MANCHESTER LINKS

In early times, Manchester was a little-known hamlet adjacent to, and belonging to the then noble town of Salford.

There have, arguably, been two Manchester's. The first was the Roman fort of Mamuciam (Latin = a breast-shaped hill) at Castlefield, and the second, around the Cathedral and Chetham's Music School, which formed the medieval town of Manchester.

During the Industrial Revolution Manchester became the focal point of the northern cotton trade. Inventions like Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny and Arkwright’s water frame changed the face of the world and Manchester was at the forefront of that of the technologically advancement of the 18th century.

In 1761 the Bridgewater Canal was opened. It was the first modern artificial waterway and linked Manchester to the town of Worsley but it was six years later with the Spinning Jenny that really put Manchester on the map forever.

1844 saw the death of John Dalton who years earlier had had come up with the first table of atomic weights of elements and atomic theory. He was buried in Ardwick cemetery.

By the end of 1853 Manchester was a declared a city and eight years later the city was showing off its wealth courtesy of the cotton industry with the opening of Watt’s warehouse, by far the grandest of cotton warehouses yet erected. It is now the Britannia Hotel on Portland Street.

The turn of the twentieth century also saw a meeting between two gentlemen that would change the face of the new motor industry forever. It was in the Midland Hotel that Mr. Rolls met Mr Royce resulting in the formation of Roll-Royce.

Shortly after World War I Manchester’s population had soared to well over 700,000 and over the next few years the population warranted a bigger airport than the existing Barton Aerodrome. A year before the beginning of World War II, Ringway Airport (now Manchester International Airport) was opened.

During the war Manchester was hit hard during the Christmas Blitz with the city devastated by the German assault. It took years to rebuild and after the war people began moving out of the city and by the early 1970s the figure was at 541,468.

Trams returned to the streets of Manchester in 1992 when Her Majesty The Queen officially opened the much heralded Metrolink. Many of the best new housing developments are on the existing or planned routes of this cheap and popular form of public transport.

With the City seemingly in a state of stasis it took the largest ever bomb on mainland Britain in June 1996 to galvanise the population and begin a rebuilding and redesigning process that still goes on to this day.

Miraculously nobody was killed in the IRA attack on the city but within days the spirit of Mancunians was bursting through with billboards on the streets declaring, “They went for our heart – but they’ll never get our soul”.

Now with the centre modernised for the 21st century, locals and visitors alike can enjoy the pleasant, friendly surroundings in a city that many people would name as their favourite in the UK.

The links below contain a wealth of information on living and working in Manchester, as well and economic facts and figures which back up the view that Manchester and the surrounding area has a lot to offer property investors.

Manchester Museums

Manchester Art Galleries

What's on In Manchester?

Green Manchester

Shopping in Manchester

Economic Development

Regeneration Plans

Itchy Manchester

Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Didsbury Village

Didsbury Network

New Stockport Article