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History & Heritage
of the City and the Metropolitan County of Greater
Manchester
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There have, (arguably) been 2 Manchesters.
The first, the Roman fort at Castlefield
, and the second, around the Cathedral and Chetham's
Music School , which formed the medieval town of Manchester.
By the time of the Norman Conquest
of Britain in 1066, the region was clearly Anglo-Saxon, and
their name for the town was "Mameceaster". (It was not to be
until the 17th century that the name "Manchester" would come
into popular usage). In early
times, Manchester was a little-known hamlet adjacent to, and
belonging to the then noble town of Salford.
After the Roman withdrawal
from the fort at Mamuciam (Latin = "a breast-shaped hill")
around 410 AD, the town (and the fort) fell into ruin and was
prey to various invading factions from abroad - notably the Angles
and the Danes and the Saxons, all of whom occupied the region
at various times, and over a long period became assimilated into
the local population. "Mamuciam" in Latin means "a
breast-shaped hill" - Agricola's description of the place
where he built the original fort overlooking the River Irwell,
somewhere around present day Camp Street (now in Salford).
There is a brief historic reference in the
town records of one Edward the Elder, son of King Alfred the
Great, taking over the town in 920 AD and making repairs to
the "fortifications", (probably based around the present cathedral),
which would still have been little more than a wooden palisade.
In gratitude for the support which Norman
barons had given in the conquest of Britain, King William (the
Conqueror) granted generous rewards of lands and holdings to
them. Salford was thus granted to one Rogier de Poitevin (also
known as Roger de Pitou), which included several feifdoms, the
Manor of Manchester amongst them. Later, de Poitevin granted
this manor, in turn, to one of his own supporters, Albert de
Greslé (also known as Albert Grelley).
Grelley was to become the first Baron of Manchester, and the
Grelley family held the manor for the next 200 years. In 1086
there is a brief mention of Manchester in William's great commissioned
Domesday Book, by which time it was a recognised ecclesiastical
centre with a parish covering over 60 square miles. The town
had, in 1222, been granted an annual fair, which was held on
Acresfield, just outside the town, (now St Ann's Square), and
lasted 2 days; this was extended to 3 days in 1227. By this
time the town had its own court. There was also a weekly Saturday
market held in Market Square, just off Market Street, sited
roughly where Shambles Square stood. (This square was demolished
in the IRA bombing of Manchester in 1996, and was located to
the rear of the Marks & Spencer Department Store which has
been rebuilt after that bombing).
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Chetham's School of Music
Canals and Railways in
Castlefield, Manchester
Underbank Hall - Tudor Stockport.
Heaton Hall and Park, Manchester
Saxon Mill at Lower Alderley
Stonecut calligraphy at
John Rylands Library,
City Centre Manchester
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Find People & Places
in the 1901 Census
www.census.pro.gov.uk
Find out about who lived in your house in 1901 and
research your Victorian ancestors. You can also research vessels
and
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By 1322 there is scant record
of a fulling mill, showing the early beginnings of textile
manufacture in Manchester. This mill was located somewhere
alongside the Cathedral, and the alleyway known as "Hanging
Ditch" still marks the course of the River Irk where
it enters the Irwell, where textiles were hung to drain
and drip dry after fulling. The Grelley manor, (now Chetham's
School of Music), was fortified on three sides as it overlooked
the River Irk on one side, a tributary ditch on another
side and the River Irwell on another - it was therefore
a superb defensive position, standing high on a sandstone
bluff with effective natural defences.
Subsequently, the River
Irk was culvetted below ground under what is now Walkers
Croft and Hanging Ditch. Beside the cathedral one can
still see the remains of "Hanging Bridge" where the medieval
bridge crossed Hanging Ditch. A wooden bridge crossed
the Irwell in front of the Manor, and was replaced by
a stone three-arch bridge in the 14th century, on the
site of where Victoria Bridge (built in 1839) now stands.
Manchester became a Baronial
Borough (thereby an independent self-governing entity)
in 1301, still ruled by the Lord of the Manor, but with
an appointed "boroughreeve" (or Mayor) who handled day-to-day
administration of the borough. Manchester was to change
very little thereafter until the 16th century.
During the 14th century, the Manor
was held by the de la Warre family. In 1422, Thomas de
la Warre, Lord of the Manor, founded a college, granted
by royal licence (surviving as "Chets" school) and a collegiate
church (now the cathedral).
This new church was to be
dedicated to St. Mary, St. Denys and St. George - both
political and diplomatic, for St. Denys was patron Saint
of Paris, echoing the de la Warre's French Norman ancestry;
St. George, as Patron Saint of England, shows that the
family regarded itself as English (and no longer Norman
French), and St Mary because as yet, Manchester, (and
England), was devotedly Roman Catholic. Extensive rebuilding
of the old church began, in the fashionable perpendicular
Gothic style, and was to continue throughout the following
century.
Salford itself, by contrast,
came directly to the Crown in 1399 as part of the Duchy
of Lancaster - Her Majesty the Queen still holds the two
titles, "Duke of Lancaster" and "Lord of the Manor of
Salford".
See Also
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