Author Topic: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.  (Read 12725 times)

Christopher

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Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« on: 16:53:46, 13/11/06 »
Many Irish people were treated very badly by the English in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Indeed this situation lasted well into the twentieth century. In the 1700s and 1800s wealthy absentee British landlords employed land agents, many of whom treated the peasants on the estates of their masters in a manner worse than they would treat their livestock. There were evictions and once the tenant was out of the little property in which they had lived it was destroyed by fire so that no one else could live there. Following the Potato Famine in the mid 1800s the wealthier Irish emigrated to America and the poorer ones headed to Britain. Once again they met many greedy employers and landlords. Their wages were very low so they could hardly afford to eat never mind afford a good place in which to live. They had to do dangerous, degrading work and the hours were long. Engels described Ancoats in his 1845 'Condition of the Working Class In England' as "the most disgusting spot of all!".

The situation was not much better until well into the middle of the 20th century. Thousands of young Irishmen and women left home to seek work in Britain so that they could find a job and earn enough to send some money back to those they'd left behind in Ireland which was still a poor country with not a lot of opportunity to find a good job. The employers were delighted to see the Irish. They gave them jobs as most of them had a reputation for working hard and they were needed to help in the building and construction industry. However the Irish met certain problems when seeking accommodation. Many places offering rooms to let had a sign in a downstairs front window saying "NO IRISH." 

julie

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #1 on: 09:16:52, 30/03/13 »
yes but things have changed now haven't they
fate keeps on happening

Adsum

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #2 on: 09:48:23, 30/03/13 »
I recently sold my collection of books on the History of Manchester. In some of them there were many documented cases of the abject poverty and squalour those early Irish settlers lived in Many of the worst living conditions could be found in the innapropriately named Angel Meadow, just off Red Bank. In many cases the poor wretches were exploited by their own countrymen, Gangmasters who bribed officials in charge of the construction work going on in Manchester at that time. They would promise them work and homes here in England, then put them into slum dwellings and deduct their food, boat fare and rent from their wages, plus a percentage "Job finders fee"if they were lucky enough to have found work.
We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

julie

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #3 on: 14:03:26, 30/03/13 »
slum landlords. I too had some old books that have dissapeared over the years but there was one Mancunian author I loved he was knowledgable and very interesting I cannot for the life of me recall his name.
 
JB Priestley could write well on the north however his history was mostley about Yorkshire
fate keeps on happening

Adnil11

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #4 on: 06:50:01, 13/06/13 »
I've recently done my family tree and my great granddad came over from Ireland with his parents and lived on Love Lane Ancoats in the 1871 census.  I've tried to find Love Lane online but can't seem to find anything about it?  The moved to Oldham Road 10 years later in Newton Heath, both my great granddad and great great granddad were Coopers, barrel makers I'm wonder what work there would have been for them in Anoats and wonder if the moved to Oldham Road to work at Wilsons?


It's sad to hear about the living conditions in Ancoats, we have just visited Tulla the tiny village near Kilkenny which they came from, it's so beautiful and green I imagine coming to industrial Manchester would have been a huge shock for them.


I'd love to carry on my research and find out more about what life was like in Manchester at this time

celeste

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #5 on: 07:41:34, 13/06/13 »
I always heard Ancoats referred to as 'Little Italy' :-\
All that's necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

Adsum

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #6 on: 07:47:52, 13/06/13 »
I found this photograph of Love Lane in the Manchester archives Local image collection. It states that "The space opposite Love Lane is looking towards Pollard St". So it's fairly safe to assume that it was close to the Pollard St. side of Ancoats.
 
 
Click on the link below to view the 2 photographs of Love Lane. 
 
 
Type in any old Manchester address below and the chances are that there will be a photo of your street in the archives.  :)
 

 
Manchester Local Image Collection
 
« Last Edit: 07:53:37, 13/06/13 by Adsum »
We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Adnil11

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #7 on: 08:04:28, 13/06/13 »
Thank you the picture is great now I've got an idea of which bit of Ancoats they lived in.  I'm off to the library today to do some more research  O0

daisynook

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #8 on: 13:35:12, 15/06/13 »
I too had an Irish g-grandmother who came to Manchester mid 1800s.  I believe she was also in slum housing in Baxter Street, Hulme, the address on the marriage certificate when she married in 1873.  I've tried for sometime without any success to find when she came to England from Queens Co and who with.  I will carry on hoping. :(

Adnil11

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #9 on: 13:57:22, 15/06/13 »
I've struggled as well to find my relatives on passenger lists, I watched a program once which said due to the large numbers who emigrated they didn't always keep passenger lists.  My brother in law found his great grandma through Ells Island when she went to New York aged 17.  It doesn't that we kept the same log of people coming into England.


I've found a lot of Irish info on roots Ireland



migky

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #10 on: 09:18:33, 16/06/13 »
Here is love lane.


Migky  ;)


I'm a bit like Marmite

migky

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #11 on: 09:26:44, 16/06/13 »

Click for large versionof Love land from Pollard street


Click for large version of Love lane  looking north

As Ireland was part of the UK at the time your talking about, there was no record of transportation/immigration records. So there would be no records of who came to England from Ireland then.

Migky ;)
I'm a bit like Marmite

Ann Jacobs

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #12 on: 19:05:02, 08/11/19 »
My family lived at number 12 love lane ,facing flag alley and Star Hall .I also have a picture dated around 1911 12 of all the people who lived there,it was taken on Love Lane Ann Jacobs.

zuludog

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #13 on: 16:51:23, 10/11/19 »
Martin Zero does a lot of urban exploring around Manchester, of things like old buildings, railways, canals, etc. He has done several videos exploring the River Medlock, and identifies Little Ireland as the area to the south of Oxford Road Station and The Salisbury pub, around Cambridge Street
There is a Red Plaque for Little Ireland on Great Marlborough Street

Search YouTube for  'Martin Zero Medlock IX'.

I used to live in Beswick during the 1960s & 70s.
My Dad worked for Manchester Corporation Direct Works Department. His depot was on Pollard Street, Ancoats
« Last Edit: 17:21:12, 10/11/19 by zuludog »

Rubygeorge

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Re: Ancoats ... Little Ireland.
« Reply #14 on: 09:41:04, 03/05/21 »
Hi. I have just found out I am half Irish, I have done Ancestry DNA and discovered a half sister. Neither of us have met out father.  I have a name. A year and month he would of known my mother. He did live in Ancoats at the time. Is this forum ok to add my information?
Thank you.