I have put up an initial web page to support the ongoing Mapping Manchester research. Its a bit of a holding page at the moment, basically providing links for the exhibition.

I am working on a page of scans of maps and plans of the the Manchester Ship Canal from Bosdin Leech's 1907 book.

I thought people might be interested in the e-catalogue booklet we have produced for our Mapping Manchester exhibition. It is available as a free pdf. Here is a sample page:

(A version with higher resolution graphics is also available but its 30 megs.)

A contemporary version of a 'drink map' for Manchester. This one maps self-report points of public drunkenness and rowdy behaviour shown as red dots. However, I'm not sure there is any particular spatial pattern evident. The map is one of many presented in recent social analysis of the city in the State of the Wards Report 2008/2009 (warning - 20 meg pdf).

This drink map provides a fascinating historical representation of the social geography of the city from 1889. It is taken from the 'Moral Economy' display cabinet in our 'Mapping Manchester' exhibition.

The Drink Map of Manchester, 1889.
(Source: Manchester Geographical Society.)

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The moral city

Temperance reformers in the late Victorian period argued for a causal connection between poverty and the distribution of places where the demon drink could be purchased. A ‘rash’ of outlets are seen to cluster in the poorer parts of Manchester on the Drink Map. A tension between the pleasures of drink and its opposition to an ethos of propriety and hard work is mapped out. Alcohol consumption continues to evoke strong emotions, currently in connection with the effects of binge drinking, and mapping illustrates it to be a significantly greater problem in some parts of the contemporary city.

Statistical map of binge drinking, from
Manchester’s 2nd State of the Wards Report, 2007/2008
(Courtesy of the Manchester Partnership and Manchester City Council,
www.manchesterpartnership.org.uk)

We got a big burst of media coverage for our Mapping Manchester exhibition on Wednesday and Thursday following a clever press release by the University's media officer. This got picked up by the Manchester Evening News and the Guardian, who did an interview with my colleague Chris Perkins. The next day rehashed stories appeared in many of the papers, including The Mirror. The highlight was an interview with Chris in the 'and finally' slot of the News at 10.
The Russians are denying the validity of the story, claiming the map is a fake.

Another couple of examples from the 'Public Transport' display cabinet in our 'Mapping Manchester' exhibition.

Network map detailing rail passenger statistics by station.
(Source: Transport Statistics: Greater Manchester, 2005.)

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Public transport

Most people in Manchester move around the city using public transport. Changes in network patterns have been mapped out over the last century and a half. Some of these maps promote the effectiveness of bus, train and tram routes and stations across Manchester. Others emphasise a more practical use and are designed to help passengers find their way. Policy makers have also created mapping to help them monitor passenger numbers, travel times, and to plan where future lines need to be developed. Largescale surveys of stations, tramways, or railway lines conducted at different times reveal a fascinating level of historical detail about the
local significance of public transport to the city.

Reproduced from The Picc-Vic Project brochure, Greater Manchester Council, 1975. The ambitious early 1970s plans for an underground link between Piccadilly and Victoria stations were never realised despite this mapping. (Some more details on the Picc-Vic wikipedia page.)

Here is another map we have featured in our 'Mapping Manchester' exhibition in the Rylands Library. It is a nice example of transport mapping displayed in 'Car and the City' cabinet that focuses on surveys and plans of car travel and new road schemes.

Flowline map reproduced from
S.E.L.N.E.C. A Highway Plan, 1962

(Courtesy of Chetham's Library)

The daily flow of vehicle traffic on major routes into Manchester is dramatised here as black arterials that converge on the city centre, nearly obliterating places unlucky enough to be underneath. The map indicates in a powerful fashion that traffic volumes were overwhelming current capacity.

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The car and the city

The rapid expansion of car ownership since the 1950s has had a profound effect on Manchester. New routes have cut across the city and many roads have been widened and reconfigured. The planners responsible for these new highways have relied on a multitude of maps and models.

The map displayed here is the triumphal product of the South-East Lancashire and North-East Cheshire Area Highway Engineering Committee. The flagship representation of their 1962 Highway Plan set forth the need for numerous road building schemes deemed essential once funds became available. It symbolises the hopes of the early 1960s that visionary planning could, through scientific analysis, improve the functioning of roads and thus the efficiency of the city region. Much of this grand vision was never realised, although some key aspects of the inner and outer ring roads have come to pass, albeit in a the piecemeal fashion. What has become the M60 orbital motorway took until 2000 to realise.