Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Exploring Manchester
Manchester's central sights are walkable, but there's a good bus, tram, and local train
network:
www.gmpte.com
is your resource for planning all journeys.
CENTRAL MANCHESTER
Having begun life as the Roman settlement Mamucium (“camp by the breast-like
hill”!), Manchester was catapulted to the forefront of the industrial movement by
both its textile industry and its role as a hub in the development of the railway. So it's
apt that its excellent
Museum of Science & Industry,
which brings the city's
industrial heritage stunningly to life, occupies the site of the world's first passenger
railway station and offers visitors a ride on a replica steam train. The museum lies in
the Castlefield district, where Roman Mamucium took seed and also where canals
were built to transport supplies during the city's late-19th-century heyday. A stroll in
the
Castlefield Urban Heritage Park
(Britain's first) will take you along the canals
to the remains of the Roman fort; boat trips are also available, and there are some
good picnic spots.
It's about a 10-minute walk from here into the actual city center and the
Man-
chester Art Gallery
(p. 566). En route, call in at the Victorian Gothic Revival
Manchester Town Hall
, Albert Square (for information and tours, ask at Man-
chester Visitor Information Centre), home to several government departments but
partially open to visitors in office hours. Its Sculpture Hall includes famous figures
involved in the city's history, including Gnaeus Julius Agricola, founder of Mamu-
cium, while
the
Great Hall holds 12 imposing murals by Ford Madox Brown, on
events central to Manchester's history and themes dear to Victorian Mancunians:
Christianity, commerce, and the textile industry.
Past the Town Hall and the Art Gallery, the 60-m (197-ft.)
Wheel of Manchester
15
in Exchange Square (
&
0161/8310-9918;
www.worldtouristattractions.co.uk; Sun-
Thurs 10am-9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-midnight; £7.50 adults, £5 children 3-16), offers
panoramic views over the city, including nearby
Manchester Cathedral
, Victoria
Street (
&
0161/833-2220;
www.manchestercathedral.org), which, while not rivaling
that of York (p. 644), has impressive late-medieval wooden furnishings, including some
beautifully carved early-16th-century choir stalls. The Fire Window evokes the infernos
of the Nazi Blitz, which destroyed the cathedral's Victorian stained glass. The cathedral
can be visited Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6:30pm, Saturday 8:30am to 5pm, and Sun-
day 8:30am to 7pm; free admission but donations are welcome and visitors are advised to
call beforehand to check if making a special journey.
Also near the Wheel lies Urbis, a shimmering glass structure built to house a
museum about urban cultures but undergoing transformation into the
National
Football Museum
(
&
0161/870-9275;
www.nationalfootballmuseum.com) at the
time of writing. Also nearby is the recently reopened (and rehoused)
People's His-
tory Museum
, Left Bank (
&
0161/838-9190;
www.phm.org.uk), which tells
the story of democracy and of the working class in the U.K. It won't be to everyone's
taste, but for those interested in the role played by northwest England in the Indus-
trial Revolution, and Manchester's importance in the political arena, it's a must-see.
Entry is free, with the museum open daily 10am to 5pm.
Other sights in the center include
Chetham's Library,
distinguished not only as
Britain's oldest free public reference library (in continuous use since 1653) but also as
the meeting place of Marx and Engels when the former visited Manchester, and retain-
ing displays of books that they consulted. Part of Chetham's School of Music, the library
