in Castlefield. Houses built for artisans and skilled workers had attic workshops housing handlooms for weaving. Other city-centre dwellings had cellars and attics but none survive. The Industrial Revolution gathered momentum after
4257-603: Is that it comes from Brittonic * mamm - (" breast ", in reference to a " breast-like hill "). However, more recent work suggests that it could come from * mamma ("mother", in reference to a local river goddess ). Both usages are preserved in Insular Celtic languages , such as mam meaning "breast" in Irish and "mother" in Welsh . The suffix -chester is from Old English ceaster ("Roman fortification", itself
4386-424: Is the UK's largest city-centre shopping centre. Large city sections from the 1960s have been demolished, re-developed or modernised with the use of glass and steel. Old mills have been converted into apartments. Hulme has undergone extensive regeneration, with million-pound loft-house apartments being developed. The 47-storey, 554-foot (169 m) Beetham Tower was the tallest UK building outside of London and
4515-666: Is the former Parrs Bank in red sandstone with a corner entrance designed in 1902 by Charles Heathcote in the Edwardian Baroque with Art Nouveau motifs in its ironwork. Heathcote also designed the Baroque Lloyds Bank in 1915 on King Street in the heart of the city's banking district. Ship Canal House was completed in 1927 for the Manchester Ship Canal Company by Harry S Fairhurst in a transitional Edwardian Baroque/Art Deco style. Owen Williams designed
4644-517: Is the world's oldest surviving inter-city passenger railway station. At the University of Manchester , Ernest Rutherford first split the atom in 1917; Frederic C. Williams , Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill developed the world's first stored-program computer in 1948; and Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov first isolated graphene in 2004. Manchester has a large urban sprawl , which forms from
4773-690: The Ashton Canal . On the Ashton Canal the Store Street Aqueduct designed by Benjamin Outram , is believed to be the first skewed aqueduct of its kind and the oldest still in use and a brick lock-keeper's cottage constructed about 1800 survives by Number 2 Lock. The canals shaped the layout of the city attracting wharves and warehouses, transporting coal and heavy materials and provided water to run steam-engines . Large cotton mill complexes survive on
4902-709: The Bridgewater Canal was opened to Castlefield on 10 July 1761. The canal brought coal to the town from Worsley and when in 1776 it had been extended, cotton could be shipped into the town from the Port of Liverpool . At Castlefield Basin are a series of early warehouses, such as the Dukes Warehouse and the Grocers Warehouse. By 1800 the Bridgewater at Castlefield was connected to the Rochdale Canal and beyond that to
5031-669: The Bridgewater Concert Hall , the Manchester Arena , and (in Salford) the rebranding of the port as Salford Quays . Two bids to host the Olympic Games were part of a process to raise the international profile of the city. Manchester has a history of attacks attributed to Irish Republicans, including the Manchester Martyrs of 1867, arson in 1920, a series of explosions in 1939, and two bombs in 1992. On Saturday 15 June 1996,
5160-480: The Christmas Blitz on the nights of 22/23 and 24 December 1940, when an estimated 474 tonnes (467 long tons) of high explosives plus over 37,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. A large part of the historic city centre was destroyed, including 165 warehouses, 200 business premises, and 150 offices. 376 were killed and 30,000 houses were damaged. Manchester Cathedral , Royal Exchange and Free Trade Hall were among
5289-501: The City of Manchester Stadium in Eastlands , the sculpture was beset by structural problems and dismantled in 2009. Manchester has a number of squares, plazas and shopping streets many of which are pedestrianised and other streets have Metrolink or bus priority . One of the oldest thoroughfares is Market Street , originally Market Stede Lane . Much of the medieval street pattern around
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5418-538: The Daily Express Building with a futuristic dark glass façade. Nikolaus Pevsner described it as "all-glass front, absolutely flush, with rounded corners and translucent glass and black glass". Sunlight House which opened in 1932 on Quay Street was designed in the art deco style by Joseph Sunlight . The brown-brick Redfern Building on the Co-operative Estate is an individualistic interpretation of
5547-497: The Gay Village and Chinatown . The Manchester School of Architecture is jointly administered by the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University . Contemporary architects born or educated in Manchester include Roger Stephenson , Stephen Hodder , Norman Foster . Manchester has historically had a large architecture practice presence in comparison to other British cities however this presence burgeoned during
5676-720: The Gothic Revival style. He is a prolific contributor to the design of Manchester's public, educational and commercial buildings. Waterhouse's exteriors used large quantities of "self-washing" terracotta to provide rich ornament in the polluted atmosphere and after 1880 his interiors were decorated with moulded and glazed faience both manufactured by the Burmantofts Pottery . He designed the Royal Insurance Office, in which he had an office, in 1861. The now demolished Manchester Assize Courts , built between 1864 and 1877 in
5805-655: The Manchester Ship Canal symbolised a wealthy and proud Manchester, so too did Mancunian buildings of the Victorian era , the finest examples of which include the neo-gothic town hall and the John Rylands Library . At the height of the Industrial Revolution, the city had nearly 2,000 warehouses. Many of them have now been converted for other uses but their external appearance remains mostly unchanged so
5934-502: The Museum of Science and Industry . The railways required large railway viaducts and bridges to carry the track into Manchester's several stations. Four viaducts cross the canal basin at Castlefield, and from there an arched brick viaduct carries the railway to Manchester Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Deansgate Stations. At Castlefield there are cast iron arch bridges crossing the Rochdale Canal , Castle Street and Chester Road. Liverpool Road
6063-538: The Neo-Classical . Manchester burgeoned as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the Bridgewater Canal and Manchester Liverpool Road station became the first true canal and railway station used to transport goods. The Industrial Revolution made Manchester a wealthy place but much of the wealth was spent on lavish projects that were often at the expense of its population. Engineering developments such as
6192-499: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out the 1996 Manchester bombing , the detonation of a large bomb next to a department store in the city centre. The largest to be detonated on British soil, the bomb injured over 200 people, heavily damaged nearby buildings, and broke windows 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) away. The cost of the immediate damage was initially estimated at £50 million, but this
6321-474: The Roman fort ( castra ) of Mamucium or Mancunium , established c. AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell . Throughout the Middle Ages , Manchester remained a manorial township but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during
6450-547: The Scramble for Africa , and turned it into an exchange center of trade in order to trade with commercial caravans coming from Timbuktu and destined to Wadi Noun . In 1882, Mackenzie built a fortress under the name of " Port Victoria ". On 26 March 1888, the local Saharan tribes attacked the fortress which resulted in killing and injuring workers. In 1895, after the Treaty of Cape Juby, the company abandoned its final fort and left it to
6579-632: The Sephardic Synagogue of 1874–75 to the designs of Edward Salomons in the Moorish style and survives as Manchester Jewish Museum . The Church of Christ, Scientist in Fallowfield , designed by Edgar Wood opened in 1907. Nikolaus Pevsner considered it "the only religious building in Lancashire that would be indispensable in a survey of twentieth century church design in all England." and "one of
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#17328593653606708-401: The University of Manchester and Royal Northern College of Music in the 2011/2012 academic year. Of all households in Manchester, 0.23 per cent were Same-Sex Civil Partnership households, compared with an English national average of 0.16 per cent in 2011. The Manchester Larger Urban Zone , a Eurostat measure of the functional city-region approximated to local government districts, had
6837-409: The city centre into the other neighbouring authorities; these include The Four Heatons , Failsworth , Prestwich , Stretford , Sale , Droylsden , Old Trafford and Reddish . The city is also contiguous with Salford and its borough but is separated from it by the River Irwell . This urban area is cut off by the M60 , also known as the Manchester Outer Ring Road , which runs in a circular around
6966-437: The classical rotunda of the Central Library built four years earlier. Education and culture became important in Georgian times leading to the construction of buildings that endure today. The Portico Library designed by Thomas Harrison was the first Greek Revival building in Manchester and the only surviving building by Harrison in the city. Its interior was inspired by John Soane . The Royal Manchester Institution
7095-399: The urban warming effect but the West Pennine Moors to the north-west, South Pennines to the north-east and Peak District to the east receive more snow, which can close roads leading out of the city. They include the A62 via Oldham and Standedge , the A57 , Snake Pass , towards Sheffield , and the Pennine section of the M62 . The lowest temperature ever recorded in Manchester
7224-420: The " Manchester Congestion Charge " are all examples of this. For purposes of the Office for National Statistics , Manchester forms the most populous settlement within the Greater Manchester Urban Area , the United Kingdom's second-largest conurbation. There is a mix of high-density urban and suburban locations. The largest open space in the city, at around 260 hectares (642 acres), is Heaton Park . Manchester
7353-403: The "Police Commissioners". In 1853, Manchester was granted city status . In 1885, Bradford , Harpurhey , Rusholme and parts of Moss Side and Withington townships became part of the City of Manchester. In 1889, the city became a county borough , as did many larger Lancashire towns, and therefore not governed by Lancashire County Council . Between 1890 and 1933, more areas were added to
7482-625: The 2011 census. The city experienced the greatest percentage population growth outside London, with an increase of 19 per cent to over 500,000. Manchester's population is projected to reach 532,200 by 2021, an increase of 5.8 per cent from 2011. This represents a slower rate of growth than the previous decade. The Greater Manchester Built-up Area in 2011 had an estimated population of 2,553,400. In 2012 an estimated 2,702,200 people lived in Greater Manchester . An 6,547,000 people were estimated in 2012 to live within 30 miles (50 km) of Manchester and 11,694,000 within 50 miles (80 km). Between
7611-401: The 20th century, many in the highly decorated Edwardian Baroque style leaving the city with a legacy of some of the finest buildings of this type in the world. The continuing urbanisation and narrow roads in Manchester have impacted on views of these ornate buildings, many of which were often decorative at the top of the building. A flurry of ornate warehouses were built, many of which dominated
7740-500: The Art Deco, although Pevsner believed it shared more in common with ' Dutch Brick modernism '. The medieval parish church was altered and rebuilt between 1814 and 1815. It became a cathedral in 1847 and was extensively restored and rebuilt by J.P. Holden between 1862 and 1868, by J. S. Crowther in the 1880s and in 1898 by Basil Champneys who added annexes in 1903. In 1828 the Quakers built their Meeting House in Mount Street. Designed by Richard Lane it has an ashlar facade and
7869-411: The British Isles, with warm summers and cold winters compared to other parts of the UK. Summer daytime temperatures regularly top 20 °C, quite often reaching 25 °C on sunny days during July and August in particular. In more recent years, temperatures have occasionally reached over 30 °C. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. The city's average annual rainfall
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#17328593653607998-422: The City of Manchester became a metropolitan district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester . That year, Ringway , the village where the Manchester Airport is located, was added to the city. In November 2014, it was announced that Greater Manchester would receive a new directly elected mayor. The mayor would have fiscal control over health, transport, housing and police in the area. Andy Burnham
8127-467: The Co-operative Group , it was designed to showcase Manchester and the Co-operative movement. It was clad in photovoltaic cells in 2005 and is the tallest listed building in the United Kingdom. Along with New Century House which also opened in 1962, its "design of discipline and consistency which forms part of a group with the Co-operative Insurance Society". Gateway House, a modernist office block designed by Richard Seifert & Partners in 1969 on
8256-527: The Gothic style Thomas Worthington . Worthington's last commission in the city was the flamboyant Flemish Gothic Nicholls Hospital , an orphanage that is now part of The Manchester College and has similarities with the Minshull Street Courts. Acres Fair moved to Castlefield in 1872 and after it was abolished, the market traders remained at Lower Campfield Market and Higher Campfield Market which were later covered by large, glazed buildings with cast-iron frames by Mangnall and Littlewood. Lower Campfield Market
8385-476: The Gothic tradition with the university's elaborate Whitworth Hall , its ceremonial venue built between 1895 and 1902. The Manchester School of Art was built in two stages, the main building is by G.T.Redmayne in the Neo-Gothic style in stone with gabled wings and pinnacles and an 1897 rear extension by Joseph Gibbon Sankey in red brick and terracotta with Art Nouveau decoration. The John Rylands Library by Basil Champneys on Deansgate , designed like
8514-401: The Industrial Revolution and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. Historically part of Lancashire , areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and linking
8643-548: The Industrial Revolution brought wealth to the city, it also brought poverty and squalor to a large part of the population. Historian Simon Schama noted that "Manchester was the very best and the very worst taken to terrifying extremes, a new kind of city in the world; the chimneys of industrial suburbs greeting you with columns of smoke". An American visitor taken to Manchester's blackspots saw "wretched, defrauded, oppressed, crushed human nature, lying and bleeding fragments". The number of cotton mills in Manchester itself reached
8772-402: The UK's second city, but in the 21st century claims to this unofficial title have also been made for Manchester. The City of Manchester is governed by the Manchester City Council . The Greater Manchester Combined Authority , with a directly elected mayor , has responsibilities for economic strategy and transport, amongst other areas, on a Greater Manchester-wide basis. Manchester has been
8901-431: The approach to Manchester Piccadilly station , is considered to be one of Seifert's most loveable buildings. Hollins College , known as the Toast rack , is representative of work produced by Manchester's City Council's city architect L. C. Howitt while implementing the city's post-war rebuilding plans. After the destruction caused by the 1996 bombing , the city had a chance to reinvent itself. Tall buildings, many in
9030-494: The area around Whitworth Street and included Asia House, Manchester , India House and Lancaster House designed by Harry S. Fairhurst . From the early 19th century residential King Street and Spring Gardens developed into the city's financial quarter. Banks were designed by local architects Edward Walters, J.E. Gregan and Charles Heathcote and by Charles Cockerell and Edwin Lutyens . Benjamin Heywood's palazzo style bank in St Ann's Square, (the Royal Bank of Scotland),
9159-474: The beginning of July 2011 and end of June 2012 (mid-year estimate date), births exceeded deaths by 4,800. Migration (internal and international) and other changes accounted for a net increase of 3,100 people between July 2011 and June 2012. Compared with Greater Manchester and with England, Manchester has a younger population, with a particularly large 20–35 age group. There were 76,095 undergraduate and postgraduate students at Manchester Metropolitan University ,
9288-486: The buildings seriously damaged; restoration of the cathedral took 20 years. In total, 589 civilians were recorded to have died as result of enemy action within the Manchester County Borough. Cotton processing and trading continued to decline in peacetime, and the exchange closed in 1968. By 1963 the port of Manchester was the UK's third largest, and employed over 3,000 men, but the canal was unable to handle
9417-434: The cathedral's visitor centre. When Thomas De la Warre obtained a licence to refound the church as a collegiate parish church, a college of priests was built of red Collyhurst sandstone on the site of his manor house. The college had a large hall, warden's lodgings and rooms for the priests. Two ancient halls survive outside the city centre, Clayton Hall is a rare example of a mediaeval moated site and Baguley Hall
9546-411: The city and influenced the wider community. Two squares holding many public monuments are Albert Square in front of the town hall which has monuments to Prince Albert , Bishop James Fraser , Oliver Heywood , William Ewart Gladstone and John Bright , and Piccadilly Gardens with monuments to Queen Victoria , Robert Peel , James Watt and The Duke of Wellington . Notable monuments elsewhere in
9675-686: The city and these areas. It joins the M62 to the north-east and the M602 to the west, as well as the East Lancashire Road and A6 . The name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunio and the citizens are still referred to as Mancunians ( / m æ n ˈ k juː n i ə n / ). These names are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name . The generally accepted etymology of this name
9804-460: The city centre is Britain's only Urban Heritage Park that aims to preserve the character and history of the area. The Roman fort, Mamucium , on the sandstone bluff at the junction of the Rivers Irwell and Medlock gave Castlefield its name. The fort's remains including a short, seven feet high section of wall are protected as a scheduled monument . The Romans left Mamucium in 410 AD and
9933-592: The city include the Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park commemorating the father of modern computing. A monument to Abraham Lincoln by George Gray Barnard in the eponymous Lincoln Square was presented to the city by Mr & Mrs Charles Phelps Taft and marks the part Lancashire played in the American Civil War and its consequence the cotton famine of 1861–1865. In the entrance to Watts Warehouse
10062-404: The city keeps much of its industrial, brooding character. The 1996 IRA bombing sparked a large regeneration project with new buildings such as Urbis forming a centrepiece of the redevelopment. Over the last few years there has been a renewed interest in building skyscrapers in Manchester with Manchester City Council signalling it would be sympathetic towards 'iconic' skyscrapers that 'reflect
10191-718: The city to the Irish Sea , 36 miles (58 km) to the west. The city's fortune declined after the Second World War , owing to deindustrialisation, and the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration. Following considerable redevelopment, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games . The city is notable for its architecture , culture , musical exports , media links , scientific and engineering output , social impact , sports clubs and transport connections . Manchester Liverpool Road railway station
10320-563: The city's main railway terminals was built between 1875 and 1880 and was closed in 1969. Its large arched roof – a huge wrought-iron single-span arched roof, spanning 210 feet (64 m), 550 feet (168 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) high is a listed building. The station has been converted for use as a conference centre. The associated Midland Hotel designed by Charles Trubshaw was constructed between 1898 and 1903 from red brick and brown terracotta and clad in several varieties of polished granite and Burmantofts terracotta to withstand
10449-566: The city, which had been administered by Lancashire County Council, including former villages such as Burnage , Chorlton-cum-Hardy , Didsbury , Fallowfield , Levenshulme , Longsight , and Withington . In 1931, the Cheshire civil parishes of Baguley , Northenden and Northen Etchells from the south of the River Mersey were added. In 1974, by way of the Local Government Act 1972 ,
10578-611: The confluence of the Irwell and Irk sometime before the arrival of the Normans after 1066. Much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North . In the Domesday Book of 1086, Manchester is recorded as within the hundred of Salford and held as tenant in chief by a Norman named Roger of Poitou , later being held by the family of Grelley, lord of the manor and residents of Manchester Castle until 1215 before
10707-601: The export markets. Cotton processing in other parts of the world increased, often on machines produced in Manchester. Manchester suffered greatly from the Great Depression and the underlying structural changes that began to supplant the old industries, including textile manufacture. Like most of the UK, the Manchester area was mobilised extensively during the Second World War . For example, casting and machining expertise at Beyer, Peacock & Company 's locomotive works in Gorton
10836-527: The fashionable area of town. Seven other churches were built during the 18th century, none of which survives. St James Square (1735) was built by the Jacobites. Planned development occurred in the 1750s between Market Street , Cross Street, King Street and Mosley Street . Relatively few houses in the city centre survive from the Georgian era , one is Richard Cobden's townhouse from the 1770s. Another survival
10965-502: The final version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield . The Roman habitation of Manchester probably ended around the 3rd century; its civilian settlement appears to have been abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although the fort may have supported a small garrison until the late 3rd or early 4th century. After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest , the focus of settlement shifted to
11094-480: The floodplain surrounding the River Mersey, as well as the southern area around Manchester Airport. The green belt was first drawn up in 1961. Historically the population of Manchester began to increase rapidly during the Victorian era , estimated at 354,930 for Manchester and 110,833 for Salford in 1865, and peaking at 766,311 in 1931. From then the population began to decrease rapidly, due to slum clearance and
11223-496: The forerunner of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology , was established in 1824. Owens College , founded with a bequest from John Owens in 1851, became the Victoria University of Manchester in 1880. Alfred Waterhouse was appointed architect for Owens College and the Victoria University where he designed several of its buildings from 1860 until his retirement. An early commission for Owens College
11352-579: The fringes of the city centre, Murrays Mills , the McConnel & Kennedy Mills and Beehive Mill at Ancoats were built from the 1790s. The oldest surviving fireproof mill is at Chorlton New Mills in Chorlton on Medlock . Manchester was linked to Salford across the River Irwell by a ford and subsequently by Salford Old Bridge in the 14th century. During the 19th century more bridges were built. The old bridge
11481-463: The front door. Fireproof construction was used towards the end of the century. They had loading bays with hydraulic wall cranes at the side or rear. Some traders built their own warehouses but others shared speculative developments that were built for multiple users. Watts Warehouse by Travis & Mangnall in the form of a Venetian palazzo , was built in 1856, the largest single-occupancy textile warehouse in Manchester . Warehouses were built into
11610-563: The highest residential accommodation in Europe when completed in 2006. It was surpassed in 2018 by the 659-foot (201 m) South Tower of the Deansgate Square project, also in Manchester. In January 2007, the independent Casino Advisory Panel licensed Manchester to build the UK's only supercasino , but plans were abandoned in February 2008. On 22 May 2017, an Islamist terrorist carried out
11739-524: The historic non-comformist attitude and uniqueness of the city'. The Beetham Tower was completed in the autumn 2006 and until 2018 was the tallest building in the UK outside London (at which point it was surpassed by the South Tower at Deansgate Square , also in Manchester). City centre regeneration coincided with the property boom of the 2000s with one urbanist remarking on "the sheer number of cranes and
11868-478: The increased building of social housing overspill estates by Manchester City Council after the Second World War such as Hattersley and Langley . The 2012 mid-year estimate for the population of Manchester was 510,700. This was an increase of 7,900, or 1.6 per cent, since the 2011 estimate. Since 2001, the population has grown by 87,900, or 20.8 per cent, making Manchester the third fastest-growing area in
11997-451: The increasingly large container ships. Traffic declined, and the port closed in 1982. Heavy industry suffered a downturn from the 1960s and was greatly reduced under the economic policies followed by Margaret Thatcher 's government after 1979. Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing between 1961 and 1983. Regeneration began in the late 1980s, with initiatives such as the Metrolink ,
12126-503: The length of Manchester Cottons (which were actually woollens) to 22 yards. By 1641 Manchester was producing both cotton and linen cloth. A bequest from wealthy cloth merchant, Humphrey Chetham was responsible for the Chetham's School and Library in the mediaeval collegiate building. St Ann's Church , attributed to Wren or one of his pupils, was built in 1712 in St Ann's Square which became
12255-414: The most original buildings of that time in England, or indeed anywhere." After World War II, work to rebuild war-damaged Manchester began and the transition from warehouse to office blocks accelerated as the city's industrial prowess waned. Few aesthetically memorable buildings were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, but some grew into landmarks for the city. The first major building constructed after
12384-467: The name "Manchester". In 1792, Commissioners – usually known as "Police Commissioners" – were established for the social improvement of Manchester. Manchester regained its borough status in 1838 and comprised the townships of Beswick , Cheetham Hill , Chorlton upon Medlock and Hulme . By 1846, with increasing population and greater industrialisation, the Borough Council had taken over the powers of
12513-534: The neo-Gothic style, was a major commission. In the 1860s Waterhouse designed Strangeways Gaol and its French Gothic style gatehouse in red brick with sandstone dressings and landmark tower in red brick with sandstone dressings in the style of a minaret . The City Police Courts in red brick with an impressive tower in the Italian Gothic style was completed in 1871 in Minshull Street by another proponent of
12642-431: The noise of the building work, with the sound of pneumatic drills in my ears wherever I went" . Manchester was granted city status in 1853 due to its rapid development and was the first to be granted such status since Bristol in 1542. Manchester was on a provisional list for UNESCO World Heritage site status emphasising the city's role in the Industrial Revolution and its extensive canal network. Castlefield , west of
12771-556: The non-conformity and uniqueness of the city would be viewed more sympathetically. The Manchester Civil Justice Centre was built in 2007 in Spinningfields - Manchester's new business district. It has been well received by architecture critics who praised its aesthetics, environmental credentials and structural quality. The Guardian architecture critic Owen Hatherley described it as a "genuinely striking building". In Manchester are monuments to people and events that have shaped
12900-634: The only significant survivors of Leland's Manchester. During the English Civil War Manchester strongly favoured the Parliamentary interest. Although not long-lasting, Cromwell granted it the right to elect its own MP . Charles Worsley , who sat for the city for only a year, was later appointed Major General for Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire during the Rule of the Major Generals . He
13029-405: The original market place was cleared in 1970s developments. Ancient streets such as Smithy Door were lost. One ancient survivor is Long Millgate, a winding lane, leading north from the old market place across Fennel Street to Todd Street (formerly Toad Lane – thought to be a corruption of T'owd Lane, or The Old Lane), an attractive and peaceful thoroughfare bounded by gardens. Whitworth Street
13158-525: The polluted environment of Manchester. Mayfield Station , opened in 1910 next to Manchester Piccadilly by the London & North Western Railway , closed in 1960 and lies derelict. Manchester Exchange operated between 1884 and 1969 near Manchester Cathedral , most of the station was in Salford and its 1929 extension east of the Irwell was in Manchester and was linked with the adjacent Victoria Station. Manchester's first town hall, designed by Francis Goodwin ,
13287-477: The proportion of Muslims increased by 73.6 per cent from 9.1 per cent to 15.8 per cent. The size of the Jewish population in Greater Manchester is the largest in Britain outside London. Architecture of Manchester The architecture of Manchester demonstrates a rich variety of architectural styles. The city is a product of the Industrial Revolution and is known as the first modern, industrial city. Manchester
13416-505: The rest of the world does tomorrow." Manchester's golden age was perhaps the last quarter of the 19th century. Many of the great public buildings (including Manchester Town Hall ) date from then. The city's cosmopolitan atmosphere contributed to a vibrant culture, which included the Hallé Orchestra . In 1889, when county councils were created in England, the municipal borough became a county borough with even greater autonomy. Although
13545-480: The sea docks on the Mersey. The Bridgewater Canal , Britain's first wholly artificial waterway, was opened in 1761, bringing coal from mines at Worsley to central Manchester. The canal was extended to the Mersey at Runcorn by 1776. The combination of competition and improved efficiency halved the cost of coal and halved the transport cost of raw cotton. Manchester became the dominant marketplace for textiles produced in
13674-615: The settlement was subsequently occupied by Saxons who renamed it Manigcastre . It was taken by the Danes in 870 AD, the significance of which is seen in the street patterns and names. The gate suffix in Deansgate and Millgate derives from the Old Norse gata meaning road. In the tenth century the cliff at the junction of the Irwell and the Irk became the preferred site when a church dedicated to St Mary
13803-470: The south of Manchester. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, offering extensive views from many highrise buildings in the city of the foothills and moors of the Pennines, which can often be capped with snow in the winter months. Manchester's geographic features were highly influential in its early development as the world's first industrial city. These features are its climate, its proximity to
13932-402: The sultan of Morocco, Abd al-Aziz , who had just succeeded his father Hassan I . Manchester Manchester ( / ˈ m æ n tʃ ɪ s t ər , - tʃ ɛ s -/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester , England, which had an estimated population of 568,996 in 2022. It contributes to the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom as
14061-425: The surrounding towns. A commodities exchange , opened in 1729, and numerous large warehouses, aided commerce. In 1780, Richard Arkwright began construction of Manchester's first cotton mill. In the early 1800s, John Dalton formulated his atomic theory in Manchester. Manchester was one of the centres of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution . The great majority of cotton spinning took place in
14190-566: The title the Manchester Royal Exchange in 1851. The third exchange in the Classical style by Mills and Murgatroyd, opened in 1874 and was lavishly re-built Bradshaw Gass & Hope between 1914 and 1921. It had the largest trading room in the world but closed for cotton trading in 1968 and now is a theatre. Early Victorian warehouses were built of brick with stone dressings typically up to six storeys tall with basements and steps to
14319-498: The towns of south Lancashire and north Cheshire, and Manchester was for a time the most productive centre of cotton processing. Manchester became known as the world's largest marketplace for cotton goods and was dubbed " Cottonopolis " and "Warehouse City" during the Victorian era . In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term "manchester" is still used for household linen: sheets, pillow cases, towels, etc. The industrial revolution brought about huge change in Manchester and
14448-459: The war was the Granada Studios complex designed by Ralph Tubbs in 1954. The studios' notable features were a lattice tower and red, neon sign . When the 118-metre tall CIS Tower was built in 1962, it was the tallest building in the United Kingdom. The tower by, Sir John Bumet, Gordon Tait and Partners with G.S. Hay, is recognised as one of the best 1960s modernist buildings. As home to
14577-473: The world. A centre of capitalism, Manchester was once the scene of bread and labour riots, as well as calls for greater political recognition by the city's working and non-titled classes. One such gathering ended with the Peterloo massacre of 16 August 1819. The economic school of Manchester Capitalism developed there, and Manchester was the centre of the Anti-Corn Law League from 1838 onward. Manchester has
14706-409: Was a diligent puritan , turning out ale houses and banning the celebration of Christmas; he died in 1656. Significant quantities of cotton began to be used after about 1600, firstly in linen and cotton fustians , but by around 1750 pure cotton fabrics were being produced and cotton had overtaken wool in importance. The Irwell and Mersey were made navigable by 1736, opening a route from Manchester to
14835-574: Was built at St Mary's Gate and the Danish town grew around it. The settlement was important enough to be given the right to strike coinage by King Canute . There has been a church on the site of the cathedral since 1215. Another medieval survival is the Hanging Bridge across the filled-in Hanging Ditch , a stream south of the cathedral. All that remains are two sandstone arches now incorporated into
14964-562: Was built between 1888 and 1894, in some sections by canalisation of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey, running 36 miles (58 km) from Salford to Eastham Locks on the tidal Mersey. This enabled oceangoing ships to sail right into the Port of Manchester. On the canal's banks, just outside the borough, the world's first industrial estate was created at Trafford Park . Large quantities of machinery, including cotton processing plant, were exported around
15093-477: Was built in 1848 to the designs of J.E. Gregan. Charles Cockerell designed the Bank of England's Manchester branch on King Street in 1845-6 but the street is dominated by the former Midland Bank designed by Edwin Lutyens in 1928 his major work in the city. The Royal Bank of Scotland on Mosley Street was designed for the Manchester and Salford Bank by Edward Walters in 1862. On the corner of Spring Gardens and York Street
15222-570: Was constructed during 1822–25 in the neo-classical style with a screen of Ionic columns. Its facade was re-erected as a folly in Heaton Park at the west end of its lake in 1913. Manchester was granted a Charter of Incorporation in 1838. Classical architecture gave way to Neo-gothic and Palazzo styles in the Victorian Era . Edward Walters designed the Free Trade Hall in the 1850s as
15351-619: Was designed by Weightman & Hadfield in 1848. On the outskirts of the city centre, J. A. Hansom designed the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Chorlton-on-Medlock which was completed 1928 by Adrian Gilbert Scott and E.W. Pugin 's Grade II* Church and Friary of St Francis, Gorton Monastery are "of more than local interest". In the late 19th century the large Jewish community around Cheetham Hill built
15480-429: Was elected as the first mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017 . At 53°28′0″N 2°14′0″W / 53.46667°N 2.23333°W / 53.46667; -2.23333 , 160 miles (260 km) northwest of London, Manchester lies in a bowl-shaped land area bordered to the north and east by the Pennines , an upland chain that runs the length of northern England , and to the south by the Cheshire Plain . Manchester
15609-843: Was held in Manchester (at the Mechanics' Institute, David Street), from 2 to 6 June 1868. Manchester was an important cradle of the Labour Party and the Suffragette Movement. At that time, it seemed a place in which anything could happen—new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the Manchester School , promoting free trade and laissez-faire ), new classes or groups in society, new religious sects, and new forms of labour organisation. It attracted educated visitors from all parts of Britain and Europe. A saying capturing this sense of innovation survives today: "What Manchester does today,
15738-399: Was key to the increase in Manchester's population. Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as people flocked to the city for work from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and other areas of England as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by the Industrial Revolution . It developed a wide range of industries, so that by 1835 "Manchester
15867-520: Was quickly revised upwards. The final insurance payout was over £400 million; many affected businesses never recovered from the loss of trade. Spurred by the investment after the 1996 bombing and aided by the XVII Commonwealth Games , the city centre has undergone extensive regeneration. New and renovated complexes such as The Printworks and Corn Exchange have become popular shopping, eating and entertainment areas. Manchester Arndale
15996-552: Was replaced by Victoria Bridge which has a single arch of about 100 feet span constructed from sandstone in 1839. Other Victorian bridges over the Irwell are the three-arched Blackfriars Bridge , the skew arched Albert Bridge and the wrought iron Palatine Bridge . Modern bridges include the Hulme Arch Bridge completed in 1997 and the Trinity footbridge across the Irwell designed by Santiago Calatrava in 1994. It has
16125-631: Was switched to bomb making; Dunlop's rubber works in Chorlton-on-Medlock made barrage balloons ; and just outside the city in Trafford Park , engineers Metropolitan-Vickers made Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster bombers and Ford built the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to power them. Manchester was thus the target of bombing by the Luftwaffe , and by late 1940 air raids were taking place against non-military targets. The biggest took place during
16254-562: Was the Manchester Museum on a new site in Chorlton on Medlock. The Whitworth Institute and its surrounding park was founded in 1889 in the name of Sir Joseph Whitworth , one of the city's great industrialists. Designed by J.W.Beaumont in red brick with details in matching terracotta, it was transferred to the university and changed its name to the Whitworth Art Gallery in 1958. Alfred Waterhouse's son, Paul Waterhouse continued
16383-464: Was the first of the city's stations, of which four remain in the city centre. Piccadilly and Victoria which has a long Baroque frontage and glass canopy are the largest, Piccadilly retains is Victorian train shed and Victoria its Edwardian facade . Deansgate has a curved corner frontage with mock portcullis and embattled parapet. Oxford Road was rebuilt in 1960 in concrete and wood. The Midland Railway 's Manchester Central Station , one of
16512-426: Was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world". Engineering firms initially made machines for the cotton trade, but diversified into general manufacture. Similarly, the chemical industry started by producing bleaches and dyes, but expanded into other areas. Commerce was supported by financial service industries such as banking and insurance. Trade, and feeding the growing population, required
16641-462: Was −17.6 °C (0.3 °F) on 7 January 2010. The highest temperature recorded in Manchester is 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) on 19 July 2022, during the 2022 European Heatwave . Manchester lies at the centre of a green belt region extending into the wider surrounding counties. This reduces urban sprawl , prevents towns in the conurbation from further convergence, protects the identity of outlying communities, and preserves nearby countryside. It
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