As Britain suffers from railway strikes, collapsing franchises, and unreliable trains, Japan celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of their much beloved Shinkansen. October has been a month of wild fanfare honouring the service of the bullet train. Emotional commercials and commemorative merchandise are abundant. For Japan, the Shinkansen is more than just an engineering marvel. The Continue Reading
It’s 1758, the Duke of Bridgewater is having drainage problems with his coal mines in Worsley. The duke remains disgruntled by the inefficiency of turnpike roads, packhorse routes and the Mersey Irwell navigation to get his coal into Manchester. His response is to take inspiration from the Canal du Midi and Sankey Canal, carving an Continue Reading
Both historically and contemporarily, Manchester has been considered by many as synonymous with resistance and rebellion, the rebellious younger sibling of London. This is a long legacy, and most pertinent to it is Manchester’s lively spirit of working-class political activism.
160 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln sent a letter to the ‘working men of Manchester’, acknowledging their ‘sublime Christian heroism, which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country’. These words are now memorialised at the foot of the Lincoln statue, sculpted by George Grey Bernard, which stands in recently-remodelled Lincoln Square just off Deansgate. The historic link between Manchester and the American North is lesser known, but was a hugely significant moment in the US Civil War.
The Woodhead Tunnels were a collection of three train tunnels located in Woodhead, the Peak District. Built in 1837 and 1853, these tunnels connected Manchester to other cities on the opposite side of the Peaks. At the time of its construction it was the longest tunnel in the world, reaching in at more than 3 miles long (4.8km).
