133-398: The Barnes Wallis Building / Wright Robinson Hall is a university building in central Manchester . It forms part of the campus of the former University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology , which merged in 2004 with the nearby Victoria University of Manchester . It is unusual in that the two parts of the building have different names and different uses, though the building is
266-532: A Chinese community in the city since the early 20th century. Chinatown, Manchester is said to be the second largest in the United Kingdom and the third largest in Europe. From the 1990s onwards Kosovans , Afghans , Iraqis and Congolese have settled in the area. It has been suggested as a result of the last two hundred years that Manchester having been involved in all these periods of immigration
399-522: A collegiate church , dedicated to the Blessed Virgin , St. George and St. Denys or St. Denis , the latter two being the patron saints of England and France respectively. Construction began around 1422, and continued until the first quarter of the 16th century. The 'merchant princes' of the town endowed a number of chantry chapels , reflecting an increasing prosperity based on wool. This church later became Manchester Cathedral . Thomas also gave
532-694: 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 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
665-617: 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 a loanword from Latin castra , "fort; fortified town"). The city is widely known as "the capital of the North". The Brigantes were
798-555: A market town and had a market every Saturday. In 1223, Manchester gained the right to hold an annual fair ; the market was held in Acresfield ;– where St Ann's Square is today – on what was then arable land. It was the first fair to be established in the Salford Hundred and the fourth in south Lancashire. Manchester became a market town in 1301 when it received its Charter . On 1 November 1315, Manchester
931-468: 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
1064-503: 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 a loanword from Latin castra , "fort; fortified town"). The Latin name for Manchester
1197-515: A Jewish population of about 40,000. This is the largest Jewish community outside London by quite some way. To these groups may be added (in later years) Levantines (involved in the Egyptian cotton trade), Germans and Italians. The German influence can be seen in the city's Halle Orchestra and the Ancoats area of the city was known as Little Italy. By the beginning of the 20th century, Manchester
1330-598: 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
1463-480: A chapel endowed by James Stanley , Bishop of Ely , in thanksgiving for the safe return of his kinsman (sometimes said to be his son) John Stanley from the Battle of Flodden . The English Reformation resulted in the collegiate church being refounded as a Protestant institution. One of the more famous Wardens of this institution at the time was Dr John Dee , known as "Queen Elizabeth's Merlin". The town's growth
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#17327801800611596-614: A collection of books, which in 1653 became Chetham's Library , the first free public library in the English-speaking world. As of 2017, it is still open and free to use. Despite the political setbacks, the town continued to prosper. A number of inhabitants supported the Glorious Revolution in 1688. They became discontented with the Tory clergy at the collegiate church , and a separate church, more to their tastes,
1729-605: A house, these plots of land could also contain workshops and gardens. The family also owned the only corn mill in the manor which was used by all the tenants of the manor to grind their corn. Medieval Manchester was centred on the manor house and the Church of St Mary mentioned in the Domesday Book. As well as a castle at Manchester, there was also one in Ringway . Ullerwood Castle , a motte-and-bailey , probably dates from
1862-573: 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
1995-650: 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
2128-587: 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
2261-442: 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
2394-571: A place in which anything could happen—new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the so-called 'Manchester School', promoting free trade and laissez-faire ), new classes or groups in society, new religious sects and new forms of labour organisation. Such radicalism culminated in the opening of the Free Trade Hall which had several incarnations until its current building was occupied in 1856. It attracted educated visitors from all parts of Britain and Europe. "What Manchester does today," it
2527-588: 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
2660-469: A provisional list for UNESCO World Heritage City on numerous occasions. However, since the 1996 bombing , local authorities have persisted on a course of economic evolution rather than prioritising the past. This economic evolution is perhaps best illustrated with the 558-foot (170-metre) Beetham Tower which instantly "torpedoed" any possibility of World Heritage City status according to one author. Despite this, areas perceived as internationally important in
2793-405: A road heading north to Bremetennacum ( Ribchester ). The neighbouring forts were Castleshaw and Northwich . Built first from turf and timber, the fort was demolished around 140. When it was rebuilt around 160, it was again of turf and timber construction. In about 200 the fort underwent another rebuild, this time enhancing the defences by replacing the gatehouse with a stone version and facing
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#17327801800612926-461: A route from Manchester to 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
3059-789: A seat in Parliament for the first time. Maj Gen Charles Worsley , scion of an old Lancashire family and one of Cromwell 's most trusted lieutenants, had been given the Mace at the famous dissolution of Parliament in 1654. Elected Manchester's first MP, he did not sit for long before Parliament was again dissolved, leading to the Rule of the Major Generals : effectively martial law . Worsley, given responsibility for Lancashire , Cheshire and Staffordshire , took his duties seriously, turning out alehouses, banning bear baiting and cracking down on
3192-554: A single structure, purpose-built by a single architect. It was built in 1963–66 and the architect was W. A. Gibbon of Cruikshank & Seward. The building faces across a green space at the centre of campus towards the Renold Building , which was designed by the same architect and constructed the previous year. According to the Pevsner Architectural Guides: "Its scale and form was designed to relate to
3325-537: A speech in Manchester in 1787 "'I was surprised also to find a great crowd of black people standing round the pulpit. There might be forty or fifty of them.' From the 1940s onwards further waves of immigration brought Cypriots and Hungarians fleeing conflict but in the largest numbers came people re-settling from the British Colonies of the Indian subcontinent , Caribbean and Hong Kong . There has been
3458-517: A tradition of cloth production in the region, which in turn sparked the growth of the city to become Lancashire 's major industrial centre. The various townships and chapelries of the ancient parish of Manchester became separate civil parishes in 1866. Thomas de la Warre was a Lord of the Manor and also a priest . He obtained licences from the Pope and King Henry V to enable him to found and endow
3591-535: 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
3724-450: 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
3857-521: 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 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
3990-515: Is a defence against Viking invaders and was dug in 869–870. Whether this is true is uncertain, but the ditch does date from between the 7th and 9th centuries. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle detail that in 919 Edward the Elder sent men "to Mameceaster , in Northumbria, to repair and man it"; this probably refers to a burh at Manchester as an advanced post of Mercia . Although it is unsure where
4123-623: Is a student hall of residence. In January 2021, The Guardian listed the Barnes Wallis Building as one of Britain's Brutalist buildings most at risk of demolition and development. It was included in Brutal North: Post-War Modernist Architecture in the North of England , Simon Phipps's photographic study of Brutalist architecture. Manchester Manchester ( / ˈ m æ n tʃ ɪ s t ər , - tʃ ɛ s -/ )
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4256-502: 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
4389-812: 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 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
4522-452: 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
4655-462: Is often given as Mancuniun . This is most likely a neologism coined in Victorian times, similar to the widespread Latin name Cantabrigia for Cambridge (whose actual name in Roman times was Duroliponte ). Prehistoric evidence of human activity in the area of Manchester is limited, although scattered stone tools have been found. There is evidence of Bronze Age activity around Manchester in
4788-530: 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
4921-402: 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 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
5054-424: 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
5187-588: Is the most polyglot of all British cities aside from London The unconventional background of such a diverse population stimulated intellectual and artistic life. The Manchester Academy , for example, opened in Mosley Street in 1786, having enjoyed an earlier incarnation as the Warrington Academy . It was originally run by Presbyterians being one of the few dissenting academies that provided religious nonconformists , who were excluded from
5320-556: The Bank of England was established in 1826. The city had one of the first telephone exchanges in Europe (possibly the first in the UK) when in 1879 one was opened on Faulkner Street in the city centre using the Bell patent system. By 1881 it had 420 subscribers—just 7 years later a new exchange had the capacity for 10 times that number. Manchester Central exchange was still the largest outside
5453-699: 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,
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5586-487: 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
5719-483: The Great Famine of the 1840s. In 1851, it was estimated that 15% of the population of Manchester were Irish born. The first Irish community in the city was said to date back to 1798 and with further waves of immigration from Ireland coming after the second World War. The Irish influence continues to this day and, every March Manchester plays host to a large St Patrick's Day parade. It is estimated that about 35% of
5852-486: The Industrial Revolution , such as Castlefield and Ancoats , have been sympathetically redeveloped. The name Manchester originates from the Latin name Mamucium or its variant Mancunio . These names are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name . The generally accepted etymology of this name is that it comes from Brittonic * mamm- (" breast ", in reference to
5985-646: 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 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
6118-512: 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
6251-643: The River Medlock . The fort was sited on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell in a naturally defensible position. It was erected as a series of fortifications established by Gnaeus Julius Agricola during his campaign against the Brigantes who were the Celtic tribe in control of most of what would become northern England . It guards the Deva Victrix ( Chester ) to Eboracum ( York ) Roman road running east to west, and
6384-459: 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
6517-666: 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
6650-555: 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
6783-454: 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
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#17327801800616916-408: The 12th century and was owned by Hamon de Massey who owned several manors in the north east of Cheshire . The first lord of the manor to actually live in Manchester was Robert Grelley (1174–1230); his presence led to an influx of skilled workers, such as stonemasons and carpenters, associated with the construction of the manor house. In the early 13th century, Manchester for a period was not under
7049-520: The 16th century. In 1892 there was 80,000 Welsh born residents in the North West of England with particularly high concentrations in Manchester and Liverpool. David Lloyd George was born in the city and Welsh socialist Robert Jones Derfel spent much of his life in the city. Large numbers of (mostly Jewish) immigrants later came to Manchester from Central and Eastern Europe . The area, including Broughton , Prestwich and Whitefield today has
7182-693: 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
7315-683: 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 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
7448-474: 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
7581-490: 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
7714-548: 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
7847-403: The Roman conquest of the area in the 70s AD, it was part of the territory of the Brigantes , a Celtic tribe, although it may have been under the control of the Setantii , a sub-tribe of the Brigantes. For the important prehistoric farm site at Oversley Farm, see Oversleyford § Oversley Farm . The Roman fort of Mamucium was established c. AD 79 near a crossing point on
7980-425: The Romans left Britain, the focus of settlement in Manchester shifted to the confluence of the rivers Irwell and Irk . During the Early Middle Ages that followed – and persisted until the Norman conquest – the settlement of Manchester was in the territory of several different kingdoms. In the late 6th and early 7th centuries, the kingdom of Northumbria extended as far south as the River Mersey , south of what
8113-402: 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
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#17327801800618246-468: 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 the city centre into the other neighbouring authorities; these include The Four Heatons , Failsworth , Prestwich , Stretford , Sale , Droylsden , Old Trafford and Reddish . The city
8379-474: 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 ,
8512-422: The beginning of the Industrial Revolution . The Spinning Jenny in 1764 marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and brought with it the first fully mechanised production process. The myriad small valleys in the Pennine Hills to the north and east of the town, combined with the damp climate, proved ideal for the construction of water-powered cotton mills such as Quarry Bank Mill , which industrialised
8645-469: The building was for many years a good indicator of the current political balance of the UMIST Student Union. The Large Assembly Hall was at times called the Lenin Assembly Hall. Conversely, the Small Assembly Hall was at other times named the Sharansky Assembly Hall, after Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky . The 15-storey high-rise part of the structure is called Wright Robinson Hall, after the trade unionist and Lord Mayor of Manchester Wright Robinson , and
8778-418: 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
8911-410: The capital in Edwardian times when it employed 200 operators and the city had several other important roles in the history of telephony . The growth of the city was matched by the expansion of its transport links. The growth of steam power meant that demand for coal rocketed. To meet this demand, the first canal of the industrial era, the Duke's Canal, often referred to as the Bridgewater Canal ,
9044-467: The celebration of Christmas . He eventually died in 1656, at a time of the gradual ebbing away of Cromwell's authority. On the English Restoration in 1660, as a reprisal for its defence of the Parliamentarian cause, Manchester was deprived of its recently granted Members of Parliament . No MP was to sit for Manchester until 1832. The consequences of the restoration led to a great deal of soul searching. One clergyman, Henry Newcombe , could not remain in
9177-439: 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 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
9310-400: 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 ,
9443-455: 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 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
9576-479: The control of the Grelleys. Robert Grelley was one of the barons who made King John sign Magna Carta . Grelley was excommunicated for his role in the rebellion and when King John later ignored the terms of Magna Carta, Grelley forfeited his lands. King John died in 1216 and Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent , returned Grelley's land to him on behalf of King Henry III In the medieval period Manchester grew into
9709-475: The dominant marketplace for textiles produced in 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
9842-413: The earlier building. It is all white concrete. The vertical stabbing funnel on the roof is designed to light the stairs." The low-rise structure facing onto the green space at the centre of the campus is the Barnes Wallis Building, named after the pioneering aircraft designer Sir Barnes Wallis who opened the building in 1967. This once housed the main campus refectory (closed June 2009), and until 2004 it
9975-412: The edge of Ashton-under-Lyne in the east, and the edge of Prestwich in the north. That such a large area was covered by a single parish has been taken as evidence of the area's "impoverished and depopulated status". The only tax the parish was subject to was Danegeld . There was a castle in Manchester overlooking the rivers Irk and Irwell, where Chetham's School of Music stands today. This castle
10108-613: 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
10241-542: 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
10374-462: The form of burial sites. Although some prehistoric artefacts have been discovered in the city centre , these have come from redeposited layers, meaning they do not necessarily originate from where they were found; wider evidence has been found for activity in other parts of the borough. Before the Roman invasion of Britain , the location lay within the territory dominated by the Brigantes and prior to
10507-403: The fort, made up of traders and families of the soldiers. An area which has a concentration of furnaces and industrial activity has been described as an industrial estate . The vicus was probably abandoned by the mid 3rd century, although a small garrison may have remained at Mamucium into the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. The Castlefield area of Manchester is named after the fort. Once
10640-527: 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
10773-486: 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
10906-456: 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 ,
11039-589: The kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex struggled for control over North West England . In 620, Edwin of Northumbria may have sacked Manchester, and the settlement may have been sacked again in 870 by the Danes. According to legend, Nico Ditch – which runs east–west from Ashton-under-Lyne to Stretford and passes through Gorton , Levenshulme , Burnage , Rusholme , Platt Field Park in Fallowfield , Withington and Chorlton-cum-Hardy –
11172-486: The late 1960s to late 1980s amongst not just students, but also youngsters from across Manchester, for its Saturday Night Dances and Wednesday Technites. Many major rock bands played there, including The Who, The Yardbirds , Chuck Berry, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, Def Leppard, Dr Feelgood and Nazareth. Its bar today is named Harry's Bar after the Principal of UMIST at the time Harold Hankins . The naming of internal parts of
11305-407: The machinery. The result was the rapid spread of cotton mills throughout Manchester itself and in the surrounding towns. To these must be added bleach works, textile print works, and the engineering workshops and foundries, all serving the cotton industry. During the mid-19th century Manchester grew to become the centre of Lancashire 's cotton industry and was dubbed " Cottonopolis ", and a branch of
11438-506: The main route in and out of the town. The name may derive from hangan meaning hollow, although there is an alternative derivation from the Old English hen , meaning wild birds, and the Welsh gan , meaning between two hills. It dates to at least 1343 but may be even older. In the 14th century, Manchester became home to a community of Flemish weavers, who settled in the town to produce wool and linen. This in part helped to develop
11571-418: 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 is now Salford and Stretford . Following the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, General Agricola ordered the construction of
11704-644: 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 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
11837-597: 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 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
11970-474: 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
12103-401: The natural distribution centre for raw cotton and spun yarn , and a marketplace and distribution centre for the products of this growing textile industry. Richard Arkwright is credited as the first to erect a cotton mill in the city. His first experiment, installing a Newcomen steam engine to pump water for a waterwheel failed, but he next adapted a Watt steam engine to directly operate
12236-427: 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 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
12369-679: The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , the world's first steam passenger railway. This provided faster transport of raw materials and finished goods between the port of Liverpool and mills of Manchester. By 1838, Manchester was connected by rail with Birmingham and London, and by 1841 with Hull . The existing horse-drawn omnibus services were all acquired by the Manchester Carriage Company, Ltd in 1865. Horse-drawn trams began in Salford (1877) and Manchester (1880–81), were succeeded by electric trams in 1901–03 and by 1930 Manchester Corporation Tramways were running
12502-525: The parish and in medieval times the royal manor of Salford was the most important of these. Manchester was administratively part of the Salford Hundred . In 1086 the hundred covered about 350 square miles (910 km ) and had a population of about 3,000. It was given to Roger de Poitou ; Roger divided the hundred into fiefdoms and made the Gresle family barons of Manchester. Albert de Gresle
12635-477: The political and economic reform of 19th century Britain as the vanguard of free trade . The mid-20th century saw a decline in Manchester's industrial importance, prompting a depression in social and economic conditions. Subsequent investment, gentrification and rebranding from the 1990s onwards changed its fortunes and reinvigorated Manchester as a post-industrial city with multiple sporting , broadcasting and educational institutions. Manchester has been on
12768-413: The political complexion of the town's elite had changed. The Jacobite army got no further than Derby and then retreated. On their way back through Manchester, the stragglers were pelted by the mob. The luckless 'Manchester Regiment' were left behind to garrison Carlisle , where they quickly surrendered to the pursuing British Army . Manchester remained a small market town until the late 18th century and
12901-529: The population of Manchester and Salford has some Irish ancestry. Scottish migration in to Manchester can be traced back to before 1745 when the Jacobites marched through the city but the population of Scottish born residents peaked at almost 2% of the city's total population in 1871. Many of the city's machine making firms which powered the Industrial Revolution had their roots in emigrant Scottish engineers. A Welsh community has existed in Manchester since
13034-506: 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. History of Manchester The history of Manchester encompasses its change from a minor Lancastrian township into the pre-eminent industrial metropolis of the United Kingdom and the world. Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around
13167-607: The quarrel with Charles I . Indeed, it might be said that the English Civil War started here. In 1642, Lord Strange , the Royalist son of the Earl of Derby attempted to seize the militia magazine stored in the old college building. In the ensuing scuffle, Richard Percival, a linen weaver, was killed. He is reckoned by some to be the first casualty in the English Civil War . Lord Strange returned and attempted to besiege
13300-498: The remodelled Anglican Church , and was instrumental in the establishment of the Cross Street Chapel in 1694. This later passed into Unitarian hands, and a new chapel on the original site can be visited. Humphrey Chetham purchased the old college buildings after the civil war, and endowed it as a bluecoat school . Chetham's Hospital, as it was known, later became Chetham's School of Music . The endowment included
13433-512: 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
13566-593: 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 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
13699-525: The site is, it is possibly a reference to the Roman fort. In 1055, most of what later became Lancashire was under the control of Tostig . The ancient parish of Manchester covered a wider area than today's metropolitan borough (although not including its full extent), and was probably established in the Anglo-Saxon period (there were at that time only two churches in the parish: at Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne). Forty distinct townships developed in
13832-475: The site of Manchester Cathedral ; St Michael's Church may have been in Ashton-under-Lyne . The parish of Manchester – of which St Mary's Church was a part – was the ecclesiastical centre of the Salford Hundred. It covered about 60 square miles (160 km ) and extended as far as the edges of Flixton and Eccles in the west, the Mersey between Stretford and Stockport in the south,
13965-466: The site of the old manor house as a residence for the priests. It remains as one of the finest examples of a medieval secular religious building in Britain and is now the home of Chetham's School of Music. By the 16th century the wool trade had made Manchester a flourishing market town. The collegiate church , which is now the cathedral, was finally completed in 1500–1510. The magnificent carved choir stalls date from this period, and in 1513 work began on
14098-475: 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
14231-465: The spinning and weaving of cloth. Indeed, it was the importing of cotton , which began towards the end of the 18th century, that revolutionised the textile industry in the area. This new commodity was imported through the port of Liverpool , which was connected with Manchester by the Mersey and Irwell Navigation —the two rivers had been made navigable from the 1720s onwards. Manchester now developed as
14364-466: The third largest system in the UK. The Industrial Revolution resulted in Manchester's population exploding as people moved from other parts of the British Isles into the city seeking new opportunities. Particularly large numbers came from Ireland , with one area of the city centre becoming known as Little Ireland between 1827 and 1847. Numbers of Irish immigrants increased further after
14497-515: The town, which had no permanent fortifications. With the help of John Rosworm , a German mercenary, the town was vigorously defended. Captain Bradshaw and his musketeers resolutely manned the bridge to Salford. Eventually, Strange realised that his force was ill-prepared, and after hearing that his father had died, withdrew to claim his title. During the Commonwealth , Manchester was granted
14630-498: 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
14763-573: The turn of the 19th century as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution . The transformation took little more than a century. Having evolved from a Roman castrum in Celtic Britain , in the Victorian era Manchester was a major locus of the Industrial Revolution, and was the site of one of the world's first passenger railway stations as well as many scientific achievements of great importance. Manchester also led
14896-491: The universities of Oxford and Cambridge , with higher education. It taught classics , radical theology , science , modern languages , language and history . In the arts, the Hallé Orchestra , was patronised in its early years, by the German community and attracted a loyal following. Manchester's rapid growth into a significant industrial centre meant the pace of change was fast and frightening. At that time, it seemed
15029-543: The walls with stone. The fort would have been garrisoned by a cohort , about 500 infantry, of auxiliary troops. Evidence of both pagan and Christian worship has been discovered. Two altars have been discovered and there may be a temple of Mithras associated with Mamucium. A word square was discovered in the 1970s that may be one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain. A civilian settlement (the first in Manchester), or vicus , grew in association with
15162-549: 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
15295-557: Was a very cosmopolitan place and had additionally received immigrants from France , Greece , Armenia , Lithuania , Poland and Ukraine . The opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 lead to influx of workers from Africa , Asia , Middle East and Scandinavia . There has been a presence of Black people in Manchester since the 1700s. There are records of black people being buried at Manchester Cathedral from 1757. The abolitionist Thomas Clarkson noted during
15428-423: Was also home to UMIST Students' Association. For a number of years it was used by the merged University of Manchester Students' Union with a print shop, bar and shop. The building was for decades a central part of student social life. It is now largely given over to computer clusters and student workspaces, mostly used by the students of the engineering schools still resident in the former UMIST campus. Famous from
15561-573: 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
15694-429: 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
15827-453: Was founded by Lady Ann Bland. St Ann's Church is a fine example of an early Georgian church, and was consecrated in 1712. The surroundings, what is now St Ann's Square but was previously known as Acresfield, were in imitation of a London square. About this time, Defoe described the place as "the greatest mere village in England", by which he meant that a place the size of a populous market town had no form of local government to speak of, and
15960-465: Was given further impetus in 1620 with the start of fustian weaving. In this period Manchester grew heavily due to an influx of Flemish settlers who founded Manchester's new weaving industry. In the course of the 17th century, thanks to the development of the textile industry and contacts with the City of London , Manchester became a noted centre of puritanism . Consequently, it sided with Parliament in
16093-871: 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,
16226-399: 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
16359-496: Was opened in 1761, linking Manchester to the coal mines at Worsley . This was soon extended to the Mersey Estuary . Soon an extensive network of canals was constructed, linking Manchester to all parts of England. One of the world's first public omni bus services began in 1824; it ran from Market Street in Manchester to Pendleton and Salford . In 1830, Manchester was again at the forefront of transport technology with
16492-477: Was probably a ringwork and has been described as "of no political or military importance". By the late 13th century the Grelleys or Gresles, who were barons of Manchester for two centuries, had replaced the castle with a fortified manor house . They used the house as the administrative centre of the manor. While the town was owned by the lords of the manor, they directly leased land to tenants and created burgage tenements for indirect rent; as well as containing
16625-530: 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
16758-567: Was still subject to the whims of a lord of the manor . In 1745, Charles Edward Stuart and his army entered Manchester en route to London. Despite its previous radicalism, the town offered no resistance and the Jacobites obtained enough recruits to form a ' Manchester Regiment '. It is suggested that this was because the town had no local government to speak of, and the magistrates , who could have organised resistance, were mostly conservative landowners. Moreover, these Tory landowners had taken to apprenticing their sons to Manchester merchants, so
16891-721: 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
17024-422: Was the first baron of Manchester. Although the Gresle family did not reside at the manor, Manchester continued to grow in their absence and stewards represented the lords of the manor. Manchester's entry in the Domesday Book reads "the Church of St Mary and the Church of St Michael hold one carucate of land in Manchester exempt from all customary dues except tax". St Mary's Church was an Anglo-Saxon church on
17157-423: 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 is the world's oldest surviving inter-city passenger railway station. At the University of Manchester , Ernest Rutherford first split
17290-431: Was the starting place of a rebellion by Adam Banastre. Banastre, Henry de Lea, and William de Bradshagh rebelled against Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster . The medieval town's defences incorporated the rivers Irk and Irwell on two sides and a 450-yard (410 m) long ditch on the others. The ditch, known as Hanging Ditch, was up to 40 yards (37 m) wide and 40 yards (37 m) deep. It was spanned by Hanging Bridge ,
17423-414: Was then the settlement of Manchester. Etymological evidence indicates that the areas to the north west of Manchester (such as Eccles and Chadderton ) were British while the parts of Manchester (such as Clayton , Gorton and Moston ) were Anglian , and the south west of Manchester was Danish (including Cheadle Hulme , Davyhulme , Hulme and Levenshulme ). Between the 6th and 10th centuries,
17556-426: 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
17689-462: 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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