Cathedral Gardens

Cathedral Gardens is an open space within Manchester City Centre, in North West England. It is bounded by Victoria railway station to the north, Chetham's School of Music to the west, the perimeter of Manchester Cathedral and The Triangle on Fennel Street to the south and Urbis to the east.

Earliest history

Until the Industrial Revolution, Manchester was little more than a small market town, and the town centre centred on the cathedral. The area where Cathedral Gardens now stands was enclosed by small cottages. After the industrial revolution Manchester quickly built up, and the centre of Manchester shifted further south. Cathedral Gardens is overlooked by Chetham's Library, part of the Chetham's School of Music, where Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote. Engels' work The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844 focused to a great extent on the lives of the people living in the area known as "Little Ireland"

After the Victoria railway station was built in the 1860s, the site housed travellers hotels and shops, and this was the situation until urban planning of the 1980s, demolished the now derelict hotel which faced south along Fennel Street looking directly at the Corn Exchange, now The Triangle shopping precinct.

The site remained empty, used as a car park until the regeneration of Manchester city centre.

Manchester IRA bombing

The Provisional IRA carried out various phases of bombings of mainland British Cities, for thirty years. Manchester was variously targeted in the 1990s, which culminated in the Manchester IRA bombing on June 11th, 1996.

The bombing, which happened on a warm Saturday morning, whilst Manchester was hosting a European football event (UEFA 1996) was the largest bombing on British soil. It created devastation up to in a radius of half a mile of the impact site. The Marks and Spencer store was damaged beyond useful repair. Nobody was killed.

Regeneration

After the bombing, the British government, awarded Manchester City Council an award of several million pounds, to redevelop the most damaged sites in the city. After an International competition, several architects were charged with creating an accessible open space linking St Anne’s Square to the Cathedral. After the completion of the new Marks and Spencer flagship store (then the largest in the world) and the Urbis gallery, Cathedral Gardens was opened up to the public.

Layout

Cathedral Gardens comprises wide areas of grassy plots, surrounded by paved walking areas and stylised concrete sitting areas. On the west side, runs a short water feature.

With Exchange Square, it provides a haven for commuters, shoppers, residents and workers, from Manchester’s busy and overcrowded streets.

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