The establishment of the Roman fort of Mamucium in AD79 is the first known record of any military construction, or presence, in the area that is now the Castlefield district of the city. The Roman auxiliary units posted here used the fort as a garrison, located at Mamucium for the purpose of protecting the Roman road from Chester (Deva Victrix) to York (Eboracum). The site was previously occupied, as a defensive hill fort, by the ancient Britons, or Brigantes, who were native to the area.T...

Flixton, Urmston and Davyhulme History Tour offers an insight into the fascinating history of the town of Urmston, including Flixton and Davyhulme, in Trafford, Greater Manchester. Author Steven Dickens guides us around its well-known streets and buildings, showing how its famous landmarks used to look, as well as exploring its lesser-known sights and hidden corners. With the help of a handy location map, readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and discover for themselv...

Sale History Tour offers an insight into the fascinating history of this town in Greater Manchester. Author Steven Dickens guides us around its well-known streets and buildings, showing how its famous landmarks used to look and how they have changed over the years, as well as exploring its lesser-known sights and hidden corners. With the help of a handy location map, readers are invited to follow a timeline of events and discover for themselves the changing face of Sale.

Historically part of Lancashire, Bury grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution as a mill town producing textiles alongside many other expanding towns in the area and now lies within Greater Manchester. The town is well known for its large traditional open-air market, one of the best in the country, which draws large numbers of visitors. The industrial legacy of Bury is still visible, with the Manchester, Bury & Bolton Canal, the remaining factories and mills and areas of terraced hous...

The Borough of Trafford includes Flixton, Urmston, Davyhulme, Stretford, Old Trafford, Ashton-on-Mersey, Sale, Bowdon, Hale, Hale Barns and Altrincham, as well as Partington, Carrington, Timperley and Trafford Park. North and South Trafford are separated by the River Mersey, the historic boundary between Lancashire and Cheshire until the Borough’s formation. Trafford is also home to Manchester United Football Club, Lancashire County Cricket Club, the Imperial War Museum North and the Traff...

The Manchester Ship Canal was a huge engineering achievement. It included seven swing bridges and the aqueduct at Barton, and helped turn the cotton-producing capital of Great Britain into an inland seaport. This was a feat many at the time believed could not be achieved. One of the wonders of the modern industrial world, the Manchester Ship Canal, with its huge locks and ocean-going vessels, was a magnetic draw for enthusiastic Victorians who marvelled at its construction. This book looks...

The fascinating town of Sale in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, historically a part of Cheshire, has a rich and diverse history, which is extensively illustrated in the pages of this book. Old buildings, long forgotten, are recalled, such as the Brooklands Hotel, where famous comedians Laurel and Hardy stayed in 1947. There is the strange case of Doctor Charles White, of Sale Priory, who kept the embalmed body of Hannah Beswick at his home, where it stayed for 100 years. Sale Priory ...

Manchester’s unique Victorian red-brick and sandstone architecture still dominates the twenty-first century skyline, despite modern developments. Manchester’s Victorian history consists of much more than cotton mills and canals. Scientists like John Dalton enhanced the city’s reputation. The world’s first passenger railway station is located at Liverpool Road, which was later superseded by Victoria Station. Manchester University, originally the Victoria University of Manchester, has a worl...

Flixton, Urmston and Davyhulme, in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, form a fascinating and historically diverse district. Flixton is home to the ancient church of St Michael, established around 1190, and Flixton House, built in 1806 and the former home of the Worthington-Wright family. Western Road, Flixton, was home to Doctor Robert Moffat (1795 - 1883), whose daughter, Mary, married famous missionary Doctor David Livingstone. Urmston is the birthplace of John Collier (1709 - 86), ar...

Manchester’s proud past can be well summed up in its headlines. Steven Dickens delves into the archives of the Evening News to discover the events and personalities that have made the city what it is today. From the dramatic effects of the First and Second World Wars on the city and its residents to its regeneration in the 1980s, the Madchester era of the 1990s and beyond, learn about Manchester’s status as a cultural, industrial and political powerhouse. The stories uncovered are a testam...

Bangor, in the county of Gwynedd and historically a part of Caernarfonshire, has a rich and ancient past, recorded in the pages of this book. Bangor means ‘a wattled enclosure’ in old Welsh and the city is one of the smallest in Britain, with almost half its population Welsh-speaking. Bangor has a university, founded in 1884 and a cathedral, whose bishopric is one of the oldest in Britain, with its origins in the sixth century. It allegedly has the longest High Street in Wales and singer a...

Caernarfon, situated on the southern bank of the Menai Strait facing the Isle of Anglesey, is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. In the thirteenth century Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, ruler of Gwynedd, refused to pay homage to Edward I of England, prompting the English conquest of Gwynedd. The construction of Caernarfon Castle, one of the largest and most imposing fortifications built by the English in Wales, followed shortly after. In 1284, the English-style county of Caernarfon...