Cannon Court has tidied its act up a lot since I first stumbled across it in 1969, soon after I arrived in Manchester.
I remember it as one of those places which was a bit shabby, rather neglected, and not much of an advert for the city.
Of course now I rather wish it was still like that given than many of the other interesting alleys, courts and narrow streets have been swept away.
The last time I was down there it was clean, tidy and less interesting than I remembered it.
But perhaps I am being a little picky and unreasonable given that visitors to the Cathedral, might just not want to pick their way past old boxes, overflowing dustbins and crates of empty bottles.
So I shall leave it you to judge, using an image of Cannon Court, pretty much as I left it in the 1960s, and today, all bright and pristine.
So far so good ........... and now for the correction, because I never clocked the name of the alley back in 1969, and when I revisited it this week one map called it Hanging Ditch, so I followed suit.
Only to be corrected by two people who pointed out that historically this was Cannon Court, and there on my own copy of Goads Fire Insurance was indeed the name Cannon Court.
So thank you for the two who were more vigilant than I.
Location; Cannon Court
Pictures; Cannon Court, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk and in 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Hanging Ditch and Cannon Court, circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
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| 1967 |
Of course now I rather wish it was still like that given than many of the other interesting alleys, courts and narrow streets have been swept away.
The last time I was down there it was clean, tidy and less interesting than I remembered it.
But perhaps I am being a little picky and unreasonable given that visitors to the Cathedral, might just not want to pick their way past old boxes, overflowing dustbins and crates of empty bottles.
So I shall leave it you to judge, using an image of Cannon Court, pretty much as I left it in the 1960s, and today, all bright and pristine.
 |
| 2017 |
 |
| Circa 1900 |
Only to be corrected by two people who pointed out that historically this was Cannon Court, and there on my own copy of Goads Fire Insurance was indeed the name Cannon Court.
So thank you for the two who were more vigilant than I.
Location; Cannon Court
Pictures; Cannon Court, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection", https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR0t6qAJ0-XOmfUDDqk9DJlgkcNbMlxN38CZUlHeYY4Uc45EsSMmy9C1YCk and in 2017 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Hanging Ditch and Cannon Court, circa 1900, from Goads Fire Insurance map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/
'Back Piccadilly' looks exactly like that today - half a century later.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThe 1967 photo is of Cannon Court which ran parallel to Hanging Bridge. Hanging Bridge is the 2017 photo in your article.
Colin
Opps how wrong I was ..... corrections made.
ReplyDelete