Castlefield

Coordinates: 53°28′30″N 2°15′18″W / 53.475°N 2.255°W / 53.475; -2.255
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Castlefield
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMANCHESTER
Postcode districtM3
Dialling code0161
PoliceGreater Manchester
FireGreater Manchester
AmbulanceNorth West
List of places
UK
England
Greater Manchester
53°28′30″N 2°15′18″W / 53.475°N 2.255°W / 53.475; -2.255

Castlefield is an inner-city

Liverpool Road railway station[1]
and the first railway warehouse opened here in 1831.

The Rochdale Canal met the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield in 1805 and in the 1830s they were linked with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation by two short cuts. In 1848 the two viaducts of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway crossed the area and joined each other, two further viaducts and one mainline station Manchester Central railway station followed. It has a tram station, Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop (formerly G-Mex) providing frequent Manchester Metrolink services to Eccles, Bury, Altrincham, Manchester Piccadilly, East Didsbury and Rochdale.

Castlefield was designated a

conservation area in 1980 and the United Kingdom's first designated urban heritage park in 1982.[2][3]

Toponymy

The name Castlefield refers to the settlement's position below the former Roman fort. It is a contracted version of the earlier name Castle-in-the-field.[citation needed] Another name for the area was Campfield, which derived from the same source. It is preserved in the name of St Matthew's Church, Campfield, and Campfield Market. (Manchester also derived its name from the fort.)[4][5]

An older name for the settlement was the Old English Aldport, meaning old or long used port,[6] distinguishing it from the new port at medieval Manchester nearer the confluence of the Rivers Irk and Irwell. Port in Old English could refer to a harbour or a market so the names could be old and new market.[6]

History

The part-rebuilt Roman fort
The reconstructed Roman fort wall of Mamucium

Roman period

A

infantry cohort of around 500 auxiliary troops.[13]

Evidence of

industrial estate.[15] The civilian settlement was probably abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although a small garrison may have remained at Mamucium into the late third and early fourth centuries.[16]

A reconstructed part of the fort stands on the site and is open to the public.

Medieval and early modern periods

The village of Manchester later became established a kilometre to the north and the area around the vicus became known as "Aldport" or "The Old Town".[17] A house and park here became the home of the Mosley family in 1601 but, in 1642, after being used by Lord Strange as a royalist headquarters during the Siege of Manchester, it was burned down by parliamentarians.[17]

The River Irwell was made navigable in 1720s, leading to the construction of a quay in the area for loading and unloading of goods (vessels of up to 50 tons could dock here and ply between Manchester and Liverpool).[18]

Industrialisation

Bridgewater Canal & Grocer's Warehouse Ruins

The

outworkers who then returned woven cloth. The later warehouses acted as showrooms on the ground floors, with offices and storage above and behind.[21]

20th century

During the 20th century both canal and railway transport declined and the area became somewhat derelict. The railway complex in Liverpool Road was sold to a conservation group for a nominal £1 and became the

Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. In 1982 the area was designated as an urban heritage park and a part of the fort was reconstructed on the excavated foundations.[17]

Present day

Bridgewater Canal with the Beetham Tower

As part of the renewal of the site, an extensive outdoor area was developed as an

Granada Television studios are located in the area along with the now closed Granada Studios Tour. In 2008 it was reported that ITV were considering re-opening the tour as the company is searching for new forms of revenue to restore growth.[22]

Castlefield has several bars and restaurants which are particularly popular during the summer months when people flock to the area to enjoy the large outdoor drinking areas and regular live music events. The popular Barça Bar closed in late December 2008, leaving Dukes 92, Choice Bar & Restaurant and Lava Bar as the only bars within the Castlefield basin. Castle Quay is the home of radio stations Hits Radio (formerly Key 103) and Greatest Hits Radio.

Planning permission to turn the empty Jackson's Wharf building into a modern five-storey block of flats by the

Peel Group was rejected for a second time in 2008.[23] In 2011, planning permission was rejected again by Manchester City Council with opposition from locals. Peel subsequently decided to sell the building and it is now a gastropub.[24]

In 1996 an architectural design competition was launched to create Timber Wharf by developers Urban Splash and RIBA Competitions to design a new housing type capable of being mass-produced, using modern building techniques on a realistic budget to challenge the preconceived notions of volume house building. 162 entries were submitted for the project and Glenn Howells Architects provided the winning entry, the building was completed in 2002 and has since gone on to win a number of awards.

Geography

Sandstone cliff in Castlefield

Castlefield is in the

Manchester City Centre. To the west is the River Irwell and Salford, to the south lie the Bridgewater Canal, the River Medlock and the Rochdale Canal.[25]

The land between the two rivers consists primarily of a plateau of Collyhurst sandstone, which is deep red in colour. This can be seen in the exposed river cliffs around the Castlefield basin, and provides a solid foundation for multistorey buildings and also an easily workable rock for cutting culverts and tunnels.

Area description

The

Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal
.

Landmarks

A panorama of Castlefield over the Bridgewater Canal

Canals

The navigations, canals, roads and railways of Manchester

Before 1750, roads were an impractical way of transporting heavy goods and water transport on the rivers was the accepted method. The number of suitable rivers was limited. Power to drive machinery was also derived from water but this needed fast-flowing streams where a head could be built up to turn the waterwheels. Finding the two types of water at the same locality was rare. Castlefield could use the River Medlock, as it fell to join the River Irwell to turn the wheels, but the Irwell needed to be improved to make it a safe river to navigate.

Eight locks were constructed between 1724 and 1734, along the Rivers Irwell and Mersey; this was known as the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. Short cuts were dug to eliminate the difficult bends. Wharfs were built at Manchester Wharf, Water Street in 1740, and if the wind was not in the east small boats could travel from there to the sea.[26] The navigation was subject to continuous improvement and was eventually superseded by the Manchester Ship Canal.

Grade II listed structures.[29][30]

In 1802 the

Bugsworth
in Derbyshire. At that time, major warehouses and mills would cut private canal arms to their buildings, the Rochdale had many.

In 1837, the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal was connected to the Irwell, and there was commercial pressure to connect the Bridgewater/Rochdale to them. The Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, 1837, was cut from the Rochdale under the city to provide the link with the Irwell at Quay street. To preempt this, the Bridgewater Canal Company built the Hulme Locks Branch Canal, completing it in 1831. This canal remained open until 1991, when it was replaced by a lock at Pomona No. 3 basin.

These canals did not have the capacity to take boats larger than 1.4 m wide, so trans-shipment to oceangoing vessels was needed at a point outside the city. The

Pomona Docks
the ship canal started at the Woden Street footbridge at Hulme Locks.

Warehouses of Castlefield

The restored Merchants' Warehouse with the Middle Warehouse behind

The Duke's Warehouse was built at the end Bridgewater Canal over the River Medlock. It has long since gone. It was first built in 1771, destroyed by fire in 1789 and rebuilt and extended including a fulling mill on the southern bank and cottages on the northern bank. It was destroyed again by fire in 1919.[31] Built at the same time was the Grocers Warehouse 19.4 x 9.7m. This was a five-storey warehouse with one then two shipping holes. It was cut back into the Collyhurst sandstone river cliff face to the north of the Medlock. It was designed by James Brindley and incorporated a waterwheel driven hoist system. The canal arm was continued into a tunnel in the cliff. It was modified and extended in the first decade of the 19th century[31] when the Rochdale canal was cut behind it. The tunnel was severed and became an arm of the Rochdale Canal.[32] Part of the facade has been restored and the canal arms are bridged by two Dutch style lifting bridges.

The Merchants' Warehouse (46.2 m x 15.4m) was built on the north bank at the entrance to the Giant's Basin around 1827. This was a four-storey warehouse with two shipping holes. On the street side it had six side loading bays topped by wooden

catsheads (hoods). It has been badly damaged by fire[when?] but has since been rebuilt by Jim Ramsbottom and converted into offices. The other surviving warehouse is the Middle Warehouse built in 1831 by the Bridgewater Trustees on the south bank, off the Middle Basin canal arm. It was in use to store maize until the 1970s. It has been converted into a restaurant, offices and flats. It is five storeys plus an attic. The two shipping holes are enclosed in an elliptical blind arch.[31][33]

The Kenworthy Warehouse, was 19m x 47m[34] was built in 1840 and looked like others. It was six storeys high, had twin shipping hole and was built on an arm running east of the Giant's Basin. It was designed for heavy goods: the ground floor was used for oil, the first for shipping goods, then the other floors for cotton, flour and grain. In 1897, the Great Northern Viaduct was built over it and the piers modified the canal arms.[21]

The Staffordshire Warehouse sat abridge the Staffordshire arms of the basin and was used to warehouse cotton.

The New Warehouse was built on Slate Wharf before 1848, and was the largest. It was six storeys high, with 20 14 ft bays thus 280 ft (85 m) in length.[33]

The Victoria and Albert Warehouses are not at the basin, but at the junction of the River Irwell and the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal. This L-shaped building was built flush with the canal for direct loading, on the street side there were three loading entrances.[35]

This commercial terrace masks the Great Northern Railway Company's trans-shipment warehouse

Also significant is the 1830 Railway Warehouse of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. This was built with[clarification needed] There was no available water to drive the hoists, so for the first year they were manual, but in 1832 they were powered by a small steam engine.

Possibly the last of Castlefield's great warehouses was the

Manchester and Salford Junction canal in the basement.[36]
This was one of Britain's first large steel-framed buildings (81m x 66m). There were hydraulic lifts capable of raising fully laden railway waggons between the floors. To service the building the Great Northern Viaduct was built parallel to the Cornbrook Viaduct over the basin, and over the Kenworthy Warehouse. The country's longest Victorian commercial terrace was built to mask it from Deansgate.

Textile warehouses in the Italianate palazzo style were built in other parts of Manchester city centre, notably

weasel words] was the finest example of Victorian commercialism.[37]

Bridges of Castlefield

The cast iron arch of the 1849 viaduct with the Cornbrook viaduct over and behind
Beneath the Cornbook and Great Northern viaducts with MSJ&AR viaducts on the left and extreme right

The canal basin at Castlefield is crossed by four large railway viaducts dating from 1848, 1877 and 1898.[38]

The southern viaduct in the group of three is the 1849 red brick viaduct of the

Manchester Piccadilly via Oxford Road station and Knott Mill railway station, then turns south-west, crosses the canal basin and heads for Altrincham.[39]
Designated as No.100A, it forms part of the long brick viaduct taking the Altrincham branch of the Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway through Knott Mill Station. The bridge, designed by William Baker, spans 31.9m. It has six cast iron ribs each made in five pieces and bolted together. The ribs are braced with cruciform cast iron sections. The twin railway tracks were carried on cast iron deck plates. The resident engineer was Henry Hemberow, and the sections were cast by Garforths of Dukinfield. The MSJ&A Railway was Manchester's first suburban railway line. A second cast iron rib arch bridge by Baker passed over Egerton Street but this was reconstructed in steel in 1976.[39]

The central one in the group of three southwest of Deansgate Station is the high-level iron truss girder viaduct of 1877 built for the

Manchester Central Station in 1880, which operated until 1969 and is now used as an exhibition centre (Manchester Central).[40]

To the north is the 1894 Great Northern viaduct that served the

tubular steel viaduct is decorated with turrets. It was built for the Great Northern Railway Company and carried GNR trains to the company's Deansgate warehouse until 1963. Richard Johnson who was a Chief Engineer of the GNR was responsible for the design.[41]

The Cornbrook and Great Northern viaducts stood disused for many years. When a route for the Metrolink trams was investigated, the Cornbrook Viaduct was found to be in much better condition than the 1894 one. It was chosen for refurbishment (1990–1991) and is currently used by Metrolink trams going to Altrincham.[40]

The Salford branch viaduct, the fourth viaduct, was separate from the others. It was also built by the Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway in 1848–1849. It uses a brick arch to cross the Staffordshire arm of the basin, before passing under the later Cornbrook and Great Northern viaduct and intersected with the then main line to Altrincham at a point about 300m west of Knott Mill Station.[42] The whole viaduct from

Piccadilly to Ordsall Junction is 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long and consists of 224 brick arches.[43] There were six cast iron bridges that span Water Street, the Rochdale Canal, Castle Street and Chester Road, Deansgate Station, Oxford Road (encased in concrete in 1959) and over Albion Street (renewed in reinforced concrete in 1980). They were all designed by William Baker
and have a similar construction, with six cast iron arches each made in three or five sections.

The Whitby and Bird Merchants' Bridge

During the regeneration of the Castlefield basin, a spectacular footbridge was built from Slate Wharf to Catalan Square. This is the Merchant's Bridge, where the 3m wide deck is hung by 13 hangers from the steel arches. The span is 40m. The designers,

Whitby and Bird acknowledge the influence of Santiago Calatrava.[44]

A couple of modern but traditional looking cast iron clad steel footbridges built by Marsh Bros Engineers, Bakewell 1990 have been thrown over some arms.[38] In addition Dutch style lifting bridges have been built at Slate Wharf and Grocers Warehouse. An interesting stone-clad footbridge has been built over the Rochdale Canal. This is called the Architect's bridge.[45]

George Stephenson's line crossed the River Irwell by a skew-arched masonry bridge built in 1830, to the north of the canal basin[46] and then Water Street;[47] this bridge is the first recorded use of the Hodgkinson beam, (or I-beam).[48]

Other prominent buildings

Granada Studios Tour

The

Liverpool Road railway station
complex is significant as it was here that the passenger terminus was invented, and concepts such as separate facilities for the rich and the poor first appear here. The station is the oldest mainline station in the world. The booking hall for first and second class passengers was on Liverpool Road, and there were separate stairs up to the separate first floor waiting rooms and the platform. There was a
Hunt's Bank and it all became a freight terminal. The cotton stores and the goods sheds were demolished in the 1860s when the London and North Western Railway expanded the goods station.[49]

In 1844 there were six railway lines connecting the world to Manchester, and Léon Faucher[50] commented that there were 15 or 16 seats of industry that formed this great constellation.[51]

Two more railway warehouses can be seen, the 1869 London and North Western Railway Bonded Warehouse on Grape Street with its separate viaduct over Water Street and the four-storey 1880 Great Western Railway Lower Byrom Street Warehouse.[51] The Lower Byrom Street Warehouse is now part of the Museum of Science and Industry, while the Grape Street warehouse is used by Granada Studios as studios, rehearsal space and offices.[52]

Regeneration

Castlefield regeneration dates from 1972, when the Greater Manchester Council carried out archaeological investigations in the area. The Liverpool Road goods depot closed 8 September 1975, and the GMC made a survey of the site and it became the North Western Museum of Science and Industry in 1978.[53]

Through the joint efforts of the

Victorian Society
and Manchester Region Industrial Archaeology Society (MRIAS) a report called Historic Castlefield was published in 1979, which set upon a development framework. Also in 1979 Castlefield was designated a conservation area even though most of its historic canals and buildings were derelict. The major landowner was the Manchester Ship Canal Company. The area's potential had been recognised and the 1982 City Centre Local Plan actively supported the Museum of Science and Industry at Liverpool Road, and the Castlefield Conservation Area Steering Committee, (CCASC) was formed.

Castlefield designated itself Britain's first

Urban Heritage Park
in 1983. This led to £40m of public sector funding being invested for regeneration.

In 1988 the Central Manchester Development Corporation was created to formulate a regeneration policy for nearly 187 ha of central Manchester (approximately 40% of the city centre) and to pump-prime private sector development using Government grants. This embraced Castlefield.

The Corporation determined that Castlefield should be revitalised by strengthening the tourism base, consolidating and supporting business activity and establishing a vibrant residential community. The imaginative and sensitive conservation and enhancement of the listed buildings, canals, viaducts and spaces, was to be achieved with high standards of urban design. A large number of grants now became available for public/private development partnerships.

One organisation to benefit was Jim Ramsbottom's, Castlefield Estates company, who initiated several significant development projects, including Eastgate, Merchants Warehouse and Dukes 92.

The similarly named Castlefield Management Company was created in 1992 as a non-profit company to provide services, events and to maintain the environmental quality of the area. An Urban Ranger service was set up to assist visitors, guide tours and oversee the Urban Heritage Park.

Most of the buildings have now either been renovated or restored and many have been converted into modern apartments (

archaeological digs have taken place and revealed a great deal about the early history of the city. Manchester City Council have recently encouraged high quality new developments to accompany the converted warehouses and enhance the conservation area.[54] However, key sites remain to be completed, and Ian Simpson's proposals for a massive eight-storey block of apartments at Jackson's Wharf, has twice been rejected by the City Council reflecting vociferous local objections.[55] For instance, the entertainer Mike Harding
said:

I oppose the Jackson's Wharf development most vehemently. The original concept of Castlefield as an urban heritage park and the early work of Jim Ramsbottom in particular was truly exciting. Then the big money moved in and the dream was hijacked. Brutal Euroboxes, with neither imagination nor taste to ameliorate them, were thrown up piecemeal in one of the worst cases of planning blight I can think of, so that now Manchester looks like a city designed by a schizophrenic drunk with attention deficiency disorder.[55]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "First in the world: the making of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway". Science and Industry Museum. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020.
  2. ^ Woodside 2004, p. 286
  3. ^ "Manchester Firsts". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  4. ^ Mills 1998, p. 232
  5. ^ "Manchester". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b Mills 1998, p. 405
  7. ^ a b Gregory 2007, pp. 1, 3
  8. ^ Mason (2001), pp. 41–42.
  9. ^ Gregory (2007), pp. 1–2.
  10. ^ Walker (1999), p. 15.
  11. ^ Gregory (2007), p. 3.
  12. ^ Philpott (2006), p. 66.
  13. ^ Norman Redhead (20 April 2008). "A guide to Mamucium". BBC. Retrieved on 20 July 2008.
  14. ^ Shotter (2004), p. 129.
  15. ^ Shotter (2004), p. 117.
  16. ^ Gregory (2007), p. 190.
  17. ^ a b c "Castlefield Conservation Area". Manchester City Council. History. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  18. ^ Frangopulo, N. J., ed. (1962) Rich Inheritance. Manchester: Education Committee; p. 33
  19. ^ a b "Engineering Timelines - Bridgewater Canal, Castlefield Basin". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  20. .
  21. ^ a b Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 16
  22. ^ Sabbagh, Dan (3 March 2008). "The Rovers Return is coming to a high street near you". The Times. London. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  23. ^ Schofield, Jonathan (16 November 2011). "Jackson's Wharf: A Twisted Tale Of Planning Permission". Manchester Confidential. Archived from the original on 12 July 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  24. ^ Linton, Deborah (7 June 2011). "Jackson's Wharf developer steps down in 'David and Goliath' battle over Castlefield flats". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  25. ^ "What's happening in the City Centre?". Government of the United Kingdom. City Centre Ward Map. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012.
  26. ^ Owen 1983, p. 10
  27. ^ "A Proud Heritage". The Bridgewaer Canal. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  28. ^ Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 14
  29. ^ Historic England. "Giants Basin at Potato Wharf (Grade II) (1247068)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  30. ^ Historic England. "Bridgewater Canal Basin at Potato Wharf (Grade II) (1246959)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  31. ^ a b c Nevell & Walker 2001, p. 71
  32. ^ McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 11
  33. ^ a b Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 17
  34. ^ Nevell & Walker 2001, p. 70
  35. ^ Nevell & Walker 2001, p. 72
  36. ^ Nevell & Walker 2001, pp. 9, 10
  37. ^ McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 9
  38. ^ a b Pontist, The Happy (11 March 2010). "The Happy Pontist: Manchester Bridges: 7. More Castlefield bridges". Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  39. ^ a b "Engineering Timelines - Cast Iron Arch, Bridgewater Canal wharves, MSJ&A Railway". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  40. ^ a b "Engineering Timelines - Castlefield 1877 Cornbrook Viaduct". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  41. ^ "Engineering Timelines - Castlefield 1894 Viaduct". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  42. ^ Engineering Timelines:Castlefield 1849 Viaduct, MSJ&A Railway Archived 23 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  43. ^ McNeil & Nevell 2000, p. 13
  44. ^ Pontist, The Happy (7 March 2010). "The Happy Pontist: Manchester Bridges: 5. Merchants' Bridge". Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  45. ^ Pontist, The Happy (4 March 2010). "The Happy Pontist: Manchester Bridges: 4. Architect's Footbridge, Bridge 100a". Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  46. ^ "Engineering Timelines - River Irwell Bridge (L&MR)". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  47. ^ "Sorry, no items match your search criteria". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  48. ^ Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 48
  49. ^ a b Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 49
  50. ^ Faucher, Léon (1844: 1969) Manchester in 1844: its present condition and future prospects. London: Frank Cass (facsim. repr. of 1844 ed.); p. 15
  51. ^ a b Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 50
  52. ^ Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 216
  53. ^ Parkinson-Bailey 2000, p. 214
  54. ^ "Castlefield Conservation Area". Government of the United Kingdom. p. 6.
  55. ^ a b "Jackson's Wharf Manchester". www.prideofmanchester.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Castlefield travel guide from Wikivoyage