City Guides
Manchester
History
It is known that Manchester has existed since Roman times, and there is some evidence to suggest that a township existed in the area even prior to this. Manchester began its development into the industrial capital of Lancashire during the thirteenth-century, with the rise of the cotton industry, and was granted a Charter in 1301.
Construction of the Collegiate Church, now the city cathedral, began in 1422. Building of the Bridgewater Canal began in 1759, allowing coal and other industrial goods to be transported around the country with ease. The development of the railways in the nineteenth-century cemented Manchester’s place as the most important industrial centre in the world. Manchester was awarded city status in 1853.
As the first industrial society, Manchester became the focus of many concerns and fears about industrialisation, and nineteenth-century novelists such as Elizabeth Gaskell based novels exploring these themes in the town. Friedrich Engels also lived and worked in Manchester, and based his 1844 treaty ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’ on his experience in the city.
During this period, Manchester’s cultural life also developed, and a number of theatres and important cultural buildings were built.
The city became the principle city in the metropolitan borough of Manchester in 1889, and one of the ten boroughs in the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in 1974. These boroughs effectively became unitary authorities in 1985.
The Manchester Museum can be found on the University of Manchester Oxford Road campus. It is home to permanent and temporary exhibitions exploring local and national history, including displays of photography, fossils and archaeological discoveries, and comprising almost six million objects. Displays are separated into Humanities and Natural Science themes, with subsections including anthropology, archaeology, archery, Egyptology and Numismatics for the former, and botany, mineralogy, palaeontology, petrology and zoology for the latter.
The museum is open seven days a week, closing at 5pm and an hour earlier on Sundays. Lectures and seminars are also hosted in the venue.
The Greater Manchester Police Museum is on Newton Street in the city centre, and provides an opportunity to explore police work in the Victorian era and visit cells and the charge office that retain much of their original fixtures and fittings. There are galleries displaying historical police equipment and uniforms.
Admission is free, but the museum is only open for non-pre-booked visits on Tuesdays between 10:30am and 3:30pm.
The Pankhurst Centre, located in Emmeline Pankhurst’s home on Nelson Street, is a heritage centre and women-only space, exploring the work of the suffragette who once lived on the premises.
Other museums in the city include the Imperial War Museum North, the Manchester Jewish Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the People’s History Museum, the Gallery of Costume and Urbis.
Construction of the Collegiate Church, now the city cathedral, began in 1422. Building of the Bridgewater Canal began in 1759, allowing coal and other industrial goods to be transported around the country with ease. The development of the railways in the nineteenth-century cemented Manchester’s place as the most important industrial centre in the world. Manchester was awarded city status in 1853.
As the first industrial society, Manchester became the focus of many concerns and fears about industrialisation, and nineteenth-century novelists such as Elizabeth Gaskell based novels exploring these themes in the town. Friedrich Engels also lived and worked in Manchester, and based his 1844 treaty ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’ on his experience in the city.
During this period, Manchester’s cultural life also developed, and a number of theatres and important cultural buildings were built.
The city became the principle city in the metropolitan borough of Manchester in 1889, and one of the ten boroughs in the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in 1974. These boroughs effectively became unitary authorities in 1985.
The Manchester Museum can be found on the University of Manchester Oxford Road campus. It is home to permanent and temporary exhibitions exploring local and national history, including displays of photography, fossils and archaeological discoveries, and comprising almost six million objects. Displays are separated into Humanities and Natural Science themes, with subsections including anthropology, archaeology, archery, Egyptology and Numismatics for the former, and botany, mineralogy, palaeontology, petrology and zoology for the latter.
The museum is open seven days a week, closing at 5pm and an hour earlier on Sundays. Lectures and seminars are also hosted in the venue.
The Greater Manchester Police Museum is on Newton Street in the city centre, and provides an opportunity to explore police work in the Victorian era and visit cells and the charge office that retain much of their original fixtures and fittings. There are galleries displaying historical police equipment and uniforms.
Admission is free, but the museum is only open for non-pre-booked visits on Tuesdays between 10:30am and 3:30pm.
The Pankhurst Centre, located in Emmeline Pankhurst’s home on Nelson Street, is a heritage centre and women-only space, exploring the work of the suffragette who once lived on the premises.
Other museums in the city include the Imperial War Museum North, the Manchester Jewish Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the People’s History Museum, the Gallery of Costume and Urbis.
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