The Manchester area was settled in Roman times: General Agricola called a fort he set up there Mamucium, meaning "breast shaped hill". A facsimile of a Roman fort exists in Castlefield.

In the 14th Century Manchester became home to a community of Flemish weavers, who settled in the town to produce wool and linen, thus beginning the tradition of cloth manufacture.

Manchester remained a small market town until the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the 18th century. Its damp climate made it and the surrounding area ideal for cotton processing, and, with the development of steam-powered engines for spinning and weaving, the cotton industry quickly developed throughout the region (eg Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire). Manchester quickly grew into the most important industrial centre in the world. Trafford Park, south west of Manchester, became the first industrial estate in the world, feeding Manchester's industrial growth, and is still the biggest in Europe. Trafford Park contains, among others, the Kellogg Company Europe, Rolls Royce, Manchester United Football Club and the Trafford Centre. Trafford Park was also the first place outside North America that the Ford Motor Company produced the Model T car, in 1911. The Midland Hotel in Manchester, originally built by the Midland Railway company, which owned the adjacent Central Station (now the G-Mex) to attract businessmen to the area, was the building in which Rolls met Royce in 1904, leading to the incorporation of Rolls Royce. The Midland Hotel was also coveted by Hitler as a possible Nazi headquarters in Britain. Manchester's population exploded as people moved away from the surrounding countryside and into the city seeking new opportunities. Its growth was also aided by its proximity to Liverpool's ports and the emerging canal and rail networks. Manchester became the world's first industrial city, and the model for industrial development throughout the western world.

Since the regeneration after the 1996 IRA attack and leading up to the extremely successful XVII Commonwealth Games Manchester has changed significantly. Old 1960's focal points in the city centre were torn down in favour of a new more modern upmarket look. Now Manchester boasts million pound lofthouse apartments and a brand new business upper class that is going from strength to strength.

This page was last updated: 08 Juli 2006

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL