Cottonopolis

Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in the 2021 United Kingdom census. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million.The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort (castra) of Mamucium or Mancunium, established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchester's unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, and resulted in it becoming the world's first industrialised city. Manchester achieved city status in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, and the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration. Following considerable redevelopment, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The city is notable for its architecture, culture, musical exports, media links, scientific and engineering output, social impact, sports clubs and transport connections. Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the world's first inter-city passenger railway station. At the University of Manchester, Ernest Rutherford first split the atom in 1917, Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill developed the world's first stored-program computer in 1948, and Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated the first graphene in 2004.

Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a population of 17,861 at the 2011 census.Manchester city centre evolved from the civilian vicus of the Roman fort of Mamucium, on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. This became the township of Manchester during the Middle Ages, and was the site of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Manchester was granted city status in 1853, after the Industrial Revolution, from which the city centre emerged as the global centre of the cotton trade which encouraged its "splendidly imposing commercial architecture" during the Victorian era, such as the Royal Exchange, the Corn Exchange, the Free Trade Hall, and the Great Northern Warehouse. After the decline of the cotton trade and the Manchester Blitz, the city centre suffered economic decline during the mid-20th century, but the CIS Tower ranked as the tallest building in the UK when completed in 1962.The city centre acts as the transport interchange for Greater Manchester and over 7 million people live within an hour's drive of it. The 1996 Manchester bombing provided the impetus for the redevelopment of the city centre and an upturn in retail, leisure, offices and urban living. The economy of the city centre is built primarily on retail and services, accounting for nearly 40% of Grade-A city centre office space outside London.

Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments. The building faces Albert Square to the north and St Peter's Square to the south, with Manchester Cenotaph facing its southern entrance. Designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse, the town hall was completed in 1877. The building contains offices and grand ceremonial rooms such as the Great Hall which is decorated with Ford Madox Brown's imposing Manchester Murals illustrating the history of the city. The entrance and Sculpture Hall contain busts and statues of influential figures including Dalton, Joule and Barbirolli. The exterior is dominated by the clock tower which rises to 280 feet (85 m) and houses Great Abel, the clock bell. In 1938, a detached Town Hall Extension was completed and is connected by two covered bridges over Lloyd Street. The town hall was designated as a Grade I listed building on 25 February 1952.

City Centre ward was a ward of the local authority Manchester City Council from 2004 to 2018. The population of the city centre grew significantly in the 21st century. Therefore as recommended by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), the ward was replaced in May 2018 with two new electoral wards, Deansgate and Piccadilly.It is represented in Westminster by Lucy Powell Labour Co-op MP for Manchester Central.

Manchester Town Hall Extension was built between 1934 and 1938 to provide additional accommodation for local government services. It was built between St Peter's Square and Lloyd Street in Manchester city centre, England. English Heritage designated it a grade II* listed building on 3 October 1974. Its eclectic style was designed to be a link between the ornate Gothic Revival Manchester Town Hall and the Classical architecture of the Central Library.

Lawrence Buildings in Mount Street, Manchester, England, is a Victorian office block constructed for the Inland Revenue in 1874–6 by Pennington and Bridgen in the Gothic Revival style. It is a Grade II* listed building as of 3 October 1974.The building is of sandstone ashlar with a slate roof. Its skyline is dramatic, with "tourelles and slated spirelet, tall crocketed gable(s), low dormers and tall chimmneys". Heavily decorated, it displays a statue of Queen Victoria beneath a canopy on the central front, together with a doorcase flanked by "a lion and a unicorn on pedestals, with an elaborate two-storey oriel window above".Lawrence Buildings forms a group with St Andrew's Chambers, to the right, in a similar style.The ground floor is a cafe, and the remaining building, floors 1-5 are occupied by flexible office space company, incspaces.

The former Manchester Law Library is a Grade II* listed building in the Venetian Gothic style at 14 Kennedy Street, Manchester. The building is notable as having housed the oldest provincial law library in England. Its architect, Thomas Hartas, is little known, and the former Law Library appears to be his only documented building. In 2015 the Manchester Incorporated Law Library Society sold the premises, and moved to new offices on Booth Street.

Manchester Central Library is the headquarters of the city's library and information service in Manchester, England. Facing St Peter's Square, it was designed by E. Vincent Harris and constructed between 1930 and 1934. The form of the building, a columned portico attached to a rotunda domed structure, is loosely derived from the Pantheon, Rome. At its opening, one critic wrote, "This is the sort of thing which persuades one to believe in the perennial applicability of the Classical canon".The library building is grade II* listed. A four-year project to renovate and refurbish the library commenced in 2010. Central Library re-opened on 22 March 2014.

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is "one of Europe's leading specialist libraries on migration, race and ethnicity" open to members of the public as well as to students and researchers. It increases access to and visibility of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) histories with a growing archive of material relating to the local area. Its sister organisation, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust offers advice, training, networking opportunities, project support, exhibitions, publications and events to help community organisations to record and share their heritage. The Centre is part of the University of Manchester and is located in Manchester Central Library, where it is part of the Archives+ partnership. The current head of both the Centre and the Trust is Dr Safina Islam, who was appointed in March 2019.

The Memorial Hall in Albert Square, Manchester, England, was constructed in 1863–1866 by Thomas Worthington. It was built to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the 1662 Act of Uniformity. One of the best examples of Venetian Gothic revival in the city, the hall is a Grade II* listed building.

The Gaiety Theatre, Manchester was a theatre in Manchester, England. It opened in 1884 and was demolished in 1959. It replaced a previous Gaiety Theatre on the site that had been destroyed by fire.The new theatre was designed by Alfred Darbyshire for United Theatres Co. Ltd. and built on a plot of land near to the corner of Peter Street and Mount Street. It opened as the Comedy Theatre in 1884. On 9 November 1908, it was bought by Annie Horniman for £25,000 and reconstructed to plans by Frank Matcham, reducing its capacity from 2,500 to 1,300. The theatre reopened as the Gaiety Theatre in 1912. It was Britain's first regional repertory theatre. In 1920 the theatre was taken over by Samuel Fitton & Associates but closed in 1922. It was in use again between 1945 and 1947 but was demolished in 1959. During the time the theatre was being run by Annie Horniman, a wide variety of types of plays was produced. Anne Horniman also encouraged local writers, who became known as the Manchester School of playwrights. They included Allan Monkhouse, Harold Brighouse, writer of Hobson's Choice, and Stanley Houghton, who wrote Hindle Wakes. Actors who performed at the Gaiety early in their careers include Sybil Thorndike and Basil Dean.In 2008 Annie Horniman's centenary was celebrated by a performance of Houghton's play Independent Means, which had been recently "rediscovered" in the British Library by Chris Honer, the theatre's artistic director.

The Hidden Gem, officially St Mary's Catholic Church, is a church on Mulberry Street, Manchester, England. The parish dates back to 1794, with devotion to St Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption, however the church was rebuilt in 1848.