This is an archived website and is no longer updated. Click here to go to the www.aidan.co.uk home page
EWM Home Page | Aidan O'Rourke on Twitter and Facebook | Contact

Photo feature pages October 2003 - June 2005

MANCHESTER is a world leader in urban renewal and redevelopment. But how can we judge if things are getting better? View photos from a few years ago and now in  Ancoats Crumpsall and Levenshulme Revisited


A MIXTURE OF TOPICS is presented in 'Letter from Manchester' style, including upbeat and downbeat news items, questions of the day and my answers to a student questionnaire about the city. With 32 new and recent photos described in detail. So how is Manchester at the moment...?



WIDESPREAD REDEVELOPMENT is in progress around Manchester. But to make way for the new, much of the old - and even the not so old - is being swept away. Is that the Town Hall clock tower being knocked down? Pay a visit to Manchester - Demolition City


READER MESSAGES written in response to features and photos from Eyewitness Manchester, some offering criticism, others pointing out factual errors. With photos, some newly published, including this one of the crib in St Ann's Square. Go to the Reader Messages update


SACRED SITES continue to have a big impact on our urban and rural landscape. This update focuses on 32 locations with a religious connection. For future updates readers are asked to send their requests Discover the beauty and diversity of local sacred sites...


THE MANCUNIAN WAY Manchester's 'Highway in the Sky' is one of Manchester's busiest roads and a symbol of post-war development. But there's more to the A57(M) than meets the eye, as this feature uncovers. With 34 photographs and some amazing facts, and why is the Mancunian Way sign upside down..?


METROLINK: A potted history and appraisal of trams and public transport in Manchester, with a selection of forty tram photos from the Eyewitness in Manchester archive. Produced in support of the MEN's Get Back On Track campaign. Next stop Metrolink...


CASTLEFIELD once a scene of industrial decline is now transformed into an upmarket area of glitzy offices apartments and cafe bars. Despite all the changes, Castlefield's industrial past is still there to be seen. View Castlefield feature, with new format and layout.


CHORLTON is one of Manchester's best-loved residential districts, combining a strong character of Victorian Manchester with a young, contemporary flair. We take a walk around familiar streets and green spaces during the sunny weather of May 2004. Next stop Chorlton...


TEST YOUR LOCAL KNOWLEDGE in this picture quiz based on 50 photos, many previously unpublished, taken in and around Manchester. The images reflect the changing face of Manchester, though some places remain the same. Do you recognise where this is? Click to take the test...


READER MESSAGES with personal views on Ardwick, Longsight, Levenshulme and Salford, an appreciation of snow, an eyewitness account of the Irk Valley rail disaster, also details of the Trevor Grimshaw Exhibition Stockport Art Gallery starting 24 April. Click to find out more


SHOULD THERE BE an elected regional government for North West England? Using scenes taken around the North West as a starting point, I discuss some of the issues. Click to see more...


SNOW came to Manchester in January 2004 transforming familiar places into painterly scenes. See how Manchester and surrounding areas looked during the two-day Arctic Snap. 27 new photos with descriptions and location details. Click to see more


TAKE A TRIP BACK TO 1953 via news items from the Manchester Evening News, selected and summarised by EWM with 15 moody monochrome images. Click to go back to 1953


WE CONTINUE OUR WALK around a city in the midst of rapid change. Is this the best of all possible scenarios or are the mistakes of the 1960's being made again? Click to see Part Two of the autumn 03 construction update and new Ideas Page.


READER MESSAGES with more observations, opinions, reminiscences, obscure questions, people looking for people, corrections and lots more. Click to see the latest Reader Messages...


OUR CITY is in the midst of a building boom. Everywhere you look there are cranes and construction sites. Take a look at some of the work in progress and see if you can visualise the Manchester of tomorrow . Click to see Part One of the autumn 03 construction update.


AUTUMN LEAVES are a spectacular sight in the parks, gardens, streets and woods around Manchester and beyond. 20 previously unpublished autumnal scenes from four counties and eight local authority areas: Click to see Autumn Leaves...


VICTORIA BATHS have won a place in the final of the BBC programme Restoration. Eyewitness in Manchester will be there at the Tower of London on Sunday evening for the final of Restoration when the winner will be announced. Click to see the amazing Victoria Baths and find out how to vote....


THE CONURBATION looks stunning when seen from an elevated viewpoint. Find out how the city, countryside and hills look from the Imperial War Museum, Winter Hill and other places. Click to go to High Level Views...


READER MESSAGES with good news, sad news, and the usual mixture of opinion, information, reminiscences and lots more. There's a previously unpublished view of Hulme, and a tip regarding a good place to enjoy scenic views - See picture left. Click to view the latest Reader Messages...


EYEWITNESS IN MANCHESTER PEOPLE updated and extended. Photos of personalities with local connections both famous and should-be-famous. All pages now online with over fifty portrait photos and personal profiles. Click to go to intropage with latest additions...


STUNNING VIEWS ALONG THE QUAYS. The former Docks have been transformed into a futuristic waterworld of glass and steel buildings: the War Museum, the Lowry, the Designer Outlet, homes, offices and spectacular sunsets over the water. Click to go to the Quays...

 


READER MESSAGES about Manchester music, place name origins, Lady Shena Simon, Piccadilly redevelopment, Ancoats, impressions of contemporary Manchester, reminiscences of Ardwick and Levenshulme, municipal boundary issues, illustrated with photos from the EWM collection. Click to view...


TWO DEMONSTRATIONS IN MANCHESTER - two opposing viewpoints, two sets of people with a message to proclaim. See how the conflict in Iraq has brought people out onto the streets of city centre Manchester to put their views across. . Click to go to Oxford Road...

 


THE MAGIC OF MANCHESTER - Music of the City, Nostalgia, Imagination and Time Travel - Feature article revealing the inspiration behind Eyewitness in Manchester. Discover how a musically-inspired vision of Manchester gained during childhood would be the driving force behind this website. With previously unpublished archive and contemporary photographs. Take a trip back to the 1960's...


ARDWICK - Much more than just a run-down inner city suburb, Ardwick captures an essential part of the spirit of Manchester. A place with a history and a reputation - much changed today, but slowly making a comeback. Is it too soon yet to call Ardwick Green the Sloane Square of Manchester? Come for a walk around Ardwick


READER MESSAGES UPDATE with many fascinating accounts - Prestwich, local place names, were people really happy in the good old days in Openshaw? Find out what one US-based reader thinks of the new Piccadilly, plus some interesting and spine-tingling ghost stories! Go to the Reader Messages page.



MORE DUSK VIEWS of Manchester and Salford captured during December 2002. The revamped shopping district, Piccadilly, the Imperial War Museum, churches, Christmas trees, street scenes, the Manchester skyline, Exchange Square, the Urbis Centre. Click to view 25 new photos & articles

 


IMAGES OF MANCHESTER captured before during and after dusk - It's November 2002 and the long nights have arrived. Late afternoon and early evening winter views of familiar places in and around the city centre, an old police station on fire and a 'Green Goddess'. Click to view photos & articles


EYEWITNESS IN MANCHESTER PEOPLE section returns - now in a new format. Photos of people with local connections both famous and should-be-famous. The feature will be put online in stages, starting with the intropage with latest additions, and A-F page. Click to go to intropage


READER MESSAGES - so many received I've had to split the latest batch into two - the first set presented now and the rest shortly. More comments about the building on the right, and some sharp but constructive criticism of my work. Go to the Reader Messages update


BEST OF EYEWITNESS IN MANCHESTER 1997 - 2002 - Selection of the best photographs from Eyewitness in Manchester chosen from over 3000 created over a five and a half year period, with newly written articles and opinion. Go to Best of EWM...


INFOPAGES explaining and showcasing Eyewitness in Manchester to a new audience. With photo selections, screenshots of key pages, background information, history of the site and details of some exciting new events. Four separate pages: About This Website,About The Author, EWM Live Events and About Digital Photography. First uploaded Oct02.


IN THIS READER REQUESTS FEATURE I go out and about in search of locations asked for by EWM readers. Fifty-three previously unpublished picture files capturing a variety of places from derelict streets to affluent suburbs and from deserted footpaths to famous tourist attractions. The meandering journey starts in Besses o' th' Barn... Go to the EWM Reader Requests Feature...


CHAPEL STREET CITY OF SALFORD, just across the Irwell from Manchester city centre, is a street full of surprises. Vacant sites, unoccupied buildings and urban decay stand side by side with Georgian and Victorian gems, magnificent churches and some of the best contemporary architecture around. Chapel Street is now under redevelopment. See how it looks in September 2002...


EYEWITNESS IN MANCHESTER READERS have sent another batch of remarkable messages and pictures. See Piccadilly Gardens and Whit Walks in 1949, find out about the landslide which swept away a whole street in Salford, and read a chilling and remarkable childhood account from just south of the Mersey - Go to the Reader Messages update


DISCOVER THE CITY OF SALFORD with my distinguished guest, the Mayor of the City of Salford (May 01-02) Councillor Jim King. Where in Salford can you find the skull of a saint? How has Salford changed and what makes it different from Manchester? Find out from the person who should know...


EWM GALLERY OF 100 IMAGES taken out and about during the Commonwealth Games - Photos from each day with a weather summary. Crowds, sunshine, kangaroos, banners, blue skies, and torrential rain... Click to view updated photogallery of 100 images...


THE NEW PICCADILLY is examined in detail in this major Eyewitness update. Birds eye views from high above Piccadilly give us an overview of the new development. At ground level we look at the concrete wall, grassy areas, statues and neighbouring building site. Lots of EWM opinion and comments. "Most exciting public space in Europe" or planning disaster? What's the verdict?


APRIL MAY READER MESSAGES - Lots of fascinating contributions with vivid portraits of a different Manchester from the one we see today. More opinions on the new Piccadilly Gardens, and where in Manchester did they make delicious ice cream like this? Click here to find out


IN THE GARDEN OF WHICH EMINENT PERSON are these daffodils growing? Find out in my Daffodils Quiz - a gapfill picture quiz not so much about daffodils but about the places, highways and districts around Manchester where you'll see them growing every year. Try your hand and see how well you score!


THE URBIS CENTRE has landed! A new shape on the northern city centre skyline is arousing worldwide attention and local controversy. Was it right to put a building like this in a location like this and will it be worth the money? The museum of the modern city is scheduled to open on 27 June 2002. Today 11April I attended the official media preview. Click here for my first impressions of Urbis


IN THIS MARCH 2002 CITY CENTRE UPDATE we look at what's new, what's disappeared, what's still there - Renovated bus and train stations, new apartments, hotels and offices, but what about the buildings that have quietly and unexpectedly disappeared and are about to? Prepare for a shock or two as we walk around Piccadilly, Deansgate and Whitworth Street Click here


MORE READER MESSAGES - See the new Piccadilly nearing completion, read an account of nighttime Manchester in the early sixties, plus lots more, including an MEN article about EWM - the person, not the website! It's all here...


TAKE A WALK AROUND THE MILLENNIUM QUARTER and check out the Urbis Centre, due to open in mid-2002. We gaze up at another new building designed by the same architect, and find out why the postbox that withstood the bomb is now looking a bit lacklustre Click to see more


WE START 2002 WITH A READER MESSAGES UPDATE. Did you know that early broadcasts of Top of the Pops were done from Dickenson Road? What's the story regarding the underground Market Centre, the Kendals tunnel and the building 'encased' in the Arndale Centre? The update is illustrated with some gloomy dusk shots of places mentioned... Have a read, rediscover a location and maybe find a friend...


GET A BIRD'S EYE VIEW over city and countryside in the latest EWM update, featuring a selection of photographs captured at some of my favourite vantage points in and around the city. The picture on the right shows the area next to Manchester Cathedral and the Britannic buildings, currently under redevelopment. Click to see this and more views...


THE LATEST BATCH OF READER MESSAGES reveal more striking details of life in Manchester in different times. Some new photographs, including this one of the Mancunian Way. What's the Cold War connection with this scene? And just how many pubs stood at the corners of Moston Lane and Rochdale Road in the early 60's? Click here to read messages and see pictures...


IT'S QUIZ TIME AGAIN! Find out more quirky facts about Manchester and its changing face. Why is the water feature on Exchange Square in a froth, why did an EWM expat reader share an MEN front page with Robbie Williams and what's the origin of Tib Street? All is revealed here...

Home Page 2003-2005 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | Sitemap 1997-2005

Words and photos copyright © Aidan O'Rourke
Eyewitness in Manchester Home Page | Aidan O'Rourke on Twitter and Facebook | Contact