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 • 

Dean Kirby

9

1

5:06

August 2025

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 • 

Dean Kirby

21

3

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 • 

Dean Kirby

28

1

July 2025

Are the bones of Thomas Paine in your attic?

Rumours have swirled for 200 years that the father of the American Revolution's remains could be somewhere in Manchester

Jul 4 • 

Dean Kirby

14

7

June 2025

Finding Mr Engels: Part 4

The final part of my series on Friedrich Engels in Manchester and how I think we should really tell the city's story

Jun 27 • 

Dean Kirby

11

3

Finding Mr Engels: Part 3

It's 1844 and a well-dressed man is walking through the streets of the world's first industrial city. The cotton looms are thumping like a heartbeat.

Jun 21 • 

Dean Kirby

10

1

🚶🏻The Meander #2: Step across the Irwell into Salford's old Chapel Street

Just a few steps across the Irwell from Manchester's Exchange Square, Chapel Street in Salford awaits the developers

Jun 20 • 

Dean Kirby

6

2

Finding Mr Engels: Part 2

Friedrich Engels, standing there with his arms folded in a concrete frockcoat, could not look more out of place

Jun 14 • 

Dean Kirby

13

4

Finding Mr Engels: Part 1

How a journey to uncover my family history led me to an encouter with Friedrich Engels in slums of Victorian Manchester

Jun 6 • 

Dean Kirby

15

3

May 2025

The Manchester Mulan

In 1814, Sarah Roberts Taylor revealed to a charity officer in Manchester she had spent 21 years as a cavalryman in the British Army

May 10 • 

Dean Kirby

11

In the footsteps of Engels: New tour dates for summer 2025

Join more than 500 people who have been with me on a tour of Angel Meadow with new dates for June, July and August 2025

May 9 • 

Dean Kirby

6

The Manchester Mulan: Finding Sarah Roberts Taylor

Can the real story of Sarah Roberts Taylor who served 21 years as a cavalryman in the British Army be pieced together in the archives?

May 9 • 

Dean Kirby

5

3