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Tag : Ancoats

04 Jun 2015

OLD MILL STREET, ANCOATS 4.16AM

OLD MILL STREET, NEW ISLINGTON, ANCOATS 4.16AM – I’ve recently returned from North Carolina where people were astonished to hear, over an honest glass of Moonshine, that Manchester’s economic fortunes were so badly affected by the American Civil war. I told them about the statue of Abraham Lincoln, and the principled boycott of southern cotton that led to real hardship in the city. I also met a man who’d been part of the team that developed GPS mapping, who now […]

15 May 2015

ANCOATS AT DAWN -AUDIO

    The sounds of Ancoats at dawn, as recorded on my iPhone… Car alarm, birdsong and footsteps.

15 May 2015

OLD MILL STREET, ANCOATS 4.27AM

OLD MILL STREET, 4.27AM – Old Mill Street, where the Ancoats Dispensary still exists, is at one edge of my project, the other being Strangeways. From redemption to restitution I suppose. This area, once the industrial core of Manchester, is now known as New Islington and was supposed to be the vanguard of urban development on this side of the city. And then the recession came. This particular morning the sky was clear, and the colours rich. It reminded me […]

31 Mar 2015

JERSEY STREET, MANCHESTER 6.20AM

JERSEY STREET, MANCHESTER 6.20AM I was at a friend’s house recently and Scooby Doo was on. I noticed that the drawings of the deserted buildings were often depicted in the half light, with deep blue skies and vivid foreground colours. The sets were remarkably claustrophobic for a show loved by children, with no hint that there was another world beyond the blocked shadows. The first 2 days after the onset of British Summer Time brought gales that caused an unearthly […]

08 Mar 2015

ROCHDALE CANAL, MANCHESTER 6.14AM

ROCHDALE CANAL, MANCHESTER 6.14AM The dawn breaks earlier now, and I have to be out by 5.30am, and no-one knows where I am at this time of day. Those close to me are still asleep and will assume that I’m safe, and probably at home. The streets are mostly free of people, and so I often make my way without witness. The clearing sky drew me south on this morning. Around Ancoats and the Piccadilly Basin the emptied land allows […]

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