Looking down on a vanished Castlefield ....... circa 1972

Now it is easy to forget just how run down, neglected and pretty dismal was the area around the Castlefield Canal Basin just a few decades ago.

It was a place waiting for something to happen, but sadly no one knew quite what and the extent of that forlorn landscape was caught by David Easton in a series of pictures he took from a moving train.

He posted them recently on face book apologising for  “the quality of these images. 

I hope they are of some interest though. 

Those of Castlefield were taken from a moving train and have been scanned from ageing slides. This was about 1972/3 when there was still some barge traffic on the Ship Canal. 

Some barges occasionally found their way onto the Bridgewater Canal although I think the warehouses were already out of use.”

And when I saw them I was immediately transported back to a time

before the developers saw a potential for the area and when sitting beside the canal with food and a drink meant nothing more than a sandwich and a bottle of fizzy pop.

So for all those who never knew the canal basin with its empty warehouses and sunken boats here again are a selection of Castlefield in 1972.

Pictures; from the collection of David Easton, 1972

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 11 Dalton Entry

Now this is a bit of a cheat, because I have already written about this little alleyway which leads in a twisty way to Tasle Alley and Mulberry Street and the Hidden Gem.

But that won't stop me.

Location; Manchester

Picture; 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 9 Town Hall Lane

Now this is Town Hall Lane and looking at it you half expect that it would once have gone somewhere but was long ago doomed to become a dead end by the grand plan of a developer.

But not so as early as the 1790s it led off from Cross Street and finished at the back of a building.

That said in 1793 you could have walked along its length stepping off into a side alley on the northern side and by degree squeezing down a very narrow alley onto Tib Lane.

But by the 19th century our lane just ran beside Town Hall buildings and so hence the name.

Not that any of the maps bothered to record a name, although Goad's Fire Insurance map did refer to it as Town Hall Buildings.

But by then the Town Hall had gone, replaced by the more majestic one in Albert Square.

I have Antony to thank for alerting me to this one.  I have to confess that in all of my 40 odd years in the city I had not once given it a thought.

Location; Manchester

Pictures;Town Hall Lane, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 18 Marriot's Court

This is Marriot’s Court which for some people will just be a cut through from Spring Gardens to Brown Street and for others that narrow little street beside the Post Office.

Marriot's Court, 2016

But for me it is one of my favourite little streets, more so because back in the 1970s the building opposite the Post Office was home to a Curry House and a little jewellery shop which always caught my eye.

If I am honest I never clocked its name or for that matter the history behind the street.

Had I paused to think about the origins of Marriot’s Court I might have wondered who Marriot was and where the court was situated.

The court was easy enough to find it was on the north side of the street under what is now the Post Office and was there by 1793.*

But as to who Marriot was that has proved more difficult.  In 1775 a Thomas Marriot was the Borough Reeve for Manchester which was the most important municipal post and just twenty years later there are four Marriot’s listed in the street directory for 1774.

So you can take your pick from Mrs Marriot who lived at nu 6 Princess Street, Richard Marriot, a “fustian manufacturer" listed at the Bridgewater Arms yard, Christopher Marriot manufacturer who lived on Alport Street and William Marriot, yarn merchant residing at 41 Cannon Street.

Any one of these might have gone in for some speculative building leaving their name as testimony to their enterprise but I just don’t know.

Marriot's Court, 1851

The Rate Books are no help for while there is a William Marriot listed in 1768 and a Richard Marriot in 1798 neither has properties on Marriot Court and there are no others listed for the period from 1768 until 1802.

As for the occupants of the court which provided part of the streets name there no records although we do know that in 1850, at nu 9 there was Spencer John & Son  who were manufacturers, along with Samuel Sedgewick Goodwin, solicitors and John Prince, share broker.

Marriot's Court, 1900

Later in the century all the properties on the northern side were swept away to be replaced by the Post Office.  Work began on the new building in 1881 and was finished six years later which in turn was demolished in the 1960s.

I just missed visiting the old Post Office by a few years which is a shame particularly because I would have been able to see the large memorial to the men of the Manchester Post Office who died in the Great War.

It consists of a Winged Victory at the centre, holding a flaming torch flanked by a young boy and girl and at their feet are the symbols of war including a helmet and a sword.

After the closure of the Post Office the memorial went on its travels and currently resides the entrance to the Royal Mail Sorting Depot on Oldham Road.

Now I could have just left it there but in trawling the Annals of Manchester I came across this entry for 1775 when Mr Thomas Marriot took up his office of Borough Reeve, “the Theatre Royal, in Spring Gardens was built and opened on June 5.  The first stone was laid of the Gentleman’s Concert Room in Fountain Street.  

Marriot's Court, 1793

Mr Richard Arkwright took out another patent for carding, drawing and moving frames.

The ducking-stool was still in use.  

It was an open bottomed chair of wood, placed upon a long pole, balanced on a pivot, and suspended over a sheet of water at Pool Fold***  I

t was afterwards suspended over the Daub-holes- the Infirmary Pond – and was used for the purpose of punishing scolds and disorderly women.”****

Now I have no idea what Mr or Mrs Marriot would have made of all that or whether they frequented the Theatre Royal or even if they took a stroll down to Pool Fold but two centuries and a bit on I suspect they would have been a little miffed that their court had disappeared.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Marriot's Court, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Marriot's Court, 1851 from Adshead’s map of Manchester, in 1900 from Goad’s Fire Insurance Maps,  and in 1793, from Laurent's map, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Laurent’s Map

**Scholes Directory, 1794

***Pool Fold ran from Chapel Walks to St Market Street and is part of Cross Street

****Axon, W.E. The Annals of Manchester, 1885, p103

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 10 Four Yards

Now I was never much good at maths or for that matter being able to make judgments about distance.

So I can’t say whether the distance between John Dalton Street and King Street is Four Yards.

To be fair the Laurent’s map  of 1793 suggests that it might have only run from John Dalton Street to South Kings Street and our little stretch might have not actually been part of the original.

Look closely at its alignment now and back 223 years ago and it doesn’t quite match up.

All of which just leaves someone to go and measure the distance or better still unearth some dusty document which gives a definitive answer.

So for now I will continue to use it as a alternative to a very busy Cross Street.

Location; Manchester



Picture; Four Yards, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 8 the one with the umbrellas

It's that short cut through that takes you from King Street to South King Street and of course it is the one with the umbrella's half way along and some delightful stone motifs.

I can't remember when the umbrella's appeared but they are one of the fun things I liked to show visitors.

I have to confess I didn't know it had a name, but according to Goad's Fire Insurance maps of the late 19th and early 20th centuries it is listed as St Ann's Passage.

In time I will track its history but it was there by 1849 as a covered passageway and back in 1793 was an open lane connecting King Street to what was then Back King Street.

So who would have thought that this cut through had a history?

All of which just leaves me to ask if anyone remembers the umbrella's being installed.

I rather think it was the mid 1970s but I can't remember.

I am guessing some of the motifs were made at the same time.

And that is it other than to say the umbrellas have now gone, which l think diminishes it's charm.



Location; Manchester









Pictures; between King Street and South King Street, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 7 County Street

This is County Street which is so unremarkable that it’s another of those narrow side streets not even worth a glance.

County Street, 2016

It is situated off Mount Street between Central Street and Lloyd Street, and goes nowhere.

It has none of the mysterious promise of other small side streets which might entice you in.

True it is narrow enough but it is also very short, ends in a dead end and has no twisty bits which make you wonder what is round the corner.

By 1900 it was just what you see now, although then it was called Chapel Street and ran into the back of the Memorial Hall and which is now a restaurant.

Go back just another fifty years and the street was indeed a more twisty stretch continuing all the way down to Coach Makers Entry which ran from Jackson’s Row to Lloyd Street.

And had you turned into it from Mount Street in 1851  it would have led to Brignall’s Dye Works and a Tannery before going off north and  east taking in any properties and passing the backs of another six buildings before exiting out on Coach Makers Entry, where for good measure there was the Coach Makers Arms.

The street in 1851

I can’t be sure when it was cut but it will date from after 1819, and indeed just fifteen years earlier this was just open land with a pond where the Albert Square Chop House now stands.

So it may not be much now but go back long enough and there was a lot more to that dead end, with plenty of stories just waiting to be uncovered.

Location, Manchester

Pictures; County Street, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and the street in 1851 from Adshead’s map of Manchester, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 5 Bow Lane

Now I am not surprised that Bow Lane rarely features in the street directories.

These were the books which were issued annually from the 1780s up to 1969 and listed the streets, the residents and the businesses in the city.

Bow Lane which runs from Cross Street over Clarence Street and then twist on to Princess Street seems unworthy of much of a mention; although to be fair there were two listings for 1911.

And twists it does widening as it travels up from Cross Street but now just a cut through for anyone wanting to avoid the main streets. That said it does offer an opportunity to look into the Town Hall Tavern.

Location; Manchester



Pictures; Bow Lane, 2016 from the collection of Andy Robertson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 2 Pool Fold

Back Pool Fold is one of those twisty little thoroughfares which you think must have a rich and varied history and at sometime have offered up more than a few dark stories.  

Back Pool Fold, 2015

But for now it’s the name that provides a clue to how this bit of the city has changed and it all hangs on the word Back which suggests there must once have been a Pool Fold and sure enough in the late 18th century there was.

It was the continuation of Cross Street which in 1793 terminated at the corner with Chapel Walks leaving Pool Fold to creep up to Market Street past what was then the New Shambles.

And as such would have been familiar to those Dissenters who attended the Cross Street Chapel which dates from 1694 and which is the origin of the name Chapel Walks.

There will be many who remember walking down Chapel Walks past the grassed area at the rear of the chapel and clocking that this was the site of the graveyard.

It vanished under the last rebuild of the chapel in 1997, which is the fourth place of worship to occupy the site.

The first was opened in 1694, and destroyed by a mob in 1715, its successor succumbed to an air raid in December 1940 and the replacement built in 1959 survived for four decades.

Pool Fold, from Market Street to Cross Street, 1793

Now I bet there will be someone out there who can offer up an exact date for the moment that Pool Fold became the continuation of Cross Street.

For now I know that in 1794 it was still going under its old name, and by 1849 had been lost to history.

All of which just leaves me to mention Sam’s Chops House.

It cannot claim to have stood on its present site for that long, having opened at Back Fold Place in the 1950s although it does date back to 1872 when Mr Samuel Studd opened his restaurant under the grander name of Sam’s London Chop House.

It was situated in Manchester Chambers on the corner of Market Street and Pall Mall.

The building has long gone but once and not that long ago this corner was home to the UCP shop which for those who don’t know was the United Cattle Products Company which had a chain of 146 restaurants.

You entered from that corner, went up a large staircase into the restaurant and there amongst many cattle products on offer was tripe.

Once Pool Fold, now just part of Cross Street, 2016

We only went in once and never bothered with the pub next door on Pall Mall.  It was called the Tavern and

I can’t say it looked inviting.  There was one entrance, and the windows ran in a long strip high up on the wall.

All of which may seem a long way from Pool Fold but perhaps not given the connection between the UCP, the Shambles clearly shown on the map and the many meat dishes offered up by Sam’s, but then as a veggie I think that is where I shall close.

Other than to say with all the work on Cross Street in connection with the Second City Crossing it will be interesting to see if anything new comes out of the ground.

After all earlier in the year work was slowed by the discovery of burials along the route which may have been from the Cross Street Chapel.

Next; Tasel Alley

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Back Pool Fold, 2015 courtesy of Andy Robertson, Pool Fold 1793 from Laurent’s map of Manchester 1793, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ Cross Street 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 

In Albert Square with the unusual ..........

Now for anyone born before 1970 there will be nothing odd about a bus stop in Albert Square, or the parked up black cabs.

Equally the presence of two underground public lavatories either side of Albert will be no surprise.

That was just what the square was like, pretty much from its construction to sometime in the 1980s or '90s, when the public lavatories, the taxi rank and the bus stops disappeared.

And like so much modern history I can’t remember exactly when it all happened.

Of course the serious side of me knows that I should go off and find out but I bet someone will know and come back with chapter and verse which is always more fun.

Added to which they, or some else, will also be able to explain what happened to the two public lavatories.

Were the fittings carefully and lovingly taken out, and perhaps placed elsewhere or was the void just back filled?

And if it is the latter that raises fascinating thoughts about the discoveries and theories put forward in future archaeological papers on the “Role and significance of underground public services”.

Still for now, I can’t say I miss the bus stops and take pleasure in just sitting in the square, admiring the Town Hall, and pondering on the plight of those underground public lavatories.

Leaving me only to admit that there is still a taxi rank in the Square and the buses still stop but not not directly outside the Town Hall.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Albert Square, 1978, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

What we have lost ....... inside the Corn Exchange

I really liked this metal and glass structure.

It was in the Corn Exchange beside Exchange Square, and I always thought it was an innovative way to fill a space.

Added to that I rather enjoyed sitting in there sipping an espresso and waiting for the shopping expedition to finish.

But it has gone since then the space around it was transformed from a retail centre to a series of themed restaurants from Italian, to Thai, and many more.

The Corn Exchange is a listed grade II building and was originally the Corn and Produce Exchange built in 1897 and opened in 1903.

Its role as an important centre for business suffered during the 1920 and 30s and and by the time I arrived in Manchester in 1969 its role as a trading floor were over.

But I remember it as a place full of independent traders ranging from second records and comics to clothes and jewellery.

You could spend hours wandering the stalls on the trading floor and in the surrounding rooms, but that IRA bomb did for all this.

The building was severely damaged and many of the traders relocated to what has become the Northern Quarter, and the building was redeveloped as the Triangle specialising in swish retailing, but it never seemed as busy in later years, and despite a re branding in 2012 seemed to miss a trick.

And then it closed reopening as an interesting place to eat.


Location; Manchester









Pictures; interior of the Triangle, July 2013

*Corn Exchange, Manchester, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Exchange,_Manchester

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 3 Tasle Alley

Now Tasle Alley is one of those places most people will pass without a second glance.

It is the gap almost on the corner of John Dalton Street and Albert Square which with its double yellow lines which often looks dark and gloomy can’t be much of an attraction.

On the other hand for the curious that little ginnel beside New Church House on John Dalton Street suggests an adventure and if you plunge in the tunnel leads on to Tasle Alley and through a second tunnel to Mulberry Street and St Mary’s Chapel which is more popularly known as the Hidden Gem.

As late as 1849 Tasle Alley lay open on its northern side but within two years that open land had been built on and it became the narrow alley we know today and as these things go it didn’t even warrant a listing in the street directory.

I had thought that just perhaps because the buildings seem to date from 1851 they had missed being incorporated in the street directory for 1850, but no, Mr Slater's fine Directory for 1863 stubbornly refused to list  anything for the alley.

Tasel Alley, 1849

By 1900 the alley had a set of warehouses which were mainly furniture and printing with a wine merchants and a set of offices.

So that is about it.




Location; Manchester





Picture; Tasle Alley, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in 1849 from the OS of Manchester & Salford, 1842-49, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

Walking the city of Manchester in 1841 .......... courtesy of Mr B Love

Now I bet the Handbook of Manchester would have caused a stir amongst the elegant tea rooms and learned libraries of London back in 1842 when it was published.* 

After all our city was as Asa Briggs said “the shock city of the Industrial Revolution" and as such was on the itinerary of both British and foreign commentators keen to know what was going in the North.

And it is worth giving the full title of the book because it lays out just what it is about  The Handbook of Manchester, containing statistical general information on the trade, social condition, and institutions of the Metropolis of Manufactures: was published in 1842.

It was according the Preface a “new and it is presumed, a greatly improved edition of ‘Manchester As It Is,’ – published in 1839.  

Considerable pains have been taken to render this volume one of the most complete of its kind.”

And here are chapters on all the major manufacturing industries, descriptions of the population of the city and surrounding towns and townships and much on the conditions of those who lived here.

It is in short a wonderful bit of history and sits alongside those others by Dr Kay, Mr Engels and many more.

It praises the beauty of many of the new buildings and the industrious nature of its residents but has a keen social eye, commenting that the river Medlock and the river Irk “are made extensively available for manufacturing purposes; hence their waters are thick, black and filthy.”

And for me it will be when Mr Love explores the lives of the cotton workers, along with chapters on the charities, the social scene and crime when the book becomes fascinating.

So there you have it and I am thinking there will be plenty more to come.  The Female Penitentiary and the information on aspects of the city's population were drawn from random and just caught my eye.

Location; Manchester 1841

Picture; Female Penitentiary Emdben–place, Greenheys, 1841, and data from the 1841 Census represented in The Manchester, Handbook, 1842 

*The Handbook of Manchester containing statistical general information on the trade, social condition, and institutions of the Metropolis of Manufactures: being a second edition of Manchester as it is, by B. Love, member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, 1842   And is available as a download from Goggle Books

*Victorian Cities, Asa Briggs, 1963

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 22 .............. Milk Street

Milk Street is one of those streets I never really noticed.  

Milk Street, 2016

It runs from Marble Street to York Street but once started at Phoenix Street.

Today there is little you can say about it.  Its only notable feature is that concrete lattice wall which hides the entrance to an underground car park, otherwise you are faced with the backs of several buildings.

Now if I dig deep enough I might be able to discover the origins of its name which might have something to do with dairies and the practice of keeping cattle in the city centre.

But if so It will predate 1793 when Milk Street was already there.

By 1850 its residents consisted of six businesses ranging from manufacturers, to a paper.

Milk Street, 1849

There were plenty of other properties including two closed courts and at the junction with York Street the Concert Tavern and the Queen’s Theatre.  The latter was swept away in 1901 for the Parr’s Bank.

And that is it.

Location; Manchester



Picture; Milk Street, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
and in 1849 from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1842-49 courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 24 Barton Square .......... all in a name change or two

Barton Square, 2016

Barton Square is that narrow little street that runs from Exchange Street round to St Ann Street and is dominated by Barton Arcade that 19th century shopping mall more glass than wall.

I use it quite a lot and I always let my imagination wander as I follow its twisty route but until recently I had never given much thought to its name.

Barton is obvious given the arcade, but square seemed a little odd, after all this is a street. 

I supposed there might be a connection with St Ann's Square but that seemed remote and the more I thought about it even Barton threw up a puzzle given that the arcade was built in 1870 and the street is there a century before.

So as you do I went looking at the old maps of the area and the story is as complicated as you could expect.

In the 1840s and 50s that first stretch leading to the arcade was Red Lion Street which extended  under what is now the arcade just stopping short of Deansgate with four little side streets around a small square called Barton’s Buildings.  These were accessed via an entry.

Red Lion Street & Back Square, 1851

And that almost offered up the answer, but not quite, because the rest of what we now know as Barton Square had undergone a number of name changes, from Back Square in the first half of the 19th century to Back St Ann’s Square in 1793.

So mystery solved, and with a bit more digging it should be possible using the directories to pinpoint the date it all became Barton Square which it was by 1900.

Leaving me only to record that in 1851 Red Lion was occupied by mix of professional occupation including an accountant, commission agent, stockbroker and consulting engineer while Back Square was full of small manufacturing businesses.

As for Barton's buildings these belonged to a Mr Barton and consisted of four warehouses and an office with a joint annual rental income of £305 which were occupied by George and Edward Wood who dealt in cotton and cotton waste and and Tobler Anschelf & Co listed as merchants.

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Barton Square, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and in 1851, from Adshead’s map of Manchester, and in 1900 from Goad's Fire Insurance maps, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester nu 21 .......... Parsonage Lane

Now Parsonage Lane really is one of those little side streets which grows wider as you follow it down from Deansgate to Parsonasge.

It was there by 1793 and was already fronted by a selection of properties.

Fast forward half a century and these included a textile factory, the Admiral Hatchlock which also went under the name of Parsonage House, five other properties and the entrance to a closed court.

A search for Admiral Hatchlock drew a blank although I do know that our textile factory had by 1851 become Charlton & Sons Calendar Works which by 1900 had expanded across the road.

Today the original site of the textile factory is a big red office and retail block which is home to the Liquor Store.

And that is the close you will get a to buying a drink on Parsonage Lane because our pub which was still there in 1900 has long gone.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Parsonage Lane, 2016 from Deansgate from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 12 Chancellery Lane

Now I had wandered over to Spring Gardens to find Concert Lane and instead rediscovered this last bit of Chancellery Place most of which is broad enough but then narrows as it does a slight twist and opens up on Pall Mall.

Both of them are streets I have known for forty years and just rather took them for granted, but now I am wandering them all over again

Location; Manchester








Picture; Chancellery Place, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 13 Old Bank Street

Now I know that Old Bank Street is not lost and has not been forgotten.

It is after all used by heaps of people every day taking the short cut from St Ann's Square up on to Cross Street.

But it's narrow, has been there a long time and so qualified.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Old Bank Street, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 6 Bootle Alley

Now you could be forgiven for missing Bootle Alley which was always a very poor second to Bootle Street which twists up from Deansgate to Mount Street directly opposite the back of Central Ref. 

Onward Buildings,  with the alley just to the north, 2014

Its main claim to fame is that it is home to the pub, Sir Ralph Abercromby and of course a police station.

Walk along it today and you will be plunged into one of those narrow thoroughfares which with just a little bit of imagination takes you back to the early 19th century.

And once running parallel was Bottle Alley which gave access to the dark and dismal courts of Munday Square and Royle’s Court which between the two accounted for nineteen back to back cottages.

Its northern side faced onto the old Quaker Burial ground and its southern side was occupied by nine properties one of which gave access to a closed court which didn’t even merit a name.

And for those emboldened by an evening in the Sir Ralp Abercromby there is just a hint of that long vanished alley in the space between 201 Deansgate and the neighbouring restaurant.  It advances no more than a few paces before an iron gate bars the way.

Bootle Alley, 1849

So insignificant is the alley today that I have never got round to taking its picture.

Which means you will have to be content with a picture of the southern end of Onward Buildings which is the bit at the corner with Bootle Street.

Looking at the maps the lane still existed in 1900, although by then the courts had vanished.

On the burial plot stood the warehouse and offices of Leech Brothers and Manchester Corporation’s Joiner’s Shops, while directly opposite all those buildings running from the alley to Bootle Street had been cleared in preparation for Onward Buildings.

And now it is being transformed again with those huge developments.

Location; Manchester

Picture; Onward Buildings 2014, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and detail of Bootle Alley, 1849 from the OS of Manchester & Salford, 1849, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

When the media rediscovers the North

Now every so often the media discovers a place called the North.

The Dinner Hour Wigan,  Eyre Crow, 1874

In the 19th century observers from the south and indeed as far away as France and Germany made the journey north to our great industrial cities to report on how steam, machinery and textiles were transforming what had been small Georgian towns into densely populated places of enterprise and industry.

Along with creating new concentrations of people in remote valleys where a single textile mill or coal mine took advantage of fast flowing water courses and rich veins of the dark stuff.

The visitors marvelled at the new ways of production, were repelled by the awful housing conditions and shuddered at the life expectancy of many who worked in the factories, foundries, and dyeworks. 

As early as 1776 Matthew Boulton, who had teamed up with James Watt to make and sell steam engines, proudly announced to James Boswell, “I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have – POWER”

And just under two centuries later, the historian Asa Briggs described Manchester as “the shock city of the Industrial Revolution”*.

The Forging of the North, Observer, 1965

In between, novelists, social observers and Government officials regularly reported on the energy, novelty and squalor they found in the North, while in the years after the Great War, writers like George Orwell wrote vividly of the decline in the heavy industries, and its impact on unemployment and life chances.

Not that this should surprise anyone who lives in the North or that it remains a topical subject for political pundits, news programmes and journalists, who picked over the bones of the Northern Power House between 2010 and 2016 and more recently all the promises of “Leveling Up”.

As ever the devil is in the detail as many who have made a train journey from Manchester to Leeds or Sheffield will testify.

All of which is an introduction into a collection of old colour supplements from the Sunday Times, and the Observer, that came north with me nearly four decades ago

In 1965 the Sunday Times looked at how traditional values had changed in the North, including an iconic picture of two women out in Elland in West Yorkshire with their hair in rollers half hidden under scarves.

A year later and the Observer weighed into the topic with three part look at the North.  The first focused on “The Forging of the North” which examined “the story of the national epic”, ranging over all the basic heavy industries, the great northern cities as well as the smaller towns and villages and a collection of “Victorian worthies” most of whom have faded into obscurity.**

Sadly, the second of the three has been lost but was on the decline of the basic industries, while the third looked at “New fortunes old Myths”.  

Manchester skyline, 1965, Observer Magazine, 1965

Reading through the six articles of number three 58 years on I am struck by the mix of factual and perceptive reporting which is peppered throughout with  more than a few stereotypical assumptions.  

So, one article pointed out the inadequacy of some civic planning departments reporting that “When John Millar, Manchester’s new chief planner arrived in 1961 charged with redeveloping the crumbling central area, he had a staff of one elderly man…..[which meant that] when the development boom reached the Northern cities in the early 1960s places like Manchester hadn’t even sufficient staff to insist on comprehensive redevelopment orders.  Reluctantly they were bulldozed into accepting piecemeal schemes”.

I don’t doubt the accuracy of the statement but can’t square it with the sweeping and exciting plans of post war Manchester laid out in the City’s 1945 Plan.  But then it might be the difference between the plan and its execution.

Manchester 2021

Away from the factual reporting there was a slightly “southern prejudice” reflected in the surprise that northern working class women had discovered fashion.

And so half way through a piece on “The New North” was a caption under a photograph of some mill girls which ran “Young people in the North today follow and make fashion.  Above stylishly dressed and coiffed girls in a mill in New Mills”, as if factory girls had not always been keen on fashion and looking good.   

A cursory glance at the idealized painting the Dinner Hour, Wigan, by Eyre Crow from 1874 shows a group of young women with colourful scarves, shawls and hairdos which are carefully protected by hair nets.***

And it turns up again on a photograph of the new town of Peterlee in County Durham with its street of modern houses and piles of NCB coal which have been delivered to the curb side.  

Now having lived in the North East I know about the coal, but can’t quite escape that other historic southern notion that working class families kept their coal in the bath …… those of course of them who had a bath.

But the prize must go to the last article “Nothing Fancy in Coronation Street” where “Shirley Conran has a typical North Country meal with Violet Carson – television’s Ena Sharples”.  The dishes offered up were Bacon ribs on onion, Lancashire hotpot, Roast Beef, Yorkshire pudding and Bakewell Tart. 

The Avenue, Spinneyfields, 2021

All of which could be found anywhere in the country and certainly on the table in our house in south east London.  

Added to which was the final comment on wine in the North.

Both my parents who were from the North and the Midlands would have smiled at Cyril Ray who was then the wine columnist for the Observer who concluded the article with “Lancashire would rock with laughter if I recommended a wine to go with hot pot. Stout is the thing”.

I await stories of hair rollers, and a succession of examples where "northern life styles" are a part of essential life from Watford down to Bristol and across to Caney Island and Norfolk.

Leaving me to go off and pour over the accompanying commentaries on life in the North in the age of Levelling Up, and remember that it was Doctor Who who said, "Every planet has a North".

Location, that big place called the North

First posted 2022. 

Pictures; , The Dinner Hour, Wigan. The Forging of the North, Observer, January- February, 1966, Eyre Crowe, 1874, Manchester City Art Galleries, and Manchester in 2021 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Asa Briggs, Victorian Cities, 1963

**The Forging of the North, Observer Magazine, January-February, 1965

***The Dinner Hour, Wigan, Eyre Crowe, 1874, Manchester City Art Gallery, https://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/title/?mag-object-2265