Now, Manchester Mapping the City, must be a book for anyone interested in the cartography of the city and its transformation from a small attractive Georgian town into “the shock city of the Industrial Revolution” ** and its present status as an exciting place to live at the heart of large urban conurbation.
I got my copy for Christmas, and I have rationed myself to four maps a day which is hard given that the maps are fascinating, and the accompanying notes illuminate the story of the city.
The book opens in 1728 with panoramic views across the Irwell and take in many of my favorite maps with plenty more I have never seen, including one drawn for the inquiry into Peterloo, the Soviet map and the 1960 plan to introduce parking meters.
Along the way there is the famous 1945 regeneration plan of the city, Goad’s Fire Insurance maps and the delightful Adshead map of 1851.
I was first alerted to the book by Neil Spurr of Digital Archives Association who reproduces excellent old maps in a digital format, and while I was intrigued, I was a tad skeptical, wrongly thinking that there would just not be enough maps to advance my knowledge.
There are in fact 54 sections, each with a map and commentary, staring with those panoramic views in 1728 and finishing with a map from 2016 and a discussion on the wider city region.
Each section offers up an insight into how the city has changed, and the way Mancunians have worked, played, and coped with everything from dire housing conditions, to finding a parking place, and contemplating an underground rail network and a proposed heliport on Victoria Railway Station.
Of the three authors, I have been familiar with Terry Wyke, who has written the notes for some of the maps from Digital Archives Association, has also collaborated on books on the city’s history as well as being a Senior Lecturer in Social & Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University.
At which point I am pondering on nominating my favorite map, but that would be premature as I still have twelve sections to go and anyway many have long helped me with research and have found their way into my own books and the blog.
And I suppose, it is the usefulness of each map which makes them all so compelling, leaving me just to reflect on Goad’s Insurance maps from the late 1880s, which detail, not only many of the streets and the buildings but also contain fascinating reference to the materials used in the construction of each property.
Sadly the two houses at numbers 33 and 35 on Wood Street, never made it into the Goad collection, but then they never would given that they were humble properties, but using a photograph of the two along with census material it has been possible to learn something about them along.
They have long ago vanished, but they were opposite the Wood Street Mission which Mr. Goad did include.
Today the site is a small car park for the Rylands Library and just down from that space is a passageway which may have been the entrance to another court called Bradley’s Yard.
So that is it ……. Christmas present number one with more to follow.
Pictures; Wood Street, 2007, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, numbers 33 & 35, m05389, A Bradburn courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Wood Street, circa 1900, from Goad's Fire Insurance Maps, Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
* Manchester Mapping the City, Terry Wyke, Brian Robson, and Martin Dodge, 2018
** Victorian Cities, Asa Briggs, 1963
*** Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
**** Walking the streets of Manchester in 1870 ................ part 4 ... calling on Mr. and Mrs. Hall at no.35 Wood Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/walking-streets-of-manchester-in-1870_9.html
The book opens in 1728 with panoramic views across the Irwell and take in many of my favorite maps with plenty more I have never seen, including one drawn for the inquiry into Peterloo, the Soviet map and the 1960 plan to introduce parking meters.
Along the way there is the famous 1945 regeneration plan of the city, Goad’s Fire Insurance maps and the delightful Adshead map of 1851.
I was first alerted to the book by Neil Spurr of Digital Archives Association who reproduces excellent old maps in a digital format, and while I was intrigued, I was a tad skeptical, wrongly thinking that there would just not be enough maps to advance my knowledge.
 |
| Wood Street, from Goad, 1889 |
Each section offers up an insight into how the city has changed, and the way Mancunians have worked, played, and coped with everything from dire housing conditions, to finding a parking place, and contemplating an underground rail network and a proposed heliport on Victoria Railway Station.
Of the three authors, I have been familiar with Terry Wyke, who has written the notes for some of the maps from Digital Archives Association, has also collaborated on books on the city’s history as well as being a Senior Lecturer in Social & Economic History, Manchester Metropolitan University.
 |
| 33 & 35, Wood Street, 1909 |
And I suppose, it is the usefulness of each map which makes them all so compelling, leaving me just to reflect on Goad’s Insurance maps from the late 1880s, which detail, not only many of the streets and the buildings but also contain fascinating reference to the materials used in the construction of each property.
Sadly the two houses at numbers 33 and 35 on Wood Street, never made it into the Goad collection, but then they never would given that they were humble properties, but using a photograph of the two along with census material it has been possible to learn something about them along.
They have long ago vanished, but they were opposite the Wood Street Mission which Mr. Goad did include.
 |
| Wood Street Mission, 2007 |
So that is it ……. Christmas present number one with more to follow.
Pictures; Wood Street, 2007, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, numbers 33 & 35, m05389, A Bradburn courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and Wood Street, circa 1900, from Goad's Fire Insurance Maps, Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
* Manchester Mapping the City, Terry Wyke, Brian Robson, and Martin Dodge, 2018
** Victorian Cities, Asa Briggs, 1963
*** Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
**** Walking the streets of Manchester in 1870 ................ part 4 ... calling on Mr. and Mrs. Hall at no.35 Wood Street, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/walking-streets-of-manchester-in-1870_9.html
Snap! Also received this for Christmas, it's a brilliant and fascinating publication. Highly recommended.
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