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Castlefield buildings

23/ 7/2003

Free

Castlefield was declared Britain's first urban heritage park in 1982. It has a classic urban landscape: iron, water and brick in powerful combination.

There is also the added attraction of the Museum of Science and Industry. A walk around the Castlefield Basin is recommended, especially in summer and during the festivals held there.

The Ox and The White Lion, Liverpool Road, Dukes 92, Castle Street, and Choice, Castle Quay, are recommended places for refreshment en route. Al fresco dining and drinking is a Castlefield speciality.

THE main places of historical interest in Castlefield include the remains and reconstructed gate, granaries and walls of the Roman Fort of Mamucium, plus the foundations of the vicus (the town which grew outside the fort) buildings.

Nearby is the Outdoor Arena used many times throughout the year. In 1994 over 20,000 people gathered in and around the Arena to listen to the verdict of Jose Maria Samaranch on whether Manchester had successfully bid for the Olympic Games.

Of course, Samaranch said Sydney had won. There was a pause for a few seconds and then the whole crowd started singing Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

The principal canal here is the Bridgewater Canal. When this reached Manchester in 1765 from the Duke of Bridgewater's collieries at Worsley 7 miles away, it immediately halved the price of coal in the city.

It was one of many factors which allowed the sparks of the industrial revolution to fan into a blaze. The Duke was laughed at for his enterprise and the canal nearly broke him with its cost of over £200,000, yet just a short time later it was returning profits of £80,000 a year.

The Bridgewater was the first modern canal and always the quickest: throughout its journey back to the mines or on to the Mersey estuary there are no locks - it follows the contours. Bridley used to say that water is like a giant, safest when on its back.

The Bridgewater is joined by the Rochdale Canal in Castlefield, completed in 1805 and the first waterway to cross the Pennine Hills and link the west and east coasts.

An interesting walk out of the basin leads up the tow path of the Rochdale Canal and traverses the city, through tunnels, a mile (1.6km) to the Piccadilly end of town.

An associated Bridgewater canal building is Grocer's Warehouse. This latter building, which used to be five stories high, has been part reconstructed.

Under the canal here, the River Medlock flows in a tunnel. The overflow of the canal water into the tunnel below causes the waterwheel inside the Grocer's warehouse to turn.

This can then be used to haul coal from the canal side to the road high above.