I.

Introduction

Greater Manchester, non-administrative metropolitan county, north-western England, bounded by the county of Lancashire and West Yorkshire metropolitan county to the north, the county of Derbyshire to the east, the county of Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside metropolitan county to the west. Greater Manchester is highly urbanized, having the densest population of any county outside Greater London, but there are some areas of attractive countryside surrounding the towns. It was created in the local government reorganization of 1974, taking most of its territory from Lancashire; some towns in the south came from Cheshire. After further reorganization in 1986, Greater Manchester devolved many administrative functions to its ten metropolitan boroughs. The area of Greater Manchester is 1,287 sq km (497 sq mi).

II.

Land and Resources

The area of the county is mostly underlain by coal measures, and its plateaux are formed by sandstones and shales. The lowlands in the west are of clay.

The climate is cool. Manchester has the reputation of being one of the wettest cities in England, but in fact the annual rainfall over the county as a whole is in the region of 760 to 1,000 mm (30 to 40 in), which, while fairly high, does not approach, for instance, the level in the Lake District.

III.

Population and Administration

The population of Greater Manchester is estimated at 2,482,352 (2001). The main towns are all industrial centres, including Bolton (population, 2000 estimate, 267,600), Bury (2001, 180,608), Manchester (2001 estimate, 392,900), Oldham (2000 estimate, 218,100), Rochdale (2000 estimate, 210,800), Salford (2000 estimate, 224,300), Stockport (2000 estimate, 291,100), and Wigan (2000 estimate, 312,000). Other towns of note include Ashton-under-Lyne (1991, 43,906), Cheadle (1991, 10,833), Gatley, and Stalybridge (1991, 22,921). Manchester and Salford both have city status. There are large populations of South Asians in Greater Manchester, particularly in Manchester, Bolton, and Oldham.

Until 1986 there was a metropolitan county council, based in Manchester. In 1986, ten single-tier metropolitan district councils—Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan—were created. These took on most of the responsibilities of the former county council.

IV.

Education and Culture

The University of Manchester, the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and Manchester Metropolitan University are all in Manchester. The University of Salford is based in Salford. Stockport Grammar School was founded in 1487, Manchester Grammar School in 1515, and Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, 1653. They are all public schools.

Sir Robert Peel was born near Bury in 1788, and another prime minister to be, David Lloyd George, came into the world in Manchester in 1863. Thomas De Quincey was born in the same city in 1785, as was the suffragette leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, in 1858. John Dalton, the chemist and physicist, moved to Manchester in 1793, where he remained for the rest of his life and where he did most of his important work. The artist L. S. Lowry was born in Manchester in 1887, and lived and worked for 40 years in Salford, before moving to Cheshire. Rochdale was the birthplace in 1898 of the singer Gracie Fields.

The Manchester Guardian, now The Guardian, one of Britain's broadsheet newspapers, was first published in the city in 1821. Manchester is the site of the main ground of the Lancashire County Cricket Club at Old Trafford, where Test matches are also played. The homes of two of the most prominent rugby league teams, Wigan and Salford, are to be found in the county, as are those of the football clubs Manchester United, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Bury, Wigan Athletic, and Stockport County.

V.

Places of Interest

The Anglican cathedral church of St Mary, St Denis, and St George, of mainly 15th-century construction, is in Manchester. The Roman Catholic cathedral church of St John was built in Salford in the 1840s. The Free Trade Hall in Manchester was built in 1865, on the site of the so-called Peterloo Massacre of 1819. It is the home of one of Britain's premier symphony orchestras, the Hallé Orchestra. Chetham's Library, also in Manchester, was founded in 1653 and was England's first free public library. Manchester has a wealth of museums. They include the Air and Space Gallery, which celebrates the work of the pioneer A. V. Roe; the Museum of Science and Industry; and the Museum of Labour History. The Lowry, a modern art complex containing exhibition facilities, theatres, and a cinema, opened in April 2000. The Imperial War Museum North opened in July 2002. The John Rylands Library in Manchester has a printed document dated 1423 and the oldest existing writing from the New Testament, the “St John Fragment”. Platt Hall is a museum of costume, and the City Art Gallery has an outstanding collection of British paintings.

The Cooperative Movement started in Rochdale in 1844, and its early history is recorded in the Rochdale Pioneers' Memorial Museum. The Tonge Moor Textile Museum in Bolton shows the spinning mule pioneered by Samuel Crompton, and other inventions that developed in the cotton industry. The Peel Park Museum and Art Gallery in Salford contains a large number of works by Lowry. Wigan Pier, which was used to load coal on to barges on the canal, and which was immortalized by George Orwell, has been renovated and is now the site of an exhibition on turn-of-the-century Wigan.

VI.

Economy

The decline of the manufacture of cotton textiles in the face of competition from cheaper producers has brought great difficulties to the area, but the cotton trade has been replaced to some extent by various light industries, and warehousing has become an important business. The paper industry is now the most important in Bury (formerly a wool-weaving centre), while Oldham, formerly home to the world’s largest cotton-spinning industry, now relies on the manufacture of aircraft components and electronics as well as vehicle assembly and health care products. No coal-mining currently takes place in Greater Manchester, but there is a possibility that coalfields near Wigan, mined as early as the 17th century, may be exploited at some future date. Manchester has the third most important airport in Britain, after Heathrow and Gatwick, handling over 19 million passengers in 2001.

VII.

History

Manchester was an important town in Roman times and did not really develop greatly until Flemish weavers moved to the city in the 14th century and rapidly established it as the centre of a major textile industry. Cotton was being woven in the mid-17th century, but it was not until the inventions of the flying shuttle, the spinning jenny, the water frame, and the spinning mule that the industry boomed. By 1787 there were over 40 cotton mills in Lancashire, most of them in the area now designated as Greater Manchester, in towns such as Bolton, Rochdale, Salford, Bury, Oldham, and Manchester itself. In 1830, the railway engine, the Rocket, built by George Stephenson, made its first appearance on the new railway between Manchester and Liverpool, heralding the development of rail transport, which was of great advantage to the trade of the county; the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 was an additional major gain. Despite intermittent periods of depression, the area's prosperity continued for some years after World War II. In June 1996 an IRA bomb exploded in the centre of Manchester, injuring hundreds of shoppers and causing extensive damage to buildings. The city centre was redeveloped thereafter and in 2002 Manchester hosted the 17th Commonwealth Games, with a specially built stadium developed in the east of the city.