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The Scuttlers
Angel Meadow
🚶🏻Walking Tours
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The Scuttlers: New tour coming autumn 2026
Ahead of the launch of my new book about the scuttlers next spring, I'm starting a new walking tour with the first few walks coming this autumn
Aug 1
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Dean Kirby
9
2
🚨Big news: My new book The Scuttlers is coming!
The Scuttlers: The True Story of Manchester's Most Feared Gangs will be published by HarperNorth on 6 May 2027 and is available to pre-order now.
Jul 9
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Dean Kirby
20
20
5
The scuttlers and the police who fought back
When the scuttler Henry Burgess waged a one-man terror campaign on the streets of Manchester, only one man was brave enough to stop him
Nov 16, 2024
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Dean Kirby
12
7
3
Most Popular
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The Manchester beer poisoning scandal
Aug 2, 2025
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Dean Kirby
29
1
10
The Manchester History Club is in the top 20 rising history newsletters on Substack
Apr 10, 2025
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Dean Kirby
25
12
5
How archaeologists unearthed my ancestor’s house
Apr 23, 2023
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Dean Kirby
26
10
5
The Battle of Clifton Junction
Jan 25, 2025
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Dean Kirby
21
4
7
Finding Mr Engels: Part 1
Jun 6, 2025
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Dean Kirby
16
3
4
Manchester history tour plans for next year
Nov 5, 2025
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Dean Kirby
16
1
4
'People think it always rains in Manchester. Not true, though I admit it's the only town in the country with a lifeboat drill on the bus routes.' - Les Dawson
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Recent posts
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The scuttlers: How scuttling began in Manchester
The Franco-Prussian War had an unexpected impact on youth culture in the streets of Cottonopolis
Apr 27, 2024
•
Dean Kirby
12
10
2
Scuttler ancestors: Using tattoos to investigate your family history
Victorian prison registers offer rare clues for family historians about the lives and loves of their criminal ancestors
May 1, 2024
•
Dean Kirby
10
3
3:31
Cooking my Nan's dinners: chicken soup
Watch me cook one of my favourite dinners growing up: my Nan's chicken soup
Feb 22
•
Dean Kirby
5
1
1
The Northern Quarter's gambling hells
Manchester's trendiest quarter was once awash with backstreet betting houses. When 400 police officers carried out a raid in 1885, it caused chaos.
Feb 13
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Dean Kirby
15
1
The Earthquake Thieves
It's the early hours on 9 November 1852 and families across Manchester have the sensation that thieves are breaking into their homes
Feb 6
•
Dean Kirby
10
2
2
Trotters and tripe
How Victorian gutter merchants made a killing selling street food to drunks on their way home from the pub
Jan 30
•
Dean Kirby
18
8
3
Merry Christmas from the Manchester History Club
Thank you for your support in 2025 - there's lots to come from me in 2026
Dec 19, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
20
2
2
Lost beneath the ice
It's the cold winter of 1813 and in Manchester the River Irwell has frozen over. A school teacher named Lavinia Robinson has gone missing. Will she be…
Nov 22, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
32
8
2
Manchester history tour plans for next year
If you came on my Angel Meadow tour this year, thank you. I have some big plans for next year.
Nov 5, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
16
1
4
5:06
Cooking my Nan’s dinners: Tater ash
Watch me cook my Nan’s tater ash and hear about the Norwegian origins of scouse
Sep 19, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
9
1
2
The killer of little mule spinners
Reaching over the machines to repair broken threads of cotton, the mule spinners of Manchester and Lancashire were falling victim to a silent killer
Aug 29, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
22
3
2
The Manchester beer poisoning scandal
Hundreds of people became sick and dozens died before deadly arsenic was found in the city's beer supply
Aug 2, 2025
•
Dean Kirby
29
1
10
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