Take a stroll down one of Manchester's most famous streets and you might find yourself pondering where it got its name.
Minshull, Balloon, Deansgate, Tib Street - just where do they come from? Scratch away at the stories behind the city's street names and you also uncover part of Manchester's fascinating urban history.
And the more you learn about the origins of Manchester's street names, the more you learn what a unique city it is. Whether it's the commemoration of events, honouring prominent figures of the past, or a reminder of long-vanished landmarks and industries, the names are revealing clues to our history.
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While it’s obvious why some were given their names others aren’t so clear. So much so, that an entire book - Origins of Street Names in the City Centre of Manchester - was penned on the topic in 1985 by L.D. Bradshaw.
And there are countless snippets of archive information and amateur historian research into some of the city’s most famous place names. We’ve taken a look at some well-known Manchester city centre locations and explored the origins of some famous street names.
Minshull Street / Aytoun Street
Courtesy of L.D. Bradshaw’s book, is the fascinating story behind these two street names. Minshull Street was named after the Mynshull family.
They were a wealthy bunch, who lived between their two estates, Chorlton Hall and Hough End Hall. When Thoman Mynshull, a successful apothecary, died in 1755, he left his fortune to widow Barbara.
She managed to keep hold of her cash, until one day in 1769 when she went to Kersal races in Salford and met a giant of a chap, Roger Aytoun. The sight of his 6ft 4in frame is said to have inspired her to propose.
They married less than a month later. A fan of a pint or two, Roger, known as ‘Spanking Roger’ because of his love for fighting, was apparently so drunk, he needed a hand standing at the wedding.
Nevertheless, when Barbara died, she left her fortune to lucky old Roger. He used the cash to fund his own regiment, which he named The 72nd Regiment of Foot or Manchester Volunteers.
Major General Aytoun as he was then known, offered people watches or pieces of his own clothing as an incentive to join. Another tactic was to challenge men to a fight. If Aytoun won, they’d have to join his regiment.
He was remembered in Aytoun Street - and the Spanking Roger pub, which has now closed.
Balloon Street / Sadler’s Yard at NOMA
You’ve probably never heard of James Sadler. But back in 1785, he was the talk of the town.
On the morning of May 12, Mancunians witnessed a balloon ascent in the city for the first time as Oxford-born Sadler took to the skies. The flight was made from the garden of a house on Long Millgate, which would later become Balloon Street.
Sadler was accompanied by a cat and landed in Radcliffe. He was the second person to make a balloon ascent in the country.
A celebrity in his own time, Sadler is sadly, largely unknown today. So when you pass Balloon Street, think of the brave pioneer.
A public square at the huge NOMA development has also been named Sadler’s Yard in honour of the great man. It is one of the first public spaces in Britain to be named through online crowd-sourcing.
Shambles Square
This part of the city has a unique history. Originally, the area was known for a street of butchers shops where meat was slaughtered and sold - hence the name 'Shambles'.
A shambles wouldn't have been for the squeamish with blood, pieces of meat and offal 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.
The Old Wellington Inn pub situated at the square was erected all the way back in the mid-1500s, then extended in the 18th century to house John Shaw’s Punch House, which was later renamed to Sinclair's. Once oysters hit the menu in 1845, it then became known as the popular Sinclair’s Oyster Bar.
Many of the buildings in the market place were demolished in the Victorian era to make way for road improvements and the rest were destroyed in the Manchester Blitz, leaving The Wellington Inn as the only surviving Tudor building in the city centre. Then in the early '70s, most buildings between Shudehill and Market Street were demolished to make way for the construction of the Arndale.
This too meant that The Shambles buildings were dismantled and rebuilt in their current site.
Tib Street
Named after one of Manchester’s ‘lost rivers’. Back in the 1700s, a stream emerging from farmland in Miles Platting made its way alongside Newton Lane - now Oldham Road - through to Castlefield and ultimately contributed to the River Medlock.
It was given the dignified title of River Rib, and the footpath nearby became known as Tib Street. Simple as that! The street was frequently flooded by the ‘river’, which was subsequently culverted in 1783. It is now completely underground.
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Oldham Street
Pretty straight forward this one. Oldham Street is named after a felt maker, Adam Oldham, who operated nearby.
It was a private track before it opened to the public in 1772. He was an acquaintance of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, which could account for the Oldham Street location of the Methodist Chapel, opened by Wesley in 1781.
Mosley Street
Sir Nicholas Mosley was a manufacturer of woollen cloth, who was later in life Lord of the manor of Manchester, and a Lord Mayor of London. Mosley Street was named after Sir Nicholas, who in 1596, bought the manor of Manchester for £3,500.
He also built Hough End Hall. We’ve already read that was later owned by the Mynshull family. The Mosley family sold their manorial rights to Manchester Council for £200,000 in 1846.
Does this story awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
Deansgate
The main artery through the heart of the city centre, Deansgate is one of Manchester's oldest thoroughfares. It's named after another of Manchester's lost rivers, the River Dene, which may have flowed along the Hanging Ditch connecting the River Irk to the River Irwell, at the street's northern end.
One of the most historic parts of the city, the thoroughfare was in use in both Roman and Saxon times. By the late 19th century, its varied uses included as a shops and offices as well as slum areas.
Deansgate is now home to some of the city's landmark buildings including John Rylands Library, Manchester Cathedral and the Beetham Tower.
Anita Street, Ancoats
This one is familiar to many a Mancunian, but is definitely worth retelling. During the Industrial Revolution, huge swathes of the city became ‘slums’, full of over-overcrowded, cheap housing.
One such area was Ancoats, which has been claimed as the world’s first industrial suburb. By the late nineteenth century, conditions in Ancoats had hit an all-time low, with residents suffering from ill-health and high mortality rates.
In 1885, Manchester Corporation formed the Unhealthy Dwellings Committee, and areas of Ancoats were cleared in preparation for new homes. The five-storey Victoria Square dwellings - completed in 1894 - was the grandest of the new municipal housing projects.
After scores more homes were built, some of which boasted their own toilets and wash facilities, the council was so proud of them, they named the street ‘Sanitary Street’. But residents didn’t like the name.
Legend has it they took to covering up the ‘S’ and the ‘ry’ and instead referred to the street as ‘Anita Street’. Urban legend or not, it’s a great story.
Lever Street
This one is a little contentious, with different stories of the origin of the name. One theory is that it was named after the Lever Brothers, creators of Lifebuoy soap and builders of the Port Sunlight model village in Merseyside.
It was originally thought they had some connection to Middleton, perhaps a factory on the banks of the River Irk. That appears to be a red herring.
Some think it was named after Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester or his brother Leslie Lever, Baron Lever of Ardwick. But Lever Street got its name way before they came along.
It appeared on a map in 1797 as ‘Lever’s Row’. In the 18th century, part of the city centre, bounded by Lever Street, Piccadilly Gardens, Great Ancoats Street and Market Street belonged to Ashton Lever, the son of Sir James Darcy Lever, former High Sheriff or Lancashire.
The Middleton-born businessman had a house built at the edge of the Daub-Holes, now Piccadilly Gardens. He was famous in his day as a collector of natural history specimens, having amassed one of the largest private collections in the country.
It’s thought that’s where Lever Street really got is name.
Afflecks, formerly Affleck’s Palace
Not a street name, but interesting all the same. Afflecks is named after the department store that stood at the same spot, Affleck and Brown.
It was started by James Brown and Robert Affleck in 1860s as a drapery business in Oldham Street. The store grew to occupy a whole block between Oldham Street, Church Street and Tib Street and later become a full flung department store.
It was known as the ‘Harrods of the North’. The business started to decline after the Second World War as shopping moved away from Oldham Street and in the 1950s Debenhams bought the store.
But it closed in 1973. Affleck’s Palace was opened in 1981 by James and Elaine Walsh with an ethos of offering a safe environment for entrepreneurs to start out with affordable rent and no long term contracts.
It is now world-famous, with likes of Lady Gaga visiting when they’re in town. As for Affleck and Brown, there’s now a bar named after the famous department store on Hilton Street nearby.
Museum Street
One thing you won’t find on Museum Street is a museum. But that wasn’t always the case.
The story begins with John Leigh Phillips, a rich textile manufacturer and collector of natural history specimens. When Philips he died, his collection was bought by a group of scholarly Mancunians who formed the Manchester Natural History Society in 1821.
In 1835, the society made its home on Peter Street. Philips’ collection was added to with donated specimens and, in 1850, the collection of the Manchester Geological Society. By the 1860s, the society had filled its Peter Street premises, so the museum was transferred to Owens College, which later became the University of Manchester.
In 1868, the Peter Street museum was closed, and the college commissioned architect Alfred Waterhouse to build a new home for the museum and the university. The building, opened to the public in 1890, still forms the heart of the University of Manchester’s Oxford Road campus. The museum lives on as the Manchester Museum.
So while there may not be much to see on Museum Street now, the name remains a tribute to John Leigh Philips and the society.
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