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==History== {{main|History of Manchester}} [[Historic counties of England|Historically]] part of [[Lancashire]], Moss Side was a rural [[Township (England)|township]] and [[chapelry]] within the parish of [[Manchester (ancient parish)|Manchester]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/1251|title=History of Moss Side, in Manchester and Lancashire|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=7 November 2024}}</ref> and hundred of [[Salford (hundred)|Salford]]. Thought to be named after a great [[Raised bog|moss]] which stretched from Rusholme to [[Chorlton-cum-Hardy]], the earliest mention of the area is in 1533 when it contained part of the estates of [[Trafford]].<ref name="1904gdnart">{{cite news|date=11 November 1904|title=Pepperhill Farm|last=W.E.E.A.|work=[[Manchester Guardian]]}}</ref> Moss Side is described in the opening chapter of [[Elizabeth Gaskell]]'s ''[[Mary Barton]]'' as a rural idyll with a 'deep clear pool' and an old black and white timber-framed farmhouse, later identified as Pepperhill Farm.<ref name="1904gdnart"/> Following the [[Industrial Revolution]] there was a process of unplanned urbanisation and a rapid increase in population size. In 1866 Moss Side became a separate [[civil parish]], from 1894 to 1904 Moss Side was an [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban district]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10109140|title=Relationships and changes Moss Side UD through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=7 November 2024}}</ref> on 1 October 1910 the parish was abolished and merged with [[South Manchester]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10373463|title=Relationships and changes Moss Side CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=7 November 2024}}</ref> The population in 1801 was 151 but by 1901 he parish population had increased to 26,677.<ref name="1904gdnart"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10373463/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Moss Side CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=7 November 2024}}</ref> The industrial growth of the area resulted in a densely populated area, so much so, that a part of the township of Moss Side was amalgamated into the expanding city of Manchester in 1885, with the rest joining in 1904.<ref name="GM Gazetteer">{{Cite journal |url=http://www.gmcro.co.uk/Guides/Gazeteer/gazzm2n.htm |title=Moss Side |publisher=Greater Manchester County Record Office |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211203737/http://www.gmcro.co.uk/Guides/Gazeteer/gazzm2n.htm |archive-date=11 February 2011}}</ref> Mass development in Moss Side occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when large numbers of red brick terraced houses were built, and soon attracted numerous Irish immigrants and other working people. [[Manchester City F.C.]] moved to a new stadium on Maine Road on 25 August 1923, having moved from [[Hyde Road Football Stadium|Hyde Road]], [[Ardwick]]; on its opening it was one of the most capacious sports stadiums in the United Kingdom, capable of holding up to 85,000 spectators. The club would play there for the next 80 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://maineroadartworks.co.uk/history |title=Maine Road Site History |publisher=Maine Road Art Programme |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> [[File:Bell tower of former Greenheys School in Moss Side, Manchester.jpg|thumb|155px|right|Bell tower of former Greenheys School in Moss Side]] During the [[Manchester Blitz]] in the [[Second World War]] many of the terraced houses were damaged by German bombing on the night of 22/23 December 1940. Migrants from the [[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Caribbean]] settled in the locality during the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1980s Moss Side was the hub of Manchester's [[British African-Caribbean community|Afro-Caribbean community]].<ref name="surprises">{{cite news|date=11 September 2006|title=Killing surprises few in Moss Side|first=Nick|last=Ravenscroft|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5334510.stm|work=BBC News}}</ref> During the 1960s and early 1970s, Manchester City Council demolished many of the [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] and terraced houses to the west of Moss Side and replaced these with new council houses and flats. Most of the newer properties, built around the turn of the 20th century, were refurbished instead of demolished during the final two decades of the century. In 1981, the Moss Side area was one of England's [[inner city]] areas affected by [[1981 England riots|a series of riots]]. Analysts trace the 1970s origins of Manchester's gang crime to social deprivation in the south-central part of the city β [[Hulme]], [[Longsight]] and Moss Side β where the activity of the [[Black market|underground economy]] encouraged a trade in illegal narcotics and firearms contributing to Manchester's later nickname of "Gunchester".<ref name="gches">{{cite news|date=15 September 2006|title=North West: Trying to banish 'Gunchester'|first=Tom|last=Randell|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/5335114.stm|work=BBC News}}</ref> "Turf wars" between rival drugs 'gangs', resulted in a high number of fatal shootings.<ref name="surprises"/> During what has been termed the [[Madchester]] phase of the [[history of Manchester]], narcotic trade in the city became "extremely lucrative" and in the early 1990s a gang war started between two groups vying for control of the market in [[Manchester city centre]] β the '[[Cheetham Hill Gang]]' and '[[The Gooch Close Gang]]', in [[Cheetham Hill]] and Moss Side, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/have_your_say/2003/01/06/gangs.shtml|title=A street guide to gangs in Manchester|publisher=BBC Manchester|date=6 January 2003}}</ref> There were several high-profile shootings associated with gangs and drugs in this area during the 1990s and into the 21st century.<ref name="gches"/><ref name="menggs">{{cite news|date=7 April 2009|title=Gooch Gang Smashed|first=Chris|last=Osuh|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1107017_gooch_gang_smashed|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]}}</ref> Aided by the work of Xcalibre, the [[Greater Manchester Police]]'s task force, founded in 2004, and the multiagency Integrated Gang Management Unit, gang related shootings in the area have fallen by about 90% in recent years.<ref name="bbcfundboost">{{cite news|date=4 June 2008|title=Funding boost for gun crime unit|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7435191.stm|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="menuscops">{{cite news|date=16 August 2011|title='US police could learn how to tackle gang crime from us', claims senior GMP officer|url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1455776_us-police-could-learn-how-to-tackle-gang-crime-from-us-claims-senior-gmp-officer|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]}}</ref><ref name="mengrsd">{{cite news|date=2 March 2012|title=Gangsters squeezed out of Moss Side and Hulme move into Wythenshawe to recruit drug dealers|first=Steve|last=Robson|url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1487192_gangsters-squeezed-out-of-moss-side-and-hulme-move-into-wythenshawe-to-recruit-drug-dealers|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]}}</ref> Many of the flats in neighbouring [[Hulme]] were demolished in the early 1990s to make way for new low rise homes. Housing on the Alexandra Park Estate in the west of Moss Side has been renovated and the streets redesigned to reduce the [[fear of crime]].<ref name="smrt2007p35">"Moss Side and Rusholme District Centre Local Plan". Manchester City Council. 2007. p. 35.</ref>
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