Editing Ardwick (section)

==History==
Before the [[Industrial Revolution]], Ardwick was a small village just outside Manchester in open countryside. The principal residents were the Birch family, one of whom was a major general when [[Oliver Cromwell]] (briefly) instituted direct military rule.

One Samuel Birch was instrumental in providing a small [[chapel of ease]], dedicated to St. Thomas, and consecrated in 1741. This soon expanded into a Georgian church, to which a brick [[campanile]] was added in 1836.<ref name=lan-opc>{{cite web |url=https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Manchester/Ardwick/stthomas/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112232403/https://www.lan-opc.org.uk/Manchester/Ardwick/stthomas/index.html |archive-date=12 January 2018 |url-status=live |title=The Church of St Thomas, Ardwick |publisher=Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks}}</ref> It contained a very rare [[Samuel Green (organ builder)|Samuel Green]] organ, installed in 1787 or 1788, the first in which the sharp keys were distinguished in black. When the building ceased to be used as a church in 1978, the organ was rescued by an organ builder called George Sixsmith, and installed in St Paul's Church, [[Pendleton, Greater Manchester|Pendleton]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stthomascentre.org.uk/history-ardwick-and-st-thomas-centre |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220160518/https://www.stthomascentre.org.uk/history-ardwick-and-st-thomas-centre |archive-date=20 February 2020 |url-status=live |title=The History of Ardwick and St Thomas Centre |website=stthomascentre.org.uk}}</ref>{{sfn |Wickens |1987 |p=130}} There was also a memorial chapel to the dead of the [[First World War]], chiefly men of the local territorial unit.<ref name=lan-opc/> These have been removed, and the building has been used as offices for voluntary organisations. The structure is now [[Grade II Listed]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stthomascentre.org.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311014628/http://www.stthomascentre.org.uk/ |archive-date=11 March 2018 |url-status=live |title=St Thomas Centre |website=stthomascentre.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{NHLE |num=1197828 |desc=Former Church of St Thomas |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>

Grand terraces of [[Regency architecture|regency houses]] (some of which still survive) were built either side of the church, and these were fronted by [[Ardwick Green]], a private park for the residents, containing a pond. Similar housing developments to those around the Green took place along Higher Ardwick and the area known as the Polygon.

Early inhabitants included members of [[Robert Peel| Sir Robert Peel’s]] family. [[Charles Dickens]] drew many of his characters from life, and was a frequent visitor to Manchester. It is said that Dickens based the character of the crippled [[Tiny Tim (A Christmas Carol)|Tiny Tim]] in [[A Christmas Carol]] on the invalid son of a friend who owned a cotton mill in Ardwick.<ref>{{cite web |last=Peacock |first=Doug |title=Charles Dickens – writing from life |publisher=Cotton Times |url=http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/dickenso.html|access-date=5 May 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720200459/http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/dickenso.html|archive-date=20 July 2007}}</ref>

'''Ardwick Cemetery''' was established in 1838 as a prestigious place for fashionable burials. By the time the cemetery closed in 1950, around 80,000 people had been buried there. [[John Dalton]], the chemist and physicist best known for his advocacy of atomic theory, was amongst them. It was reported that some 100 coaches followed the funeral cortege to the cemetery on the day of his burial in 1844. Other notable interments, recorded on a plaque when the grounds were turned into a sports field in 1966, included [[Thomas Potter (mayor)|Sir Thomas Potter]], the first mayor of Manchester, who died in 1845, the Chartist [[Ernest Charles Jones]], who died in 1869, and Buglar Robert Hawthorne, of the 52nd Light Infantry, who was awarded the [[Victoria Cross]] in 1857. Following the closure, the granite top of Dalton's tomb was relocated to the John Dalton building of Manchester Metropolitan University, where it lies beside a statue of the man.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/ardwickcemetery.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012210409/https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/ardwickcemetery.html |archive-date=12 October 2017 |url-status=live |title=The Ardwick Cemetery |website=manchesterhistory.net |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>

The [[Listed building#Categories|Grade II*]] listed  [[Church of St Benedict, Ardwick|Church of St Benedict]] on Bennet Street was erected in 1880 by the noted [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival architect]] [[J. S. Crowther]]. Although no longer in use as a place of worship, it still stands today and its tall red brick tower is visible for miles around.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1207939|desc=Anglican Church of St Benedict|accessdate=5 October 2021}}</ref>

Ardwick once had its own football team, Ardwick AFC, but following a meeting at the Hyde Road Hotel in 1894, it became [[Manchester City F.C.]] The Hyde Road ground, close to the maze of railway tracks extending outwards from [[Manchester Piccadilly station]], was extended in a piecemeal fashion until it could hold crowds of 40,000, but the main stand was destroyed by a fire in 1923, and the club moved to a new stadium on Maine Road, [[Moss Side]].{{sfn |Fletcher |2013 |pp=43-44}}

===Industrial Revolution===
During the nineteenth century, Ardwick became heavily industrialised and it was characterised by factories, railways and rows of [[Back-to-back houses|back-to-back]] terraced houses being juxtaposed. Large numbers of [[Irish people|Irish]] immigrants settled here, as they did throughout Manchester. [[Ardwick railway station]] is at a junction where the [[Manchester and Birmingham Railway]], later the [[London and North Western Railway]] diverged from the line to [[Sheffield]] that became the [[Great Central Railway]]. [[Nicholls Hospital]], a neo-gothic building that was later a school, was constructed on [[A57 road|Hyde Road]] in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. More recently it has become the Nicholls Campus of [[the Manchester College]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aidan.co.uk/data_sheetManArdwkHydeRdNicholls3223.jpg.htm |title=Nicholls Hospital |last=O'Rourke |first=Adrian|access-date=27 September 2010}}</ref>

The railway bridge across Hyde Road was known by older residents as the "Fenian Arch".{{sfn |Fletcher |2013 |p=44}} On 18 September 1867 it was the scene of an attack upon a prison van carrying two [[Fenian]] prisoners to the former [[Belle Vue, Greater Manchester|Belle Vue]] gaol (jail). One police officer was shot dead. Three Irishmen involved in the affray were caught, tried and executed. <!-- use "executed" because two of the hangings were not successful; one was shot dead while the other took an hour to die -->The men are referred to by their supporters as the "[[Manchester Martyrs]]".{{sfn |Nicholls |2004 |p=58}}

Close to the bridge, which has been replaced by a modern concrete structure, is a family-run business called Hyde Road Wheels and Tyres. In 2005 they abandoned their premises in the railway arches, which had become run down, and completed the construction of a new glass-fronted building in November 2005. The project was an unexpected recipient of a "Built in Quality" award in February 2006. Twelve awards are given annually, and the garage was awarded the recognition, despite there being over 2,600 other construction projects in Manchester which were considered.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/top-building-award-goes-to-1021169 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221173612/https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/top-building-award-goes-to-1021169 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |url-status=live |title=Top building award goes to... a garage! |work=Manchester Evening News |date=21 February 2006}}</ref>

===20th Century===
[[File:Ardwick Empire postcard.jpg|thumb|The Ardwick Empire Theatre, 1904]]
In 1904, a new [[variety theatre]], the Ardwick Empire, opened on the corner of Hyde Road and Higher Ardwick overlooking Ardwick Green. It was an opulent building designed by the noted theatre architect [[Frank Matcham]] for [[Oswald Stoll]]. It became established as a centre of variety entertainment and billed performers such as [[Fred Karno]], [[Dan Leno]], [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[Buster Keaton]] and [[Harry Lauder]]. Occasional [[Bioscope show]]s proved popular, and in 1930 it became a cinema, but continued to present variety acts on its stage. Stoll also owned another theatre in Manchester, the Manchester Hippodrome on [[Oxford Street, Manchester|Oxford Street]]. When this was demolished in 1935 to make way for a new [[Gaumont Film Company|Gaumont cinema]], Stoll refurbished the Ardwick Empire and renamed it the New Manchester Hippodrome Theatre. Variety stars continued to appear on the stage, including [[Larry Adler]], [[Max Wall]] and [[Joe Loss]], and [[musical theatre]] shows such as ''[[The White Horse Inn (operetta)|The White Horse Inn ]]'' and ''[[The Student Prince]]'' were staged. After 57 of popular entertainment, the New Hippodrome closed in 1961. There was a plan to concert it into a bowling allay, but the building was destroyed by fire in 1964 and subsequently demolished. Today, the site of the former Ardwick Empire remains empty and is used as a car park.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Richard Anthony |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated History |date=31 May 2014 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-78383-118-0 |page=71 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New Manchester Hippodrome Theatre in Manchester, GB - Cinema Treasures |url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38081 |website=cinematreasures.org |access-date=12 October 2021 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017190603/http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/38081 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Ardwick Empire Theatre, Higher Ardwick and Hyde Road, Ardwick Green, Manchester |url=http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/ManchesterTheatres/ArdwickEmpireTheatreManchester.htm |website=www.arthurlloyd.co.uk |access-date=12 October 2021 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816072818/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/ManchesterTheatres/ArdwickEmpireTheatreManchester.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

<gallery caption="Historic architecture of Ardwick" mode="packed">
File:St Thomas Centre, Ardwick.jpg|The Italianate St Thomas's, Ardwick
File:St Benedict’s Church, Gorton.jpeg|The Gothic Revival St Benedict's Church
File:Fenton House, Ardwick.jpg|The Regency-style Fenton House on Higher Ardwick
File:Former Nicholls Hospital.jpg|Nicholls Hospital on Hyde Road
File:Manor Street, Ardwick.jpg|Regency houses on Manor Street
</gallery>