Tour guide Chris Norwoord (AKA @norwoordchris on Twitter) put together a really interesting “Manchester off the Beaten Track” walking tour for me on the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour.

We set off from my hotel, the Manchester Abode. The first stop was to look at the Brownsfield Mill chimney, the oldest factory chimney in Manchester which dates back to 1825.  There are older mills with chimneys in Manchester, but the chimneys for these mills were rebuilt at various times in the nineteenth century to cope with the requirements as new steam engines and boiler systems were introduced. Brownfield Mill  has a circular staircase that wraps around the chimney which is an unusual but highly functional feature. Although it was a cotton mill, Brownsfield Mill is also of interest because it was in a basement workshop that AV Roe spent three years between 1910-13 building aircraft – biplanes and tri-planes.  AVRO went on to become a major aircraft manufacturer.

Brownfield Mill:  the oldest factory chimney in Manchester

Just across the road was Ancoats, the world’s first industrial suburb, the most intensively developed industrial area in the world in the early nineteenth century.    The population grew to 11,000 by 1801 and 54,000 by 1851.  This made it roughly the size of the town of Oldham, but with none of the dedicated municipal facilities.  There were the mills (and other industry) and the slums, and that was it, definitely not on the itinerary of visitors to Manchester in the first half of the nineteenth century.  Many were horrified by what they saw, smelt and heard in “smoky, dingy, sweltering and toiling Manchester”.  The area was nickmamed Little Italy after the influx of Italian immigrants during the 19th century.

Ancoats is currently undergoing regeneration with many of the mills being converted to flats.  The regeneration has included commissioning Dan Dubowitz as an artist-in-residence.  His work has include The Peeps (walling-up objects and providing peep-holes through which to view them) and the art installations in the Cutting Room Square, five large concrete blocks featuring panels with photography from the cutting room in Royal Mill before its refurbishment. I admired the new artwork panels in the square. I like art which is accessible, you don’t need to go during gallery opening times to see it.

Art panels, Ancoats

Then it was up to the Northern Quarter with its pavement sculptures. I liked the Cool Cows. There was a bit of a problem with cigarette ends embedded in some of the pavement sculptures.

Cool Cows pavement sculpture, Northern Quarter, Manchester

We had a brief look around the Manchester Craft and Design Centre which is housed in the former retail fish market in the Northern Quarter.

The Tour concluded with lunch at Odd , a bar serving home made food and a wide choice of drinks It’s also known for music sets and even has a cinema screen downstairs. I had a pretty tasty salmon wrap with coleslaw.

Chris did a video interview with me outside Odd in which we chatted about Manchester’s history and Chris made some recommendations for visitors to Manchester.

Europe a la Carte Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour sponsored by