Stay at Jurys Inn, Manchester, England 3*** rating: Situated in the heart of Manchester, the main shopping streets along with the city's thriving cafe and bar scene are close at hand. Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, is a mere 10-minute journey by Metrolink which can be taken from just outside the Inn. It’s the perfect choice for business or leisure travellers. Jurys Inns provide excellent 3-star comfort offering fixed room rates. Our spacious, comfortable rooms offer modern-day conveniences and can accommodate three adults or two adults and two children sharing.
Address: 56 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester, M1 5LE, England.
Tel: (+44 161) 953 8888.
What to See at Manchester: Forget museums full of dusty ancient artefacts: Manchester has its own distinctive way of doing things. Urbis, the ultra-modern centre for urban life situated in Cathedral Gardens, is thought-provoking, seriously interactive, and ideal for group visits. The many exhibits let you take a ride through different cities of the world: why not see Singapore by taxi and hang out at a street-side café in Sao Paulo? The Museum of Science and Industry is one of the best cultural attractions in the region, located on the site of the world’s first passenger railway. Visitors can discover the history, science and industry of Manchester and even enjoy a walk through a Victorian sewer, complete with real life sounds and smells! One of Manchester’s favourite pastimes is shopping and the Trafford Centre is the perfect choice for groups. Enjoy 230 stores under one roof, including John Lewis and Marks and Spencer before refueling at The Orient, where you can discover food from all corners of the globe. The Lowry Outlet Mall, meanwhile, is bargain central: open seven days a week, with over 80 stores, you can receive up to 50% off famous brands. Shoppers can stop off at the Manchester Arndale, where they will find high street names such as Next and BHS and even the Arndale market. Manchester’s other passion is football, but its up to you to decide which team to support. Before you decide, why not take your group to enjoy the Manchester City Experience or the Manchester United Museum and Stadium Tour. Come on you Reds……….or Blues! The Lowry, at Salford Quays, is a spectacular home to the arts and entertainment with a wealth of activity under one roof! Inside this magnificent building you will find two stunning theatres, The Lyric (the largest stage in England outside London) and the more intimate Quays, offering a variety of performance from ballet, drama, opera, comedy music and family entertainment. The Lowry Galleries showcase changing exhibitions by one of Britain's best loved artists, LS Lowry, as well as paintings, sculpture and photography by artists of local, national and international renown. With cafe's, a restaurant and gift shops all set against spectacular waterside views, there is something for everyone at The Lowry.
Early History of Manchester: The city of Manchester is located 190 miles north west of the English capital, London. The city lies some 30 miles in land but, when this location became a serious impediment to trade, a canal capable of accommodating ocean-going ships was constructed. The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894 and for much of the 20th Century Manchester was an important "sea-port". There have, (arguably) been 2 Manchesters. The first, the Roman fort at Castlefield, and the second, around the Cathedral, which formed the medieval town of Manchester. By the time of the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066, the region was clearly Anglo-Saxon, and their name for the town was "Mameceaster". (It was not to be until the 17th century that the name "Manchester" would come into popular usage). In early times, Manchester was a little-known hamlet adjacent to, and belonging to the then noble town of Salford. After the Roman withdrawal from the fort at Mamuciam (Latin = "a breast-shaped hill") around 410 AD, the town (and the fort) fell into ruin and was prey to various invading factions from abroad - notably the Angles and the Danes and the Saxons, all of whom occupied the region at various times, and over a long period became assimilated into the local population. "Mamuciam" in Latin means "a breast-shaped hill" - Agricola's description of the place where he built the original fort overlooking the River Irwell, somewhere around present day Camp Street (now in Salford). There is a brief historic reference in the town records of one Edward the Elder, son of King Alfred the Great, taking over the town in 920 AD and making repairs to the "fortifications", (probably based around the present cathedral), which would still have been little more than a wooden palisade. In gratitude for the support which Norman barons had given in the conquest of Britain, King William (the Conqueror) granted generous rewards of lands and holdings to them. Salford was thus granted to one Rogier de Poitevin (also known as Roger de Pitou), which included several feifdoms, the Manor of Manchester amongst them. Later, de Poitevin granted this manor, in turn, to one of his own supporters, Albert de Greslé (also known as Albert Grelley). Grelley was to become the first Baron of Manchester, and the Grelley family held the manor for the next 200 years. In 1086 there is a brief mention of Manchester in William's great commissioned Domesday Book, by which time it was a recognised ecclesiastical centre with a parish covering over 60 square miles. The town had, in 1222, been granted an annual fair, which was held on Acresfield, just outside the town, (now St Ann's Square), and lasted 2 days; this was extended to 3 days in 1227. By this time the town had its own court. There was also a weekly Saturday market held in Market Square, just off Market Street, sited roughly where Shambles Square stood. (This square was demolished in the IRA bombing of Manchester in 1996, and was located to the rear of the Marks & Spencer Department Store which has been rebuilt after that bombing).By 1322 there is scant record of a fulling mill, showing the early beginnings of textile manufacture in Manchester. This mill was located somewhere alongside the Cathedral, and the alleyway known as "Hanging Ditch" still marks the course of the River Irk where it enters the Irwell, where textiles were hung to drain and drip dry after fulling. The Grelley manor, (now Chetham's School of Music), was fortified on three sides as it overlooked the River Irk on one side, a tributary ditch on another side and the River Irwell on another - it was therefore a superb defensive position, standing high on a sandstone bluff with effective natural defences. Subbsequently, the River Irk was culvetted below ground under what is now Walkers Croft and Hanging Ditch. Beside the cathedral one can still see the remains of "Hanging Bridge" where the medieval bridge crossed Hanging Ditch. A wooden bridge crossed the Irwell in front of the Manor, and was replaced by a stone three-arch bridge in the 14th century, on the site of where Victoria Bridge (built in 1839) now stands. Manchester became a Baronial Borough (thereby an independent self-governing entity) in 1301, still ruled by the Lord of the Manor, but with an appointed "boroughreeve" (or Mayor) who handled day-to-day administration of the borough. Manchester was to change very little thereafter until the 16th century.
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