Shambles Square, Manchester - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Shambles Square is a square in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, created in 1999 to house the rebuilt Old Wellington Inn

The Old Wellington Inn

The Old Wellington Inn is a half-timbered public house in Manchester city centre, England. It is part of Shambles Square, which was created in 1999, and is in close proximity to Manchester Cathedral...

and Sinclair's Oyster Bar next to The Mitre Hotel.

Etymology

"Shambles" was a name originally used for a street of butcher

Butcher

A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

s shops where meat was slaughtered and sold. It is derived from the Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

word schamel, which meant a bench

Bench (furniture)

A bench is a piece of furniture, on which several people may sit at the same time. Benches are typically made of wood, but may also be made of metal, stone, or synthetic materials. Many benches have arm and back rests; some have no back rest and can be sat on from either side. In public areas,...

, as for displaying meat for sale. A shambles would have had blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

, pieces of meat and offal

Offal

Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...

running down the gutter, and although the original meaning of the word fell into disuse, it survived as a word meaning a scene of disorder. There are also streets known as "The Shambles" in other towns in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, such as York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, Stroud

Stroud, Gloucestershire

Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...

, Worcester, Whitby

Whitby

Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...

, Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...

, Chesterfield

Chesterfield

Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...

and Armagh

Armagh

Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

History

The building that is now The Old Wellington Inn was built in 1552 next to Manchester's market square

Market square

The market square is a feature of many European and colonial towns. It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day....

. In 1554 it was purchased by the Byrom family and became part residence and part draper

Draper

Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...

s shop. The writer John Byrom

John Byrom

John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS was an English poet and inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand. He is also remembered as the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn Christians Awake, salute the happy morn.- Early life :John Byrom was descended from an old...

was born there in 1692. The premises were licensed in 1862 and became the Vintners Arms, then the Kenyon Vaults and later The Old Wellington Inn. The building was extended in the 18th century to house John Shaw's Punch House which, as the name suggests, was licensed for the sale of strong alcoholic punch

Punch (drink)

Punch is the term for a wide assortment of drinks, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice. The drink was introduced from India to England in the early seventeenth century; from there its use spread to other countries...

and became a meeting place for High Tories and possibly Jacobites

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

. The customers usually assembled around 6 o’clock and, according to rule, called for “sixpennyworth of punch”. John Shaw was a stickler for discipline, having formerly been a trooper and fought in the wars of Queen Anne’s reign, and the rules of the establishment were strictly enforced. Eight o’clock was the hour fixed by law for closing and, as soon as the clock struck eight, Shaw would present himself before his guests and proclaim in a loud voice “Eight o’clock gentlemen, eight o’clock!” accompanying the announcement with the suggestive cracking of a horsewhip. This would normally soon clear the house but, if the cracking of the whip failed his maid, Molly Owen, was ordered to bring in a pail of water to "expedite the movement of the loiterer". Shaw was master of the punch house for 58 years until he died in 1796 at the age of 83. After Shaw’s death the punch house became "Sinclair's", until oyster

Oyster

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

s were introduced to the menu in 1845 and it became known as "Sinclair's Oyster Bar"--the name it retains to this day.

The butchers' stalls were moved from the market place in the Old Shambles to new premises in Brown Street, built by the Lord of the Manor

Lord of the Manor

The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...

, Sir Oswald Mosley

Sir Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet, of Ancoats

Sir Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet, of Ancoats was a British politician and writer.-Family:He was the son of Oswald Mosley , son of Sir John Parker Mosley, 1st Baronet, of Ancoats , created 1st Baronet Mosley, of Ancoats, in the Baronetage of Great Britain, on 8 June 1781, and wife Sir Oswald Mosley,...

in 1827. Many of the buildings in the market place were demolished in the Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

to make way for road improvements and the rest of the buildings were destroyed during the Manchester Blitz

Manchester Blitz

The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...

in 1940, leaving The Shambles as one of the few pre-19th century buildings, and The Wellington Inn as the only surviving Tudor

Tudor style architecture

The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...

building in Manchester City Centre

Manchester City Centre

Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...

. The buildings were both designated as Grade II listed buildings in 1952.

In 1974 most of the old property between Shudehill and Market Street was demolished to accommodate the new Arndale Shopping Centre

Manchester Arndale

Manchester Arndale is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. The centre was built in the 1970s when many other cities were constructing large malls. Manchester Arndale is the largest of a chain of Arndale Centres built across the UK in the 1960s and 1970s...

. The Shambles was underpinned with a concrete raft and, according to the Greater Manchester County Records Office, jacked-up 4 feet 9 inches to fit in with this development in the newly created Shambles Square. In June 1996 an IRA bomb

1996 Manchester bombing

The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 15 June 1996 in Manchester, England. The bomb, placed in a van on Corporation Street in city centre, targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused widespread damage, estimated by...

exploded in nearby Corporation Street and badly damaged many of the surrounding buildings, but The Shambles was protected by the concrete buildings around it and suffered only minimal damage. In 1998, £12M funding was provided by the government-sponsored Redevelopment Agency English Partnerships

English Partnerships

English Partnerships was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by Regional Development Agencies on a regional level...

, private companies, the European Community and Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...

to redevelop Shambles Square. The buildings were subsequently dismantled and moved 300 metres northwards to their present location, close to Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester...

in 1999. The Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's were rebuilt at 90 degrees to each other and joined together by a stone extension to form two sides of the new Shambles Square.

The third side of the square is fronted by The Mitre Hotel which was built as The Old Church Tavern in 1815. Prince Charles Edward Stuart is said to have reviewed his troops by the tavern in 1745. It was renamed as The Mitre Hotel around 1835.

Etymology

History

See also

Further reading