This "county" covers the city of Manchester and towns around such as Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Wigan. Although there is some countryside - park of the Pennine chain - in the east, the county is predominately urban. Indeed, Manchester is the second most populous are in England. This was cotton country, the raw material being shipped in either through the docks at Liverpool or, probably more frequently, direct to Manchester via the 36-mile-long Manchester Ship Canal.
This week's picture is of Shambles Square, Manchester.
Lovely. Is there a reason it's known as "Shambles Square"?
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikiwotsit:
ReplyDelete""Shambles" was a name originally used for a street of butchers shops where meat was slaughtered and sold. It is derived from the Middle English word schamel, which meant a bench, as for displaying meat for sale. A shambles would have had blood, pieces of meat and offal running down the gutter, and although the original meaning of the word fell into disuse, it survived as a word meaning a scene of disorder. There are also streets known as "The Shambles" in other towns in the United Kingdom, such as York, Stroud, Worcester, Whitby, Sevenoaks, Chesterfield and Armagh."