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ADMINISTRATION:
Photos
by John Moss
unless otherwise credited.
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The
City of Salford
Salford - the Older
Town
Salford showing the University. Aerial
Photograph Image Courtesy of www.webbaviation.co.uk © 2005
It
is only since very recent times that Salford could begin to be thought
of as a tourist venue, for it's 19th and early 20th century history
has been dogged by poverty and industrial squalor and images created
by the likes of its most celebrated artist, L.S. Lowry. However, after
considerable slum clearance and redevelopment, Salford has become a
place which the tourist should visit as it has a great deal to offer.
Salford is much older than its more internationally celebrated neighbour,
the City of Manchester.
The
Salford Hundred
According
to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 919 AD, Salford had been part of the
kingdom of Northumbria, until had been conquered by Edward the Elder,
king of the West Saxons. The Manor (or Hundred) of Salford contained
all the lands "between the Ribble and the Mersey", contained 9 large
parishes, and came under the diocese of Lichfield in matters ecclesiastical.
Salford was also mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book of William the
Conqueror. It makes reference to Salford as being "held by Rogier de
Poitou" (aka. Poitevin). The
so-called Salford "Hundreds" (an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "district"),
included most of modern Manchester, as far as Heaton Mersey in the south,
Bolton and Bury to the north, Oldham and Rochdale to the east, and Warrington
and Wigan to the west.
Salford
Hundred Heritage Society
A society has been formed to research the archaeology and early history
of Salford Hundred, initially with emphasis on the area covered by the
NE of Salford Hundred. The society’s website is currently under
construction, but there is a web blog at: http://salfordhundred.wordpress.com/
Salford's Shopping
City, the Quays and the University of Salford
Salford
- the Willow Ford
Salford's
name is a corruption of 2 ancient words: "Sal" or "Sahl",
(from the Latin "salix" meaning sallow - the old word for willow),
and "ford". Hence, it could be translated as the willow ford. It was,
for many centuries, the only place to cross the River Irwell for many
miles in either direction. The willow tree-lined the banks of the Irwell
separated Salford from Manchester for many centuries, and the original
river crossing stood where the Victoria Bridge is located today, near
the corner of Blackfriars and Deansgate. Extensive stretches of the
banks of the Irwell in Salford are still lined with willow today.
In the early 13th century, Salford had already emerged as a small town,
with an annual rent of 23 shillings (£1.15). On 4th June 1228, Henry
III granted Salford a weekly market on Wednesdays, and an annual 3 day
fair on "the eve, day and morrow" of the Nativity of St Mary, that is
7th-9th September. The fair continued right up to 1851 when it was abolished
after shopkeepers complained of noise and nuisance.
The
Manor of Salford
By
1230, the town was granted a charter by the Earl of Chester, then Lord
of the Manor, creating the town a free borough, and countersigned by
the famous Simon de Montefort. By 1399, the land had come into the inheritance
of Henry Bolingbroke, who ascended to the throne of England as Henry
IV, thus creating the Royal Manor of Salford, with the monarch as Lord
of the Manor, a status which Her Majesty the Queen holds to this day.
See
also:
More
Salford >>
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