The remarkable history of Manchester's third busiest train station that's set to close for two years
It may only be the third busiest train station in Manchester city centre, but Oxford Road is by far the best looking. Like a mini Sydney Opera House made of wood with just a hint of your old nan's living room, the station is the chosen disembarking point in Manchester for out-of-town gig-goers like me.
But two years is a long time, and would the station retain its mid-century charm, which once had renowned architecture critic Nikolaus Pevsner describing it as "one of the most remarkable and unusual stations in the country"? It became known as 'Little Ireland' as it was inhabited by poor Irish immigrants drawn to the city as a centre of manufacturing, mining, warehouses, docklands, and railway building.
"The cottages are old, dirty, and of the smallest sort, the streets uneven, fallen into ruts and in part without drains or pavement; masses of refuse, offal and sickening filth lie among standing pools in all directions; the atmosphere is poisoned by the effluvia from these, and laden and darkened by the smoke of a dozen tall factory chimneys."
In the 1841 census, 'Little Ireland' had a population of only 1,510, concentrated in the small streets and courts off the main thoroughfares. By 1847, many of these streets were swept away for the construction of the Manchester and Altrincham railway line and Oxford Road railway station. Coinciding with the Manchester to London Euston line electrification, Oxford Road's old buildings were demolished, and the station rebuilt, opening on September 12, 1960. Its shell roofs and timber-structure design are so unique that Historic England granted it Grade II listed status in 1995.
Oxford Road Nostalgia Manchester City Centre M.E.N. Explore
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