Manchester
'The Capital of the North', the city of Manchester is a metropolitan borough located in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. It is the most populated district of Greater Manchester with a population of approximately 441,000. The Greater Manchester Urban Area as a whole has a population of over two million, making it the United Kingdom's third largest conurbation. It is also the third most visited city in the UK after London and Edinburgh. It is perhaps most famous for Manchester United, one of its soccer teams, but is also a centre for arts, media, higher education and commerce. It competes with Birmingham for the status of the UK's second city (after London, of course).
Geography & Climate
Manchester lies in a bowl-shaped valley, bordered to the north by the Pennine Hills and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is on the banks of the Rivers Irwell, Medlock and Irk. The River Mersey flows the south of the city. The inner city is generally flat and low-lying. Manchester's location gives easy access to the picturesque Peak District. Its proximity to Liverpool (a port), the availability of water power from its rivers, its nearby coal reseves and its climate were key features in the city's development as the world's first industrial city.
Manchester has a reputation for being a rainy city, but this is not as true as it seems: it receives less rain than Cardiff and New York City and its average annual rainfall is more comparable with Rome, Italy. The rain tends to be light, which means that it takes longer to fall. The city rarely gets snow thanks to urban warming, but the surrounding rural areas get large amounts during winter. Manchester's average temperature ranges from 6°C (44°F) in January and February to 19°C (67°F) in the summer months.
History
The name 'Manchester' came from the Roman name Mancunium which is thought to be a Latin version of an earlier Celtic name, possibly meaning 'breast-like hill', along with the Anglo-Saxon ceaster (town) which is derived from castra, the Latin word for 'camp'.
The Manchester area was inhabited during and possibly before Roman times. It was originally a fort between Chester and York. In the 13th century, Flemish settlers founded Manchester's cotton industry which would later make it famous. In the 18th century, Manchester became the site of England's first artificial canal. During the 19th century, it became the centre of Lancashire's cotton industry, earning it the nickname of 'Cottonopolis'. During this time, the canal system grew and the world's second passenger railway was built, linking Manchester and Liverpool.
Manchester became the first industrial city and the most important industrial centre in the world. There was a lot of change and it came thick and fast, not only in industry but in ways of thinking, social classes, religious sects and labour organisation. It had the reputation of a fast-paced, forward-thinking city that was always one step ahead of the rest of the world. There was a rise in the population as Jewish and Irish settlers moved into the city along with people from Lancaster and other areas.
The last quarter of the 19th century was Manchester's golden age. Many of its most prominent public buildings date from this era. A vibrant culture was developing in the city, thanks to its cosmopolitan nature. This included the founding of the Hallé Orchestra. When county councils were created in 1889, Greater Manchester became a county borough, giving it even more independence. The Manchester Ship Canal was created, enabling ships to sail directly into the Salford docks. The docks closed in the 1970s, leading to vast unemployment.
Manchester was affected greatly by the depression that came between the First and Second World Wars and the changes that began to replace the old industries that had made the city famous. During World War II it was a centre for heavy industrial construction and was attacked a number of times.
In Recent Times
In June 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb in Manchester city centre. This was the largest bomb detonated on British land. It caused over 200 injuries and greatly damaged the buildings in the very centre of the city. However, Manchester has made a miraculous recovery and has made changes for the better.
In the wake of the bomb, the city centre was rebuilt, refurbished and is still being improved and regenerated, even today. The hosting of the Commonwealth Games provided even more inspiration and motivation for the city's renovation. New shopping and entertainment places have been built. The city centre's main shopping mall, the Arndale Centre, was renovated in September 2006 (and it's a lot better now, believe me; I used to hate that place, and now I go there all the time). It now holds the title of Europe's largest city centre shopping mall.
Large sections of the city have been demolished and rebuilt with new, modern looks and materials. When walking around the city centre, you can see a lot of usage of glass and steel infrastructure. Old mills have been - and are still being - converted into luxury apartments (I hope to own one someday ^^).
Education, Music, Sport, Etc.
Manchester has two universities, the University of Manchester (which is where I study) and the Manchester Metropolitan University. The University of Manchester is the largest in the United Kingdom, formed by the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and the Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). Manchester Metropolitan (or the Met, as we call it) was formed out of the polytechnic college. Both universities, along with the Royal Northern College of Music, are grouped together to the south of the city centre and form one large campus (although the universities are all said to be city-based, not campus-based). The Manchester Business School is part of the University of Manchester.
Manchester has a reputation for music; indeed, lots of bands and artists have come out of Manchester, including Badly Drawn Boy, The Chemical Brothers, David Gray, the Happy Mondays, Joy Division, M People, Morrissey, Oasis, Simply Red, Starsailor, The Stone Roses, Take That and the Verve. It has a number of gig venues, from the huge 21,000-seater Manchester Evening News Arena (the largest arena of its kind in Europe) to the Manchester Apollo and Manchester Academy. Manchester is also a great centre for classical music, home to two symphony orchestras and a chamber orchestra. It has a music conservatory (the Royal Northern College of Music) and a music high school, Cheetham's School of Music.
Manchester is also a centre for theatrical arts, with venues including the Manchester Opera House, the Lowry Centre, the Palace Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, as well as numerous smaller venues.
The city has two top-league soccer teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. Manchester United play out of Old Trafford, the second largest football ground in the United Kingdom, while Manchester City now play out of the City of Manchester Stadium which was built for the Commonwealth Games. Other sporting facilities were built for the Commonwealth Games including the Velodrome, the National Squash Centre and the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Britain's oldest and most-watched soap opera, Coronation Street, is set in Manchester and is filmed at Granada Studios near the city centre. The British Broadcasting Corporation has a base in Manchester. The city also has the highest amount of local radio stations outside London. It hosts the Manchester Film Festival and has hosted the Commonwealth film festival.
Manchester is twinned with several cities including Amsterdam and St. Petersburg.
Why I Love Manchester
I'm very much a Manchester girl. I grew up in a town to the north of Manchester, towards the countryside, and was brought up watching Coronation Street (and I still do). As I got older, I began to make more trips into Manchester city centre and grew to love the atmosphere - this was during the city's renovations following the 1996 bombing.
I have visited lots of cities around the UK (yes, including London and Birmingham), but for me, Manchester is the perfect place. It has something for everyone, which is why this fanlisting is called Everybody's Kind of City. If you have a diverse range of interests, you will be able to cater for all of them in Manchester. I'm a music lover, and Manchester is very much a musical place. I can easily go to a heavy metal gig one day and an opera the next. When I'm feeling cultural, there are always places to visit and shows to see.
I decided that I wanted to stay in Manchester for higher education and beyond because I love it so much. Although my family don't live far away, I chose to move away from home and live 'on campus' instead. I now live very near the city centre of Manchester and I have really come to love this place even more.
I like the way that you can walk around the city centre wearing whatever you want without being harassed; Manchester is a place for diversity and individuality. I love the Northern Quarter with its independent and bohemian shops which sell things that you can't find on the high street. I love all of the cafes and bars. I love the separate areas like Chinatown and the Gay Village. I love Manchester because it's a great place to be for people my age, but I also know that there are things for other people as well. Manchester is just an awesome city, somewhere where you can experience different things and cultures just by walking through the city.
I've always been a Manchester girl, but now I'm completely a city girl, and I thoroughly believe that Manchester is the best city in England.
Rotation
Disclaimers
This site is XHTML 1.0 Transitional and should work in all browsers. This is just an unofficial fan creation. No copyright infringement is intended.