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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Manchester Walks
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260528T113000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260528T131500
DTSTAMP:20260422T000348
CREATED:20250719T092817Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260413T132235Z
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SUMMARY:John Rylands Library...And More
DESCRIPTION:Next tour: Thursday 28 May 2026.\nMeet: Outside St Ann’s Church\, St Ann Street\, 11.30 a.m.\nBooking: Please press here to book with Eventbrite. \nThe John Rylands Library has been closed for nearly a year. Now it’s back – and with our tours! \n*** \nThe only way to truly understand the magic of what is the No. 1 Manchester Attraction on Trip Advisor is on our regular tour.   \nThis is more than a tour of one of the world’s greatest libraries. This is a trip through the industrial and religious history of Manchester linked with the 19th century’s most successful cotton merchant whose legacy survives in the magnificent library named after him. \nTours start with an introduction to the city’s cotton past (at the Royal Exchange) and John Rylands’ religious background (at St Ann’s Church) before we make our way to Deansgate. We then hear: \n* An outline of John Rylands Library’s Gothic architecture.\n* The story of John and Enriqueta Rylands.\n* How the Rylands company became the most successful Manchester cotton merchants of the 19th century.\n* An outline of the library’s riches.\n* Remarkable pictures of the library’s and the John Rylands firm’s history.\n* A look at the oldest piece of the New Testament ever found.\n* A close inspection of the exquisite Reading Room.\n* An explanation of the key statues\, particularly Francis Bacon\, who paved the way for the Industrial Revolution during which Manchester thrived\, and John Wycliffe and William Tyndale who led a revolution in religion. \n***** \nThe John Rylands Library is often described as “the Taj Mahal of the North-West”\, for it is a palace built out of love; a widow’s love for her late husband\, a family’s love of religious literature; a city’s love of Gothic architecture. The building looks like a mini-cathedral\, a religious icon\, a divine presence on Deansgate\, but it is one of the world’s greatest libraries\, for out of the bequest of John Rylands\, Manchester’s richest 19th century cotton magnate\, his widow Enriqueta created an unrivalled collection: Dickens’s novels in their original wrappers; a first edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets; the second largest collection of works by the pioneering printer William Caxton; the personal papers of John Wesley\, John Dalton and Elizabeth Gaskell; later complemented\, most remarkably of all\, by the 2nd Century St John Fragment – the oldest existing remnant of the New Testament. \nThe library was built during the 1890s and deliberately placed on Deansgate next to what was then a violent slum (but is now entirely commercialised) to show Manchester’s underclass that there was an alternative. For them and for all users it was and remains free\, a haven of man’s pursuit of intellectual brilliance in a harsh industrial climate. \nThe architect was Basil Champneys whose ecclesiastical touches were toned down by Enriqueta Rylands\, a non-conformist. Nevertheless it remains powerfully Gothic – the last Gothic revival building erected in Manchester\, which opened on 1 Jan 1900 and was the first Manchester building to be lit by electricity. It was recently restored at great cost with a new grand entrance constructed on the south side. \nHighlights of the tour include the St John Fragment and the reading room\, a grand galleried Gothic extravaganza filled with stained glass and statuary. The St John Fragment is just that – a fragment – found in Egypt at Oxyrhynchus (Behnesa)\, the ruined city where some of the most startling and successful excavations in the history of archaeology were carried out. It was donated to the library in 1920 but not identified until 1935 when the papyrus collections were catalogued. The Reading Room is awe-inspiring and overpowering\, but the statues come alive when their significance is explained\, for here are representations of some of the most formidable figures in British history – Newton\, Dalton\, Bacon – the links between religion and science\, unfashionable at the moment\, crucial to the development of civilisation. This is primarily a religious building\, a building devoted to religion rather than for worshipping God. Pride of place goes to those figures found here who made Britain the centre of Christian tolerance: John Wycliffe\, William Tyndale and John Rainolds. \nTours of the library start with an introduction to the city’s cotton past and John Rylands’ religious background outside St Ann’s Church.
URL:https://www.newmanchesterwalks.com/event/john-rylands-library-and-more/
LOCATION:Outside St Ann’s Church\, St Ann Street\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
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DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260529T110000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260529T124500
DTSTAMP:20260422T000349
CREATED:20260208T215252Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260421T142612Z
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SUMMARY:Southern Cemetery
DESCRIPTION:Next tour: Friday 29 May 2026\, 11 a.m.\nMeet: Cemetery Gates (opposite James Hilton Memorials of 245 Barlow Moor Road).(Barlow Moor Road Metrolink stop\, 10 minutes walk away).\nPlease don’t go to: The Crematorium\, Nell Lane…\nBooking: Please press here to book with Eventbrite. \n*** \nNew Manchester Walks will take you around Southern Cemetery\, final resting place of some of the greats of Manchester history\, with Ed Glinert\, author of “London’s Dead” (published by HarperCollins). \nWe will see the graves and memories of Matt Busby\, John Rylands\, Joe Sunlight\, Daniel Adamson\, Tony Wilson and L. S. Lowry\, as we explore Britain’s second biggest cemetery.
URL:https://www.newmanchesterwalks.com/event/southern-cemetery/
LOCATION:Southern Cemtery\, 212 Barlow Moor Road\, Chorlton-cum-Hardy\, Manchester\, M21 7GL\, United Kingdom
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20260604T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20260604T194000
DTSTAMP:20260422T000349
CREATED:20260214T204932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T151914Z
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SUMMARY:50th anniversary of the Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall
DESCRIPTION:This tour: Thursday 4 June 2026\, 6pm.\n50th Anniversary of the Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall\nMeet: Outside HOME\, 2 Tony Wilson Place.\nBooking: Please press here to book with Eventbrite.\n\nHere’s the set list\n* Tony Wilson’s pad.\n* The Boardwalk\, where Oasis made their debut.\n* The Hacienda.\n* Elbow’s “hole in my neighbourhood”.\n* The basement record shop where Morrissey had a job – yes! – for about five minutes\, resulting in a depression that inspired those great lines from “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”.\n* The Ritz\, where the first Smiths gig took place.\n* The Hidden Gem church where Tony Wilson’s funeral took place.\n* The Free Trade Hall\, where this day in 1976 the Sex Pistols invented the modern Manchester music scene. \nWhat does it sound like?\nForget Memphis and Merseybeat\, Manchester is music city\, a venue to rank alongside New Orleans or Notting Hill\, a factory of superior song-making and stirring soundscapes courtesy of Joy Division\, the Fall\, New Order\, Buzzcocks\, Happy Mondays\, John Cooper Clarke\, the Stone Roses\, 808 State and\, of course\, the Smiths\, all spinning around the legend of the Hacienda\, the world’s hippest nightclub\, chicer than the Copacabana\, sexier than Studio 54\, cooler than the Cavern or Cream. \nAt the centre of the city’s beat was Factory Records\, a record label to rival Motown and Chess with a business model that could be compared only to British Leyland or the South Sea Bubble. But it’s not about Mammon or the man\, it’s about the music\, the songs\, and what songs! – “Dead Souls”\, “William\, It was Really Nothing”\, “Rowche Rumble”\, “Time Goes By So Slow” – the list\, like the road\, goes on forever. (Jon the Postman’s versions of “Louie Louie” certainly did). \n \n“Manchester\, so much to answer for\,” as the man sang. \n \n 
URL:https://www.newmanchesterwalks.com/event/50th-anniversary-of-the-pistols-at-the-lesser-free-trade-hall/
LOCATION:HOME\, 2 Tony Wilson Place\, Manchester\, Select a State:\, M15 4GU\, United Kingdom
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