Victoria Park, Manchester
Encyclopedia
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...
. Victoria Park lies approximately 3 kilometres south of Manchester city centre, between Rusholme
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
and Longsight
Longsight
Longsight is an area of Manchester, England, about south of the city centre. Its population is about 16,000.-History:Longsight has been known over the past for its gang related violence, similar to that of nearby Moss Side. Most of the violence came from tensions between 2 gangs; The Longsight...
.
It is east of Wilmslow Road and west of Anson Road.
History and description
In 1836, a unique enterprise was undertaken by Richard LaneRichard Lane (architect)
Richard Lane was a distinguished English architect of the early and mid 19th century. Born in London and based in Manchester, he was known in great part for his restrained and austere Greek-inspired classicism. He also designed a few buildings – mainly churches – in the Gothic style...
and Partners, architects. This was to establish a residential area to the east of Wilmslow Road, an "estate" of substantial houses in spacious grounds, where prosperous business and professional families could live. Lane was already noted for his public work in the neo-classical style, for example his Town Hall building at Chorlton on Medlock. The facade of this building remains on the Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
All Saints Campus and now forms part of the Mabel Tylecote Building
Mabel Tylecote
Dame Dr Mabel Tylecote, née Phythian, DBE was a British Labour Party politician, activist and adult educationist from Manchester, England....
.
The early years of the 'Victoria Park Company' were of mixed fortune. The original plans to develop land in a slightly different area, did not reach complete fruition, largely due to the fraud which led to the Foss case. A cul-de-sac of villas was built opposite Whitworth Park
Whitworth Park
See also Darley Dale and Whitworth Park Halls of ResidenceWhitworth Park is a public park in south Manchester, United Kingdom. The Whitworth Art Gallery and some of the University of Manchester student residences, popularly known as "Toblerones", are located there...
, and these were later demolished for the construction of the Royal Infirmary
Manchester Royal Infirmary
The Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England which was founded by Charles White in 1752 as a cottage hospital capable of caring for twelve patients. Manchester Royal Infirmary is part of a larger NHS Trust incorporating several hospitals called Central Manchester University...
. The fraud, or rather a complex connected series of frauds, related to the original development along Moss Lane East. Drainage techniques of the time were insufficient to support the developers' ambitions, and the large tranche of land they owned was not built on until several decades later. Some of the original villas remain on the southern side of Moss Lane East, between Wilmslow Road and Monton Street. They are attractive and spacious buildings.
The focus of the second, successful phase shifted to the better-quality land now known as Victoria Park. Professional people moved into the large houses, and from the earliest days a wide variety of nationalities was represented, notably a wealthy Chinese merchant community. It had its own tollgates, walls and police. By 1850 about 50 houses by various architects had been built. Some villas and the sedate atmosphere of the area began to change at the beginning of the 20th century. After a long period of social disintegration, which began as early as 1920, the area has become more established and is now made up of a mixture of university residences
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, and rented and private accommodation. In March 1972, 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...
designated a Conservation Area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
in Victoria Park, with the aim of encouraging preservation of this unique area.
Individual buildings
The area has over 20 listed buildings and among its many significant buildings is the notable Grade I listed First Church of Christ, Scientist (now the Edgar Wood CentreEdgar Wood Centre
The Edgar Wood Centre is a former Church of Christ, Scientist building in Fallowfield, Manchester, England. Pevsner considered it "the only religious building in Lancashire that would be indispensable in a survey of twentieth century church design in all England." It is a Grade I listed...
) in Daisy Bank Road, the work of the Middleton architect Edgar Wood
Edgar Wood
Edgar Wood was an architect who practised from Manchester at the turn of the 20th century and gained a considerable reputation both in Britain and abroad, notably in Germany. British design was then of European significance. His work is principally domestic, but he designed several churches and...
. Also of significance are Summerville on Daisy Bank Road; Hirstwood by Edward Salomons
Edward Salomons
Edward Salomons was an Anglo-Jewish architect based in Manchester, working in the late 19th century. He is noted for his architecture in various Gothic Revival and Italianate styles....
; Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...
's Xaverian College
Xaverian College
Xaverian Roman Catholic Sixth form College is a College in the city of Manchester.-Admissions:It lies in the inner city suburb of Rusholme close to Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road...
; and St Chrysostom's Church
St Chrysostom's Church
Saint Chrysostom's Church is the Church of England parish church of Victoria Park, Manchester, England. The patron saint of the church is St John Chrysostom and the church belongs to the Anglo-Catholic tradition. St Chrysostom's, Manchester is one of three churches dedicated in honour of St John...
(the Anglican parish church, the work of George T Redmayne), situated at the corner of Oxford Place and Anson Road. St Chrysostom's Church backs onto the University of Manchester's oldest hall of residence, Dalton-Ellis Hall
Dalton-Ellis Hall
Dalton-Ellis Hall is a hall of residence at the University of Manchester, Manchester, England. It is situated in the south of the city on Conyngham Road in Victoria Park, next to St Chrysostom's Church. It is close to Wilmslow Road in Rusholme. Dalton-Ellis has 279 male and female residents in...
. Redmayne was also the architect of the original Dalton Hall.
Victoria Park Campus of the university comprises several halls of residence. Among these are St Anselm Hall
St Anselm Hall
St Anselm Hall is a hall of residence in the Victoria Park campus of the University of Manchester....
with Canterbury Court and Pankhurst Court, Dalton-Ellis Hall, Hulme Hall
Hulme Hall
Hulme Hall is a university hall of residence in Victoria Park housing approximately 300 students from the University of Manchester...
(including Burkhardt House), St Gabriel's Hall
St Gabriel's Hall
St Gabriel's Hall is a small and friendly all-female hall of residence belonging to The University of Manchester. It has a caring atmosphere and is situated within easy walking distance of The University. It is located in the Victoria Park area of Rusholme in the city of Manchester.St...
and Opal Gardens Hall. St Anselm Hall is the only all-male hall left 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...
.
Church history
A church was included in the line drawings issued by Lane in 1836. The building was started in the 1840s but was abandoned because the Victoria Park Company went bankrupt.Historically the area known as Victoria Park was from 1850 included in the parish of St James, Birch, and remained so until 1878, when the new parish of St John Chrysostom was created from parts of the parish of St James and other parishes.
Notable residents
Prominent former residents include the musician Charles HalléCharles Hallé
Sir Charles Hallé was an Anglo-German pianist and conductor, and founder of The Hallé orchestra in 1858.-Life:Hallé was born in Hagen, Westphalia, Germany who after settling in England changed his name from Karl Halle...
, the artists Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
and Elias Bancroft, the famous suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...
and the Pankhurst
Richard Pankhurst
Richard Marsden Pankhurst was an English barrister and supporter of women's rights.Pankhurst was the son of Henry Francis Pankhurst and Margaret Marsden . He was born in Stoke but spent most of his life in Manchester and London. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Owens College of...
family, the physicist Sir Arthur Schuster, the architect Edward Salomons
Edward Salomons
Edward Salomons was an Anglo-Jewish architect based in Manchester, working in the late 19th century. He is noted for his architecture in various Gothic Revival and Italianate styles....
, the political activist Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden was a British manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with John Bright in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League as well as with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty...
, the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era...
and the woman of letters Marie Nordlinger (1876-1961).
George Hadfield, MP and Sir Arthur Roscoe, uncle of Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.Born into a privileged Unitarian...
were also residents.
See also
- Dalton-Ellis HallDalton-Ellis HallDalton-Ellis Hall is a hall of residence at the University of Manchester, Manchester, England. It is situated in the south of the city on Conyngham Road in Victoria Park, next to St Chrysostom's Church. It is close to Wilmslow Road in Rusholme. Dalton-Ellis has 279 male and female residents in...
- St Anselm HallSt Anselm HallSt Anselm Hall is a hall of residence in the Victoria Park campus of the University of Manchester....
- Victoria BathsVictoria BathsVictoria Baths is a Grade II* listed building, situated in the Chorlton-upon-Medlock area of Manchester, in northwest England. The building is currently on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register....
- Hulme Hall, Manchester
- St Chrysostom's ChurchSt Chrysostom's ChurchSaint Chrysostom's Church is the Church of England parish church of Victoria Park, Manchester, England. The patron saint of the church is St John Chrysostom and the church belongs to the Anglo-Catholic tradition. St Chrysostom's, Manchester is one of three churches dedicated in honour of St John...
- Foss v HarbottleFoss v HarbottleFoss v Harbottle 67 ER 189 is a leading English precedent in corporate law. In any action in which a wrong is alleged to have been done to a company, the proper claimant is the company itself. This is known as "the rule in Foss v Harbottle", and the several important exceptions that have been...
Further reading
- Cronin, Jill & Rhodes, Frank (2006) Rusholme and Victoria Park. Stroud: Tempus ISBN 0 7524 4198 1
- [Leech, E. Bosdin] (1937) A Short Account of the Victoria Park, Manchester. Manchester: Victoria Park Committee, in commemoration of the centenary of the opening of the park on 31st July 1837
- Spiers, Maurice (1976) Victoria Park, Manchester: a nineteenth-century suburb in its social and administrative context. (Remains ... 3rd series; vol. 23.) Manchester: Manchester University Press for the Chetham Society ISBN 071901333X
- Spiers, Maurice (1961) Victoria Park, Manchester: a study of its administration and its relations with local government, 1836-1954. Thesis (M.A.) - University of ManchesterVictoria University of ManchesterThe Victoria University of Manchester was a university in Manchester, England. On 1 October 2004 it merged with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology to form a new entity, "The University of Manchester".-1851 - 1951:The University was founded in 1851 as Owens College,...