Explore an early 20th century map of Manchester

This map of Manchester city centre from the early 20th century contains a wealth of information about how Manchester was before the changes wrought by World War 2 and post-war development.

Click on the image to view the map presented in Zoomify format (similar to Google Earth).

What’s striking about the early 20th century Manchester map is how much of what was there then is still there today. Manchester is often described as a modern, forward-looking “21st century city” with lots of shiny new buildings, but most of the street plan and a good proportion of the buildings date from the 19th century and before.

I have not yet managed to work out the exact date of this map, an original copy of which I bought in a second hand bookshop.

Here are some of the interesting points I’ve picked out. There are plenty more to discover.

• Piccadilly Gardens is marked as ‘Site for Art Gallery or Library’. This would suggest the map dates from not long after 1908 when the old Infirmary was demolished.
• There is no Central Library or Town Hall Extension, both of which appeared in the mid 1930s.
• Tram lines run along all the main streets, converging on Piccadilly by the Queen Victoria monument.
• The Rochdale Canal has several arms which have since disappeared: The branch under Great Bridgewater Street was restored in the 1990s but in the map it continues further, makes a right turn, ending behind the Hippodrome, later Gaumont cinema, now the multi-storey car park on Oxford Street.
• The Quay St Peter St Oxford St axis has a series of theatres: The New Queens Theatre, now the Opera House, the Free Trade Hall, whose frontage is now part of the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, the Theatre Royal, now a night club, the Palace of Varieties, now the Palace Theatre. The Gaiety, the Tivoli and the Princes Theatre have all disappeared.
• The area to the north of Market St was transformed in the 1960s and 70s into the Arndale Centre. Lost streets include Friday Street, Greenwood Street, New Cannon St as well as Marsden Square and the Market Place, which was overlooked by the Old Shambles.

The Manchester described in this map is very different to the one we know today, and yet many features remain: The main thoroughfares including Market St, Oxford St, Deansgate and Whitworth St follow the same path and still have the same names. The Midland Hotel is still a major landmark, and the only hotel shown on this map that is still there today.

Manchester had four main line railway stations until 1969, when Central and Exchange were closed. London Rd was renamed Piccadilly in 1960. Mayfield was closed in the 1950s. The Oxford Rd station depicted on this map was much smaller and less attractive than the modern one, which was built around 1960.

If you can date this map exactly, or if you can give any further insights, or correct any errors, please leave a comment. Have fun exploring the Manchester of almost a century ago, a place and time I intend to revisit.

The most comprehensive collection of archive maps of Manchester can be viewed at the Archives and Local Studies Unit Manchester Central Library. More information at the website www.manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls.