In the early 70s late 60s I used to go to Sharp st Ragged school, sunday school.A friends mum and dad ran the Wellington and I spent many a night in there .Loved this area in the 70s.
I found out about Angel Meadow a few years back after I started researching my family history. They came from Runcorn way and settled in Hulme, but I became interested in the whole history of the slums of Manchester. I was born in Manchester but now live just outside but when I go shopping in town I always go and sit in Angel Meadow and contemplate what these poor people endured, but it's beyond my imagination. Bless them all.
Hi Rachel. Thanks for your comments on Angel M. They mirror my own thoughts. As a very young man i "skirted" that area because of its reputation which was not without merrit, however many years later i rediscovered this part of Manchester that by now had been redeveloped and only then discovered its desolating story, hense the video. Regards BJ.
If your family comes from Manchester during 1800 to 1900 and were of the poorer classes the odds are we have relatives laying together in that field. I know I have relatives that were in the workhouse and were buried in a paupers grave. To us this isn't a historical documentary it's talking about our families who were loved by our families and passed to us our heritage.
An amazing video , full of interest and history about the suffering the people of Manchester had to endure . Very well put together with a grip that holds you all the way through .Thanks for shining a light over these dark times and sharing it with us all .
Martin.Thanks for you interest in Angel Meadow. I am not film maker, but i had to share, what i discovered about this place, in the best way i could. Regards BJ.
It was fascinating. This video proves you are a film maker, the facts, the narration, the use of pictures, your political conclusions are captivating. I make videos also and you have inspired me with this one
Hi Joe. Thanks for taking the time to comment on Angel Meadow. I have about 30 vids on youtube, but Angel Meadow attracts more comments than any other. I was born in Manchester and past this area many times. It was only in the last 5 years (i am 80 now!!!) that i discovered its story. Regards Barry.
Hope you are safe & well Barry. I have learned a lot from your video. I wandered round many of the streets that you mention between 1960 and 1964 walking from Cheetham Hill Rd to Manchester Victoria on my way home from school. My father was born in 1913 in Ancoats and he told me that his father drove a horse & cart. The horses were stabled at night under the railway arches on the banks of the river close by. It always had a very "eerie" feel and now I know why !
Thank you Barry for your video. It has opened my eyes to what life was like in Manchester back then. I'll will definitely be visiting the meadow to take it in and to pay my respects to the many people who lay there.
Thank you for taking the time to view and comment on Angel Meadow. I nearly did not publish it mainly because i am only an amateur. So it surprised me that i received so many helpful comments. I found the place by accident whilst exploring Manchesters underbelly. I live just 7 miles away yet i was not aware of it's history. Regards BJ
Fantastic video! I live in the Angel Meadow area and it’s important to know the history of where you live. Very sympathetic commentary on the struggles of these early communities- it’s a shame this isn’t more widely taught to new generations. It shows how important it is to notice the stories around you. You made some great observations and it’s quite poignant.
Hi Irene. Thanks for your kind remarks about the Vid. Like you i was emotionally moved to make the story of Angel Meadow known more widely. I produced two versions the second was Manchesters Angel Meadow extended, that expands on the first. Incidentally your name is the same as that of my mother sadly now long gone.I am not certain that she was aware of the history surrounding this place. kind regard BJ.
I walked through Angel meadow today for the first time and googled the Ragged School as I had never seen it before and it all led me to your film . Really interesting, thanks for sharing this information
Hi rebecca. Thanks for taking the time to view my vid on Angel Meadow. The story behind this place is a sobering one. I thought it was worth the telling. Regards BJ.
My Grandad lived in the Exile of Erin pub with his uncle after parents died . Didn’t have a easy childhood and went to the ragged school . His life changed for the better when he joined the RAF just before the 2nd world war
There was still a house partly under the viaduct/irk at in the late 60's. A large once fine house that when I knew it had a chap and his young daughter living there with no electricity. Beautiful house. NB Irish were in the area from late eighteenth century. In eighteen thirty or there abouts census recorded about forty thousand around collyhurst. A few branches of my family and indeed I grew up there. At least six generations survived and had happy lives in that "hell hole" you describe.
Thank you Barry I have lived in Manchester for most of my life and always felt it a nice but dark place to live this explains a lot. A lot of the landscape and buildings may have changed but the people have not.
Great Video also watch Martin Zeros Video. Church Schools are an element of poor areas, near me in Walthamstow there is a superb Church which was a working Lighthouse !!! With a large Sunday School and memorial hall.
My great great great grandad came over from Ireland during the potato famin, on his daughters birth certificate which my Dad still holds states address of birth is 6 Angel Street which is now the Angel pub.
Thank you for this Barry: informative and very well presented. Born in Manchester in 1947 but now living in Wales, I can only be appalled at the hardships which my forefathers (and some family members) endured in this very area. Ian
Thanks S T for your comments on Angel Meadow. When i first researched for this video i too was appalled by what i discovered about life in those days. regards BJ.
Thanks emily for your comments on Manchesters Angel Meadow. Even though i live only 6 miles from this place i knew little of it save that my parents told me to avod that part of Manchester, that was 70 years ago!!! So i am glad that i did the research to make the video. Regards BJ.
My grandad and my uncle John Joseph were baptized at St.Michael's. My Mam was at the last service before it closed. My people would usually call the Flags- the burying ground.
I'm sat on Angel Meadow listening to this. I'm painting the new apartments buildings. We are using the old working girls building as a temporary office. Very interesting story
Babs Cook. Thank you for your comments on Angel Meadow. I am self taught videoer which is not perhaps the best way to develop a skill.but i try! The video you viewed was version 2, which came about because the 1st vid raised so many questions i was forced into expanding its scope. I value your input and have subscibed to you. kind regards BJ.
Brilliant video:) You are so good at explaining about each place in such great detail (not great about how poorly they all lived though) My heart hurts when I hear facts regarding people of the past and how little they were forced to survive on...my new 'thing' to do just lately is to get the tram from ashton-u-lyne to manchester piccadilly or piccadilly gardens and just walk and take in all the things ive never really 'seen' before, though ive spent more time here than my hometime at one point in my youth haha...i can never seem to get to the tram or bus home in time though and always miss it as I did when younger...mcr never wants me to leave it lol x
KelKel. Sorry that i did not replied to you commrnts on Angel Meadow but i have been troubled with a computer glitch that persisted for some considerable time.Apple Upgrades are a pain sometimes particularly on the older models like mine. You were right to comment on the indescribable poverty those people had to endure, the truth is i was unable to do justice to thier plight. Regards BJ.
I'd like to see / read those 'Census' style lists around 12:50. I really enjoyed your style of narration & delivery. Great info, well put together BJ, Cheers.
In the 60's I worked at the spring factory in Red Bank(Cary/ Woodhead )-some of the lanes or thoroughfares in the factory had kerb stones at the side and some of the internal factory walls were building fronts with the windows bricked up-under the tool room was the old baths (Axel St) still in existence-in a new section near Back Scotland was a press (close to Irk) and on installation there was 3 wells for tanning found and filled-in-Please note The Manchester Man by Isabella Banks is a good reference Great video and narration- cheers mike
Hi May. Thanks for your comment on Mancester's Angel Meadow (extended). Your post is unusual, all the narrative has a line through all ofthe characters after "Red Bank" except the last two words cheers mike. who is Mike? if you don't mind my asking. This is the extended version which i felt i had to produce in order to satisfy the questions my first much shorter version generated, the original is still on line and continues to attract a great deal of interest. Regards BJ.
Cheers Barry for your information on Angel Meadow! I think the new Co-Op building has somewhat spoilt the area personally but I suppose its called 'Progress'. sue
My nana told me she used to play on the flags, I don't know if she knew what they were. We had her wake in the old Parker's hotel, I think it was a bit cleaner than when my nan ma lived around there.
I lived in miles platting as a boy perhaps a mile from the flags we didnt have much but compared to these poor souls we were lucky god bless those poor children
i love mcr history this is great. id love to know more about further down the irk toward waterloo rd there was huge mills off factory lane when i was a kid but noone knows nothing about them or the parkland around
Hi 17t7. Thanks for that input about Angel Meadow and its connection by name with houses in Heywood. We visit Heywood regularly but i was not aware there was an estate so named. I learn something new every day! Regards BJ
@@SuperBarryjackson There were 3 sites in Heywood that were redeveloped for the overspill. Angel Meadow, Darnhill, and Heady Hill. The high rise flats at Darnhill got demolished in the late 90s and most of Angel Meadow went a couple of years back. Only about 4 out of 17 blocks are still there. www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/slum-clearance-changes-the-face-of-town-1139420
Thankyou Barry , a wonderfully presented video. A long overdue movie should be in the making. Pivotal points in history reek of political portence , this has to be one of them but sadly overlooked.
Hi gorrellykid. Thanks for your comments on Angel Meadow, your views mirror mine and is in part the reason for the video. I grew up 5 miles away and until recently i was unaware of its existence and the story behind the place. Regards BJ.
Thanks Tony for viewing and commenting on my video about Angel Meadow. When i first came across the place i could not help but relate what i found, because it all seemed so tragic, i felt that those poor people should not be forgotten. many thanks BJ.
Thank you Barry for telling me about this second video. It is a really great video. Thank you so much for telling this story. I have bought the book Angel Meadow and also bought a book 2000 of Manchester. Are there any other books you would recommend for me to read please? I think perhaps the Engels book on the Working Class? I am so grateful to you Barry. Very best wishes, Barbara
At 13.14 can be seen a former hat block factory of William Plant & Sons. My grandfather worked there as a foreman for a while (his father being one of the Sons) but it wasn't really his thing and he went on to be a performer in comedy and singing (Jimmy Plant).
Barry I am interested in knowing where you got the lists of people living in the street? I would love to see the lists of people mentioned as living there? Thanks
Hi "Truly". There are a number of places where information about Angel Meadow can be researched. The easiest is from the Google under 'Manchesters Angel Meadow' look in the picture section. But Chetthams School of Music free library is interesting because it is where Engels and his friend Karl Marx used to meet. The central library and Rylands library also have some records, you just have to "delve".happy delving Redards BJ
I don’t think those are the Angel steps from Lowry’s painting. I think the steps from Lowry’s painting are at the bottom of the park, at Irk street. I’m open to correction though.
That is a fantastic Video Barry. I've been born & bred in Manchester, and I never knew about this, thank you. May I ask where I could access some of the images in your production? most especially the image at 12:44 in your film?
Hi BusterMove. Thanks for your comments on Angel Meadow. Like you i did not know the place until 5 years ago. A most shocking story. The pictures i found by trawling through Google - Manchester Angel Meadow, including the one of the group outside Charter St Ragged School. Good trawling!!!! regards BJ.
Does anyone know why recent plans always refer to Angel Meadow as Angel Meadows (with an S) my ancestors were born and lived in Angel Meadow in Charter Street in the 1800's, and it annoys me to see changes made to the name of the Meadow. I note there is an apartment building either in the pipeline, or maybe it is already built called 'Angel Meadows' who decided to add an 'S' to the name? And what happened to all of those flags which were headstones of the poor souls who died there? Thanks.
I played on the flags in the 50s,early60s .Flagstones covered the whole graveyard .They were made of Yorkshire stone ,which became very fashionable for gardens in the 70s/80s and were stolen for this purpose ,as well as York stone flags all over Manchester. On a side note does anyone remember Chippys woodyard at the bottom of Pilling Street.I also worked at Phillips Rubbers on Dantzig Street.
My great grandfather was a beer retailer in Charter Street in the 1800's, he lived at 141 charter street. I have no photos of him and would love to find one. I wondered with him being a beer retailer there may possibly be one somewhere. The whole area at that time was full of pimps, prostitutes, beggers, thieves, scutlers I am left wondering how my grandfather (his son) turned out so well and respectable.
I held my factory records exhibition in the Ducie Bridge public House in May 2011 a worlds first again in our great city pub was owned by Dave Foran at the time you can see the factory Records logo smoke stack symbol in the windows, I did it for Christie cancer in the name of Tony Wilson it's all in my book Manchester Music & M9 Kidz Colin Gibbins M9 Kid
Hi Michelle. Thanks for your comments on A Meadow. Sad story but true, make you realise just how much society has developed for the better, though i sometimes wonder that some that some people don't seem to the benefits that they take for granted. regards BJ.
Hi Truly. Don't get upset - I can not comment upon the Apartment you mention but be assured that the area is clearly marked as "Angel Meadow " both at the Graveyard and also on a road sign opposite the Marble Arch pub on Gould st.(see my second extended video). As for the grave stones, most were plain stone flags of Portland stone which gave them value. I regret to say that many were stolen by the locals Worse than that the soil benearth them was also sold as fertilizer. hense the need to grass over the area to protect those burried there.A few undamaged engraved flags have been relaid at the site. One of the reasons i made the video was my attempt to recogise those poor people before they were completely forgotten. Regards BJ.
Hi BarryI am wondering if there are any photos of my great grandfathers property at 141 Charter Street in Angel Meadow. He was a beer retailer and I thought somewhere there may be a photo as it was hopefully not a 'house of ill repute'. See what you can discover if you can I will be so grateful - thanks Susie
Hi a,l,l. I to have been looking for Charter st Property photos and records but without success However the area arrond the burial ground was predominantly of Irish immigrants and it's reputation was extremely notorious. If your relative lived in that particular part of Angel Meadow i am afraid they are unlikely to have been Angelic by nature. The whole area was a no go area especially for photographers hense the lack of pictures. There are two pubs close by, The Pot of Beer on School St (next to the Sharp St Ragged School) and Mount St last recorded 1996 now demolished, and The Angel Pub on Angel St and Dychie St but that closed in 1850.. My research into Angel Meadow has reach the point of diminishing returns and i have exhausted all avenues that are reasonably capable of providing meaningful information. As for your relative i would say that pictures of them or the property are unlikely to exist in the public domain. Regards BJ.
