Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, Quay Street, Deansgate and Chester Road. It was the site of the Roman era fort of Mamucium or Mancunium which gave its name to Manchester. It was the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal, the world's first industrial canal, built in 1764; the oldest canal warehouse opened in 1779. The world's first passenger railway terminated here in 1830, at Liverpool Road railway station and the first railway warehouse opened here in 1831.
The Rochdale Canal met the Bridgewater Canal at Castlefield in 1805 and in the 1830s they were linked with the Mersey and Irwell Navigation by two short cuts. In 1848 the two viaducts of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway crossed the area and joined each other, two further viaducts and one mainline station Manchester Central railway station followed. It has a tram station, Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop (formerly G-Mex) providing frequent Manchester Metrolink services to Eccles, Bury, Altrincham, Manchester Piccadilly, East Didsbury and Rochdale.
Castlefield was designated a conservation area in 1980 and the United Kingdom's first designated urban heritage park in 1982.
Toponymy The name Castlefield refers to the settlement's position below the former Roman fort. It is a contracted version of the earlier name Castle-in-the-field. Another name for the area was Campfield, which derived from the same source. It is preserved in the name of St Matthew's Church, Campfield, and Campfield Market. (Manchester also derived its name from the fort.)
An older name for the settlement was the Old English Aldport, meaning old or long used port, distinguishing it from the new port at medieval Manchester nearer the confluence of the Rivers Irk and Irwell. Port in Old English could refer to a harbour or a market so the names could be old and new market.
History
Roman period
A Roman fort (), Mamucium or Mancunium was established in what is now Castlefield around AD 79 near a crossing place on the River Medlock. The fort was sited on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the River Medlock and Irwell in a naturally defensible position. It was erected as a series of fortifications established by Gnaeus Julius Agricola during his campaign against the Brigantes, who were the Celtic tribe in control of most of northern England.Mason (2001), pp. 41–42. It guarded a central stage of the Roman road (equivalent to Watling Street), between Deva Victrix (Chester) and Eboracum (York). Another road branched off to the north to Bremetennacum (Ribchester).Gregory (2007), pp. 1–2. The neighbouring forts were Castleshaw and Northwich.Walker (1999), p. 15. Built first from turf and timber, the fort was demolished around 140. When it was rebuilt around 160, it was again of turf and timber construction.Gregory (2007), p. 3. Around the year 200, the fort underwent another rebuild enhancing its defences by replacing the gatehouse in stone and facing the walls with stone.Philpott (2006), p. 66. The fort would have been garrisoned by an infantry cohort of around 500 auxiliary troops. Retrieved on 20 July 2008.
Evidence of pagan and Christian worship has been discovered. Two altars have been found and there may be a temple of Mithras at the site. A word square was discovered in the 1970s that may be one of the earliest evidences of Christianity in Britain.Shotter (2004), p. 129. A civilian settlement () grew in association with the fort, made up of traders and the soldiers' families. An area which has a concentration of furnaces and industrial activity has been described as an industrial estate.Shotter (2004), p. 117. The civilian settlement was probably abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although a small garrison may have remained at Mamucium into the late third and early fourth centuries.Gregory (2007), p. 190.
A reconstructed part of the fort stands on the site and is open to the public.
Medieval and early modern periods The village of Manchester later became established a kilometre to the north and the area around the vicus became known as "Aldport" or "The Old Town". A house and park here became the home of the Mosley family in 1601 but, in 1642, after being used by Lord Strange as a royalist headquarters during the Siege of Manchester, it was burned down by parliamentarians.
The River Irwell was made navigable in 1720s, leading to the construction of a quay in the area for loading and unloading of goods (vessels of up to 50 tons could dock here and ply between Manchester and Liverpool).Frangopulo, N. J., ed. (1962) Rich Inheritance. Manchester: Education Committee; p. 33
Industrialisation
The Bridgewater Canal arrived in Castlefield in July 1761, around the time the Industrial Revolution is considered to have started. The Rochdale Canal, and a network of private branch canals joined the Bridgewater at Lock 92 in Castlefield. The Bridgewater Canal company hesitated in connecting their canal the adjacent Mersey and Irwell Navigation until the Rochdale Canal Company had almost constructed its Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, and the railways had arrived in the 1830s. As the century progressed the canals gave way to the railways and the area became dissected by a network of railway lines carried on a series of multi-arch viaducts. Though Castlefield did have cotton mills, it was the engineering works and warehousing that was more noticeable. The first canal warehouse, built in 1771 on Coal Wharf, was used to raise coal from the barges to street level, and store other goods. In the nineteenth century the warehouses assumed other functions such as trans-shipment which involved receiving trains or barges, and reassembling their loads to be shipped to other destinations. Other warehouses received raw materials such as yarn, which was collected by outworkers who then returned woven cloth. The later warehouses acted as showrooms on the ground floors, with offices and storage above and behind.
20th century During the 20th century both canal and railway transport declined and the area became somewhat derelict. The railway complex in Liverpool Road was sold to a conservation group for a nominal £1 and became the Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. In 1982 the area was designated as an urban heritage park and a part of the fort was reconstructed on the excavated foundations.
Present day
As part of the renewal of the site, an extensive outdoor area was developed as an events arena which is used for a wide variety of events, including the annual 'Dpercussion' music festival. Granada Television studios are located in the area along with the now closed Granada Studios Tour. In 2008 it was reported that ITV were considering re-opening the tour as the company is searching for new forms of revenue to restore growth.
Castlefield has several bars and restaurants which are particularly popular during the summer months when people flock to the area to enjoy the large outdoor drinking areas and regular live music events. The popular Barça Bar (originally opened by Mik Hucknall, Simply Red) and Dukes 92 serve as the only bars with huge outdoor seating, within the Castlefield basin. There are then The Wharf (gastro pub) and The Arches Castlefield (above Barça Bar) that serve food and offer event space.
Castle Quay is the home of Bauer Media's network centre, housing national radio stations Hits Radio and Greatest Hits Radio.
Planning permission to turn the empty Jackson's Wharf building into a modern five-storey block of flats by the Peel Group was rejected for a second time in 2008. In 2011, planning permission was rejected again by Manchester City Council with opposition from locals. Peel subsequently decided to sell the building and it is now a gastropub.
In 1996 an architectural design competition was launched to create Timber Wharf by developers Urban Splash and RIBA Competitions to design a new housing type capable of being mass-produced, using modern building techniques on a realistic budget to challenge the preconceived notions of volume house building. 162 entries were submitted for the project and Glenn Howells Architects provided the winning entry, the building was completed in 2002 and has since gone on to win a number of awards.
Geography
Castlefield is in the Deansgate ward, in Manchester City Centre. To the west is the River Irwell and Salford, to the south lie the Bridgewater Canal, the River Medlock and the Rochdale Canal.
The land between the two rivers consists primarily of a plateau of Collyhurst sandstone, which is deep red in colour. This can be seen in the exposed river cliffs around the Castlefield basin, and provides a solid foundation for multistorey buildings and also an easily workable rock for cutting culverts and tunnels.
Area description The River Medlock makes an end-on connection with the Bridgewater Canal at Knott Mill Bridge. Originally surplus water was diverted, via a tippler weir, into an overflow tunnel passing under the basin and emerging just to the north of the overspill from the Giant's Basin. The tippler weir has been replaced with a conventional weir within the basin. The 1848 OS large scale map shows the original course as following the line of the canal as far as the coal wharf (site of the Giant's Basin). The River Irwell forms two gigantic meanders around Manchester and Salford; these too have had to be heavily controlled, for the Irwell was straightened and deepened from 1724, forming the Mersey and Irwell Navigation with quays built along Water Street in 1740. Most of the navigation was abandoned in the 1890s, with the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal but a deep water channel was maintained up to the Woden Street footbridge. Two canals define Castlefield: the Bridgewater built in 1761 and the Rochdale opened in 1804. There are however two more short canals within Castlefield that form links with the Irwell, these are the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal and the Hulme Locks Branch Canal, both being disused but both are still visible. The Bridgewater Hall basin on the former has been restored. Over the Irwell from Water Street is the entrance to the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal.
Landmarks
Canals
Before 1750, roads were an impractical way of transporting heavy goods and water transport on the rivers was the accepted method. The number of suitable rivers was limited. Power to drive machinery was also derived from water but this needed fast-flowing streams where a head could be built up to turn the waterwheels. Finding the two types of water at the same locality was rare. Castlefield could use the River Medlock, as it fell to join the River Irwell to turn the wheels, but the Irwell needed to be improved to make it a safe river to navigate.
Eight locks were constructed between 1724 and 1734, along the Rivers Irwell and Mersey; this was known as the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. Short cuts were dug to eliminate the difficult bends. Wharfs were built at Manchester Wharf, Water Street in 1740, and if the wind was not in the east small boats could travel from there to the sea. The navigation was subject to continuous improvement and was eventually superseded by the Manchester Ship Canal.