The Ancoats Skylark

The forgotten story of a Manchester songbird that inspired a poet

The Ancoats Skylark is a poem written by the Victorian writer William Axon in 1894 that told the story of a Government inspector’s real-life visit to a school in the district.

In the classroom, the inspector was shocked by the apparent ignorance of the “Ancuts” children about the world beyond the cobbled streets where they lived.