With a proud history of industry and creativity, Manchester is one of
the world's greatest cities. In 2015 it was designated 'The Northern
Powerhouse' but, of course, being the home of the Industrial Revolution,
it always was. Manchester gave the world technological innovation as
well as manufacturing strength. By the second half of the nineteenth
century Manchester was home to more than 100 mills and well over 1,000
warehouses. It was in Manchester that Whitworth devised a standard for
screw threads in 1841. Here John Dalton developed modern atomic theory,
Rutherford split the atom and Alan Turing and colleagues developed the
world's first computer. It also has a great cultural heritage, from the
Halle Orchestra, founded in 1858, to the first regional repertory
theatre set up by Annie Horniman in 1908. 'Madchester' was at the centre
of the UK music scene in the '80s. 2015 saw the opening of HOME - a
major new £25 million arts centre. The skyline of Manchester is again
being transformed. The Victorian men of Manchester would be surprised to
see the vast modern buildings that now sit side by side with the old.
Here we tell Manchester's story from Roman Britain through to the
twenty-first century.
