The Manchester Man Archives - notquitelight.com

15 Jun 2016

FROM TRINITY TO THE CRESCENT

FROM APRIL 13TH 2016 ‘From Trinity To The Crescent’ is the second Not Quite Light Project. It will explore the area around the River Irwell, which is used as the physical border between the cities of Manchester and Salford. This will take me from just below Strangeways along Chapel Street and Deansgate, and as far as the Crescent, as the A6 heads away from the city centre. The history between Salford and Manchester is fascinating, and illustrates my view that […]

18 Apr 2016

CATHEDRAL APPROACH 5.52AM

CATHEDRAL APPROACH, 5.52AM When I opened my front door on this morning I actually flinched. I wasn’t expecting a thick mist, and the pool of light, spread by the fog around the street lamps, made the familiar jar my expectations, as if I’d entered the wrong world. In many ways I couldn’t have wished for better weather to start this new version of Not Quite Light. The work will take me across the Irwell into the cities of Manchester and […]

28 Jan 2016

DUCIE STREET 7.18AM

DUCIE STREET 7.18AM This was a morning when nothing much happened. The rain fell in great globules before declaring its ceasefire on the streets for rush hour. The need to keep the camera dry had helped me find a cubby hole on Ducie Street, a hidden entrance to a new building above the old canal. Beneath the bridge there was an opened sleeping bag and some cans, evidence that someone had been sleeping on the towpath. They were gone now […]

FROM OLD MILL TO THE END OF EMPIRE 0

08 Jan 2016

ANGEL MEADOW, IRK TOWN 7.29AM

ANGEL MEADOW, IRK TOWN 7.29AM It’s been nearly a year since I started this incarnation of Not Quite Light. I was led to the idea by walking the unfamiliar streets around Irk Town, thinking of the lives buried under the turf of Angel Meadow which rests under the constant heat lamp glow of the CIS building. I’ve grown 12 months older now. Exploring my city in detail has brought me knew knowledge and a love and understanding of Manchester’s history […]

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05 Jan 2016

OLDHAM STREET 7.35AM

OLDHAM STREET 7.35AM The previous night I’d begun to read The Manchester Man, written by Mrs Linnaeus Banks and published in 1876. It details the life of Jabez Clegg, who was rescued in his cradle from the flooding River Irk, and adopted by the kind and hard working Simon Clegg, and Bess, his saintly daughter. This act of absolute altruism is set against the conditions of work and life that Mancunians had to exist in during the early 19th Century. […]

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