I am interested in changes in the urban environment, and how it contains and reflects the history and culture of the city. I have a personal connection to the city of Manchester, and am very familiar with the layout of the city centre. I have chosen to research the area around Manchester Cathedral, because it is an area that has undergone a lot of change and regeneration.
I have gone back in 50 year stages using maps, archive images, trade directories and census returns. Some resources were not available for a specific year, so I have taken the nearest year, my chosen years were therefore 1967, 1911 and 1863.
I have used maps from The National Library of Scotland to identify streets and buildings in the area at different times, see map below covering 1911. I have also been given access to a collection of hand-drawn and printed maps at a range of dates by the librarian at Chethams Library in Manchester.
I have also accessed old photographs and drawings in the digital archives of Central Library and Chethams Library, such as those below showing Long Millgate, the Apple Market, and Fennel Street. The images below show pubs and residential premises clustered together with an ever changing roofline.
Slaters Directory was a great source of information, and showed the names and occupations of the residents and businesses in each year that I had chosen. This indicated how the area had changed over time, in the extract below from 1911, the residential areas of 1863 had mainly been replaced by businesses.
In addition to historical data, I have visited the site frequently making sketches and taking hundreds of photos of buildings and architectural features that still exist in 2020/21. A small selection of my photos are included below.
What I have learned from this research methodology is that whilst a city can appear as a strong coherent unchanging place, this is far from the truth. Even the cathedral on the same spot since 1421, and familiar to generations of Mancunians has been changed beyond recognition. A close look at the masonry inside the cathedral shows where new chapels meet older ones and where the traces of time and history are clearly visible. Buildings decline, grow and adapt throughout their lives, and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the growing city and its citizens, just over longer spans than a human life.
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