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People's History Museum

Spinningfields · 0.1 miles

The museum dedicated to the history of working people in the United Kingdom occupies a former hydraulic pumping station on the corner of Bridge Street and Water Street in Manchester. The building, recognised as a Grade II listed structure and designed by the city architect Henry Price, now houses the national centre for collecting, preserving and interpreting material linked to labour and democratic movements. It is situated a short walk from the Spinningfields district. Exhibits trace two centuries of everyday life, labour rights and political change, covering subjects such as 19th-century trade unionism, the Peterloo Massacre, women’s suffrage, the cooperative movement, the 1945 general election and football. The collection includes around two thousand election-related posters, three hundred political cartoons, seven thousand trade-union badges and tokens, and close to one hundred thousand photographs. More than four hundred trade-union and political banners form the world’s largest banner archive, and a dedicated textile-conservation studio allows visitors to watch banner restoration in Main Gallery Two. Contemporary items, for example the Labour Party’s 2015 manifesto stone and a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book used in parliamentary protest, are also acquired. The site also contains the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, which stores records of the Labour Party, the former Communist Party of Great Britain, the co-operative movement, the Department for Work and Pensions and other groups linked to working-class history. Admission is free, the premises are step-free, and opening times are published on the museum’s listing.

Peterloo Memorial

Petersfield · 0.6 miles

A contemporary monument in Manchester, England, marks the site of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre. The structure, commissioned after more than a decade of campaigning by the Peterloo Memorial Campaign Group, was presented to the public in August 2019, shortly before the bicentenary of the tragedy. The work, designed by artist Jeremy Deller, measures roughly 1.8 metres in height and stretches 11.6 metres across. Its surface consists of eleven concentric steps crafted from a range of polished British stones, each step bearing the names of eighteen victims and the locations from which they originated. The stone palette includes slate from Broughton Moor and Wales, sandstone from the Peak District and Cove, DeLank granite, red sandstone from St Bees, and Scottish dolerite, reflecting material sourced from across the United Kingdom and former imperial territories. An additional replica of the stepped pattern is reproduced at ground level, accompanied by a plaque set into the floor. While the memorial meets statutory standards for public installations, its stepped configuration has drawn criticism for limiting wheelchair access. Manchester City Council has examined possible alterations, though integrating a ramp without obscuring the inscriptions presents a technical challenge. The site is listed in OpenStreetMap as a monument and historic memorial, and it remains freely accessible to visitors.

Albert Memorial

Civic Quarter · 0.6 miles

Albert Square is a public square in the centre of Manchester, England. It is dominated by its largest building, the Grade I listed Manchester Town Hall, a Victorian Gothic building by Alfred Waterhouse. Other smaller buildings from the same period surround it, many of which are listed.

The Glade of Light

Medieval Quarter · 0.6 miles

The Glade of Light is a memorial in Manchester, England, that commemorates the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing of 2017. It opened to the public on 5 January 2022 and an official opening event took place 10 May 2022. The memorial is in the form of a garden with a stone centrepiece inscribed with the names of the 22 victims. Individual 'memory capsules' commemorating each victim have been included in the memorial and are situated within the stone centrepiece.

Piccadilly Gardens

Northern Quarter · 0.6 miles

A central green space on the edge of Manchester’s Northern Quarter provides a public garden together with a major transport interchange. The area, named after the adjoining Piccadilly street, sits between Market Street and London Road and is bordered by a bus station and a Metrolink tram stop; the nearby Piccadilly railway station serves as the city’s main rail entry point. The site was cleared after the First World War, replacing the former Manchester Royal Infirmary, and was originally laid out as an ornamental sunken garden. In 2002 the layout was altered, adding a water feature and a concrete pavilion designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, while retaining its role as an open public area. Historically the ground had been a series of water-filled clay pits known as the Daub Holes before being donated to the city in the 18th century under the condition of perpetual public use. After the infirmary moved in 1908 the vacant land saw several unrealised proposals before being transformed into a public garden in the 1930s, complete with flower beds, a rose garden and cherry trees. Today the park remains freely accessible, offering space for casual recreation alongside the adjacent transport facilities, and is listed on OpenStreetMap as a park within the Northern Quarter.

AO Arena

Medieval Quarter · 0.6 miles

Manchester Arena is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria railway station in air rights space. With a capacity of 23,000 it is the second largest indoor arena in the UK after Co-op Live and third largest in Europe.