Tapestry Themes #1: Manchester Becomes a City

 

Theme One: Manchester Becomes a City

This panel will explore the foundational years of Manchester's history in the 19th Century.
From Elizabeth Gaskell to Sir Thomas Potter, this team has identified many individuals, as well as communities, who were integral to the founding and promotion of early Manchester.
The team found some wonderful images of Manchester Town Hall too, which just reminds us of how excited we are to be displaying this work at the town hall itself in 2027!

The group used their time in Manchester Central Library brilliantly, uncovering many newspaper clippings, book pages and archival photographs.

One member from the group wrote about the very early Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, using information from the Journal of Victorian Culture (1997), written by Simon Gunn:

'The subject of the study, the Manchester Hallé concerts, is important in its own right. The establishment of the concerts from 1857 was a development of national musical significance. The Hallé was the first permanent, professional orchestra in Britain, and its concerts were matched only by those organised by Manns at Crystal Palace for their capacity to attract a substantial public to hear serious and innovative classical music.  

For much of the mid-Victorian period, therefore, Manchester rivalled London for the quality, if not the quantity, of its musical life. 'Within the city the Hallé concerts rapidly became a social rite for the rich and fashionable, ‘the most gorgeous and dazzling sight that is anywhere to be seen in Manchester, at one glance’, in the words of a local commentator' '.

Another researcher found out about the very first parks in Manchester:

'Queens Park on Rochdale Road, Harpurhey, North Manchester... It is one of the first parks in Manchester opened on the same day August 22nd, 1846, as Phillips Park and Peel Park Salford. It was named in honour of Queen Victoria, who was reigning at the time.   It represented one of the first public parks in the industrial area designed for the public’s relaxation and well-being. It was to provide green spaces for the rapidly growing industrial population of Manchester.

It is part of a green corridor leading out of the city centre along the River Irk.  The land originally belonged to the Houghton family. They built Hendham Hall on the site in 1800.  In 1845 the park was designed and laid out by Joshua Major (an English landscape designer) and purchased by Manchester Corporation for £7,200 in 1846. The segment of the Adshead map below shows the park in 1851.'

Thank you very much to all the members of this group who contributed such amazing research to our project. The findings are all so rich and diverse and we can't wait to see how the panel turns out!