Manchester is the iconic Industrial Revolution City. In the nineteenth century, people came to Manchester to see what the future would look like.
The first steam powered cotton mill, the first modern canal, the first passenger steam powered railway system; all happened in Manchester.
The contrast between huge mills and terraced cottages impressed many foreign visitors. Later they noted the great warehouses and the great factories of the second Industrial Revolution, not least in Gorton, and then at Trafford Park and the Ship Canal that made Manchester, thirty miles inland, into a seaport.
The Rochdale Canal today, showing how McConnell's Mill has been preserved. Photo: The Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit.
Amongst the groups contributing to Working Manchester are:
- Museum of Science and Industry
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Gorton Local History Society
- Ancoats Heritage Works
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