Local Information for Manchester
Manchester is a city in the North West of England. The place is named from the old British name Mamucium plus ceaster, derived from the old Latin ‘Castra’. Manchester is a metropolitan borough with city status.
The city has a population of 437,000 and is situated in the former metropolitan county of Greater Manchester which has a population of 2,539,000 It is one of England’s core cities and is regarded by some as England’s second city, a title also claimed by Birmingham
The name ‘Manchester’ is often used to refer to the entire metropolis, much as ‘London’ is usually used to mean Greater London, but many of the constituent parts of this conurbation are substantial and separate towns (a city in the case of Salford) that retain strong identities.
People from Manchester are called Mancunians.
Manchester is situated in a bowl shaped land area, bordered to the north and east by the Pennine moors and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is located on the River Irwell, near the confluence of two other rivers, the River Medlock and the River Irk. The River Mersey also flows through the south of the city.
Much of the inner city is flat, offering extensive views of the moors from the floors of many tall buildings. It has some geographic features which were influential in its early development as an industrial city. These are its climate, its proximity to a sea port at Liverpool, the availabilty of water power from its rivers, and nearby coal reserves.
Manchester has a damp climate and a reputation as a rainy city. The average annual rainfall is 809 mm, meaning that this reputation is relatively undeserved. This total is less than Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Edinburgh for example. In international terms, Manchester receives substantially less rain than New York City, which receives 1200 mm of rain in an average year and the average annual rainfall total is comparable with that of Rome.
The Manchester area was settled in Roman times: General Agricola called a fort he set up there Mamucium, meaning ‘breast-shaped hill’. A facsimile of a Roman fort exists in Castlefield, in the city centre. In the 14th century, Manchester became home to a community of Flemish weavers who settled in the town to produce wool and linen, beginning the tradition of cloth manufacture.
Manchester remained a small market town until the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the 18th century. Its damp climate was ideal for cotton processing and with the development of steam-powered engines for spinning and weaving, the cotton industry quickly developed throughout the region (eg. Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire). Manchester quickly grew into the most important industrial centre in the world.
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Manchester was an important seat of radical, reformist politics. A famous meeting, held in furtherance of parliamentary reform, took place in St Peter’s Field on 16 August 1819. This resulted in a civil commotion and the deaths of eleven people with over four hundred injured, as local magistrates, fearful of a large crowd, ordered cavalry armed with sabres to clear the area. The so-called Peterloo massacre became a cause célèbre for the reformers of that era.
Manchester was a focus of the movement to reform the Corn Laws (the Anti Corn Law League (ACLL), set up in 1836 by Cobden and Bright) and later the Free Trade movement known as ‘The Manchester School’ or 'Manchesterism'
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Manchester’s population exploded as people moved away from the surrounding countryside and into the city seeking new opportunities. Its growth was also aided by its proximity to Liverpool’s ports and the emerging canal and rail networks. Manchester became the world’s first industrial city and the model for industrial development throughout the western world.
In 1838 Manchester, like many of the largest towns during this period, was incorporated as a municipal borough. City status for the borough was conferred in 1853. In 1889, when county councils were created in England, the municipal borough became a county borough with even greater autonomy.
In 1974 the county borough was abolished and the Metropolitan Borough of Manchester was created.
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