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Manchester
History - an overview
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.
Mamuciam
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).
Manchester's
Medieval Fortifications
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.
Norman Manchester
& Domesday 1086
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).
Early
Textile Manufacture in Manchester
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.
The
La Warre Family & the foundation of Manchester Cathedral
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".
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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
institutions.
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See
Also
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