Bricks & Water Heritage Tours - Alexatours

02/08/2024

It has been a successful academic year at the Guild with lots of new faces, new activities and many achievements.  Most recently we have hosted the Wilmslow Festival of Writing, a celebration of our students’ work and the work of children at local primary schools.  This year we have also enjoyed...

02/08/2024

Interesting info
Worsley Green fountain 1905 is a memorial to the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater. However did you know that originally it was part of a chimney stack serving a forge within the main factory buildings which stood on the banks of the Bridgewater Canal.

On the base of it is a lengthy inscription in Latin, which has been translated as follows:
"A lofty column breathing smoke and fire,
Did I the Builder’s glory once aspire,
Whose founder was that Duke who far and wide
Bridged water through Bridgewater’s countryside.
Stranger! This spot, where once did never cease
Great Vulcan’s year, would sleep in silent peace,
But beneath my very stones does mount
That water’s source, his honour’s spring and fount.
Alas! That I who gazed o’er field and town,
Should to these proportions dwindle down.
But all’s not over, still enough remains
To testify past glories, duties, pain"

Bridgewater Canal Guided Tours

30/05/2024

A quiz, I love a quiz
https://www.st-marks-graveyard.org/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2I6HIQ4skdjt4nF3eJU3zLm0-F037sexQq1nsGkE82YEdOuQEprUrKlow_aem_AbhF4CMMZYjC0_B0-awR6e1e2MPLLCkgp12yRZwaKXRtCcSSE47W3huHKLVSXCBAnXRvIMKUYyzoTdgCgoeYY8Py

13/05/2024

20/03/2024

Spring Solstice earlier this morning! Love this image
Neolithic Dawn by

20/12/2023

Manchester's public transport could have looked very different if the Picc-Vic Tunnel was approved in the 1970s

19/12/2023

Fabulous let's see which NW restaurants get a * 👏

⭐️ In a historic first, the prestigious Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland Awards 2024 selection ceremony will be hosted at The Midland Hotel, Manchester

https://ilovemanchester.com/michelin-guide-2024-manchester-midland-culinary-celebration

18/12/2023

Just sharing this

⭐️ Manchester secures its spot among top UK destinations in Time Out's must visit list.

Manchester has had an incredible year, with the opening of Factory International, Chanel hosting their métiers d’art show in the Northern Quarter, and the MICHELIN guide announcing they will be hosting their naming ceremony at the Midland Hotel too.

We can’t wait to see what exciting things 2024 will bring to the city 🐝

📸

18/12/2023

Stuck for last minute gifts. Check the Central Library Shop Manchester Libraries 🐝

Visit Manchester

18/12/2023

Wishing all my followers a very merry Christmas and a fabulous 2024
See the bee 🐝 🎄🎉🔔🎅🪇🫎🎵

12/11/2023

We Will Remember Them, Always...

2023

23/09/2023

What a great day touring all things
Manchester Cathedral Chetham's Library Visit Manchester
Lovely to take 2 great groups around our
The Shambles was a highlight
But what does Shambles mean?

In Old English, shamble was extended from 'stool' to a 'table' or 'counter' where goods were sold. By the 1300s, shambles signified a table or stall where meat, specifically, was sold; later a meat market more generally.

17/07/2023

Great courses at The Guild for Lifelong Learning
Now with a discount -but book before 31 July

⭐ Don't miss out

⭐ Book online before 31 July to receive this offer

Book Now
guildlifelonglearning.org

The office re opens 4 September

17/07/2023

Fabulous building by Emanuel Vincent Harris OBE RA (1876 –1971), often known as E. Vincent Harris; an architect who designed several important public buildings in traditional styles inc the town hall extension next door...

📚🎂 Manchester Central Library opened 89 years ago today!

The iconic building was officially opened by King George V on July 17th 1934

25/06/2023

Fabulous...

17/05/2023

Interested in or and
Then you might want to tune in to a conversation & on the topic

Tune into twitter at 19h00 (7pm GMT) tomorrow 18/05

'See' you then.

20/04/2023

1872 Maharajah the elephant reached Manchester. He had walked with keeper, Lorenzo, from Edinburgh to Belle Vue Zoo.
His skeleton is .

Why do museums have what they have? And what is Manchester’s link with an elephant called Maharajah, some Egyptian mummies and three Zulu spears? The Manchester Museum is hoping to reveal their hidden stories.

09/03/2023

Enjoying the treasures of this corridor exhibition at the birthplace of the today at .

Cultural heritage is known to enhance health and wellbeing.
Here in the North-west we are fortunate to have some to the most beautiful and dramatic landscapes as well as the most handsome architecture too.

Cumbrian fell 405m. Alfred Wainwright wrote of Helm Crag that "The virtues of Helm Crag have not been lauded enough. It gives an exhilarating little climb, a brief essay in real mountaineering, and, in a region where all is beautiful, it makes a notable contribution to the natural charms and attractions of Grasmere."

Stepping stones are a C20th art installation that follows the line of the medieval defensive ditch around Manchester Castle -

The beauty of the natural and built landscape, language, expression, history, science, art, literature and music of the NW are indeed treasures that connect people

17/02/2023

The oldest surviving buildings, constructed by artisan builders using local materials and local building techniques, are known as vernacular architecture. This type of architecture can be described as buildings which are typical for an area or a region.

By the end of the C19 there was considerable improvement in transport and communications as well as changing building techniques and fashionable design ideas. This led to less regional variation in new buildings and what is known as 'polite' architecture.

Here is an image of the oldest surviving building in Manchester dated 1421 - Chetham's Baronial Hall and Library.

Whilst this is typically vernacular as it was built
using traditional construction methods using local red sandstone, it is a mix as there is an influence of ecclesiastical design as it was a collegiate building for the training of priests for the next door St Mary's Church (now Cathedral). There are cloister features and perpendicular windows typical of medieval church buildings but there is a great hall with solar and screen and mullion windows typical of domestic buildings

It is a fascinating building especially as it houses the oldest library in the English-speaking
world. Daily in-house tours by the library staff
are available Monday - Friday
See Chethams.org.uk

12/11/2022

The Ordsall Chord forms part of Network Rail’s £4bn Great North Rail project to improve railway connectivity across Northern England. The iconic new bridge is located at the birthplace of modern intercity railways, where in 1830 George Stephenson unveiled the Liverpool–Manchester railway.
Achieving permission to undertake this phenomenal construction was not straight forward. A legal challenge arguing there was an alternative less harmful route was rejected.

"This is the Stonehenge of railway history. This is not just a place that has potential to hold more than national significance in relation to railway history this is the place where the modern world began."

This is because Manchester's main city centre stations were not connected to each other directly by railway lines and the existing railway lines were running at full capacity during peak times. To construct the link was considered an overriding public benefit.

The Ordsall Chord was proposed to connect the stations to help reduce congestion and open up new routes for passengers.

Creating these connections sounds simple on paper – installing 540m of track near Ordsall Lane to the south west of the city. But in reality, building the Ordsall Chord required realigning existing track, building new bridges and viaducts, removing redundant structures and restoring others – all while working near a live railway, roads and a river, heritage structures, local businesses and the public.BDP’s architectural vision took the form of a weathering steel ribbon, which visually linked the two separate structures of the River Irwell Network Arch Bridge and Trinity Way Viaduct.

The objective was to ensure that BDP’s vision was successfully implemented given the complex structural forms and 3D curvature which it encompassed.

One of the most critical design elements was the connection between the River Irwell Network Arch and Trinity Way Viaduct. These two structures had different structural forms, different cross-sections and different alignments.

The challenge was to link these two distinct elements physically, visually, and conceptually, with two 40-tonne steel structures which were nicknamed the ‘cascades’.

While the initial concept and the two-dimensional graphic of BDP’s ribbon was clear, simple and fluid, the reality was a very complex arrangement of steelwork indeed. To successfully translate the concept into reality, detailed parametric modelling and intricate development between all parties involved was required.

The 20m long, 3m high cascades serve two primary objectives - firstly, to blend the lines of the viaduct and the arch to create a smooth, continuous and three dimensionally tangential progression from one to the other; secondly, to blend the different structural forms of the viaduct’s open I beams with the closed box of the arch.

Connecting the two bridges which form the Ordsall Chord is a transition piece linking the 2.2m deep girder of the network arch bridge and 2.8m deep girders of the Trinity Way Bridge. Hexagonal in cross-section and with a complex geometry, this element was analysed and modelled in 3D to aid design, fabrication and er****on.

The new viaduct’s landmark structure, the River Irwell Crossing, is the first network arch bridge in the UK and the first asymmetric network arch bridge in the world.

https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/full/10.1680/jenhh.19.00009

04/11/2022

The award winning tower of light development by Tonkin Liu was constructed throughout lockdown. It was a pleasant surprise to see it whilst travelling in and our of on the tram. It is an energy saving installation whilst being a thing of beauty and public art.
More info ⬇️
https://tonkinliu.co.uk/tower-of-light

03/11/2022

2005 Tony Blair switched on the largest photovoltaic solar tech on the tallest building tower see
Twitter
📷 MEN
https://themanc.com/news/manchesters-landmark-first-skyscraper-is-up-for-sale/

01/11/2022

The Trafford Centre was opened 24 years ago on 10 September 1998. Designed by architects
Chapman Taylor & Leach Rhodes Walker,
the development was not plain sailing.
Owned by the Manchester Ship Canal Company until 1986, the company was acquired by John Whittaker of Peel Holdings, who had plans to build an out-of-town shopping centre.

The planning process was one of the longest and most expensive in the history of the UK but concerns were raised on the potential effect that the shopping centre would have on retailers in smaller towns and villages in Greater Manchester as well as potential traffic problems caused by its proximity to the M60 motorway. The application dated back to around 1986 but it wasnt until 1996 that the House of Lords finally gave it permission. It was one of the longest durations and most expensive determinations of a planning application in UK history.

Based on the architecture of the classical history eg the Vatican, what do you think of it?

01/11/2022

Something for my UoR students
Red - projects proposed but no PP sought - pre-app stage only
Orange - PP pending
Yellow - completed in last 2 years
Green - under construction
Blue - planning approved to groundworks started
Follow me on twitter or
Insta

26/10/2022

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=422790960025379&id=100068834365820&sfnsn=scwspmo

Well, this is a bit exciting!

We started installing Glow in the garden yesterday, ready for our grand opening on November 16. The first features to go up are the giant colour changing stars...this is the biggest one 🌟 (Event Manager for scale😄)

We can't wait to see them lit up. They'll be interactive too, just push the button to change the colour ✨

Book your tickets today here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/bridgewater/whats-on/bridgewater-glow

08/10/2022

Manchester has been named one of the best cities in the UK, by readers of Condé Nast Traveller 🐝

27/09/2022

On this day in history 250 years ago James Brindley died 1772. (b1716 – 27 September 1772).
He was an English engineer becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. He designed many canals including the Bridgewater Canal with and in .

You can see his statue on the canal opposite along with the other two. Together they are known as the
Without the Bridgewater Canal would Manchester and Salford and the World be the same? A good Question...

See this painting at Salford Museum and Art Gallery...

09/09/2022

I was saddened to hear that Queen
Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, died yesterday at Balmoral. It has affected me with a deep grief for someone that I had never met but that has always been part of my British identity.

The Queen was a constant symbol of stability as our countries changed with the times.

Even those who feel that the institution of monarchy is out-of-date had a great deal of affection for the Queen.

She was a constant symbol of stability in a country changing beyond recognition from the wealth of empire, to the demise of industry and the C21st world of the internet and globalisation.

As a young princess she helped to heal the wounds of World War II and her 70 years on the throne, stretching from the conquest of Everest to the defeat of a global pandemic, was a remarkable achievement.

From the splendour of her coronation to the sight of a frail, smiling Queen welcoming her 15th Prime Minister, she showed extraordinary resilience.

Even to the end, the Queen roused herself for the service of her country, performing her constitutional role with a steady assurance of continuity. It was a poignant and symbolic reminder of her ­devotion to duty.

Her famous Corgi dogs and her horses became emblematic of her love for the outdoors and the British countryside. shows us this, that despite serving her countries, realms and the commonwealth (us) with dignity, honour and compassion, she was a wife with a family and pets as well.

31/07/2022

The made 2:1 ⚽️
...
Lionesses

Detectorists uncover 12th century horse harness pendant with England’s heraldic emblem