Princess Road Manchester’s main southern highway
It’s named after a princess but most Mancunians wouldn’t have a clue who she is. It’s designated the A5103, a number that suggests an insignificant side road, yet it’s an impressive dual carriageway. It was planned in the 20s but didn’t achieve its full extent till the 70s. It’s Princess Rd, Princess Parkway and the northernmost section of the M56, together forming Manchester’s main southern highway
Princess Rd runs directly south out of Manchester city centre, seemingly a natural route that was always there. But it only appeared in the 20th century. It’s not an ancient route like the A6 to the south east, or the A56 to the south west.
The route was planned in the 1920s, opening up Manchester’s new southern suburbs built on flat open land to the south. But at its northern end, for most of the early to mid-20th century it ended in the maze or narrow cobbled streets that was the old Hulme.
Then Hulme was cleared in the 60s and the dual carriageway was extended north as far the Mancunian Way.
At the southern end, Princess Road, becoming Princess Parkway south of the Mersey, ran as far as the A560 roundabout at Wythenshawe. Only when the M56 was built in the 70s did the A5103 assume its full role as Manchester’s main southern highway, linking the city with the motorway network and routes to the south.
Let’s take a quick drive down Princess Rd from the Mancunian Way roundabout.
As we head south, the road dips down, and we pass under the Hulme Arch, a bridge opened in 1997 and a symbol of the new Hulme. It carries the reinstated Stretford Rd across Princess Rd.
The highway curves round rises again. We pass through the traffic lights near Asda, with the brewery on the left, and on through Moss Lane traffic lights. On the left are the original 19th century shop buildings. On the right is an open grassy space with houses beyond.
The street lamps have banners used to promote local events.
A few hundred yards south and on the left is Princess Rd garage, formerly a tram depot, now used by Stagecoach buses. On the right is Alexandra Park.
A row of late 19th century houses on the left cedes to inter-war semis which dominate the east side of Princess Rd the whole way down. We head directly south. William Hulme’s grammar school and playing fields are on the right.
Then it’s Moseley Rd traffic lights and the carriageway rises to pass over the first of two bridges over disused railway, the first over the South Manchester Loop Line, now used as a footpath. Next it’s Mauldeth Rd traffic lights.
Mauldeth Rd extends off to the right as a wide dual carriageway. It was originally intended to provide an additional crossing over the Mersey, linking up with Sale, but the extension and bridge were never built.
Princess Rd curves gently to the right, with the vast expanse of Hough End playing fields on the right, and more inter-war semis on the left. Again the road gently rises to cross the disused former London Midland railway line.
It’s such a waste to have bridges over empty railway lines. The bridges still need to be be maintained, at considerable expense, and yet nothing ever passes underneath, except foxes and other animals. That’s set to change as this line may eventually be used by Metrolink trams, though not for some time yet. In my opinion it should have been kept in use as a railway line.
Princess Rd now descends an incline and gains an extra lane. New apartments are on the left, and on the right, Southern Cemetery. Past Nell Lane, the modernist Siemens Building is on the left and we are at Barlow Moor Rd, former terminus of the trams, which were withdrawn in 1949.
Princess Rd heads south towards the Mersey. The extra lane leads to a slip road to the M60, former M63, first built in the 1970s. There’s a corresponding one on the other side. Here a big motorway instersection occupies a large area just south of the Mersey with wide slip roads and bridges. This is one of a number of restricted access junctions on the M60. You can only drive onto the M60 heading east towards Stockport.
The original dual carriageway crosses the Mersey on a bridge with an ornate balustrade which is still there. Two newer bridges have been added on either side to carry the motorway slip roads.
Drivers coming north from the M56 should note that along this section there’s a 40 mph speed limit.
South of the Mersey we have left Lancashire* and have entered Cheshire*.
Now the speed limit rises from 40 to 50 miles per hour and the road is now four lanes in both directions. The carriageway rises for the Palatine Rd Northern Rd intersection and it’s now just a short distance to the A560 junction and the beginning of the M56 motorway.
Wythenshawe Park is on the right, trees are on the left concealing more houses.
At the A560 roundabout, the M56 begins, leading to Wythenshawe, the airport and the A538 to Hale and Wilmslow. Roughly 2 miles south, the M56 bridge over the river Bollin marks the end of both the City of Manchester and the Greater Manchester subregion.
The M56 is the first leg of the long trip to London, but a few miles further down, you have to leave it and go back onto an A road – the A556 – to get to the M6, one of many anomalies in the local road system.
The A5103 and M56 through south Manchester: another road that came about haphazardly, begun in the 20s, and only completed in the 70s.
But it’s an impressive highway, used by thousands of drivers, cyclists and a few pedestrians every day. Beware of traffic jams at rush hour in both directions, especially around the M60 (former M63) interchange.
And finally some questions I’m not sure about:
Which Princess was Princess Road named after?
Why did they call it Princess Parkway south of the Mersey?
To what extent were the British road planners influenced by road construction in the United States with their parkways, thruways and beltways?
*Lancashire and Cheshire are referred to in their original boundaries, since 1974 ignored and unrecognised by official bodies.
Posted on October 20th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Princess Road and Parkway – gateway to a new style of living:
The City acquired the 2,500 acre Tatton Estate to the south of the City – almost all of it in Cheshire – in 1925 and plans were made to build a 100,000 inhabitant “Garden City Estate” – and the Simon family donated the adjacent Wythenshawe Hall and parkland to the scheme on the basis that the Hall and parkland would remain as a leisure amenity in perpetuity.
From the start, the whole area was promoted as the “Wythenshawe Estate”, with emphasis on the original interpretation of “estate” as being a development of houses in an area of open spaces, flanked by trees and laid with flower beds alongside roads with sweeping curves and wide vistas. Many battles had to be fought against neighbouring authorities before housing construction commenced in 1931.
The access to the area was via Palatine Road and Northenden Village and both the Police and the Transport Department were consulted as to the best route to give extra and faster access to what would become a sprawling town, larger than many independent municipalities.
Princess Road ran south from the City and, just after Princess Road tram depot, had been broadened to a dual carriageway with a dual tramway down the central reservation to similar light railway standards as that on Kingsway. A meeting of minds determined that Princess Road, which terminated at the River Mersey, though to all useful intents and purposes ran as far as the Barlow Moor Road/Southern Cemetery roundabout and tram terminus, should be extended across the Mersey and down as far as the Altrincham/Gatley road alongside the Wythenshawe Hall parkland.
At this point, the death of Henry Mattinson, the Manchester City Transport Manager, in 1928, intervened in so far as his replacement, Stuart Pilcher, was pro diesel bus and saw trams as “old fashioned”. His appointment in 1929 had a major influence on the design of the road.
The idea of a dual carriageway with light railway standard tracks in the reservation extending to Wythenshawe, part of the initial design, was abandoned and the road from Barlow Moor Road southwards became a wide single carriageway. A bridge was built across the Mersey and the road from there southwards was constructed with sweeping curves, wide pavements, cycle tracks, lined with new and mature trees, shrubs and plants – designed to the “Garden City” idea of a “Parkway” and leading to the City’s latest park and housing. The junctions with the Northenden and Gatley/Altrincham roads were controlled by roundabouts and houses built adjacent to the new road were behind the footpaths and cycleways with their own service roads, segregating them from through traffic.
Built between 1930 and 1932, it could be argued that, until it was buried beneath the concrete of the M56, the road from the Mersey southwards was the City’s most beautiful thoroughfare. The name “Princess Parkway” was adopted to emphasise the continuity of the direct link to the City – the origin of the use of the name “Princess” is obscure.
The decision to serve Wythenshawe with buses caused a major row and led to nearly two decades of inconvenience. Whilst Pilcher won his point regarding the buses for Wythenshawe (and eventually the “Estate” needed 100 buses, more than many independent UK towns) the Council would not allow through running to the City as they had laid out a substantial amount of money to improve the tram tracks on Princess Road so, until the end of the trams on the road in July 1947, passengers were forced to change at Barlow Moor Road a great inconvenience to passengers and other road users.
The term “Princess Parkway” was adopted locally by many for the whole length of the road from the start of the dual carriageway, close to the tram and later bus depot, to the Gatley/Altrincham road. This was never officially sanctioned, the name changing from “Road” to “Parkway at the Mersey bridge.
I remember cycling along the Parkway many times in the 1950s and 1960s. One of the oddities to be seen was the large gap in the building of houses at the southernmost roundabout adjacent to the Royal Thorn. This was obviously the width of a road – but for what purpose? There were various plans – a “Parkway” to the new Airport, a “Parkway” through Hale Barnes to Altrincham and, eventually, an arterial road the Chester road south of Altrincham.
Financial constraints in the 1930s, WW2 and post war austerity stopped all the plans and it wasn’t until the motorway programme was in full swing in the 1970s that the final plan was adopted which saw the death of the “Parkway” section south of the Mersey, though the name lives on both officially between the Mersey and the start of the motorway and erroneously in the minds of many for the whole road.
Posted on November 10th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Very interesting history, good posts. I would also be intrigued to know more about the re-naming of \\\’Princess Road\\\’ in Northenden, now known as Patterdale Road. When did the name change occur (I have only seen a 1908 map)? And was it because Princess Road was extended to Northenden and therefore couldn\\\’t share names? Do the Road/Highways agencies keep these records?
I think you\\\’re right. Princess Road becomes Princess Parkway south of the Mersey, but it is still within the City of Manchester and so any other Princess Rd would have to be changed, as names cannot be duplicated within one local authority. There are other examples of name changes, such as Junction St > Jutland St, High St > Hathersage Road… I think responsibility for street names lies with the local authority. Historical records can be checked at Manchester Central Library Local Studies Unit. Thanks for your comment
Posted on August 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Just a bit of an error I’ve spotted, the name of the road after William Hulme is actually Wilbraham not Moseley.