Art on the street …….. the Northern Quarter

They come in many different sizes, styles and artistic quality, but the artwork across the Northern Quarter adds to the “quirky” nature of the place.

Now I know that there are heaps of towns and cities all over the place where you can see street “art” ranging from Sidney’s spray can efforts, to commissioned works which jostle for attention with the odd fading ghost sign.

And just before New Year I came across some that I liked, and which did indeed brighten up that drab spot dominated by the multi storey car park on Tib Street.

I could say more but I think that is about it.

Location; Tib Street

Pictures; Art on the street, The Northern Quarter, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Forgotten gardens of Manchester …….. no 1.... in a car park

Now, I say forgotten but it may just be that the little garden at the bottom of Hilton Street is just resting, and its gardeners will return.

We first came across it back in 2012, and have watched with interest over the next seven years as the plants matured and lost that new look.

But last Saturday it was a tad overgrown and unkempt and I wondered if those people who had lavished so much care on it would be coming back.

In its way the plot is in a perfect spot at that point where Hilton Street becomes a dead end, beyond which there is the car park which occupies what was once the canal basin.

This stretch of road has been finished off with stone setts, and my friend Lawrence who worked in Langley Buildings which stretches back from Hilton Street to Dale Street, tells me that the setts have “been used in making TV programs”.

And just maybe the garden featured in a programme, although I guess it is more likely that they are part of a regeneration scheme, which brightened up the car park.

All of which led me to explore the plot through time, as you do.

In the late 18th century this area was still fields, which was quickly developed with the coming of the Rochdale Canal.

By the 1840s the garden site comprised a timber yard and a number of domestic properties running back to Brewer Street, three of which were back to backs, most of which had gone by the early 1930s, and remaining buildings by 1951.

I suspect there will be someone who can tell me whether the spot remained undeveloped during the next half century, and I hope there will be someone who can tell me more about the gardens.

We shall see.

Location; Manchester

Picture; the Hilton Street garden, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the spot in 1851  from Adshead’s map of Manchester, 1851, courtesy of Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/ 

Keep taking the pictures ….. even in lockdown ….. a deserted Thomas Street

The task is that simple one ………. keep taking the pictures even in the lockdown, because pretty soon people will forget how empty our city streets became at the height of the pandemic.

And in the same way I wonder how long it will be before Andy’s pictures of Thomas Street featuring “Eton Mess” and “Marcus Rashford for PM”, will need to be accompanied with detailed notes, and supported by scholarly footnotes.

And that is really all I have to say.

History never stops and while the professional historian makes judgements on what constitutes history, the reality is that we can never be quite sure what at the time will be judged significant and therefore worthy of being recorded.

So, as I always say “hoover it all up” and “wait for posterity to choose".  

And if Ms. Posterity gets it wrong ………..just put it out there for everyone to see and decide.

Which just leaves me to add that I fully accept not everyone will see the historical relevance of the pictures, but I would suggest that they may not last more than a few years, vanishing like melting snow in the winter sunshine, so grab them while you can.

Location; Thomas Street, Northern Quarter

Picture; Thomas Street, 2021, from the collection of Andy Robertson