AIDAN O’ROURKE @AidanEyewitness

 

 

Streets in Manchester named after famous people

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EYEWITNESS 2015 blog by Aidan O'Rourke

Mosley Street stone carved sign

Mosley Street stone carved sign


 

Street names can tell us a lot about the heritage of a place. Unfortunately most street signs in Manchester and the rest of the UK don’t have any information on the origin of the name and in particular the person after whom a street is named after. In France and Germany, there is often a smaller plaque with information about the person. In this article I picked out some street names with names of people and researched a little into their origin.
 

In France they love to name streets after historical figures. Above the street sign they provide a notice with information about the person. Maybe we should do that here. I’ve picked out a few in Manchester: John Dalton Street is a permanent reminder of the famous scientist who pioneered modern atomic theory. Whitworth Street is named after Joseph Whitworth, engineer and philanthropist. Mosley Street is named after the Mosley family, who were lords of the manor and prominent landowners. Oldham Street is named after Adam Oldham, a wealthy feltmaker. Jack Rosenthal Street is part of the recently created First Street district, home of HOME. He scripted many episodes of Coronation Street as well as one of my favourite sitcoms, The Lovers. Other streets around First Street honour Annie Horniman, James Grigor, Isabella Banks and of course there’s Tony Wilson Place. A section of the A6010 in the Bradford area of east Manchester was named after Alan Turing. The plaque commemorates the opening in Sept 1994 by Michael Meacher, who recently died. Kingsway was begun around 1928 and named after King George the Fifth. In France they’d probably call it “Avenue George-Cinq”. Hmm, I think we’ll stick with Kingsway!

 

Alan Turing Way next to Sportcity

Alan Turing Way plaque


 
Jack Rosenthal Street, First Street

Jack Rosenthal Street, First Street


 
Kingsway Manchester

Kingsway Manchester


 

Mosley Street Manchester

Mosley Street Manchester


 

Oldham Street facades, Manchester city centre

Oldham Street facades, Manchester city centre


 
Whitworth Street Manchester

Whitworth Street Manchester

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Aidan O'RourkeCoach and Content Creator Aidan O’Rourke based in north west England and is often in Ireland and Germany. He works with individuals and groups, helping them to learn and improve. His two main subject areas are Photography and Languages. He has produced all kinds of media to help his students – infosheets, tasksheets, worksheets, e-books,  audio files and YouTube videos as well as photography, illustration and lots more.