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 Ancoats
is often referred to as the world's first industrial
suburb an edge-of-town industrial estate, built
on a Georgian street grid. Within the area were
mills, associated housing (and workhouses),
community facilities (churches, pubs and, later,
schools) and related businesses (cotton spinning,
clothing manufacture, furniture makers and glassworks).
The development of Ancoats
was the result of two phenomena associated with
the economic and industrial expansion of Manchester
in the late 18th century. The first was the
increased demand for housing arising from the
rapidly growing population of the town. The
second was the need for suitable sites for the
new breed of textile mills that could take advantage
of emerging technologies: the development of
steam-driven textile machinery.
The housing expansion began
at the corner of Great Ancoats Street and Oldham
Road, on land owned by the Leigh family, and
then spread outwards. Building speculation then
drove the further expansion, northeastwards
with plots of land within a gridiron pattern
of streets being sold to the buildings or terraced
and back-to-back housing. The earliest houses
were built back-to-back around small courts
with the 2-up, 2-down terrace becoming popular
later.
The mill development came
from the marriage of steam power technology
and greatly improved spinning machines. The
mills were built along the line of the proposed
Rochdale Canal, the two developments obviously
of mutual benefit to their separate developers.
The Ancoats Conservation Area,
at the heart of the old district of Ancoats,
contains many buildings which tell the story
of Ancoats and the development of the lndustrial
Revolution in the north of England. The fifty-acre
site has been designated as an Urban Village
and in 1999 was included on the UK Government's
tentative list of potential World Heritage Sites
(along with Worsley in Salford, Castlefield
and the canal networks that link them). A nomination
is to be made for WHS inscription in 2006 to
UNESCO.
- The development of Ancoats
began in the late 1700s, and peaked during
the Industrial Revolution, when Manchester
became known as 'Cottonopolis'.
- Immigrant workers from across
Europe came to the area, and it retained a
cosmopolitan population well into the 20th
Century. Irish and Italian rivalry was strong
but amicable and there was a tenacious community
spirit.
- Ancoats saw its fair share
of casualties during the two World Wars and
contributed to the war effort, with the mills
producing military uniforms and parachute
silks.
- Cotton spinning ceased in Manchester
and other textile related uses were found
for the mills: clothes manufacture, machinery
repairs and warehouses for imported goods'
rag trade.
- The 1960s witnessed further
decline as, during the mass clearance of the
area's terraced homes, the population was
re-housed in the north and east of the city.
The mills, attracting decreasing rents, fell
into disrepair.
- Newspaper printing, one of
Ancoats' 20th Century industries, fell victim
to changes in technology, with the Daily Express
ceasing to be published from its famous black
glass building in 1989. The closure of Express
Printers was also the start of Ancoats' renewal,
as the impact of low investment and increasing
unemployment became recognised.
- In 1989, part of Ancoats
was designated a Conservation Area and 13
buildings listed, 7 of them at Grade 2*, putting
them in the top 6% of listed buildings in
the UK. Subsequently, a number of regeneration
agencies were established including the Ancoats
Urban Village Company. The aim is to rebuild
Ancoats as a place where 5,000 people will
live, work and relax, either in regenerated
historic buildings or new properties of the
highest quality.
- In the late 1990s English
Heritage's Conservation Area Partnership scheme
aimed to 'stop the rot' providing funding
to preserve key buildings with temporary roof
coverings, window boards and the clearance
of flammable materials. Gradually, new public
realm works are improving street surfaces,
lighting and signage, as well as introducing
public art.
- In 2002 the North West
Development Agency implemented a Compulsory
Purchase Order Scheme to halt speculative
property purchase in the area, helping to
attract highly regarded developers to create
exciting mixed-use schemes. £14m of
Heritage Lottery Fund and government regeneration
grants was secured by ABPT to repair and regenerate
the area's most important listed buildings.
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