Manchester Industrial History Walk

In the late 18^th Century, a then-small town known as Manchester started using steam-powered machines to speed up the rate of its cotton production. Thanks to a variety of factors—from its existing textile production, its proximity to the coast, the high levels of coal and scientific advancements–it became the first industrial city. It changed the world. Everything that Manchester was and is, from its layout and rising-declining fortunes, to its working class history and radical leanings, stems from that industrial city. Unlike London, it’s so easy to explore that industrial history still. So take a stroll north from Church Street and start to explore the world’s most interesting industrial history.

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Length of walk: 2 hours

That includes about 70 minutes of walking, plus the time for exploring the museums at your leisure.

Ancoats

Continue past the Northern Quarter to this industrial must-see area—this sprawling maze of factories was once so productive, it was known as “the workshop of the world.” Ancoats has loads of new stores and craft breweries opening up every other week, so you can explore it while looking at the jaw-dropping architecture.

Make sure to stop by Anita Street – possibly the most picturesque in all of Manchester. When Ancoats was in its industrial prime, living conditions for the factory workers were so awful it led Friedrich Engels to declare it the most “shameful conditions” in the world. Anita Street, originally (less-appealingly) called Sanitary Street, was the city’s attempt to provide affordable social housing – perhaps the first of its kind in the world.

The vast factory complex of Murrays’ Mills— the world’s oldest steam powered cotton mill—shows off this history best. Its size, still overwhelming, is a stunning monument to the heart of Manchester’s (and possibly England’s) industrial boom.

While wandering down Corporation Street, you might just miss the red Victorian mailbox halfway down—it looks like any other mailbox across the country, right? Well, it stands out as the only surviving object from the city’s brutal 1996 bombing, the most damaging peace-time terrorist attack in British history.

St Peter’s Square

Now a modern tram-line thoroughfare lined by some impressive contemporary architecture, St Peter’s Square was the site of one of Britain’s bloodiest but most important scenes of social protest—Peterloo.

In 1819, following the hardships stemming from the Napoleonic wars and workers’ violation, almost 80 000 people gathered to push for Parliamentary representation—the then-largest ever protest. The magistrate of the time sent cavalry in, killing 15 but wounding close to 700. The event shocked and sent shockwaves through England.

Today, there’s not much to distinguish that history (the Free Trade Hall where the talks started is now a swish Radisson). But it’s a foundational moment for British social history, a testament to how difficult working conditions in industrial times were, and a continuing symbol for a city that’s always pushed the boundaries on social and economic issues.

It was also a key place in the Suffragette Movement.

The People’s History Museum

Walk west through Spinningfields, a district with mostly new glass buildings, to come and explore the history of Peterloo and other democratic movements in depth.

The push for worker’s rights and democratic representation is inextricably linked to the city’s industrial history. Learn all about it at this fascinating free museum, which charts the social history of this radical city. There’s a number of powerful exhibits inside, one of the best being a two floor-high intricate diagram of the struggle for political representation in the UK.