Angel Meadow

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 •

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 •

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 •

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 •

The Whiskey Wakes

When the priest entered the house, the dead man was laid out on the bed with a lit pipe of tobacco in his mouth

Nov 23, 2024 •

Step inside Victorian Manchester's most notorious thieving den

Oct 12, 2024 •

Guns and nettle beer

James Downey was a cobbler by day and a Chartist arms dealer by night

Sep 14, 2024 •

The Noble Art of Hawking

Hawkers were an everyday part of Victorian city life

Aug 11, 2024 •

How to train a pickpocket

Could you make it as a Victorian ‘breech buzzer’? This is how Manchester’s wiliest pickpockets learned their trade

May 25, 2024 •

Welcome to the Manchester History Club

Join the new club for Mancunian history fans and share the story of the world's first modern city

Apr 19, 2024 •

'The bigger villain bit through Billy's hand': Victorian street fighting Manchester style

On a Sunday afternoon, the usual time for settling grudges, hundreds of people watched two one-armed beggars fight for their lives

Mar 8, 2024 •

The pearl divers of the black River Irk

In the grey dawn, he saw them. From beneath the slimy waters a head bobbed up — and then another

Feb 2, 2024 •

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