Collyhurst
| Collyhurst | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Collyhurst Location withinGreater Manchester | |
| OS grid reference | SD855000 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M40 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
Collyhurstis an inner city area ofManchester,England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northeast of thecity centreon Rochdale Road (A664) andOldham Road(A62), bounded bySmedley,HarpurheyandMonsallto the north,Miles Plattingto the east,Ancoatsto the south, and theRiver Irkto the west. Prominent buildings include two Roman Catholic churches, St Patrick's and St Malachy's.
Collyhurst sandstone
[edit]
Much of the redsandstoneused for building inManchesterand the surrounding area, including stone for the Roman fort atCastlefield,St Ann's Churchin the city centre,Manchester Cathedraland the original buildings ofChetham's Hospital,came from Collyhurst Quarry.[1]Geologists use the term Collyhurst Sandstone for this type of soft red sandstone, which occurs in North West England.[2]It is a fine to medium grained sedimentary rock, created from desert sands blown into dune formations during theEarly Permianperiod when the area which now constitutes theBritish Isleswas within the desert belts to the north of theequator.The rock is not very resistant to weathering and erosion and disintegrates relatively quickly. The quarry was mentioned byJohn Lelandin the description of Manchester in his book.The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535 to 1543,saying that there was "a goodly quarre hard by the towne".[3]Stone was transported the short distance into Manchester by river on barges or rafts.[1]The quarry is disused and the area around it has been turned into a park called "Sandhills"[4]as part ofManchester City Council's Irk Valley Project.[5][6]
Churches
[edit]There are now twoRoman Catholicchurches in Collyhurst, St Patrick's and St Malachy's. There was once also St Edmund's in Monsall Street (architectP.P. Pugin,1894). The three formerAnglicanchurches have been demolished since they were described byNikolaus PevsnerinThe Buildings of England; Lancashire; I,1969. The oldest was St Oswald's on Rochdale Road in theGothicof the 13th century, the architect wasE.H. Shellard;the east end was spectacularly picturesque and there was a steeple designed by John Lowe. Lowe was also the architect of the two other churches, the Albert Memorial Church in Queen's Road, 1864, a red brick building with a northwest tower topped by a spire; and St James's in Teignmouth Street, 1874 (this had a steeple at the northwest corner, a porch on the southwest, and a polygonalapse). The Union Chapel, Queen's Park, was designed by R. Moffat Smith and has a low turreted tower.[7]
In 1972, all the Church of England churches in Collyhurst and Monsall were amalgamated into a newbeneficeof the Church of the Saviour. The church was established on part of the site formerly occupied by St Oswald's Church on Rochdale Road. This is an evangelical Church of England church.
War memorial
[edit]There is a war memorial on Rochdale Road next to the former site of the Collyhurst Flats, erected by public subscription and unveiled by theRt. Hon. Earl of Derby KG (Secretary of State for War)on 23 May 1923 to commemorate British servicemen who died during the First World War.[8]
Collyhurst Hall
[edit]Collyhurst Hall was once home to theMosleyfamily, lords of the manor ofManchesteruntil 1846. There had been a hall on the site since at least 1649, but Collyhurst Hall had been demolished by the end of the 19th century to make way for a development ofterraced houses,themselves demolished in the 1960s. What remains of the hall is buried beneath a playing field on the corner of Rochdale Road and Collyhurst Street.[9][10]
Archaeologists from theUniversity of SalfordandManchester Communication Academy,together with volunteers, local residents and school children, undertook an excavation of the site in 2016.[9]The project was supported by Collyhurst Big Local, Manchester City Council, Tameside Archaeology Society andManchester Museum.[10]
Sport
[edit]Collyhurst Youth JFC was established in 2018 by a group of local people to bring football back to the area. They currently have around 80 children on their books and are based at Manchester Communication Academy School. Their badge is based on the old monument on Rochdale Road and the new Sandhills Gate.[citation needed]
Popular music
[edit]For a brief period in the mid-1970s, The Electric Circus, a run-down venue on Collyhurst Street, formerly the Palladium variety club, found itself at the centre of Manchester'spunk rockscene. It played host to bands such as theSex Pistols,The Jam,Joy Division,then known as Warsaw,[11]Buzzcocks,Slaughter and the Dogs andThe Clash's "White Riot" tour before its closure in 1977. It has since been demolished. Lesser unknown bands have also come from the backstreets of Collyhurst notably; The Young Offenders Institute, Hoffa, Overcast, Morning Afterglow, M-40 and Ablekaned.
Transport
[edit]Collyhurst is served by buses on the Rochdale Road corridor.
Transport for Greater Manchesterhave proposed anew tram stop at Sandhillswhich would serve Collyhurst.[citation needed]
On 15 August 1953, the front coach of a Manchester toBuryelectric train fell from the Collyhurst viaduct over the River Irk after colliding with a local steam train. Ten people were killed and 58 injured in what became known as theIrk Valley Junction rail crash.[12]
Notable people
[edit]- Jim Allen(1926–1999), playwright
- Colin Barlow(1935–2018),Manchester Cityfootballer
- Pat Barrett,light welterweight boxer
- Stan Bowles,EnglandandQPRfootballer
- Jackie Brown(1909–1971), former world champion flyweight boxer
- Les Dawson(1931–1993), comedian
- Michael Gomez,Irish-born super featherweight boxer
- Bruce Jones,formerCoronation Streetactor
- Henry Kelly(1887–1960), recipient of theVictoria Cross
- Brian Kidd,England,Manchester United,Arsenaland Manchester City footballer
- Carlo Sartori,Manchester United footballer
- Jack Smethurst(1932–2022), actor
- Nobby Stiles(1942–2020), Manchester United andWorld Cupwinning footballer
- Bob Litherland(1930–2011), MP for Central Manchester 1979-1997
References
[edit]- ^ab"Building stone in the city of Manchester: St Ann's Church".Archived fromthe originalon 11 June 2016.Retrieved25 July2008.
- ^"British Geological Survey: Collyhust Sandstone Formation".Retrieved25 July2008.
- ^Bradshaw, L. D. (1987).Visitors to Manchester: a selection of British and foreign visitors' descriptions of Manchester from c. 1538 to c. 1865.Neil Richardson. p. 8.ISBN1-85216-003-9.
- ^"The Irk Valley:Sandhills".Archived fromthe originalon 5 December 2008.Retrieved26 July2008.
- ^"Building stone in the city of Manchester: Collyhurst Quarry".Archived fromthe originalon 19 July 2011.Retrieved25 July2008.
- ^"Irk River Valley".Manchester City Council.Retrieved21 November2017.
- ^Pevsner, N. (1969).Lancashire; I: the industrial and commercial south.The Buildings of England. Penguin. pp. 315–317.
- ^"Collyhurst".Imperial War Museums.Retrieved21 November2017.
- ^abBrown, Nigel (21 June 2016),"Archaeologists to uncover the secret of Collyhurst Hall",About Manchester,retrieved21 November2017
- ^ab"University of Salford to uncover forgotten past of Collyhurst Hall",University of Salford, 21 June 2016,retrieved21 November2017
- ^"A Northern Soul".The Guardian.Retrieved21 November2017.
- ^"Irk Valley Junction 1953".Danger Ahead! – Historic Railway Disasters.Retrieved12 December2007.