Ardwick

Ardwick was one of Manchester’s earliest suburbs and became a very desireable residential area for the rich and successful of its parent city. People flocked to live in the elegant dwellings around the Green with its gardens railed off for their exclusive use and many were eventually buried in the fashionable Ardwick cemetery. In 1867 the Green became Manchester’s first public park and was adorned with ponds, fountains and a bandstand, and later became the headquarters for Ardwick’s two volunteer army units. Among Ardwick’s eminent residents of the time were John Rylands, William Fairbairn, the Revd William Gaskell and George Wilson.

Ardwick was noted for its strong transport services with an extensive network of train, tram and bus links. The northern part of the area, bounded by the River Medlock, attracted industry and cotton mills, breweries and a rubber works thrived. As rows of terraced housing extended southwards to accommodate the factory workers, so the wealthier classes began to move away to areas such as Victoria Park. Ardwick became an entertainment centre with music halls, cinemas, roller skating, swimming and billiard hall - Manchester City football club set up just off the Hyde Road.

Passing through Ardwick today it is difficult to imagine how genteel and popular this area once was but through these fascinating old photographs it is possible to obtain glimpses of Ardwick through the stages of it’s development and change, especially before periods of extensive house clearance. This is a timely record of an historically important area of Manchester.