Ancoats in Manchester

So much of this major part of the world's first industrial city has been lost, that I spent the day trying to record what is left.  I didn't want to simply note the new shiny Ancoats. This district has a long history of industry and workers living cheek by jowl, the grime from the mills and other factories permeating even into the front rooms of the millworkers. From Ancoats Mrs Bing was one of the official party unveiling the Manchester cenotaph after the Great War – having lost her sons in the horrific episode. It is one of the settings for a fantastic book that is not particularly well known now called ‘Fame is the Spur’ by Howard Spring, about the life of one of the first Labour politicians. Walking through it today it’s hard to recognise the realities of life in Victorian Ancoats. But the photos provide some kind of record, I hope, of what remains in the early part of the twenty-first century, before the last remnants of the neighbourhood finally disappear.

Many people see this wonderful iron bridge  across the Rochdale Canal from Great Ancoats Street. The immediate area has been substantially landscaped over later years, providing modern seating and a pleasant place to sit and relax – so very different from the original Ancoats 

The interior of this mill is really different. These are the main steps up to the offices and they contain the only bow windows in the entire mill. As such they would allow an uninterrupted view across the loading area as barges carrying goods in or out were loaded in the mills own canal basin. This mill was one of the few to have their own basin within the mill complex.

The remains of some of the buildings show how nature is
reclaiming many of the abandoned buildings

Many of the older buildings have been preserved and developed for housing and commercial use. Whilst many (myself included) decry the loss of so much of our heritage, I also do appreciate that these need to be living buildings, in some form, if they are to survive.