Peterloo to Pankhurst, to the Pan-African Congress: An Alternative Tour of Manchester’s Monuments, by Megan Barlow

The BLM movement illuminated the symbolic and emotional power attached to who and what councils and communities choose to exalt in civic space. In March 2021, Manchester Council conducted public consultations to ‘ensure’ the public realm was ‘holistic’ and ‘meaningfully reflected the city’s communities past and modern-day identity’. Yet questions regarding the history of revered figures, imbalances in representation and silences in recognition remain. The following traces both new and lesser-known, but no less pivotal, plaques and monuments, their often-overlooked histories and current place.

The People’s History Museum

Manchester’s continual architectural and cultural makeover has offered a few surprises over the past decade (the controversial design of the Hilton Tower splitting Mancunian opinion in particular) yet whilst that particular building has proved divisive, the redevelopment of The People’s History Museum (PHA) has received a far more positive reaction from the public. Manchester has Continue Reading