Uncovering Manchester's Victorian Industrial History
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ย. 2019
- In this video we look at two of Manchester's former industrial sites. The first site is the remains of The Irkdale Print works. A Calico printers on Smedley road in Collyhurst Manchester by the banks of the River Irk in the Irk Valley. The second site is an archeological dig looking at a former Manchester Glass works. This archeological dig uncovers the past lives of the Victorian workers we find clay pipes, horseshoes and oyster shells evidence of the Victorian workers diet. The Glass works dates from 1858 about the time of the Industrial revolution in Manchester. We take a brief look at the Victorian housing and look at who may have lived in the area.
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In the olden days, Sunday nights were reserved for the Onedin Line and Lovejoy. These days Martin Zero is the best thing on Sunday night TV. Thanks Martin, you're brilliant.
I'd second that. Amazing !
@Lancashirelad But the intro music to the Onedin Line still rings clear in my head . . . ! Khachaturian?
Oh dear Lord - the Onedin Line (the music is playing in my head right now...) feels like several lifetimes I've last heard of those guys... how's Captain Baines these days...?
I’m watching on a Sunday night 😂 never knew it was on tv on a Sunday…I don’t have tv Chanels
Born and bred on the east Coast of the U.S.
I have no idea why I find your work so fascinating, but there it is.
If you come form a long lineage family of farmers/ factory workers its seeing and feeling a part of you anchestors history .
Those types of factories were all over the world
Similar feelings, born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa.
same here, im from CT.
i think it is because we don't have anything as old as most of the places Martin finds.
you get to see how technology changed in many of the areas. one culvert under a road in one of martin's videos went from stone to brick to precast cement. each time they widened the road they used new technology.
@@millomweb - concrete is cement with rocks.
@@millomweb - i am going to admit you are right before we get into the water
Perfect sunday viewing, why pay a TV license when you've got indie documentary makers creating better content.
i filled in the online form to say i dont watch any tv i had virgin come and take the box away ,i just watch stuff on here its much better .
Being from the states, it's a very alien thing to me that you have to have a license for that.
I've known about it for 3 decades, and I'm still gassed about it. It just seems so intrusive. It always reminds me of The Young Ones episode where the TV detector man comes to harass them for not having a license. Classic. 😆👌
What's great about Martin's work, is that he shows you places that nobody else does - not the obvious places. I live nowhere near Manchester, but everything he's done is utterly fascinating and interesting. His research, especially archive photos and side by side maps, etc., show you all you need to form an image of how something was. There are very few, if any, 'proper' TV shows that do that. Also, his good humour and love of the subject make Martin a very good companion to the viewer on his travels.
@@JDLeonard74 Nah we live in a real life Python sketch, They're the Ministry of silly walks TV division.
@@JDLeonard74 in South Africa too we pay to watch tv and the money goes straight to their pockets we get served up everyones old outdated stuff.
Dont you just love the fact that some people think Manchester's industrial heritage is so important that they feel the need to record it before its lost again?
And it's not only the professionals , but the amateurs like Martin that deserve the praise documenting these little snippets of the past.
Born and bred in that area spent 21 years of my life there I’ve explored every inch of that place as a child brilliant 👌
i am also from that general area mate,main thing i remember was trams&rag&bone men lol
cheers
When coal wuz cheap, just paid for in miners lives.
My old man was a miner, face worker all his working life apart from his military service, mother worked a capstan lathe until she was taken down by TB. I learned socialism on the shop floor unlike the modern leaders of the Labour party who learned it in University.
Lancashire built on the lives of working men.
Oysters, my old lad used to go on about Dublin bay prawns, my generation called them Scampi, dirt cheap for the poor in years gone by and an expensive treat when I was a young man.
My Dad said that in his young days they where paid out at the end of the week in the mine owners Pub, a practice that had been illegal since the 1800’s.
Thanks Martin for your insights in to times gone by, I get quite sentimental in my old age.
John
The quality of your presenting is better than many on mainstream tele. Looking forward to you having your own history programme one day on C4 ;)
What's tele lol, this is much more interesting, it would be overdone if it where a tv program and edited too much for dumb and dumber
@@neonskyline1 absolutely
Totally agree, much better than anything on telly!
Old maps, old pictures, some bricks and the interesting stories by Martin. Together with the music, I want just to go back in time and see it as it was.
The thing about glass is that the heat of the process tends to destroy the machinery. The crucibles in which the glass is melted are continually being corroded by the hot glass, the tools used to form and shape the glass are always being burnt away, and even the chimney will be attacked by the heat and hot gases. Modern refractory materials are more resistant, but the 2000+ degree heat will still destroy them, eventually. Must have been hell, feeding that furnace...
Collyhurst, not quite the most desirable area of Manchester but definitely a treasure trove of industrial history. Another good bit of detective work Martin.
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Hi Martin, when you showed that picture of the children it made me think - if I had been born in the 19th Century that could have been my fate. As ever, thanks Martin, Mike
No way! Is that THE Beesley st?!! John Cooper Clarke fame! 🤔🤣 great video Martin 👍😁👊
Martin it’s hard to imagine how many bricks were made and laid in Manchester they are everywhere
Keep well excellent vlog once again
@@jamesweber4938 There were several brick works in Manchester, there was one in Moston that was only separated from the school I went to by a brick wall.
If you Google search "Moston Diggy" there is an interesting article - showing many places built using the bricks.
@@jamesweber4938 Yes.. Worked out brickworks/claypits were useless 'holes in the ground' >> they were bought up [often as bankrupt ex companies] and made millons for the visionaries who said "oof - pay to fill em up" lol.
@@jamesweber4938 Jackson's had brickworks in Brinnington, Reddish, Denton and Audenshaw all in operation in the early 60's. remember playing on the spoil heaps of the Denton works. kids had access to all sorts of dangerous places, [coke heaps in gas works, railway lines, soot dumps metal scurf from engineering works].
And one in Reddish, where every winter the old clay pits full of water would freeze over. Kids would be warned not to go on the ice..... but they did ! I've lost count of how many drowned falling through the ice, while I was a kid growing up. Seems like yesterday.... it was 60 years ago or more.
Happy days, even though we had next to now't ( nothing in English )
Roj
Wonderful. Thank you. My aunt's husband told me his first job was part time in a foundry at age 11 (this would be the 1920s). He got hot metal on his leg - "Then I got my first pair of long pants". He said he used to fall asleep at school and the teacher would leave him be.
Martin, the first map had my street on it...Wow ,Leek Street. There used to be a flight of steps from Collyhurst Road down to Smedley Road and I always used to be running up and down them in the 1950s and 60s as my friend lived off Smedley Road. I remember all the houses being there not specifically Alma Terrace but I don't really remember the printing works. As for all the vegetation now ,it's incredible as when I was growing up I don't recall many trees if any at all. You bring back so many memories so thank you for that. The glass works dig, brilliant, so interesting. I can even watch on my brand new tv now ,fantastic , I'll have to rewatch all your videos on the big screen😂 as far as I know the t in Dantzic is silent ,we never used to sound the t.
Yes, the T is silent.
@@19rick44 Like P in swimming pool? :D
@@cargy930 Swimmin Ool ???
@@alanw8834 Didn't you ever pee in the swimming pool as a kid? XD
How our anchestors survived those horrible working conditions is something we must never forget!
Over the entire European continent the industrial sites where simulair hellholes to work.
Perfect timing - the kettle has just boiled! Absolute treat these Sunday videos Martin, thank you as always 👍
these are not just videos Martin ... they are works of art and keep me amazed till the end, thank you very much
History lessons as well. 🙂👍
yes they are . just like those buildings he shoes us being destroyed
Last week I caught the 163 bus from Middleton into Manchester. I must have looked like someone who had never been to Manchester before. From Moston Lane to Shudehill I found myself looking at every building, street and road. Thanks for opening my eyes, Martin .
Its been a long Time since I was on the 163 😄. Thank you for your support
Several species of oyster is found on our coast Martin I live on the south west coast. If you go out foraging you get loads of oysters, cockles, crabs and lobsters. You can eat like a king 😂 with a bit of time and effort. It doesn't surprise me those workers in Manchester were eating oysters. I found out recently poorer people ate brown bread, the richer and wealthier people thought white bread was purer.
Something I recently found out too.
You have to be careful the shellfish haven't been living near algae though or you can get serious poisoning
@@annother3350 yeah don't pick them near sewer outfalls or harbours. Out on the rocks where the tide covers it daily you are fine
Superb Martin! Dantzic I am pretty sure is pronounced danzig. I used to go bottle digging at a Victorian tip and there were zillions of oyster shells. I researched and found that Lancashire hotpot had oysters in. Those black and white photos are a stunning reminder of how lucky we are today, gas works used to give off an awful smell like rotten egg when you were near as they used coal to make the gas. Grim times and the picture of those little lads is heartbreaking. Thanks for a superb story.
In 150 years archeologists will be digging through old industrial areas and finding bits of cells phones and computers. Remarking to themselves what a grim existence those poor souls led. ;-)
Wonderful Mart thank you, I love cross referencing the maps and the old photos, really really interesting and thankyou👍🏴
This is what made time team so good, no nonsense approach to archeology at its finest. Rip Mick Aston you are sorly missed
Fantastic episode Martin, I recently visited family in Sheffield for the first time in 48 years (Australian born) and I was amazed at the history over there that most don't even knows exists. I'm a Bricklayer by trade and study Engineering and I was in ore at the brick structures across the country and how much brick was used, the Engineering as well is just mind blowing. From London to York and out to Liverpool I took photo's of the most untouristy things because we just don't have that stuff in Australia. Would love to join you on an Episode when I'm over there again next year. Cheers Cory
Although I was born in Margate , Kent , almost as far away from Manchester as you can get , my grandmother was born and bred in Heights o' Erlam and my mother in Prestwich ! Her family came from places like Salford , Eccles , Stockport and Pendleton so I do feel some affinity for the area . I now live over " t'other side of t' hill " in West Yorkshire having moved upcountry over the years .
I too am in to Canals and rivers and like to walk miles along them with my camera looking at the old buildings , factories and warehouses along the way !
Thank you for your great Sunday evening vlogs , I don't have a TV any more as it just isn't worth watching nowadays so I look forward to you putting up another of your truly interesting and innovative offerings for our entertainment most weeks . Thanks again Martin .
Looks like lower part of chimney used to support roof around chimney. Used oyster shells provided a road base along with clinkers from burning coal in alleyways and commercial yards. Extra nice content !
Martin, Ex Manchester Bobbie who walked this area in the 70's. Now in NZ. Really enjoy your in depth objective reporting of Manchester’s history. Great job thanks Pete
With your love of industrial Victorian Manchester just think of the possibilities of content had Fred Dibnah still been alive, I'm sure a collaboration would have come about eventually. Another great video Martin, you obviously put a lot of work into the research, I love the eclectic music you put to the old photo's. A shout out to the archaeology team for their help too.
Fascinating as always Martin. I’m always amazed at how many derelict sites there are still within a stones throw of the city centre. So rich is history & the road you were on at the beginning looked remarkably quiet! Brilliant! 😄
Martin another fascinating insight into Manchester Victorian industrial history. Superb.
It really is amazing what you can find when you peer through hedges and around corners, that's whats great about urban exploration, finding the unexpected as we've seen in your other forays along the River Irk, keep up the good work Martin
Thanks Martin, fascinating & well revealed and spoken by yourself.
Those kids working at a Glassworks with no shoes makes me shudder. The soles of their feet must have been like a thick leather. The green in the glass is the Iron content and the whiter type would have been a purer sand, less iron particles, along with other ingredients such as Soda Ash, Limestone and Dolomite. Another great vlog Martin, keep them coming.
Thanks Martin for my short holiday. Good to see. Esp the printing works I love the patterns on the material that used to come from there nothing like a piece of cotton material very comfortable to wear day or night. Sorry it was overgrown, if it was here it would be full of folk with no homes, here theyd carry the brick etc off to build homes😂. Also glad to see the Irk so unpolluted here in Pretoria people are banding together to clean up the streams and rivers in the metro areas. Your buddys pictures are very nice you can show more of them (please). Love to you all keep warm here its 35°C plus sending some heat via wishing, God bless.
Hello Martin,
Really enjoy your videos. I am a history buff as well. My ancestors came from the peasant parts of London though. Love the photo that someone had taken of the old kiln. What a shame others weren't taken. Old photos like that are like gold. My mother used to work in a positive Dickensian hat factory (right down to belt driven sewing machines) when I was a kid but sadly I didnt take any photos of the place when I visited and I kick myself for it now. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Peter (Fairlight, NSW, Australia)
I think that the oyster shell was probably used in the production of soda glass. Maybe they eat them first but oyster shell has been found in sand samples from soda glass sites. Just a thought... Great video . Thank you.
Brilliant vid! So expertly done.👍 I'm from Liverpool so i'm not familiar with the area in the film but absolutely fascinating anyway! I love finding out things about our industrial past. The oysters the poor used to eat were what we put in steak and kidney pies before the kidneys.😋
I live just up the road from this site, amazing it will soon be covered in flats undergoing yet another faze in it's history.
The gas works is now the travelers site so has most likely been in council ownership for a long time.
I hope the bricks are preserved/reused/recycled before they build the flats. Not just pour concrete over them. Old bricks are very good quality.
was gutted when this ended so fast, love the vids, and love learning more about the best city in the world.
I never thought that I would care for content like this and yet, here I am, coming back for another hit of that sweet sweet history.
It's amazing how fast things become filled in with new dirt. All it takes is a small pile of leaves decomposing every year and soon you have dirt with things growing and dying in it and adding more dirt. Nature always wins in the end...
My favourite sort of exploration old industrial sites and maps
Found oyster shells in some old shraff (pottery waste) in school garden which was built over a dump used from about 1870 to 1920. Area close by is being used for scenes in a TV series based on Sherlock Holmes.
Wonderful as usual Martin - loved he converging viaducts at the end - Imagine being the first brickie on site and laying the first brick of what must be millions!
The troughs under the boilers were for scraping the ashes out of the boiler prior to re-filling the boiler with coal. I worked on steam boilers, Cheshire and Lancashire boilers in the early 80s. Thank God that by then they had converted to oil.
Martin, You wanna get yourself to the Carnegie Library on Green Lane/Lister Drive, Liverpool. Theres loads of works going on to save it. It's got an amazing history.
Time to sit back and enjoy another visual, fact-filled feast from Martin Zero!
Thanks Martin, brilliant history as always
Another awesome video Martin, great work!
I have learned so much about Manchester, and in a manner the history of it's hard working people helps explain why it has pulled me into its embrace.
Another great video. Thankyou Martin.
Another great video Martin
Slater's Directory listed them in 1895 as "Irkdale Printing Co. (C. H. Midwood), Smedley rd. Collyhurst, and 10 Marsden st." The entry for C. H. Midwood has "calico printer (Irkdale Printing Company), Springfield, High st. C on M." Presumably Chorlton on Medlock. Another entry has under "Finishers" has them as "printers, dyers and beetlers". The OED has the verb beetle as "To beat with a beetle, in order to thresh, crush, or flatten; also, technical, to emboss fabrics by pressure from figured rollers."
10 Marsden St was "Marsden Street Chambers" with 25 businesses having offices there.
Another great video! What this video shows is that changing technology and competition is not new to Manchester or any city anywhere. We sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that our times are unique, when in fact they are not. Imagine what it was like to work at that glass works and then lose your job when they closed down, would you get a job at the Tripe works only to lose it when it became a bolt works? The real challenge is for a community to stick together and find new technology to exploit and create jobs for the people in that city. Manchester will find a way as they have before, and it will come from areas they haven't thought of yet. Keep up the good work Martin, your loyalty to your hometown does you proud!
Great video again Martin
Top notch as usual Martin
Great videos, as a gas engineer I work on mains all the time in Manchester (1877 is the earliest so far) local history is very important in the job as knowing where things used to be helps us to locate escapes. Proud to say I’ve managed to salvage cobbles from Dantzic Street before now which will soon be going on my drive!
Awesome and compelling as usual. Thank You Martin
Brilliant as always Martin 👍🏻
Great video again Martin, brings back memories of walking to school in the early 70s
Thanks for this most interesting insight to a part of Manchester. Those 'pipe-makers' at No.10 Flag Row - so small a property the 'pipes' must have been clay pipes for smoking? You already found a part of a stem. Keep digging Martin.
I loved the photos at the end,and I always emphasize this is in no manner to romanticize the hard lives the residents had. Yet somehow they possess a richness derived from the hard working people of this amazing city.
You've done it again Martin, bloody fantastic episode, so enjoyable .
Another belter Martin thanks
Absolutely incredible. Love it! Thank you!
Epic video dude, 28 minutes of interesting industrial history.
Another great video. Thanks Martin.
Stonkin video again Martin! Huge amount of research gone into that. Many thanks
Mart this is a credit to you ...i could watch you all day thanks for sharing this with us mate :)
Excellent work Martin
An excellent video, thanks Martin!
Another great video Martin - thank you 😁. Always inspiring 😀.
Only found your channel recently. Top work and gets better. I love the old railway features. 👍
Spent all day watching your videos that I’d not already seen. Brilliant!
These hidden gem videos are fantastic.
Really enjoyed that Martin, thanks. Better than anything on TV
On river park road there’s a patch of land we’re all the trees have been cut down and when I was a kid around late 70s early 80s a mate and me went to that patch of land and found 100s of bottle that were 40 plus years ago and later a lot were still whole plus some had marbles as stoppers , I’m sure there will still be a lot remaining
I love those old bottles
Bloody top vid martin, totally fascinating and so well done.
Just keeps getting better Martin👍👍👍
Fascinating video! Thanks!
Thanks Martin for another great video love the collyhurst ones especially 👍👍👍
another fascinating video.. thank you martin..
Great video Martin, super interesting to watch.
Great video Martin. I'm glad you were able to find a picture of the glass kiln, it was quite a fascinating structure. Industrial archeology is quite an interesting subject.
Thanks, Martin i enjoyed that one very interesting.
Great piece of research Martin, thank you!
truly mesmerising viewing ,thanks once again martin.
Excellent narrative description Martin. Great volg
Big hug to Manchester.
Watching this with a glass of wine 🍷🏚🏚🏚🏚🏚🎥
Another cracking vid Mart. Thank you.
Fascinating glimpse into the last two hundred years. It's impossible to exaggerate how enjoyable these video's are. Thanks for posting.
Another excellent video Martin. I used to walk down Smedley Rd everyday going to school ( The Tinnie) And we used to play all over those hills near the irk and remember the factory and some of the houses. Where the two Viaducts meet one was always known as the Devils arch. Keep up the excellent work.
What a fantastic vid. It's so good to see that archeologists are preserving industrial history. Those photos of the 60's is the Manchester that I grew up in.
Another great and interesting video. Keep up the good work
Loved this video, obsessed with lost victorian buildings 👌👌
Many thanks Martin for showing us these lost Victorian worlds. The old photographs are wonderful. What a childhood those little lads must have had! Thanks again.
Thank you Mike
@@MartinZero Thank you Martin, always a pleasure to watch.
Huge thanks for another fascinating and truly interesting video, cheers Martin 👍
What a really interesting video, as usual Martin. I love the way you dig into history. Thank you.
I so enjoy watching Martin's videos and the enthusiasm he brings to the commentary. It makes me feel weird when I look at derelict buildings with windows and imagine that faces once looked through them
Thanks for this Martin, reminds me of visiting my aunt who passed away earlier this year, use to pass just past Collyhurst to visit her.