Ancoats

Ancoats is a former industrial district immediately northeast of Manchester city centre, in England. The name is thought to derive from the Old English 'ana cots', meaning lonely cottages, and the area was first recorded as 'Elnecot' in 1212. Cotton mill construction began in Ancoats as early as 1790, and the opening of the Rochdale Canal in 1804 accelerated industrial development. By 1815 Ancoats was described as the most populous district in Manchester, and the 1851 census recorded a population of 53,737, larger than the towns of Bury or Blackburn at the time. Surviving mills from this period include Murrays' Mills on Redhill Street, built from 1798 and among the earliest steam-powered cotton mills in the world, and Beehive Mill on Jersey Street, dating from 1820 to 1824. Ancoats also drew large numbers of Irish and Italian immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries; the area around St Michael's Church became known as 'Little Italy', with a community that grew from around 180 families in 1895 to roughly 3,000 by 1910. The cotton industry collapsed through the 1930s and slum clearances in the 1960s emptied much of the district, leaving many mill buildings vacant by the later 20th century. Manchester City Council designated the Ancoats Conservation Area in June 1989. Since the 1990s the area has undergone substantial regeneration, including the 31-acre New Islington redevelopment around the Rochdale and Ashton canals, led by developer Urban Splash with the city council, which began housing residents from 2006. Former mills have been converted into apartments, offices and restaurants, and the pedestrianised Cutting Room Square, completed in 2009, now sits at the centre of the neighbourhood. Ancoats today combines converted industrial buildings, canalside housing, independent restaurants and bars, and cultural venues including Halle St Peter's, a former church that serves as the rehearsal home of the Halle orchestra.

Photo: Sedgwick Mill, Ancoats by Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0