Old Trafford, Greater Manchester
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| Old Trafford | |
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| Population | 13,000 approx. |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Metropolitan borough | Trafford |
| Metropolitan county | Greater Manchester |
| Region | North West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M16 |
| Dial code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | Stretford and Urmston |
| European Parliament | North West England |
| List of places: UK • England • Greater Manchester | |
Old Trafford is an area of Stretford in Greater Manchester, England.[1] It is situated directly south-west of Manchester city centre. The crossroads sites of two old toll gates delineate the borders of the area: Brooks's Bar to the north and Trafford Bar to the south.
Old Trafford is invariably known for the presence of two major sporting venues; Old Trafford Football Stadium and Old Trafford Cricket Ground (home of Manchester United F.C. and Lancashire County Cricket Club respectively).
The stadiums are at either end of Warwick Road, two parts of which have been renamed Brian Statham Way (formerly Warwick Road) and Sir Matt Busby Way (formerly Warwick Road North). The interconnecting strip of road between the stadiums now retains the name Warwick Road and the southern section on the other side of the Metrolink line is called Warwick Road South.
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[edit] History
Old Trafford was a crossing point over the River Irwell in ancient times; it became an urban area after the building of the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1890s.
During in the Victorian era Old Trafford came to prominence as the site of the Royal Horticultural and Botanical Gardens which staged art treasures exhibitions in 1857 and 1887, the latter for Queen Victoria's Silver Jubilee. The Halle Orchestra was formed to participate in the first of these celebrations. The site was purchased by White City Limited in 1907 and used as an amusement park. From the 1950s to the 1970s White City Stadium was used as a greyhound racing track and for stock car racing. This site is now White City Retail Park. Nearby, on the site of what is now the Greater Manchester Police Headquarters, was Henshaw's Institute for the Blind, which originally opened as Henshaw's Blind Asylum in 1837. Manchester Cricket Club located at Old Trafford in 1856, later to become Lancashire County Cricket Club; Manchester United F.C. moved from the north of the city to a stadium at Old Trafford in 1910.
During the mid to late nineteenth century Trafford Park was still a rural estate with a wooded deer park but in the 1880s the De Trafford family, who had owned much of the local land since feudal times, sold large tracts of it to the Manchester Ship Canal Company and urban Old Trafford grew up around this development and the ensuing Trafford Park Industrial Estate.
Trafford Park provided work for thousands in factories such as Kellogg's, Massey Ferguson, Metropolitan-Vickers, GEC and Procter & Gamble. The Ford Motor Company opened a Model-T production plant at Trafford Park in 1911. Manchester's first airfield was constructed in 1911, using part of the deer park, but closed in early 1918. 'The Park' expanded rapidly during the First World War and was used extensively for war work by the Ministry of Munitions. From 1939-45 Manchester was responsible for producing more war goods than anywhere else in Britain and much of this work was carried out at Trafford Park. At its mid-20th century peak, Trafford Park employed 75,000 workers.
Local employment was also provided on a smaller scale, notably by Duerrs Jams, Vimto, Arkady Soya Mill and Oppenheimer Mosaics and the Royal Army Medical Corps and Territorial Army have well-established bases in the area.
Slum-clearances during the 1960s and early 1970s saw some of the old Victorian housing stock demolished. However, after the perceived failure of the deck-access concrete crescents of Hulme, renovation was preferred to demolition by Old Trafford residents. For this reason there are still many Victorian terraced streets in the area.
By 1985 jobs at Trafford Park had nose-dived towards an all-time low of 24,500, as unemployment in the north-west soared above 30 per cent in some inner-city areas. Nearby Salford Docks, which had also been a major source of local employment, closed in 1982. As the revamped Salford Quays it has become an emblematic part of the regeneration of Manchester in general.
[edit] Civic history
In 1974 Stretford was subsumed into the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, having previously (from 1894 - 1974) formed part of the Municipal Borough of Stretford in the administrative county of Lancashire.
Old Trafford makes up the northern tip of Trafford and adjoins St. Georges, Hulme, Whalley Range and Moss Side, all of which are within the boundaries of the City of Manchester. The crossroads of Brooks's Bar divides Old Trafford, Moss Side, Hulme and Whalley Range.
[edit] Parliamentary representation
Old Trafford is part of the parliamentary constituency of Stretford and Urmston. The current Member of Parliament is Beverley Hughes of the Labour Party.
In November 2005 Beverley Hughes opposed moves by the Conservative Party in Trafford, at the Boundary Commission for England Public Enquiry, to have Old Trafford transferred to a proposed new electoral constituency of 'Salford and Old Trafford'.
[edit] Landmarks
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[edit] Present day
Today, Old Trafford has approximately 13,000 residents and is multi-cultural in character. In fact, cultural diversity has been a feature of the area for over a century. Irish immigrants originally settled in the locality from the 1880s, coming to Manchester to work on the Ship Canal. Polish migrants arrived during and after the Second World War. The Afro-Caribbean community arrived and settled in the 50's and 60's. Since the 1980s Old Trafford has become home to two large South Asian communities - Gujarati Indians and Pakistani Urdu speakers - almost all being Muslim. There are three mosques in the area servicing the large Muslim community. There is also a smaller Sikh community, with its own Gurdwara. Micro-communities of Indonesian and Malaysian students also share the space.
Old Trafford is amongst the 10% most deprived wards in England, suffering problems of unemployment, poor housing and low educational achievement. It also has levels of youth crime well above the national average. [1]
Ayres Road and its environs are the heart of Old Trafford and a walk down this road will give visitors a real flavour of the multi-cultural nature of the neighbourhood, with its variety of grocers' shops selling food stuffs from Europe, the Caribbean and South-East Asia; its Catholic church, St. Alphonsus, frequented by a predominantly Irish congregation, and Shizhan House, the Chinese Medicine Centre, on the site of the old Vimto offices. Something of this atmosphere is evoked by Manchester poet Lemn Sissay in his poem 'Ayres Road'.
[edit] Education
There are no secondary schools in Old Trafford, but three primary schools lie within the area.
- Old Trafford School - Stretford Road
- St. Alphonsus R.C. Primary - Hamilton Street
- Seymour Park School - Northumberland Road
[edit] Places of worship
[edit] Christian
- St. John the Evangelist, CofE - Ayres Road
- St. Bride’s, Cof E - Blair Street
- St. Alphonsus, R.C. - Powell Street
- Sharon Full Gospel Church, Pentecostal - Chorlton Road
- New Testament Church of God, Pentecostal - Brooks Bar
- The Bethel, Christadelphian - Henrietta Street[2]
- United Reformed Church - Shrewsbury Street
- Kingdom Hall, Jehovah's Witness - Chorlton Road
[edit] Muslim
- Masjid-e-Hidayah – Humphrey Road
- Masjid-e-Noor - Stamford Street
- Masjid Imdadia - Blackburn Street
[edit] Sikh
- Sangat Bhatra Sikh Temple - Upper Chorlton Road
[edit] Buddhist
- Fo Kang Shang Buddhist Temple - Stretford Road
[edit] Communal facilities
- Local Council Office, Library, Community Centre - Shrewsbury Street
- St. John's Centre - Ayres Road
- Old Trafford Youth Centre - Seymour Park
- Old Trafford Sports Barn - Seymour Park
- Sharon Youth Association - Chorlton Road
- St. Alphonsus Social Club - Powell Street
- Scout and Guide Association - Alphonsus Street
- Old Trafford Football Club (not MUFC!)- Lancashire and Cheshire League
[edit] Notable Residents
Famous people who were born or grew up in the area include artist L.S. Lowry, aviator John Alcock, Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmatians, opera singer Dame Isobel Baillie, broadcaster Terry Christian and Smiths frontman Morrissey.
[edit] References
- ^ Stretford Area (HTTP). Trafford Council. Retrieved on April 4, 2007.
- ^ Old Trafford Christadelphians: General Info. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
