The Greater Manchester Portal
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; the third largest in England after Greater London and the West Midlands. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974, as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, and designated a functional city region on 1 April 2011.
Greater Manchester spans 493 square miles (1,277 km2), which roughly covers the territory of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populous urban area in the UK. Though geographically landlocked, it is connected to the sea by the Manchester Ship Canal which is still open to shipping in Salford and Trafford. Greater Manchester sits within the historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire and borders the ceremonial counties of Cheshire (to the south-west and south), Derbyshire (to the south-east), West Yorkshire (to the north-east), Lancashire (to the north) and Merseyside (to the west). There is a mix of high-density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Greater Manchester, but land use is mostly urban—the product of concentric urbanisation and industrialisation which occurred mostly during the 19th century when the region flourished as the global centre of the cotton industry. It has a focused central business district, formed by Manchester city centre and the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford, but Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts, each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs.
Greater Manchester is governed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which consists of political leaders from each of the ten metropolitan borough councils, plus a directly elected mayor, with responsibility for economic development, regeneration and transport. Andy Burnham is the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester, elected in 2017. For the 12 years following 1974, the county had a two-tier system of local government; district councils shared power with the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) effectively became unitary authority areas. However, the metropolitan county continued to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, and as a ceremonial county, with a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. Several county-wide services were co-ordinated through the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities between 1985 and 2011. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) south-southeast of Rochdale, and 6.9 miles (11.1 km) northeast of the city of Manchester. Oldham is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, of which Oldham is the administrative centre.
Historically a part of Lancashire, and with little early history to speak of, Oldham rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming "one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England". At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined.
Today, Oldham is a predominantly residential town, although it is still distinguished architecturally by the surviving cotton mills and other buildings associated with its former industry. The town has a population of 103,544, and an area of around 26 square miles (67 km2). It is a centre for further education, and the performing arts.
General images
- Runway 2 of Manchester Airport lies on top of Oversley Farm, a Neolithic farming community.
- Map of the ancient parish of Manchester
- Greater Manchester lies at the conjunction of the ancient county boundaries of Cheshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
- Looking west along Nico Ditch, near Levenshulme
- Liverpool Road railway station the terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
- First Greater Manchester operate bus services in northern-Greater Manchester.
- Stockport Bus Station in 1988. Greater Manchester Transport (later GM Buses) operated bus services throughout the county, from 1974 to 1993.
- Old Wellington Inn Shambles Square was built in 1552.
- The City of Manchester Stadium, the main venue of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and home to Manchester City F.C.
- The main entrance of Old Trafford Cricket Ground
- Oldham, painted during the Industrial Revolution by J. H. Carse. Many towns in Greater Manchester were built around the mills.
- Common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium), seen here at Light Hazzles Reservoir near Littleborough, was voted the county flower of Greater Manchester in 2002
- The Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre (better known as the G-Mex centre and now rebranded as Manchester Central) was the converted former Manchester Central railway station in Manchester city centre used for hosting the county's cultural events.
- A bus stop in Denton bearing the logo of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). TfGM is a functional executive body of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and has responsibilities for public transport in Greater Manchester.
- Beetham Tower, Manchester's second tallest building, was completed in 2006
- Manchester from Kersal Moor, by William Wyld in 1852. Manchester acquired the nickname Cottonopolis during the early 19th century owing to its many textile factories.
- The Greater Manchester Urban Area, as defined in 2001, highlighted in red against the boundaries of the Metropolitan County
- Map of the Salford Hundred, with Manchester in the south-east
- Much of Greater Manchester's housing stock consists of terraced houses constructed as low-cost dwellings for the populations of local factory towns. This street in Salford was renovated by Urban Splash.
- Old Trafford, home to Manchester United F.C.
- The Lowry is a combined theatre and exhibition centre at Salford Quays, and is Greater Manchester's most visited tourist attraction.
- The Imperial War Museum North in Trafford Park was designed by Daniel Libeskind, and is one of the Imperial War Museum's five branches.
- Manchester's Exchange Square undergoing extensive regeneration.
- Skyline of Manchester.
- A view over the borough of Tameside, towards Manchester city centre circa 2008.
- Eccles cake is a small round flaky pastry cake filled with currants, sugar and spice. It is native to Eccles.
- The coat of arms of Greater Manchester County Council
- The Peterloo Massacre was a major event in the history of the city
- Skyline of Salford.
- Former weavers' cottages in Wardle. The development of Greater Manchester is attributed to a shared tradition of domestic cloth production, and textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution.
- Cotton mills in Ancoats about 1820.
- A 19th-century slum dwelling. The overhang contained privies, whose waste fell straight into the River Medlock below.
- GMC County Hall (now known as Westminster House) in Manchester housed the Greater Manchester County Council until its abolition in 1986.
Boroughs
Selected biography -
Hannah Beswick (1688 – February 1758), of Birchin Bower, Hollinwood, England, was a woman with a pathological fear of premature burial. Following her death in 1758 her body was embalmed and kept above ground, to be periodically checked for signs of life. Beswick's mummified body was eventually bequeathed to the Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society, where she was put on display and acquired the soubriquet of the Manchester Mummy, or the Mummy of Birchin Bower.
The museum was subsequently transferred to Manchester University, when it was decided, with the permission of the Bishop of Manchester, that Beswick should finally be buried. Her burial took place at Harpurhey cemetery on 22 July 1868; her grave is unmarked.
Did you know?
- ...that the Albert Medal was one of the awards given to Mark Addy for rescuing more than 50 people from the highly polluted River Irwell, Manchester, in the 19th Century?
- ...that the Port of Runcorn in Cheshire, England, was an independent customs port for two separate periods before becoming part of the Port of Manchester in 1894?
- ...that a word square found in Mamucium (pictured), a Roman fort in Manchester, may be one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain?
- ...that the women's scratch race at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships was held in Manchester and was won by Ellen van Dijk?
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Featured articles: Altrincham • Bert Trautmann • Chat Moss • City of Manchester Stadium • Duncan Edwards • Emmeline Pankhurst • Greater Manchester • Joy Division • M62 motorway • Manchester • Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal • Manchester City F.C. • Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine • Peterloo Massacre • Oldham • Scout Moor Wind Farm • Shaw and Crompton • Stretford • Trafford
Featured lists: Castles in Greater Manchester • Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester • List of Manchester City F.C. managers • List of Manchester United F.C. managers • List of Manchester United F.C. records and statistics • List of Manchester United F.C. seasons • List of Manchester United F.C. players • List of Manchester United F.C. players (25–99 appearances) • List of Manchester United F.C. players (fewer than 25 appearances) • List of railway stations in Greater Manchester • List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater Manchester • List of tallest buildings and structures in Manchester • List of tallest buildings and structures in Salford • Manchester City F.C. seasons
Good articles: 1990 Strangeways Prison riot • Alan Turing • Ashton-under-Lyne • B of the Bang • Bank Street (stadium) • Bridgewater Canal • Buckton Castle • Castleshaw Roman fort • Chadderton • Cine City, Withington • City of Salford • Controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man • David Beckham • Didsbury • Dunham Massey • Hale Barns • Henry Taylor (swimmer) • Hugh Mason • Hulme Arch Bridge • Hyde Road • Mamucium • Manchester and Bolton Railway • Manchester Liners • Manchester Mummy • Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine • Manchester United F.C. • Milnrow • Murrays' Mills • Nico Ditch • Noel Gallagher • North Road (stadium) • Ordsall Hall • Old Trafford • Oasis (band) • Radcliffe, Greater Manchester • River Irwell • Ronnie Wallwork • Royton • Sale, Greater Manchester • Tameside • Trafford Park • Upper Brook Street Chapel, Manchester • Urmston • Warburton, Greater Manchester
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