Sunday, January 13, 2013
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Welcome to Blackley Life Manchester
Blackley (
i/ˈbleɪkli/) is an area of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Manchester city centre, by a meander of the River Irk. Further north is Middleton. It lies, mainly, between, and is served by, two main arterial roads out of Manchester; Rochdale Road (A664 road), to Middleton, and Cheetham Hill Road/Bury Old Road (A665 road) to Bury.
The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæclēah = "dark wood" or "dark clearing". In the 13th and 14th centuries Blackley was referred to as Blakeley or Blakelegh, a spelling that is consistent with the local pronunciation.[1]
By the Middle Ages, Blackley had become a park belonging to the lords of Manchester. Its value in 1282 was recorded as £6 13s 4d, a sum approximately equivalent in buying power to £3,500 today.[1][2]
The lords of Manchester leased the land from time to time. In 1473 John Byron held the leases on Blackley village, Blackley field, and Pillingworth fields at an annual rent of £33 6s 8d. The Byron family continued to hold the land until the beginning of the 17th century when Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of landowners.[1]
By the middle of the 17th century Blackley was a village of just 107 inhabitants. Blackley today is hardly recognisable as the same rural area that it had been at the start of the 19th century. Now only local place names like Meadows School, Plant Hill or French Barn Lane hint at its rural past.[3]
Some time during the 19th century, Ivan Levinstein set up a chemical works in the hollow around Crumpsal Vale (Old Market Street/Delauneys Rd). The facility expanded, under Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) ownership, to employ a large number, much in chemical research.[4][5] It was in the ICI laboratories that not only dyestuffs but also medical breakthroughs such as the anti-malarial drug Paludrine, and Antrycide to combat African sleeping sickness were discovered. In recent years the facility has contracted, and the staff level is now less than 100 in a descendant company, Avecia, and the land at one point was scheduled for housing developments.
Adjacent to this facility, and formerley an early 19th-century logwood mill, there was another plant, Connolly's (Blackley) Ltd, later BICC, makers of telecommunication cabling.
During the 1930s substantial residential development took place in Blackley to provide overspill housing for Manchester's growing population.
This is an area with a mixture of housing which is mainly council homes: owner-occupied, private renting and housing association. It is part of the North Manchester Regeneration Area, a project set up by Manchester City Council and private company Bellway's to improve existing housing, build new homes and improve the environment.
There are about 240 council homes, all managed by Northwards Housing. About 150 are flats in small blocks. The rest are houses (mostly two or three-bedroom, with a handful of larger properties).
Blackley is well served in terms of green space and parks, with significant open spaces at Tweedale Common, Irk Valley, Nutbank Common. Additionally;
Boggart Hole Clough
Boggart Hole Clough is a country park where many walks can be undertaken, guided or otherwise. Thanks to recent funding the park now has many leisure facilities; a bowling green, tennis and basketball courts, a boating lake and a children's play area. It has its own permanent orienteering course and an athletics track. Visitors can enjoy family fun days in the summer and an annual firework display.
Blackley Forest
A Site of Biological Importance and an example of one of the country's first Community Woodlands. Planted to commemorate the Queen’s coronation and also the local people who gave their lives in the Second World War. The area has had woodland on it since the Norman Conquest in 1066, when wild boar and deer roamed and eagles flew above.[6]
The forest is a diverse mix of woodland, grassland and wetlands, dissected by a well established network of paths and steps. The River Irk can be seen in its most natural state, fringed by birch trees with some colonies of autumn crocus.
Heaton Park
Heaton Park, at around 650 acres (2.63 km2), is the biggest park in Greater Manchester, and one of the largest municipal parks in Western Europe, providing some 25% of Manchester's total green space. It is the grounds of Heaton Hall, a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country mansion.
The hall was remodelled to a design by James Wyatt in 1772,[7] and is now open to the public as a museum and events venue. Although the park is officially part of the City of Manchester, only two of a number of entrances are accessed from Blackley, on Middleton Road.[8]
Information Care of Wikipedia.com
i/ˈbleɪkli/) is an area of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, England. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Manchester city centre, by a meander of the River Irk. Further north is Middleton. It lies, mainly, between, and is served by, two main arterial roads out of Manchester; Rochdale Road (A664 road), to Middleton, and Cheetham Hill Road/Bury Old Road (A665 road) to Bury.The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæclēah = "dark wood" or "dark clearing". In the 13th and 14th centuries Blackley was referred to as Blakeley or Blakelegh, a spelling that is consistent with the local pronunciation.[1]
By the Middle Ages, Blackley had become a park belonging to the lords of Manchester. Its value in 1282 was recorded as £6 13s 4d, a sum approximately equivalent in buying power to £3,500 today.[1][2]
The lords of Manchester leased the land from time to time. In 1473 John Byron held the leases on Blackley village, Blackley field, and Pillingworth fields at an annual rent of £33 6s 8d. The Byron family continued to hold the land until the beginning of the 17th century when Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of landowners.[1]
By the middle of the 17th century Blackley was a village of just 107 inhabitants. Blackley today is hardly recognisable as the same rural area that it had been at the start of the 19th century. Now only local place names like Meadows School, Plant Hill or French Barn Lane hint at its rural past.[3]
Some time during the 19th century, Ivan Levinstein set up a chemical works in the hollow around Crumpsal Vale (Old Market Street/Delauneys Rd). The facility expanded, under Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) ownership, to employ a large number, much in chemical research.[4][5] It was in the ICI laboratories that not only dyestuffs but also medical breakthroughs such as the anti-malarial drug Paludrine, and Antrycide to combat African sleeping sickness were discovered. In recent years the facility has contracted, and the staff level is now less than 100 in a descendant company, Avecia, and the land at one point was scheduled for housing developments.
Adjacent to this facility, and formerley an early 19th-century logwood mill, there was another plant, Connolly's (Blackley) Ltd, later BICC, makers of telecommunication cabling.
During the 1930s substantial residential development took place in Blackley to provide overspill housing for Manchester's growing population.
This is an area with a mixture of housing which is mainly council homes: owner-occupied, private renting and housing association. It is part of the North Manchester Regeneration Area, a project set up by Manchester City Council and private company Bellway's to improve existing housing, build new homes and improve the environment.
There are about 240 council homes, all managed by Northwards Housing. About 150 are flats in small blocks. The rest are houses (mostly two or three-bedroom, with a handful of larger properties).
Blackley is well served in terms of green space and parks, with significant open spaces at Tweedale Common, Irk Valley, Nutbank Common. Additionally;
Boggart Hole Clough
Boggart Hole Clough is a country park where many walks can be undertaken, guided or otherwise. Thanks to recent funding the park now has many leisure facilities; a bowling green, tennis and basketball courts, a boating lake and a children's play area. It has its own permanent orienteering course and an athletics track. Visitors can enjoy family fun days in the summer and an annual firework display.
Blackley Forest
A Site of Biological Importance and an example of one of the country's first Community Woodlands. Planted to commemorate the Queen’s coronation and also the local people who gave their lives in the Second World War. The area has had woodland on it since the Norman Conquest in 1066, when wild boar and deer roamed and eagles flew above.[6]
The forest is a diverse mix of woodland, grassland and wetlands, dissected by a well established network of paths and steps. The River Irk can be seen in its most natural state, fringed by birch trees with some colonies of autumn crocus.
Heaton Park
Heaton Park, at around 650 acres (2.63 km2), is the biggest park in Greater Manchester, and one of the largest municipal parks in Western Europe, providing some 25% of Manchester's total green space. It is the grounds of Heaton Hall, a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country mansion.
The hall was remodelled to a design by James Wyatt in 1772,[7] and is now open to the public as a museum and events venue. Although the park is officially part of the City of Manchester, only two of a number of entrances are accessed from Blackley, on Middleton Road.[8]
Information Care of Wikipedia.com
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