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

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January 2026

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

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December 2025

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

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November 2025

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

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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

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September 2025

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

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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, 2025 • Dean Kirby

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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

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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, 2025 • Dean Kirby

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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, 2025 • Dean Kirby

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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, 2025 • Dean Kirby

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🚶🏻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, 2025 • Dean Kirby

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