Journalist Angus Bethune Reach called ANGEL MEADOW: the lowest, most
filthy, most unhealthy, and most wicked locality in MANCHESTERFULL OF
CELLARS AND INHABITED BY PROSTITUTES, their bullies, thieves, cadgers,
vagrants and tramps.Was this yesterday? No, thankfully. He was writing
in the 19th century when Angel Meadow was one of a number of notorious
Manchester slums; probably the worst.
This is more than a walk through an obscure part of central
Manchester; its a trip to other worlds: Scotland and Gibraltar!
Believe it. The road that connects Red Bank to the bottom of the steps
leading down to the Irk from Cheetham Hill Road railway bridge is
called Scotland, although someone sadly has stolen the road sign.
This is what proto-communist Friedrich Engels had to say about the
locale in 1844. The landlords are not ashamed to let dwellings like
the six or seven cellars on the quay directly below Scotland Bridge,
the floors of which stand at least two feet below the low water level
of the Irk utterly uninhabitable, [it] stands deprived of all fittings
for doors and windows, a case by no means rare in this region, when an
open ground-floor is used as a privy by the whole neighbourhood for
want of other facilities. . . .
A hundred yards on, at the end of Millow Street, stood Gibraltar. This
was once described by the social commentator James Phillips Kay as the
haunt of the lowest of the population. The stranger, if he dare
venture to explore its intricacies and recesses is sure to be watched
with suspicion, on every side is heard the sound of the axe or knife
Okay, both those revered social commentators were writing many years
ago, but go there now and its pretty grim, which is why we guide you
around these atmospheric areas, converting the squalor and sordidness
into scintillating stories. And weve not even entered Angel Meadow
proper yet.
Have things improved? Yes, with much thanks to the Friends of Angel
Meadow. When weve finished with all the terrible tales we deserve an
ale or two at the Marble pub with its gorgeous tiles, magnificent ales
and friendly atmosphere.
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10/11/2020 Last update